I signed up for AP English next year as a 12th grader, and am extremely worried about that class.
This past year, I took honours English, and barely pulled off a 92 in that class. I spent at least 50-60% of all my studying in that class, and had other classes such as AP Physics C and Calculus.
Do you know how much harder AP English will be next year?
Also how rare is a 5 on the exam? So far I have 5s in all APs but I am worried English will lose my streak. I got only a 62 PSAT Reading, 690 SAT Reading and 32 ACT Reading, all of which were my lowest sections by far. To be fair, I am a decent writer (got 12s on both SAT and ACT essays, and writing assignments helped my grade A LOT).
If you think I start studying now, do you think I have a shot for a 5?
The difficulty of any class will depend on the teacher; you’re better off asking current students at your school.
As for how hard it is to get a 5. Well, for both tests, less than 10% of the test-takers earn a 5. It is, however, fairly easy to fail the test, as roughly half of the scores will be 1’s and 2’s. Part of that, however, is that in many schools, AP English Language is the default 11h grade honors course and AP Lit is the default 12th grade course, and some students probably should not have signed up for the exams in the first place.
As to how well, you’ll do, if you’re taking AP Lang, you should do well if you got a 12 on the ACT essay. Other posters can comments on the value of studying for these exams. Personally, I think it’s pointless to study - you either know it or you don’t. Borrow a prep book to get a feel for the exam structure, but, IMO, you’re better off spending time reading a lot of different works and, for AP Lang, writing essays for various prompts.