I have no idea how to study for this exam. I’m planning on making flashcards of literary terms and reading a few “9” essays, but are there any AP Lit. veterans or fellow exam-takers that have different study methods?
I received a 5 when I took the AP Lit exam. Flashcards are good, the lit terms came up a lot in the multiple choice, if I recall. I would also recommend taking their essay prompts and practice writing outlines and thesis sentences within a time limit- it helps improve your organization and practices your analysis skills, and it’s not as time consuming or exhausting as writing the full essays out (I assume you’ve already had practice in class for the essays?). For MC, get a prep book and do the multiple choice in them. If you don’t want to buy one, see if you can check one out from your local library (this is what I did for nearly all of my AP exams- saved me a lot of money!)
You could also take some time to look over the summaries and/or sparknote analyses of novels you’ve read this year or novels in previous years that you think could be useful- nothing too time consuming, it’s really just to refresh your memory so you don’t blank out on the 3rd essay.
Good luck preparing!
For Essay #3 it’s best to prepare a list of 5-8 novels/plays you’ve read and somewhat remember, then study the Sparknotes (or similar). After that, download all the past Essay #3 prompts and go through them, quickly selecting which novel/play you’ll use and briefly planning how you’ll write the essay. Do that for a few dozen past prompts and you’ll be very ready to do it with the real thing and save a lot of time doing so.
I agree with @marvin100 1000%, which is how I prepared for prompt #3. There’s nothing worse than trying to force a book to fit the theme.