CliffsAP English Literature and Composition (Cliffs AP)

To be honest, I was never a good writer, I got a 650 on my SAT2 writing test. I didn't take the English AP Language course because I didn't like the teacher too much, so I never had any preparation for it. I didn't do any writing in my English honors class either, but we did read a lot.

I did a few multiple choice questions to familiarize myself with the types of questions they would ask, and when I read the questions and I was completely overwhelmed by the amount of technical terms I never learned like "allegory" and all that stuff, so I went to the back and memorized those terms. I read a lot of the essays in the book so I would know what they were looking for. This book helped a lot on the essay. It teaches you how to structure your essay, write up an introduction, write a pretty sentence, and do some analyzing. I didn't do any of the full-length practice tests, so I never really learned how to time myself. And during the actual test, I never reached the last...Read more

When I bought this book, I wondered how a book could help you review for the AP Lit exam, since there are no facts to really cover like in other exams. However, this book is extremely useful for those seeking a high score. It brings you step by step through the process of writing prompts, pointing out important details and giving a plethora of examples. The tips on the multiple choice questions allow you to review all the major terms you need and offers many opportunities to test yourself, with the why behind the answer included. Plus, you will feel better about the test because it is written by a former test writer. This makes it feel like you can trust what he is saying about the test, and I do not remember him being wrong once when it came to the actual exam. In conclusion, buy this book or don't buy one at all.

PROS:
This book offers substantial advice; the most useful piece of which (in my opinion) was "In the essays, be sure to ANSWER THE ESSAY QUESTION, the whole question and nothing but the question." It also walks the reader through several multiple choice passages.

CONS: The literary term list was somewhat basic, and in general, the essay-writing advice seemed confining and old fashioned.

For a more jazzy, student-friendly AP English Lit. Prep book, see the Princeton Review.