Score Higher on AP Literature 2024: Tips for FRQ 2 (Prose Fiction Analysis)

FRQ 2 – Prose Fiction Analysis

This guide organizes advice from past students who got 4s and 5s on their exams. We hope it gives you some new ideas and tools for your study sessions. But remember, everyone's different—what works for one student might not work for you. If you've got a study method that's doing the trick, stick with it. Think of this as extra help, not a must-do overhaul.

---

📌 Overview

• Students are asked to write an essay that explains how literary devices are used to interpret a work of prose in response to a prompt
  • Prose means an excerpt from a novel, play, or short story.
• 18.3% of Exam Score
• Spend about 40 min
• Scored on a 6 point rubric
  • Presents thesis (1)
  • Provides evidence and commentary (4)
  • Demonstrates sophistication (1)

---

💭 General Advice

Tips on mindset, strategy, structure, time management, and any other high level things to know

• Believe in yourself! Write in your voice & how you communicate best. Go in with a plan on how to approach the prose passage- and the other prompts as well. Feeling prepared means being prepared. Know how you want to write and how you want to think about the texts so you can go in and kill it!
• I stress four solid paragraphs: your introduction should contain a hook and your thesis. Your two body paragraphs contain evidence and commentary that link to your thesis for a strong line of reasoning. Your conclusion should wrap everything up. It’s the last thing a reader looks at so make it count. Leave yourself time to read over your response so you can correct small errors!

---

🕒 Before You Write

What should a student do in the first few minutes, before they start writing?

• Read the entire piece of prose through. Look for natural breaks in the passage to help you frame your thesis. If you can frame your thesis chronologically, and then use specific details or devices to support the broader sections in commentary, you’ll set yourself up for more success than if you set your thesis up based on specific examples and devices. Annotate interesting things as you read, so you don’t waste time rereading the passage while writing.
• Read the prompt carefully. Remember that you can use any information in the prompt in your response. Also, break down the question in the prompt. Figure out what the question is asking and make sure that when you are looking back at the text, you keep the question in mind.
• Try structuring your analysis in the same chronological order as the passage. When reading, divide the passages in three or so sections and analyze what is happening in each section. Try having each body paragraph as an analysis of each section rather than an analysis of a device that was used.

---

🖋️ Types of Prose Devices to Know

• Foreshadowing, frame narrative, diction, foil characters, tone, mood, and irony.
• If your mind goes blank and you forget everything, the two devices you can always rely on are imagery and tone.
  • I would add similes and metaphors - if you forget which is which, noting general comparisons is always helpful.

---

💯 Tips for Earning Each Point

Thesis and Claim

• When writing the thesis statement you want to make sure that your claim is clear and your two or three main ideas that you will base your paragraphs on are clear. When writing the rest of your essay, everything you say should support this statement. Going into the exam having practiced writing multiple thesis statements with a “formula” that works for you should help.
• Do not summarize. You must remember to answer the question in the prompt and your answer must be defensible, meaning someone can argue against it. Do not state something that is explicitly told to you in the text.
• An easy formula is “In Author’s story, the use of (literary devices) allows for (answer prompt).”

Evidence and Commentary

• Think about what the author is saying, what the text is doing, and how it may influence the audience.
• Make sure each piece of evidence is backed up with commentary that directly supports your thesis. There is no need for any fluff in between—be clear with your claim and your commentary. Try not to take long direct quotes either. A few words here or there is fine, and so is paraphrasing, but don’t waste time copying lines of text. The graders care more about what you have to say about the evidence rather than the evidence itself. They read thousands of essays, and want to see what you think is interesting.
• Your evidence must connect back to your thesis (answer to the prompt) in order to establish a line of reasoning. Use the devices to further prove your answer. If you use a direct quotation from the text or summarize part of it, you must explain how it connects to or supports your answer.

Complexity and Sophistication

• Don’t worry too much about earning this point. You can get a 5 on this exam without it, and the criteria for earning it are fairly vague. Nevertheless, thinking in a complex way and writing sophisticatedly can help improve your commentary, which is important.
• Think about all the different ways the audience may read the prose. Write using varying sentence structure and vocabulary. Make connections to bigger thoughts and themes. Be careful not to spend too much time trying to be overly complex—you don’t want to lose sight of your thesis and what you are trying to do. Refer back to your claim often while writing to make sure you haven’t strayed too far!
• Focus on what you can control. You can write a strong defensible thesis and correctly support your thesis with evidence and commentary. It’s better to focus on earning all four evidence points than aim for the sophistication point and lose track of your actual argument.