The Multiple Choice Section (College Board AP® English Language & Composition): Study Guide

What is the AP Lang multiple-choice section?

• 45 questions

• 1 hour

• 45% of exam score

The section includes two related question types: Reading and Writing:

• Reading questions ask you to analyze what a writer has done and why

• Writing questions ask you to decide which revision would most effectively accomplish a particular rhetorical goal

How the multiple-choice section is structured

The section has typically begun with two reading passages followed by three writing passages.

There are 23-25 reading questions and 20-22 writing questions. Each reading passage has 11-14 questions; the writing passages have 7-9, 7-9 and 4-6 questions.

Reading passages present mostly nonfiction texts and ask you to analyze the rhetorical situation, claims and evidence, reasoning and organization and style.

Writing passages present drafts and ask you to make effective revision decisions.

Reading questions versus writing questions

Reading questions

The following categories reflect the kinds of skills repeatedly tested. Some questions require a global understanding of the passage, or an understanding of the passage as a whole, such as its purpose, thesis, tone or overall development; others focus closely on a word, sentence or paragraph.

Writing questions

The following categories reflect the kinds of skills repeatedly tested.

For more on this, see Unit 9: Analyzing Rhetoric & Style in Multiple Choice Questions.

Time management strategies for the multiple-choice section

A useful pacing target is:

• 15 minutes per reading passage

• 10 minutes per writing passage

The last writing passage usually has only 4-6 questions, so bank any time you save there for the reading passages or for review.

This uses the full hour.

If you want about 5 minutes to review at the end, aim instead for approximately: 

• 14 minutes per reading passage

• 9 minutes per writing passage

• 5 minutes for review or to target any questions you flagged to come back to

Use these as targets rather than rigid limits. The College Board recommends that you work efficiently, avoid spending too long on a single question and return to difficult questions if time remains. 

How to use the process of elimination

AP Lang distractors are often plausible rather than obviously wrong. A wrong answer may contain something true but still fail to answer the exact question. 

If you learn the distractor patterns, you can quickly eliminate incorrect options. Common distractor patterns include: 

Off-topic/tangential

• Related to the subject, but not to the specific task:

  • Re-read the question stem and highlight the task word (e.g. "purpose", "function", "effect")

  • Then ask, "Does this choice actually answer that?"

Too broad

• Goes beyond what the passage supports:

  • Check the scope

  • If the choice talks about "society", "all writers" or "history" when the passage is about one person or event, it has zoomed out too far

Too extreme

• Makes a stronger or more absolute claim than the text justifies:

  • Highlight absolute words such as "always", "never", "entirely", "only", "proves" and "rejects"

  • Then check whether the author is certain

  • Writers often hedge with "may", "often" or "suggests", and the right answer usually hedges too

Half-right/half-wrong

• Contains one accurate idea and one inaccurate or unsupported idea:

  • Split the choice at "and", "while" or a comma, and test each half against the text on its own

  • If one half fails, the whole choice fails

Plausible but unsupported

• Could be true, but the passage does not provide enough evidence:

  • Try to identify the exact words in the passage that prove it

  • If you cannot identify them, eliminate the choice

Right idea, wrong location

• True elsewhere in the passage, but not in the lines being tested:

  • Go back to the line reference before you look at the choices

  • Read a sentence or two either side for context, but judge each choice only against the lines being tested

Factually true but unstated

• May be true in the real world, but not established by the text:

  • Set aside what you already know about the topic

  • Ask, "Would someone who had only read this passage know this?"

Right observation, wrong function

• Correctly notices a feature but misexplains what it accomplishes:

  • Read the choice in two parts: what the author does and why

  • Spotting the device is the easy part, so check the "in order to..." half carefully

Right topic/wrong focus

• Emphasizes a secondary detail instead of the main point:

  • Ask, "Is this the point, or is it a detail that supports the point?"

  • Choose the answer that the other details serve

Wrong relationship

• Misidentifies contrast, cause/effect, qualification, example or another relationship:

  • Find the transition word ("however", "therefore", "for instance", "granted") and name the relationship yourself before reading the choices

  • Then eliminate any choice that names a different one

Rhetorically ineffective

• May be grammatically or factually accurate, but does not best serve purpose, audience, tone or reasoning:

  • "Correct" is not the same as "best"

  • Restate the writer's goal from the stem, e.g. "to persuade skeptical readers," and choose the option that does that job most directly

Overall, predict before you read the choices. If you answer the question in your own words first, you are much less likely to be pulled in by a plausible distractor.

How to approach a multiple-choice passage

For reading passages, use the close-reading skills in the guide to Annotation & Close Reading Strategies without trying to annotate for everything. As you read, notice the passage’s general direction, important claims or concepts, major shifts, paragraph relationships and beginning-to-end development. Then let the question stem direct your attention. 

Words such as purpose, function, tone, shift, relationship, primarily, suggests, according to and in context tell you what the question is asking you to prove. Also, watch carefully for NOT, LEAST and EXCEPT. 

Next, determine the question’s scope: 

• Ask: "Is this asking about a word, sentence, paragraph, several paragraphs or the passage as a whole?"

A choice can be accurate about the passage generally, but wrong for the specific lines named in the question. 

Finally, use context to prove and disprove:

• Ask: "What in this passage proves this answer? What in this passage disproves others?"  

For writing passages, begin with the writer’s stated goal in the question stem. For example, if the writer wants to establish credibility, improve a transition, or qualify a claim, use that goal as the standard for judging each of the answer choices. 

How to tackle the multiple-choice section: step-by-step

Common mistakes in the multiple-choice section

• Choosing an answer because part of it is true:

  • A half-right answer is still wrong

• Ignoring the scope of the question:

  • Something true about the passage as a whole may not be true of the specific lines being tested

• Answering from memory instead of returning to the passage:

  • Use context to confirm your interpretation; go back to the passage

• Using outside knowledge:

  • Answer from what the passage establishes

• Choosing the first plausible answer:

  • AP distractors are often deliberately plausible; compare the remaining choices closely

Frequently asked questions

How long should I spend on each question?

There is no required amount of time per question. Instead, pace yourself by passage: about 15 minutes per reading passage and 10 minutes per writing passage, or approximately 14 and 9 if you want five minutes for review. 

Should I read the questions or the passage first?

There is no single recommended approach. For reading passages, develop enough understanding to form a basic mental map of the passage. For the writing passages, pay close attention to the stated revision goal because it often tells you exactly what to evaluate. 

Is there a penalty for guessing?

No points are deducted for incorrect answers. If you are uncertain about how to answer, eliminate the answer choices that you can and make the best evidence-based choice. 

How is the multiple-choice section scored?

The multiple-choice section accounts for 45% of the overall AP Lang exam score. Your multiple-choice performance is based on the number of questions answered correctly. 

Key terms and glossary

• Claim: a statement that presents a writer's position and requires proof or defense

• Credibility: the degree to which a writer or source deserves confidence for a particular claim

• Distractor: an incorrect answer choice designed to seem plausible

• Evidence: information used to support a claim or reason

• Function: what a particular choice or part of a passage does within the larger text

• Global question: a multiple-choice question about the passage as a whole, such as its purpose, thesis, tone or overall development

• Line of reasoning: the logical progression of reasons, evidence and commentary that explains how the thesis is supported

• Process of elimination: ruling out answer choices that fail to answer the exact question until the best-supported choice remains

• Purpose: what a writer hopes to accomplish

• Qualification: a condition, limitation or exception that makes a claim more precise

• Question stem: the part of a multiple-choice question that states what you are being asked to determine

• Reading question: a multiple-choice question that asks you to analyze what a writer has done and why

• Rhetorical situation: the circumstances that shape a text, including the exigence, audience, writer, purpose, context and message

• Shift: a meaningful change in tone, perspective, focus or rhetorical approach

• Tone: the writer's attitude toward the subject, audience or situation

• Transition: a word, phrase, clause, sentence or paragraph that shows the relationship between ideas

• Writing question: a multiple-choice question that asks you to decide which revision would most effectively accomplish a particular rhetorical goal