<p>I'm planning on applying to top UCs (UCB, UCLA, UCSD). I'm wondering how much dropping AP English Lit after taking English Honors courses previously hurt me. If I drop it, I will definitely take a shot at the AP English Lit exam to get college credit. </p>
<p>If my SAT II (around 700s) and SAT (around 1800) scores are bad, should I take this course or drop it to try to improve on those? Will taking AP English Lit help me on the SAT (especially CR, Writing)? </p>
<p>Another question: Is the AP English Lit exam easy to pass? If you major in math/sciences, will passing the exam exempt you from College English courses?</p>
<p>An 1800 SAT is not bad at all; it's far above average. And 700s on SAT IIs are good even by most CC posters' standards!</p>
<p>Anyways, why are you thinking about dropping the course? If it's just to focus more energy on your SAT scores, I don't think you should do it -- taking a more advanced English class will, in my opinion, help you out in CR and Writing. (I know that practicing for the English Language AP helped me on the Literature SAT II, and Lit is basically a more advanced version of CR. Also, the more you practice reading and writing, the better you'll be!) If it's for other reasons, like an already-difficult schedule, and you don't think you can handle it, you should be fine dropping it. It depends on what you think you can take on. </p>
<p>I hear that the AP Lit test is pretty easy, and my school doesn't even do much as far as test preparation. Judging by your spelling and grammar in this thread, you shouldn't have much of a problem with it. (Really, Lang and Lit come down to whether or not you can write... and understand passages, which IMO is closely linked with the former.) </p>
<p>As for credit, it depends on the school. Some take credit for the Lang exam, some for Lit, some for both, some for neither... but it's likely that you would be able to get out of a freshman-level English course with a good score on the Lit exam.</p>
<p>Are many of the passages you read in AP English Lit sparknoteable? I'm reading 100 years of solitude right now and it doesn't seem that bad at all. Are most books close to the same level as 100 years of solitude? </p>
<p>Also, we need to do a read journal along with our reading (characters, themes, etc.). How would you guys approach this? Read one chapter then write everything relevant up to that point?</p>
<p>Most likely all the passages you'll read in AP lit are on sparknotes.com.
I'm reading Heart of Darkness; luckily, it's conveniently located on their website.</p>
<p>Regarding the journal responses: I'd recommend (as you said) reading a chapter and just briefly jotting down notes relative to your experiences or how the characters and their relations among one another are portrayed throughout the novel.</p>