how to write ap style essay

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Associated Press Style

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Introduction

Associated Press style provides guidelines for news writing. Many newspapers, magazines and public relations offices across the United States use AP style. Although some publications such as the New York Times have developed their own style guidelines, a basic knowledge of AP style is considered essential to those who want to work in print journalism.

This Web page is intended to provide an introduction to AP style and a summary of some AP style rules; however, the Associated Press Stylebook includes more than 5,000 entries – far more than can be covered here. For a complete guide to AP style, writers should consult the most recent edition of the Associated Press Stylebook or visit the AP Stylebook website .

The content of newspapers and other mass media is typically the result of many different writers and editors working together. AP style provides consistent guidelines for such publications in terms of grammar, spelling, punctuation and language usage. Some guiding principles behind AP style are:

• Consistency

AP style also aims to avoid stereotypes and unintentionally offensive language.

Common Style Guidelines

The Associated Press Stylebook provides an A-Z guide to issues such as capitalization, abbreviation, punctuation, spelling, numerals and many other questions of language usage. What follows are summaries of some of the most common style rules.

Abbreviations and Acronyms

Some widely known abbreviations are required in certain situations, while others are acceptable but not required in some contexts. For example, Dr., Gov., Lt. Gov., Rep., the Rev. and Sen. are required before a person’s full name when they occur outside a direct quotation. Please note, that medical and political titles only need to be used on first reference when they appear outside of a direct quote. For courtesy titles, use these on second reference or when specifically requested. Other acronyms and abbreviations are acceptable but not required (i.e. FBI, CIA, GOP). The context should govern such decisions.

As a general rule, though, you should avoid what the Associated Press Stylebook calls “alphabet soup.” Consult the Associated Press Stylebook for specific cases.

For numbered addresses, always use figures. Abbreviate Ave., Blvd., and St. and directional cues when used with a numbered address. Always spell out other words such as alley, drive and road . If the street name or directional cue is used without a numbered address, it should be capitalized and spelled out. If a street name is a number, spell out First through Ninth and use figures for 10th and higher. Here are some examples of correctly formatted addresses: 101 N. Grant St., Northwestern Avenue, South Ninth Street, 102 S. 10th St., 605 Woodside Drive.

For ages, always use figures. If the age is used as an adjective or as a substitute for a noun, then it should be hyphenated. Don’t use apostrophes when describing an age range. Examples: A 21-year-old student. The student is 21 years old. The girl, 8, has a brother, 11. The contest is for 18-year-olds. He is in his 20s.

Books, Periodicals, Reference Works, and Other Types of Compositions

Use quotation marks around the titles of books, songs, television shows, computer games, poems, lectures, speeches and works of art. Examples: Author Porter Shreve read from his new book, “When the White House Was Ours.” They sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” before the game.

Do not use quotations around the names of magazine, newspapers, the Bible or books that are catalogues of reference materials. Examples: The Washington Post first reported the story. He reads the Bible every morning.

Do not underline or italicize any of the above.

Dates, Months, Years, Days of the Week

For dates and years, use figures. Do not use st, nd, rd, or th with dates, and use Arabic figures. Always capitalize months. Spell out the month unless it is used with a date. When used with a date, abbreviate only the following months: Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov. and Dec.

Commas are not necessary if only a year and month are given, but commas should be used to set off a year if the date, month and year are given. Use the letter s but not an apostrophe after the figures when expressing decades or centuries. Do, however, use an apostrophe before figures expressing a decade if numerals are left out. Examples: Classes begin Aug. 25. Purdue University was founded May 6, 1869. The semester begins in January. The 1800s. The ’90s.

If you refer to an event that occurred the day prior to when the article will appear, do not use the word yesterday. Instead, use the day of the week. Capitalize days of the week, but do not abbreviate. If an event occurs more than seven days before or after the current date, use the month and a figure.

Newspapers use datelines when the information for a story is obtained outside the paper’s hometown or general area of service. Datelines appear at the beginning of stories and include the name of the city in all capital letters, usually followed the state or territory in which the city is located. The Associated Press Stylebook lists 30 U.S. cities that do not need to be followed by the name of a state. See states and cities below. Examples:

• DENVER – The Democratic National Convention began...
• ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Republican National Convention began...
• YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – President Bush spoke to a group...

When writing about height, weight or other dimensions, use figures and spell out words such as feet, miles, etc. Examples: She is 5-foot-3. He wrote with a 2-inch pencil.

Use figures for any distances over 10. For any distances below 10, spell out the distance. Examples: My flight covered 1,113 miles. The airport runway is three miles long.

Always use a person’s first and last name the first time they are mentioned in a story. Only use last names on second reference. Do not use courtesy titles such as Mr., Mrs., Miss or Ms. unless they are part of a direct quotation or are needed to differentiate between people who have the same last name.

Never begin a sentence with a figure, except for sentences that begin with a year. Examples: Two hundred freshmen attended. Five actors took the stage. 1776 was an important year.

Use roman numerals to describe wars and to show sequences for people. Examples: World War II, Pope John Paul II, Elizabeth II.

For ordinal numbers, spell out first through ninth and use figures for 10th and above when describing order in time or location. Examples: second base, 10th in a row. Some ordinal numbers, such as those indicating political or geographic order, should use figures in all cases. Examples: 3rd District Court, 9th ward.

For cardinal numbers, consult individual entries in the Associated Press Stylebook. If no usage is specified, spell out numbers below 10 and use figures for numbers 10 and above. Example: The man had five children and 11 grandchildren.

When referring to money, use numerals. For cents or amounts of $1 million or more, spell the words cents, million, billion, trillion etc. Examples: $26.52, $100,200, $8 million, 6 cents.

Punctuation

Use a single space after a period.

Do not use commas before a conjunction in a simple series. Example: In art class, they learned that red, yellow and blue are primary colors. His brothers are Tom, Joe, Frank and Pete. However, a comma should be used before the terminal conjunction in a complex series, if part of that series also contains a conjunction. Example: Purdue University's English Department offers doctoral majors in Literature, Second Language Studies, English Language and Linguistics, and Rhetoric and Composition.

Commas and periods go within quotation marks. Example: “I did nothing wrong,” he said. She said, “Let’s go to the Purdue game.”

States and Cities

When the name of a state name appears in the body of a text, spell it out. State abbreviations should also be avoided in headlines where possible. States should be abbreviated when used as part of a short-form political affiliation. Examples: He was travelling to Nashville, Tenn. The peace accord was signed in Dayton, Ohio. The storm began in Indiana and moved west toward Peoria, Ill. Updated guidance to AP style notes that state names can also be abbreviated for the following purposes:

• Naming states in dateline text
• Naming states in photo captions
• Naming states in lists or tables
• Naming states in in editor's notes and credit lines

Here is how each state is abbreviated in AP style (with the postal code abbreviations in parentheses):

You will notice that eight states are missing from this list. That is because Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas and Utah are never abbreviated.

AP style does not require the name of a state to accompany the names of the following 30 cities:

The exact time when an event has occurred or will occur is unnecessary for most stories. Of course, there are occasions when the time of day is important. In such cases, use figures, but spell out noon and midnight . Use a colon to separate hours from minutes, but do not use :00 . Examples: 1 p.m., 3:30 a.m.

Generally, capitalize formal titles when they appear before a person’s name, but lowercase titles if they are informal, appear without a person’s name, follow a person’s name or are set off before a name by commas. Also, lowercase adjectives that designate the status of a title. If a title is long, place it after the person’s name, or set it off with commas before the person’s name. Examples: President Bush; President-elect Obama; Sen. Harry Reid; Evan Bayh, a senator from Indiana; the senior senator from Indiana, Dick Lugar; former President George H.W. Bush; Paul Schneider, deputy secretary of homeland security.

Technological Terms

Here are the correct spelling and capitalization rules for some common technological terms:

• BlackBerry, BlackBerrys
• eBay Inc. (use EBay Inc. when the word begins a sentence)
• e-book reader
• Google, Googling, Googled
• IM ( IMed, IMing ; for first reference, use instant messenger )
• iPad, iPhone, iPod (use IPad, IPhone, or IPod when the word begins a sentence)
• social media
• Twitter, tweet, tweeted, retweet
• World Wide Web, website (see the AP's tweet about the change) , Web page

• AI in action
• AI in the enterprise
• Humans of AI

Words at work

• Inside Writer
• Content strategy
• Inspiration

– 12 min read

A comprehensive guide to the AP style of writing

Devon Delfino

The Associated Press Stylebook (a.k.a. AP Stylebook) is to journalists what HubSpot is to content marketers: the industry “bible.” 

For more than 50 years, journalists have turned to AP Style for everything from grammar and style rules to trusted best practices. But for content writers and content marketers who aren’t formally trained in AP style, mastering the 500-page book, which is updated annually can be a herculean undertaking.

Fortunately, the nuts and bolts of AP style can be simplified into five main categories:  numbers, dates, citations, capitalization , and headlines. By following AP guidelines for these elements, writers can enforce a sense of consistency that makes content easier to write and more pleasant to read through.

Editor’s Note: Looking for a simple way to make sure you and your team of writers are using the AP Style correctly? An AI writing platform, such as Writer’s app can ensure that your writing is consistent. Sign up for a free trial here .

What is AP style?

Associated Press (AP) style is the go-to English style and usage guide for journalism and news writing, such as magazines and newspapers. AP style dictates basic rules for grammar and punctuation, as well as specific styles for numbers, spelling, capitalization, abbreviations, acronyms, and much more.

The ins and outs of AP style can be found within the “Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law.”. While the AP style guide was originally sold as a handbook for reporters, it’s rapidly become the leading reference for the majority of public-facing communication, including websites, white papers, and press releases to reflect new additions to the English language or address common verbiage seen in the media. For instance, the latest edition included new or revised entries for digital wallets, smart devices, and the novel coronavirus. If you’re ever in doubt about acceptable word use or modern jargon, the style guide is continuously refreshed to keep up with trends.

What are the benefits of using AP style?

AP style was originally developed with print media in mind. Back in the 1950s, when the guide was first published, writing space was limited, and it was extremely costly for news outlets to correct errors. 

Today, the ease of online media outlets and blogs makes available space much less of an issue. However, that’s not to say that many of AP’s earliest benefits for journalists don’t still benefit the content marketers of today. 

For one, the continued use of AP style means that writing style is uniform across all outlets. This helps ensure that content marketing is easy to read and concise, so it can connect with a wide audience. Plus, it creates a writing style readers can come to expect and recognize, assisting in branding efforts.

Secondly, content marketers can benefit from the “inverted pyramid” approach of AP style. The most important information is presented first, in the lead or introduction. Supporting information is presented lower in the copy, and the least important details are always included last. 

Of course, this approach stems from the days where newspapers were printed with very limited space. With the “inverted pyramid” thought process, printers could simply cut off the bottom of a story if it didn’t fit in the allotted column. Today, content marketers should always present their audience with the most important information first, so if a reader leaves the page mid-way through, they’ve at least instilled the most relevant part of their message.

AP style cheat sheet 

Unless you’re prepared to invest several hours into scanning hundreds of pages in the AP style guide, it’s easier to review the most common best practices for AP style. When it comes to content marketing, best practices typically revolve around numbers, dates, citations, capitalization, and headlines.

AP style guidelines for numbers

According to AP style, content writers should spell out numbers one through nine and use numerals for numbers 10 and higher. But readers be warned, there are exceptions to this rule.

Instances in which a writer should always use numerals instead of writing out numbers include:

However, there are also a few exceptions to AP style guidelines for numbers. Writers should always spell out numbers used at the beginning of a sentence, such as, “Forty students…” but years should always be written with numerals, such as, “1980 was…” 

When making a number plural, a writer should add an s but no apostrophe. This rule applies to decades as well. So, a content marketer could write that they rolled all 7s in dice or they loved music from the 90s.

AP style guidelines for dates

When it comes to dates, writers should always use a numeral without the addition of “st, nd, rd, or th.” When a month is used with a specific date, the month should be abbreviated. In other words, a writer would refer to New Year’s Day as Jan. 1 — not January 1, January 1st, or January first. 

Months that should be abbreviated when used in a full date include:

February (Feb.)

If a writer is using only a month and a year to refer to a time period, the month should be spelled out fully. There should be no comma between the month and year. For example, the second month of this year would be written as February 2020. 

If a phrase refers to a month, day, and year, the year should be separated with a comma — i.e. March 10, 1990, or Oct. 14, 1995.

For days of the week, you should always capitalize the specific day but never abbreviate it.  

In addition, if you are referring to a specific day that is more than one week away, you should also reference the month and year. 

When it comes to time, even hours do not require a colon and two zeroes at the end. For instance, “eight o’clock” in AP style is simply 8, not 8:00. To distinguish between night and day, a writer should always include “a.m.” or “p.m.” after the numeral. However, it’s best to use “midnight” or “noon” instead of 12 a.m. or 12 p.m.

AP style guidelines for citations

Most writers are familiar with MLA or APA citations used in high school and college essays. Unlike these style guides, AP style doesn’t specify page formatting and citation rules quite as harshly. However, it does provide a standardized way of referencing people, dates, and things.

When referencing people, always use the person’s first and last name upon the first mention. Only use the person’s last name on the second reference. It’s unnecessary to utilize courtesy titles, such as Miss, Ms., Mrs., or Mr., unless they’re part of a direct quote or necessary to differentiate between individuals with the same last name (i.e. Mr. and Mrs. Smith). 

Always be sure to use the word said to attribute a quote to an individual. Alternatively, writers can substitute ‘said’ for a more impactful verb, such as exclaimed, yelled, or asked. Punctuation for quotes should always remain within the quotation marks — “Like that?” you asked and “Like this,” I said.

When citing print and news articles on the first mention, writers must include:

1. The name of the author or writer

2. Title of work

3. Date of work

4. Where it was published

Once the writer fully identifies the source, including the name, title, and date of publication, it’s only necessary to identify the source by their last name upon second or later mentions. 

For books, writers must include the author and title of the book as well as the year it was published on the first mention. Upon second or later mention, only the author’s last name is necessary.

For websites, citation varies slightly in AP style. A writer should only use a website citation when citing a study or a statistic. An article on the website would simply be cited as an article.

For instance, Statista.com is loaded with statistics. To cite this source, you would identify the name of the website and briefly describe it — such as, “According to Statista.com, which collects the results of national, state and local surveys, remote work grew by 80 percent in four years.”

In content marketing, proper attribution should also include a link back to the original website source whenever possible.

AP style guidelines for capitalization

AP style incorporates what’s known as a “downstyle” for capitalization. This means that words are all lowercase unless a specific rule says to capitalize them, such as proper nouns like specific state names in the United States.

For example, when it comes to state names, if the state is used upon first reference in the description by itself, you should spell it out. 

However, if the state and city are used together, you should abbreviate the state.  For example, Tallahassee, Fla., Montgomery, Ala., Tulsa, Okla., Madison, Wis., or Little Rock, Ark. 

However, there are 8 states that should always be spelled out in full and never abbreviated, which include Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas, and Utah.

Some additional capitalization rules to be aware of include:

Common nouns such as river or street should be capitalized only when used as part of a proper name for a person, place, or thing, such as the Colorado River or Democratic Party.

The seasons should only be capitalized when used in a proper name, such as the Winter Olympics. Similarly, directional indicators such as east or west should all be lowercase — unless they refer to specific geographic regions or popularized names for certain regions, such as the “the Midwest.”

For the most part, job descriptions should never be capitalized. For instance, police officers, teachers, or accountants do not need to be capitalized in AP style. However, formal titles, such as Doctor Evans or President Lincoln, should be capitalized when they come directly before a name.

AP style guidelines for headlines

AP style guidelines for headlines may differ from what certain content writers or marketers are used to. Generally speaking, AP style uses title case for headlines, which means all words are capitalized except for certain short words, such as articles and short prepositions. 

In AP style, headlines capitalize the first word, proper names, or proper abbreviations, verbs, pronouns, adjectives, and adverbs.

If that sounds like a lot to remember, think of it this way instead: as a general rule of thumb, any word that’s three letters or less should not be capitalized.

Words that should not be capitalized include:

• Articles (a, an, the)
• Short (fewer than 5 letters)
• Coordinating Conjunctions (and, but, for)
• Prepositions (at, by, from, etc.)

AP style writing examples

Now that you’re more familiar with AP style for various aspects of content writing let’s combine a few style guidelines to demonstrate best practices.

Best practices for numbers

Do you have five minutes to discuss numbers? Yesterday, I spent $3 on a slice of pizza. Then, my 13-year-old niece asked me to order 11 pizza pies for her friends. So, I spent another $150 on pizza. I predict that by the time I’m 70-years-old, I’ll have spent $1 million on pizza!

→ Numbers less than 10 are spelled out fully.

→ Numbers greater than 10 expressed with numerals.

→ Ages, dollar, and millions are expressed with numerals.

→ When referring to a person’s age as an adjective, make sure to use hyphens.

Best practices for dates

Can you believe it’s Jan. 1 already? I’m planning for a party on Feb. 5, 2021. I’m hoping that by February 2021, there will be more venues available. The ideal time slot for the party is 1 p.m., but I could settle for noon.

→ Specific dates should be abbreviated, without the use of “st, nd, rd, or th.”

→ Time periods should use the full month and year with no comma.

→ Time should include a.m. or p.m., aside from noon and midnight.

Best practices for citations

→ Citing an article must include the author’s full name, article title, where it was published, and when.

→ Use the author’s full name on first mention and last name on secondary mention.

→ Use “said” to attribute a quote and keep punctuation within the quotation marks.

Best practices for capitalization

I traveled south down the Colorado River to reach the area of the Midwest I wanted to see. It’s a shame I missed the Winter Olympics this year. I heard Doctor Smith attended. My favorite athlete didn’t participate. They visited a doctor last fall for a bad injury.

→ Common nouns are only capitalized when used as part of a proper name

→ Directions and seasons are only capitalized when used in a proper name.

Best practices for headlines 

How to Decorate the Perfect Christmas Tree

Top Tips for Writing an Ebook from Beginning to End

Stop by the Local Farmers’ Market this Weekend

→ The first and last word in a headline should always be capitalized.

→ Short words (less than three letters) are typically lowercase.

→ Articles, prepositions, and coordinating conjunctions are typically lowercase.

Best practices for referring to technology and social media 

It can be hard to keep up with the proper AP Style guidelines for common tech terms.

→ Use iPhone and iPad.

→ Website is one word, not two words. However, a web page is two words.

→ Hashtag is one word, along with email and smartphone. However, there should be a hyphen for the following words, such as e-book and e-reader.

→ When referring to a website in a post, reference the site’s title and not the full webpage address. For example, it is Google NOT www.Google.com

From a more concise writing style to a simplified approach to content, there are several benefits of adapting to the AP style. Fortunately, content writers and content strategists don’t need to memorize all of the ins and outs of AP style to master the basics of clearer writing. By adding the details to your style guide and using an AI writing platform, like Writer , you can incorporate these best practices seamlessly across each content asset you produce.

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Proofed Guide to AP Style

• 36-minute read
• 12th October 2023

Please note that this guide is based on the AP Stylebook, last updated June 1, 2022.

This guide does not include everything contained in the stylebook. Rather, it aims to cover the most salient points and provide details of AP Style’s approach to key editorial issues.

Dictionaries and Other Authorities

The following should be used as additional authorities to AP Style:

Webster’s New World College Dictionary (use the first spelling listed unless AP Style specifies otherwise).

New York Stock Exchange , Nasdaq or the Securities and Exchange Commission for formal company names. Use Co., Inc., Ltd., Corp. after the name as appropriate.

National Geographic Atlas of the World for place names not in Webster’s.

Punctuation

It wouldn’t be practical to list all the punctuation rules here. Instead, we’ve included those AP Style punctuation rules that might go against common practice.

Note that AP Style values consistency, so you can often determine what to do in a given situation by following related rules.

Otherwise, use standard U.S. English practice unless the client has requested another dialect.

Apostrophes

• Always use ‘s if the word does not end in the letter s.
• Singular common nouns ending in s: add ‘s: the class’s inattention, the business’s opening day .
• Singular proper names ending in s: use only an apostrophe: Paris’ history, Achilles’ heel.
• Special expressions: words that end in an s sound and are followed by a word that begins with s: for appearance’ sake, for conscience’ sake, for goodness’ sake.
• Descriptive phrases: do not add an apostrophe to a word ending in s when it is used primarily in a descriptive sense: a teachers college, a writers guide . You’ll see this a lot in organization names.
• Inanimate objects: avoid excessive personalization of inanimate objects, and give preference to an “of” construction when it fits the makeup of the sentence: mathematics’ rules >> the rules of mathematics .
• Plurals of a single letter: include an apostrophe in single-letter plurals: he learned the three R’s and brought home a report card with four A’s and two B’s .
• Possessive of Jr./Sr.: John Smith Jr.’s house .

Brackets and Parentheses

• Avoid using square brackets.
• Use parentheses sparingly; consider rewording the sentence.

Bulleted Lists

• Use em dash + space to introduce bullets (bullet points are also acceptable).
• Capitalize the first word.
• Always end in a period.
• Watch out for parallelism.
• Introduce the list with a short phrase + colon.
• Capitalize the first word after a colon only if it’s a proper noun or the start of a full sentence.
• Use a colon to introduce a direct quotation over one sentence long, either within a paragraph or as a block quote.
• Use a colon in interviews/reporting of dialogue/Q&As: Anthony: I disagree .
• Only use a serial comma if it’s required to make the meaning clear.
• Use a comma to separate an introductory clause or phrase from the rest of the sentence. It can be omitted from short introductory phrases if no ambiguity results from doing so.
• Use a comma when giving a person’s name and town/country, or between a place name and the country where it is located: John Smith, Tennessee ; The Giant’s Causeway, County Antrim .
• Use a comma to separate similar/duplicated words: The question is, is this the right path to take?
• Use a comma separator in words <999 except in certain situations (e.g., 1460 kHz ; Room 1001 ).
• i.e./e.g. are always followed by a comma.
• Use the parenthetical spaced em dash (sparingly).
• Use a dash before an author’s or composer’s name at the end of a quotation: “I’ll probably always be interested in this planet — it’s my favorite.” — Sagan.
• Do not use en dashes (use a hyphen for ranges).
• Use a space before and after an ellipsis.
• In a quotation, if the words before an ellipsis form a complete sentence, place a period before the ellipsis ( . … ).
• Follow a similar approach if another type of punctuation is required before the ellipsis (e.g., ? … ).
• When material is deleted at the end of one paragraph and at the beginning of the one that follows, place an ellipsis in both locations.

Exclamation Points

• Use sparingly — only where it’s really warranted.
• Do not include a comma after an exclamation mark in dialogue: “Stop!” she shouted .
• Use hyphens to aid clarity. If it gets too confusing, then consider rewording the sentence.
• If you’re unsure whether a hyphen is required in a compound adjective, check its use in Webster’s New World College Dictionary .
• Don’t use hyphens in phrasal verbs, but do use them in compound verbs: he backed up the vehicle vs. they double-checked the results or she air-dried the strawberries .
• Words that are usually one-word compounds should be separated when a modifier is added. However, it’s difficult to think of an example of how this would work in practice: perhaps external-mail box ?
• Do not use a hyphen with dual heritages ( Italian American ) but do use it with “Anglo-” when the word that follows is a capital ( Anglo-Saxon but Anglophile ).
• Prefixes that usually require a hyphen: self-, all-, ex-, half-.
• Suffixes that usually require a hyphen: -free, -based, -elect.
• Use a hyphen to avoid duplicated vowels (except ee): anti-establishment, preempt .
• Other examples; state-of-the-art, arm-in-arm, non-life-threatening, 5- and 6-year-olds, 10-to-12-inch needle .
• Co-: Keep the hyphen when used to create a word that indicates occupation or status ( co-author, co-host, co-worker etc).
• Don’t use hyphens in e.g., fourth grade student , unless needed to avoid confusion.
• Use a period at the end of a rhetorical question if it’s more of a sentence than a question: Why not eat all the cake.
• Use a period in initials (no space between multiple initials): J.R.R. Tolkein . Avoid using single initials ( J. Smith ) unless it’s personal preference or the first name cannot be established.

Quotation Marks

• Use double quotation marks (nested single), except in headlines (use single).
• For quotations over two paragraphs: when the quoted material in the first paragraph is a full sentence, don’t include closed quotation marks at the end of the first paragraph: She said, “I think that’s a great idea. ¶ “Everyone should get a free cake.”
• Quotation marks are not used in Q&As.
• Use quotation marks to indicate irony.
• Use quotation marks to define unfamiliar terms upon first use.
• The dash, the semicolon, the colon, the question mark and the exclamation point go within the quotation marks when they apply to the quoted matter only.

See also Quotations in the Style section of this guide.

References and Third-Party Sources

AP Style doesn’t say much about references/citations. The following are some notes about the mention of creative works in text.

See also Third-party Sources in the Style section of this guide.

• Put all names of creative works in AP Style title case. Capitalize both parts of a phrasal verb and “to” in “to be.”
• Put quotation marks around: books, articles, songs, albums, paintings, movies (including “Star Wars”, “Star Wars” Day etc.), plays, poems, operas, radio/TV programs and episodes, lectures, speeches, event names, classical music (when using its popular name, e.g., Beethoven’s “Eroica” ).
• Don’t put quotation marks around: holy books, almanacs, directories, dictionaries, encyclopedias, handbooks, sculptures, software, video/online games, classical music (official/numbered name, e.g., Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 in E flat major ).
• Classical music: put the key in lowercase ( C sharp minor ). Put the instruments in lowercase if not part of the work’s official name but added as a description: … for harpsichord.
• AP does not use italics.
• Translate foreign titles into English unless they’re better known by their original name. Exception: musical compositions — refer to the work in the language it was sung in, unless in a Slavic language (translate works in Slavic languages).
• Capitalize “the” in newspaper/magazine names if that is the way the newspaper is known: The Times; The Economist .
• Poetry: If giving in-line, separate each line with a forward slash with a space either side ( Despite the storms, / beauty arrives like ). Follow the author’s approach to capitalizing the first word of lines.

Spelling, Capitalization and Form

Here are some (perhaps) non-standard approaches to spelling, capitalization and form found in AP Style. Only those that differ from Webster’s Dictionary (or do not clearly appear in it) are included here.

(If we’ve missed any out, please let us know!)

Tip: To confirm whether the first word in a Webster’s entry is capitalized, scroll down to look at the “other word forms” in the dictionary entry.

Preferred Terms

Here is a list of terms for which AP Style has stated a preference. Note that:

• The preferred term is given first, with the non-preferred term given in parentheses.
• Non-preferred terms that should never be used (outside of direct quotes) are *asterisked*.
• Additional information is given where needed.
• Most non-preferred terms can be used in direct quotes (with the exception of offensive or vulgar terms).
• Where AP Style doesn’t include a preferred term, the column is left blank.
• Further information about preferred terms relating to age, gender, disability and race is given in Inclusive Language in the Usage section of this guide.

Abbreviations and Acronyms

• Avoid “alphabet soup,” i.e., when there are too many acronyms for the sake of having acronyms.
• DO NOT DEFINE ACRONYMS: The Prudential Regulation Authority released a statement … The PRA said that … not The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) released a statement … The PRA said that …
• Give an organization’s name in full on first use then use the acronym or shortened version thereafter. If it would not be clear what the acronym is referring to, don’t use it.
• Consider the audience when deciding how/whether to introduce or explain an acronym.
• Some acronyms are acceptable on first reference (then should be defined or explained in text). Some you need to use the full term and then the acronym thereafter. Finally, some (famous ones) use the acronym throughout, no definition required. These last are listed in Exceptions , below.
• Some common abbreviations: a.m./p.m.; No.; Corp.; Sept.; B.C.; Lt. Col.; Rep.; Sen., Dr.; Ave .
• Generally speaking, only use abbreviations when they accompany the noun they relate to (a numbered address in the case of Blvd., St. and Ave.): Room No. 23; 37 B.C; Lt. Col. Johnson; Washington Blvd.; 10 Castle St.; 20 Cornwall Ave . Don’t use No. in addresses, except for No. 10 Downing St .
• Don’t use periods in acronyms, but use them in most two-letter abbreviations: U.S., U.N., U.K., M.D. etc.
• Use the following abbreviations in all cases, no need to define:

911 (emergency number) app (application) AT&T (company name) ATM (automated teller machine c.o.d. (cash on delivery) CBD (cannabidiol) CD (compact disc) CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) dpa (Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH) DVD (digital versatile disc), E. coli (Escherichia coli) f.o.b. (free on board) FAQ (frequently asked questions) FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) FM (frequency modulation) GPA (grade point average) GPS (global positioning system) HDMI (high-definition multimedia interface) IBM (company name) Interpol (International Criminal Police Organization) IQ (intelligence quotient) IRS (Internal Revenue Service) IT (Information Technology; don’t spell out in technical articles) IV (intravenous line) JPG/JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) LED (light-emitting diode) mpg (miles per gallon; use with a figure, e.g., 40 mpg) MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) NBC (National Broadcasting Company) OB-GYN (obstetrician gynecologist) OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) PC (personal computer) PDA (personal digital assistant) PDF (portable document format) PT (patrol torpedo) boat PTA (parent–teacher association) Q&A (questions and answers) R&B (rhythm and blues) radar (radio detection and ranging) ROM (read-only memory) ROTC (Reserve Officers’ Training Corps) rpm (revolutions per minute; use in auto magazines etc.), S&P 500 (Standard & Poors 500) SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) SST (supersonic transport) SWAT (special weapons and tactics) Tass (tactical air-to-surface system) THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) TNT (trinitrotoluene) TV (television) U.K. (United Kingdom) U.S. (United States) UFO (unidentified flying object) UHF (ultra-high frequency) UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) UPS (United Parcel Service) Inc. URL (uniform resource locator) USB (universal serial bus) USO (united service organizations) USS (United States ship) VHF (very high frequency) VIP (very important person) Wi-Fi (wireless fidelity) XML (extensible markup language) ZIP (zone improvement plan) code

• Always abbreviate Jr./Sr. after names.
• Notable exceptions to the rule that two-letter acronyms use periods: AP (Associated Press), GI (Army-related), ID (identification), EU (European Union).
• Capitalize only the first letter or abbreviations and acronyms longer than five letters unless Webster capitalizes them. (To be honest, Webster capitalizes most of the famous ones, like UNESCO).
• Unusually capitalized acronyms: dpa (Deutche Presse-Agentur GmbH), app (application), MiG (Russian fighter plane).
• Do not abbreviate: associate, association, assistant, government, governor general, hertz (but, for kilohertz/megahertz, kHz/MHz are acceptable on second use), horsepower, International Space Station (i.e., don’t use ISS), justice of the peace, U.S. Marines (don’t use USMC), professor, route, terrace.

Scientific Names

• Scientific names: Spell out genus/species on first use, then abbreviate the genus: Canis lupus; C. lupus .
• The genus is in uppercase, the species in lowercase.

Academic Matters

Academic Titles

• Avoid abbreviations after people’s names: John Smith , M.Sc. , who has a master’s in business administration .
• Use abbreviations after people’s names if doing otherwise would be very cumbersome (e.g., if listing lots of people or in a table).
• Use abbreviations only after a full name, never after just a surname.
• Use Dr. in front of someone’s name who has a medical qualification, but only on the first mention.
• Don’t use Dr. for non-medical qualifications: Jane Smith, who has a doctorate in Spanish literature, will be joining us later.
• Professor: Never abbreviate. Lowercase before a name (except Professor Emeritus).

Courses and Departments

• Capitalize course titles and use Arabic numbers after them: Biology 104 . Otherwise put into sentence case: he had an interest in biology .
• Academic departments: Use capitals only for proper nouns or when the department is given its full and proper name: the history department, the department of Spanish literature, University of Oxford English Department .
• Military academies: retain capitalization even if the “U.S.” is dropped: U.S. Air Force Academy/the Air Force Academy . Lowercase academy on its own.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s, master’s degree — but Bachelor of Arts , Master of Science .
• GED is an adjective, not a noun: GED diploma , for example.

Capitalization

• Avoid unnecessary capitals.
• Generally, capitalize common nouns when they form part of a formal name or title ( the River Nile ); mentions not written in full (e.g., the river) would be made in lowercase.
• Generally, capitalize single nouns when they form part of a formal name/title/designation and lowercase plural ( Size 12 but sizes 12 and 14 , the Amazon and Nile rivers . The exception is formal titles + full names: Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump .
• Similarly: Chapter 3/next chapter; Channel 4/the other channel; the U.S. Census/census data; Captain Jones/the team captain etc.
• Capitalize words that are derived from a proper noun and still depend on it for their meaning: Christian, French, Marxist .
• Lowercase words that are derived from a proper noun but no longer depend on it for their meaning: french fries, venetian blind, epicurean .

The Arts and Architecture

• Buildings: Only capitalize “building” if it’s a part of the building’s name: the Shard building; the Empire State Building .
• Artistic/literary/dramatic works: Go in AP Style title case. See References in the Punctuation section.
• Lowercase art styles ( impressionism, modernism, cubism ).
• Capitalize artistic periods ( Renaissance, Gothic, Baroque ).
• Capitalize brand/product names used in common parlance: Mace , Frisbee , Breathalyzer etc. Lowercase those that have now become common terms (e.g., linoleum ). There are no instructions to say exactly how AP determines which is which.
• Use lowercase at all times for terms that are job descriptions rather than formal titles: the vice president of the company vs. Vice President Jones .
• Lowercase annual meeting .
• Capitalize the first letter of brands/products when they begin a sentence (e.g., iPhone / IPhone ).
• Capitalize Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, National Guard when referring to the U.S. versions, lowercase for other nations’ equivalents unless it’s part of their formal name.
• U.S. Civil War: Capitalize Union and Confederacy.
• North/South/East/West: Lowercase compass directions ( he went north ), capitalize compass directions when they relate to regions ( the travelers from the East were weary ; he had a Northern accent ).
• However, lowercase compass directions when describing an area of a specific country/state, unless it’s part of that country’s/state’s actual name ( northern Franc e; western Montana ; Northern Ireland ; West Virginia ; Southern California ).
• Earth: capitalize for the proper name of the planet, lowercase in all other instances.

Governance and Legislation

• Government: Always lowercase, never abbreviate: the U.S. government .
• Constitutions: U.S. Constitution/the Constitution ; e.g., French Constitution/the constitution (for constitutions of other countries); the organization’s constitution. Lowercase constitutional in all cases.
• House of Representatives: Capitalize, even when not given in full ( the House decided ). Same with U.S. Chamber of Commerce/the Chamber .
• Don’t capitalize “primary” in e.g., the New Hampshire primary .
• Tea party (lowercase for the movement generally). Capitalize when part of a group name.
• U.S. Courts: First reference e.g., U.S. Court of Appeals, 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals or the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit all acceptable. Subsequent references: the Court of Appeals, the 2nd Circuit, the appeals court, the appellate court, the circuit court, the court . The district courts follow a similar approach to capitalization.
• Grand jury: always lowercase.
• U.S. Supreme Court/the Supreme Court.
• British Parliament: House of Commons, House of Lords on first instance, then Commons/Lords or the Commons/the Lords afterward.
• International Court of Justice on first instance, then international court/world court.
• In general, capitalize the proper name of non-U.S. legislative bodies (e.g., the Knesset ).
• United Nations: U.N., U.N. General Assembly, U.N. Secretariat, and U.N. Security Council, drop U.N. on second reference. Lowercase the assembly/the council.
• Words like nationalist, socialist etc are lowercase unless part of a party name.

Collective Nouns and Other Singular/Plural Issues

• Nouns that denote a unit take singular verbs and pronouns.
• Plural team/group names and teams/groups with no plural form take plural verbs: the Yankees are winning; the Beatles are famous; Orlando Magic are playing.
• Single team/group names take singular verbs: Queen was formed in 1970.
• Couple: in the sense of two people: the couple were married . In the sense of a unit: each couple was asked… .
• Each: takes a singular verb ( each of the options is … ).
• Emoji: the word serves as singular and plural.
• Group: takes the singular.
• Headquarters: can take singular or plural.
• Latin words: Latin-root words take the Latin ending (e.g., alumnus/i, medium/a ) unless they have taken on English endings by common usage (e.g., syllabuses ). Check Webster if unsure.
• Insignia: same for singular and plural.

AP Style datelines are a specific device used by journalists to indicate the location and date of a news story. They appear at the top of articles and take the form detailed below.

• CITY NAME, state abbreviation (or country name if outside the U.S.) date.
• Certain very well-known cities and regions don’t require a state or country.
• Never abbreviate: Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas or Utah .
• Never abbreviate : March, April, May, June, July .
• KANSAS CITY, Mo., May 2023.
• COLUMBUS, Ohio, July 4, 2023.
• LONDON, Sept. 2021.

Foreign Terms

• Use inverted commas to define foreign terms upon first use: “lunettes,” the French word for eye glasses .
• If a foreign word has been adopted into English, consider whether it is universally known by the intended audience. If it isn’t, then define as you would a foreign term.
• Include accent marks/diacritics when using a word in the original language, but remove them when the word is anglicized: Ou est le café? vs. Where is the cafe?
• Personal names: follow personal preferences, otherwise use the nearest phonetic equivalent in English.
• Lowercase particles (e.g., de, der, la, le, van, von ) in names unless personal preference says otherwise.
• Vodou/Voodoo: the religious/ritual practice in Haiti and Lousiana, respectively. Avoid using lowercase voodoo e.g., voodoo rituals .

Numbers, Dates, Currency, etc.

• Numbers: spell out millions, billions. In headlines, K, M, B (thousands, millions, billions) are permitted when accompanying a number. No space: 10K, 10M, 10B . Don’t use a hyphen when used adjectivally.
• Spell out 1-9. Use figures for 10 or above; preceding a unit; when referring to ages of people/animals/events/things; in tables; in statistics; in sequences ( Act 3; Size 12; Type 2 ); in mathematical usage; in military titles (unless they come after the name) and weapon names. 
• Spell out numbers at the start of a sentence. Years and number/letter combinations can be left as is.
• Spell out numbers in formal language, rhetorical quotations and figures of speech.
• Data is (general; data journalism); data are (scientific contexts).
• Fractions: two-thirds, seven-fifteenths Use decimals for figures over 1, e.g., 1.33, 20.6 .
• Minus signs: Use a hyphen as a minus sign. Spell out when relating to temperature ( minus 5 degrees Fahrenheit ).
• Plus signs: Use as part of a company/brand name. Otherwise spell out as “plus” (e.g., B-plus grade ).
• Percentages: Use numbers and %, with no space. Spell out zero percent. Spell out at the beginning of a sentence (or, preferably, reword). Spell out percentage point (NB: this is different to percentage).
• Ordinals: Don’t use superscript, e.g., 10th Ward . Don’t use ordinals in dates.
• Ranges: repeat the unit symbol, a hyphen or “to” are both acceptable e.g., 12%-14%, $3 million to $5 million .
• Ratios: the ratio was 3-to-1, a ratio of 3-to-1, a 3-1 ratio (“to” omitted when the number precedes “ratio”).
• Roman numerals: Use Roman numerals for wars and to establish personal sequence for people and animals: World War I, Native Dancer II, King George V . Also for certain legislative acts ( Title IX ).

Dates/Times

• Minutes, seconds, hours: spell out in full.
• Times: 12 p.m.; 8 o’clock; 10 minutes; 10 seconds; 8 hours (but an eight-hour day ). Use noon and midnight in place of 12 p.m./a.m.
• Days: Don’t abbreviate days of the week unless in a table; when you do, use the three-letter form with no period ( Mon, Tue ).
• Months: When used as part of a date, abbreviate , Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov. and Dec . In tables, use three-letter forms for all months, no period.
• Years: 1920s, ‘95, the ‘80s, 2022-23 . It’s OK to start a sentence with a year. Don’t include years when referencing an occurrence in the same year as the story ( the pilot will air on 25 February ).
• Centuries: use numbers for 10 and over ( 10th century; seventh century ).
• Dates: Friday, Sept. 1, 2023; Sept. 1; Sept. 1, 2023; Sept. 2023.
• Biannual = twice a year; biennial = every two years; bimonthly = every two months; semimonthly = twice a month; biweekly = every two weeks; semiweekly = twice a week.
• Time zones: include the time zone if the item: involves TV/radio programs (always EDT/EST); has no dateline; is an advisory to editors. Do not convert clock times from other time zones in the U.S. to Eastern time. If there is high U.S. interest in the precise time something happened, add CDT, PST etc. to the local time zone so that readers can determine what time it happened in their equivalent local time. If the time is needed to make sense outside the U.S., provide a conversion to Eastern time in parentheses: … 9 a.m. (3 a.m. EDT) .
• Don’t use today/tomorrow/tonight etc. in news stories; use a day, date, etc. as appropriate. Avoid next/last (e.g., next Monday ). 

Temperatures

• 40 degrees Celsius / 40 C; 105 degrees Fahrenheit / 105 F; 10 kelvins / 10 K .
• Zero is always spelled out.
• US currency: use e.g., $5, $500, $50,000 (rather than five dollars, five-hundred dollars etc.). For numbers up to $1, use e.g., 5 cents, 97 cents , then e.g., $1.24 . For amounts over $1 million, use up to two decimal places as appropriate: $5.25 million; a $100 million budget .
• Currency conversions: give non-USD amounts in parentheses the first time a currency is mentioned: The company made a profit of $12.5 million (£10.3 million) last year . Use USD after that. Only do so for current amounts, not historical, and note that the conversion is at the current exchange rate, if necessary for clarity). 
• Non-US dollars: e.g., CA$1 million, HK$250,000 .
• Currencies are given in sentence case ( euro, dollar, pound, Canadian dollar , etc.).

Measurements

• Units: use the system (metric/imperial) most widely accepted in the location of the dateline. Do not use unit symbols except mm in the case of film widths and weapons ( a 9 mm pistol ).
• Avoid decimals unless a greater level of precision is necessary. Use up to two decimal places if necessary, except for blood alcohol level and baseball batting averages (these take 3 decimal points). 
• Measurements: 5 feet 3 inches tall; a 5-foot-3-inch man; 3,000 square feet, 4 miles . Use e.g., 5’3” only in very technical contexts.
• Tons: There are three types of ton — short ton (2,000 pounds); long/British ton (2,240 pounds); metric ton (1,000 kilograms).
• Two-by-four (piece of wood). Always spell out.

Miscellaneous

• Road numbering examples: S. Highway 1, Route 66, Route 3A, Interstate 40 ( 1-40 subsequently ).
• Votes: 7-3, but a four-vote margin .
• Serial numbers: Use figures/capital letters, no hyphens or spaces unless absolutely required. Social Security numbers are hyphenated: 123-45-6789 .
• Clothes sizes: size 10 pants; size 12 long; size 6 1/2 shoes; 16 1/2 inch neck, XL sweatshirt . 
• Tanks: M-60
• Telephone numbers: 123-456-7890 (national); 011-44-20-8535-1515 (international — 011 when calling from the U.S., country code, city code (minus the first zero) and telephone number); 800-111-1000 (toll-free numbers); 123-456-7890, ext. 415 .
• Radio/TV programs: Always use Eastern Time, and put EDT/EST after the time, as appropriate.

Inclusive Language

• Avoid tokenism and generalizations, recognize conscious and unconscious biases, avoid placing White/straight/non-disabled as the figurative norm. 
• Be conscious of who the story uses as expert witnesses, general witnesses, subjects of photos and videos. When covering issues related to marginal groups, home in on individual voices/stories focused on that group. 
• Recognize the difference between first- and second-hand experiences. 
• Be careful with the biases indicated by carelessly used language choices. 
• Make your content accessible (consider text, graphics, video). 
• Use Plain English.

Disabilities

• Check whether the individual/group prefers identity first (an autistic person) or person-first (a person with autism) language. Similarly: person with disabilities/disabled person.
• When preferences can’t be established, use a mixture of person-first and identity-first language.
• Generally, only mention disabilities and other conditions if it is directly relevant to the story.
• Avoid e.g., he is battling cancer >> he has cancer; a victim of heart disease >> she has heart disease.
• Do not use handi-capable, differently abled, physically challenged, handicapped, handicap.
• Avoid disorder, impairment, abnormality, special (unless part of a technical name for a condition).
• Refer to a disability only if relevant to the story and a medical diagnosis has been made or the person uses that term to describe themselves.
• Avoid writing that implies ableism: the belief that the abilities of people who aren’t disabled are superior.
• Avoid “inspiration porn” that implies that people with disabilities are objects of pity or wonder.
• Avoid using disability-related words casually or in unrelated situations (e.g., demented, psychotic, lame, blind, retarded, on the spectrum).
• Don’t use cliches (inspiring, brave etc.)
• Don’t use dehumanizing mass nouns (the disabled, the blind etc.)
• Don’t use normal/typical to describe someone who doesn’t have a disability (instead, use nondisabled, those without a disability). Able-bodied should be used only in instances where it has a specific meaning.
• Avoid the terms high/low functioning; instead, be specific about the condition.
• Mental illness: as with other disabilities/conditions, be specific; don’t say that someone was “mentally ill,” name their condition. Don’t use words such as demented, psychotic (including outside of a mental-health context). Don’t use terms lightly/casually, e.g., “I’m feeling very OCD.”
• Neurodiversity, -divergence, -diverse: Use these terms only in quotations.
• Wheelchair user (not wheelchair-bound or similar). Mention only if relevant to the story.
• Capitalize “deaf” when used to refer to the Deaf community (check the appropriateness of this term).
• Depending on individual preference, “dwarf” is acceptable (or person with dwarfism, little person).
• Autism: don’t use ASD, on the spectrum, Asperger’s syndrome (outside of direct quotes/due to personal preference). Don’t use as a noun (an autistic/autistics) unless it is personal preference.
• Lou Gehrig’s disease/ALS/amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in the U.S. Motor neuron (or neurone) disease outside of the U.S.
• Do not presume maleness when constructing a sentence.
• Do not use e.g., his/her, his or her .
• Use the gender-neutral “them” when necessary/personal preference/to hide someone’s identity.
• Where possible, reword sentences to avoid using “they” as an alternative to “his or her.”
• Be careful when using woman/women and female, as female is seen as purely describing sex, not gender, which can have an effect on representations of gender identity.
• Use terms that can apply to any gender in general parlance: businessperson, business owner, police officer, city leaders, confidant, workforce.
• However, avoid torturous constructions like snowperson .
• It’s alumnus/alumni (male); alumna/alumnae (female); alum/alums (neutral).
• Hair color: use the adjectives blond, brown (not blonde, brunette).
• See preferred terms for examples of gendered terms and their alternatives.
• Do not use the pronoun “her” in reference to nations, ships, storms or voice assistants.
• The terms “husband” and “wife” are acceptable in any legally recognized marriage. Spouse or partner can be used as gender-neutral options, if requested/preferred.
• Do not use lady/gentleman as a synonym for woman/man.
• Pregnant women/girls or women/girls seeking abortions are acceptable phrasings. Use pregnant people if needed to acknowledge transgender or non-binary pregnant people, but don’t use clinical terms like “people with uteruses.”
• When using “they” as a singular pronoun, explain if it isn’t clear from the context. The singular reflexive “themself” is acceptable.
• Be careful about using the term “boys” to refer to young Black men or children; use child/teen/youth as appropriate.
• Never use the N-word (including in this form) except when it is absolutely crucial to the story or an understanding of a news event.

Titles and Names

• As a general rule, capitalize titles/roles when applied to a name, not when they are used generally. I mam Shamsi Ali/the imam; Director Diane Carter/the director, Queen Anne/the queen , etc.
• Legislative titles can sometimes be omitted if the individual is well-known.
• Don’t use courtesy or honorary titles (as a general rule). Note that surgeons in the U.K. use Mr./Mrs./Ms. instead of Dr.
• Judge (law): use in front of the judge’s name upon first instance, but not thereafter — federal Judge John Smith; U.S. District Judge John Smith; Chief Judge John Smith . “Justice” is used instead in some jurisdictions.
• Applicable religious titles: see the guidance on Writing Explained .
• First lady/first gentleman is always in lowercase.
• Military titles: See the full guidance on the AP Stylebook blog .
• Governor: Abbreviate to Gov. in front of someone’s name. Do not abbreviate governor general.
• Representatives/senators: Rep./Reps., Sen./Sens . Add U.S. or state if necessary to avoid confusion. Only use such titles on first mention. Don’t use Congressman/Congresswoman before a name/as a title.
• See the Academic Matters section, above, for information about academic titles.
• Where things are unclear, the individual’s personal preference/usual habits always take precedence.
• In general, use only last names on second reference (use both names if necessary for clarity). Call children <15 yo by their first name on second reference, unless it’s a serious story such as a murder case. Use your judgment for 16/17 yos.
• Arabic: Two/three names on first mention/surname on second.
• Portuguese: (usually) given name, mother’s surname, father’s surname/father’s surname (but e.g., Canto e Castro if ‘e’ (and) is used).
• Russian: use the closest phonetic equivalent in English, if available; otherwise spell phonetically.
• Spanish: (usually) given name, father’s surname, mother’s surname/father’s surname
• China: Deng Xiaoping/Deng
• North Korea: Kim Jong Un/Kim
• South Korea: Sung Jinwoo/Sung . If given name is hyphenated, second part is lowercase – e.g., Hyo-ri . 
• Jesus: Jesus Christ or Christ is acceptable. Pronouns should be in lowercase.
• Muhammad: Use this spelling in relation to the Prophet Muhammad unless in a title/name of an organization. Prophet is lowercase when used on its own. 
• Match the headline tone to that of the story.
• Attribute carefully.
• Consider keywords and SEO.
• Update online headlines to reflect the latest news, as needed.
• Headlines go in sentence case (capitalize first word after a colon).
• Always capitalize the first letter of a headline (consider rewording if e.g., eBay is the first word).
• Avoid all but universally recognizable abbreviations and acronyms.
• Put no periods in US/UK/EU/UN when they appear in headlines, and avoid using them in other acronyms.
• Avoid using state abbreviations in headlines, but if you must, remove periods from those with two capital letters (others retain periods).
• Use numerals except in casual use or formal names ( thousands not 1000s; Big Ten; but Forbes 500 ).
• Spell out ordinals under 10, use numerals for over 10 (except eleventh hour ).
• Use single quote marks.
• Label opinion ( Opinion: Headline ), analysis ( Analysis: Headline ) and review ( Review: Headline ) pieces.
• Limit headlines to 100 characters.
• Write headlines for a global audience. Only use locators when it will increase readership, improve SEO, or is needed for clarity.
• Avoid Co. for company.
• Fed is acceptable for Federal Reserve.
• It’s possible to abbreviate millions/billions in headlines: $30M/$5B .
• Financial quarters: Q3 , not 3Q , for example.

In-Line Style Points

• Watch for sentences with more than one comma or clause. Consider splitting them up.
• Dashes and semicolons are often an indication that the sentence could be split up.
• Don’t use cliches, jargon, or bureaucratese.
• Define terms that could be unfamiliar to readers, or choose simpler terms.
• Use mostly active voice.
• Bracket additional information about a noun in commas: John Smith, of New York, ; located in Hartford, Connecticut, ; Kevin Jones, who has a Ph.D. in aeronautics, ”.
• Jargon: Avoid, unless writing for an audience that would be familiar with the term or phrase.
• Irrelevance: Avoid tautology and irrelevance: e.g., they went to a local hospital >> they went to a hospital .
• Euphemisms: avoid euphemisms wherever possible: died rather than passed away ; recreational cannabis (for example) rather than adult-use cannabis .
• Days of the week: Do not use “on” before a day of the week (e.g., the store will open Monday ).
• That, which: Follow Proofed’s approach to that/which.
• Versus: Spell out versus in longer sentences, vs. in short pithy expressions, v. in court cases.

Age-Related Nouns

• Embryo: up to 10 weeks of pregnancy.
• Fetus: 10 weeks of pregnancy — birth.
• Unborn baby: any time from gestation to birth (less clinical than fetus).
• Infant: up to 12 months old.
• Boy/girl: from 12 months old — 18 years. Use child/youth/teen if more appropriate.
• Youth: 13-18.
• Adult: over 18 years old.

Obscenities, Profanities, Slurs etc.

• Do not use except in direct speech.
• Try to describe them rather than use them directly (e.g., a racial/sexist slur ).
• For very offensive language, replace all but the first letter with hyphens, e.g., f—- . 
• An alternative is to replace the offensive word with a generic description in parentheses, e.g., (obscenity) .
• Never alter quotations even to correct minor grammatical errors or word usage.
• Casual minor slips can be removed using ellipses, but do so with caution.
• Do not use “sic”. Instead, paraphrase if possible or use the quotation exactly if the quotation is essential.
• Don’t try to replicate dialect with words such as gonna .
• When quoting spoken words, present them in the format that reflects AP style, e.g., $20, 1 Church St .. Don’t make any other changes for style, however.
• Use quotations if they are the best way to convey the text. Often, paraphrasing is preferable.
• Avoid fragmentary quotations. For cumbersome or awkward speech, leave quotation marks for sensitive or controversial statements that must be shown to come from the speaker.
• Describe emojis used in text: e.g., … following that with an emoji of a birthday cake .

Third-Party Sources

• Who does the source belong to? Avoid unverified sources.
• Clearly state the source.
• How accurate does the source appear to you?
• Any obvious signs of bias?
• Be mindful of Photoshop and deepfakes.
• Use common sense.

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How to Write the AP Lit Prose Essay with Examples

March 30, 2024

AP Lit Prose Essay Examples – The College Board’s Advanced Placement Literature and Composition Course is one of the most enriching experiences that high school students can have. It exposes you to literature that most people don’t encounter until college , and it helps you develop analytical and critical thinking skills that will enhance the quality of your life, both inside and outside of school. The AP Lit Exam reflects the rigor of the course. The exam uses consistent question types, weighting, and scoring parameters each year . This means that, as you prepare for the exam, you can look at previous questions, responses, score criteria, and scorer commentary to help you practice until your essays are perfect.

What is the AP Lit Free Response testing? 

In AP Literature, you read books, short stories, and poetry, and you learn how to commit the complex act of literary analysis . But what does that mean? Well, “to analyze” literally means breaking a larger idea into smaller and smaller pieces until the pieces are small enough that they can help us to understand the larger idea. When we’re performing literary analysis, we’re breaking down a piece of literature into smaller and smaller pieces until we can use those pieces to better understand the piece of literature itself.

So, for example, let’s say you’re presented with a passage from a short story to analyze. The AP Lit Exam will ask you to write an essay with an essay with a clear, defensible thesis statement that makes an argument about the story, based on some literary elements in the short story. After reading the passage, you might talk about how foreshadowing, allusion, and dialogue work together to demonstrate something essential in the text. Then, you’ll use examples of each of those three literary elements (that you pull directly from the passage) to build your argument. You’ll finish the essay with a conclusion that uses clear reasoning to tell your reader why your argument makes sense.

AP Lit Prose Essay Examples (Continued)

But what’s the point of all of this? Why do they ask you to write these essays?

Well, the essay is, once again, testing your ability to conduct literary analysis. However, the thing that you’re also doing behind that literary analysis is a complex process of both inductive and deductive reasoning. Inductive reasoning takes a series of points of evidence and draws a larger conclusion. Deductive reasoning departs from the point of a broader premise and draws a singular conclusion. In an analytical essay like this one, you’re using small pieces of evidence to draw a larger conclusion (your thesis statement) and then you’re taking your thesis statement as a larger premise from which you derive your ultimate conclusion.

So, the exam scorers are looking at your ability to craft a strong thesis statement (a singular sentence that makes an argument), use evidence and reasoning to support that argument, and then to write the essay well. This is something they call “sophistication,” but they’re looking for well-organized thoughts carried through clear, complete sentences.

This entire process is something you can and will use throughout your life. Law, engineering, medicine—whatever pursuit, you name it—utilizes these forms of reasoning to run experiments, build cases, and persuade audiences. The process of this kind of clear, analytical thinking can be honed, developed, and made easier through repetition.

Practice Makes Perfect

Because the AP Literature Exam maintains continuity across the years, you can pull old exam copies, read the passages, and write responses. A good AP Lit teacher is going to have you do this time and time again in class until you have the formula down. But, it’s also something you can do on your own, if you’re interested in further developing your skills.

AP Lit Prose Essay Examples 

Let’s take a look at some examples of questions, answers and scorer responses that will help you to get a better idea of how to craft your own AP Literature exam essays.

In the exam in 2023, students were asked to read a poem by Alice Cary titled “Autumn,” which was published in 1874. In it, the speaker contemplates the start of autumn. Then, students are asked to craft a well-written essay which uses literary techniques to convey the speaker’s complex response to the changing seasons.

The following is an essay that received a perfect 6 on the exam. There are grammar and usage errors throughout the essay, which is important to note: even though the writer makes some mistakes, the structure and form of their argument was strong enough to merit a 6. This is what your scorers will be looking for when they read your essay.

Example Essay 

Romantic and hyperbolic imagery is used to illustrate the speaker’s unenthusiastic opinion of the coming of autumn, which conveys Cary’s idea that change is difficult to accept but necessary for growth.

Romantic imagery is utilized to demonstrate the speaker’s warm regard for the season of summer and emphasize her regretfulness for autumn’s coming, conveying the uncomfortable change away from idyllic familiarity. Summer, is portrayed in the image of a woman who “from her golden collar slips/and strays through stubble fields/and moans aloud.” Associated with sensuality and wealth, the speaker implies the interconnection between a season and bounty, comfort, and pleasure. Yet, this romantic view is dismantled by autumn, causing Summer to “slip” and “stray through stubble fields.” Thus, the coming of real change dethrones a constructed, romantic personification of summer,  conveying the speaker’s reluctance for her ideal season to be dethroned by something much less decorated and adored.

Summer, “she lies on pillows of the yellow leaves,/ And tries the old tunes for over an hour”, is contrasted with bright imagery of fallen leaves/ The juxtaposition between Summer’s character and the setting provides insight into the positivity of change—the yellow leaves—by its contrast with the failures of attempting to sustain old habits or practices, “old tunes”. “She lies on pillows” creates a sympathetic, passive image of summer in reaction to the coming of Autumn, contrasting her failures to sustain “old tunes.” According to this, it is understood that the speaker recognizes the foolishness of attempting to prevent what is to come, but her wishfulness to counter the natural progression of time.

Hyperbolic imagery displays the discrepancies between unrealistic, exaggerated perceptions of change and the reality of progress, continuing the perpetuation of Cary’s idea that change must be embraced rather than rejected. “Shorter and shorter now the twilight clips/The days, as though the sunset gates they crowd”, syntax and diction are used to literally separate different aspects of the progression of time. In an ironic parallel to the literal language, the action of twilight’s “clip” and the subject, “the days,” are cut off from each other into two different lines, emphasizing a sense of jarring and discomfort. Sunset, and Twilight are named, made into distinct entities from the day, dramatizing the shortening of night-time into fall. The dramatic, sudden implications for the change bring to mind the switch between summer and winter, rather than a transitional season like fall—emphasizing the Speaker’s perspective rather than a factual narration of the experience.

She says “the proud meadow-pink hangs down her head/Against the earth’s chilly bosom, witched with frost”. Implying pride and defeat, and the word “witched,” the speaker brings a sense of conflict, morality, and even good versus evil into the transition between seasons. Rather than a smooth, welcome change, the speaker is practically against the coming of fall. The hyperbole present in the poem serves to illustrate the Speaker’s perspective and ideas on the coming of fall, which are characterized by reluctance and hostility to change from comfort.

The topic of this poem, Fall–a season characterized by change and the deconstruction of the spring and summer landscape—is juxtaposed with the final line which evokes the season of Spring. From this, it is clear that the speaker appreciates beautiful and blossoming change. However, they resent that which destroys familiar paradigms and norms. Fall, seen as the death of summer, is characterized as a regression, though the turning of seasons is a product of the literal passage of time. Utilizing romantic imagery and hyperbole to shape the Speaker’s perspective, Cary emphasizes the need to embrace change though it is difficult, because growth is not possible without hardship or discomfort.

Scoring Criteria: Why did this essay do so well? 

When it comes to scoring well, there are some rather formulaic things that the judges are searching for. You might think that it’s important to “stand out” or “be creative” in your writing. However, aside from concerns about “sophistication,” which essentially means you know how to organize thoughts into sentences and you can use language that isn’t entirely elementary, you should really focus on sticking to a form. This will show the scorers that you know how to follow that inductive/deductive reasoning process that we mentioned earlier, and it will help to present your ideas in the most clear, coherent way possible to someone who is reading and scoring hundreds of essays.

So, how did this essay succeed? And how can you do the same thing?

First: The Thesis 

On the exam, you can either get one point or zero points for your thesis statement. The scorers said, “The essay responds to the prompt with a defensible thesis located in the introductory paragraph,” which you can read as the first sentence in the essay. This is important to note: you don’t need a flowery hook to seduce your reader; you can just start this brief essay with some strong, simple, declarative sentences—or go right into your thesis.

What makes a good thesis? A good thesis statement does the following things:

• Makes a claim that will be supported by evidence
• Is specific and precise in its use of language
• Argues for an original thought that goes beyond a simple restating of the facts

If you’re sitting here scratching your head wondering how you come up with a thesis statement off the top of your head, let me give you one piece of advice: don’t.

The AP Lit scoring criteria gives you only one point for the thesis for a reason: they’re just looking for the presence of a defensible claim that can be proven by evidence in the rest of the essay.

Second: Write your essay from the inside out 

While the thesis is given one point, the form and content of the essay can receive anywhere from zero to four points. This is where you should place the bulk of your focus.

My best advice goes like this:

• Choose your evidence first
• Develop your commentary about the evidence
• Then draft your thesis statement based on the evidence that you find and the commentary you can create.

It will seem a little counterintuitive: like you’re writing your essay from the inside out. But this is a fundamental skill that will help you in college and beyond. Don’t come up with an argument out of thin air and then try to find evidence to support your claim. Look for the evidence that exists and then ask yourself what it all means. This will also keep you from feeling stuck or blocked at the beginning of the essay. If you prepare for the exam by reviewing the literary devices that you learned in the course and practice locating them in a text, you can quickly and efficiently read a literary passage and choose two or three literary devices that you can analyze.

Third: Use scratch paper to quickly outline your evidence and commentary 

Once you’ve located two or three literary devices at work in the given passage, use scratch paper to draw up a quick outline. Give each literary device a major bullet point. Then, briefly point to the quotes/evidence you’ll use in the essay. Finally, start to think about what the literary device and evidence are doing together. Try to answer the question: what meaning does this bring to the passage?

A sample outline for one paragraph of the above essay might look like this:

Romantic imagery

Portrayal of summer

• Woman who “from her golden collar… moans aloud”
• Summer as bounty

Contrast with Autumn

• Autumn dismantles Summer
• “Stray through stubble fields”
• Autumn is change; it has the power to dethrone the romance of Summer/make summer a bit meaningless

Recognition of change in a positive light

• Summer “lies on pillows / yellow leaves / tries old tunes”
• Bright imagery/fallen leaves
• Attempt to maintain old practices fails: “old tunes”
• But! There is sympathy: “lies on pillows”

Speaker recognizes: she can’t prevent what is to come; wishes to embrace natural passage of time

By the time the writer gets to the end of the outline for their paragraph, they can easily start to draw conclusions about the paragraph based on the evidence they have pulled out. You can see how that thinking might develop over the course of the outline.

Then, the speaker would take the conclusions they’ve drawn and write a “mini claim” that will start each paragraph. The final bullet point of this outline isn’t the same as the mini claim that comes at the top of the second paragraph of the essay, however, it is the conclusion of the paragraph. You would do well to use the concluding thoughts from your outline as the mini claim to start your body paragraph. This will make your paragraphs clear, concise, and help you to construct a coherent argument.

Repeat this process for the other one or two literary devices that you’ve chosen to analyze, and then: take a step back.

Fourth: Draft your thesis 

Once you quickly sketch out your outline, take a moment to “stand back” and see what you’ve drafted. You’ll be able to see that, among your two or three literary devices, you can draw some commonality. You might be able to say, as the writer did here, that romantic and hyperbolic imagery “illustrate the speaker’s unenthusiastic opinion of the coming of autumn,” ultimately illuminating the poet’s idea “that change is difficult to accept but necessary for growth.”

This is an original argument built on the evidence accumulated by the student. It directly answers the prompt by discussing literary techniques that “convey the speaker’s complex response to the changing seasons.” Remember to go back to the prompt and see what direction they want you to head with your thesis, and craft an argument that directly speaks to that prompt.

Then, move ahead to finish your body paragraphs and conclusion.

Fifth: Give each literary device its own body paragraph 

In this essay, the writer examines the use of two literary devices that are supported by multiple pieces of evidence. The first is “romantic imagery” and the second is “hyperbolic imagery.” The writer dedicates one paragraph to each idea. You should do this, too.

This is why it’s important to choose just two or three literary devices. You really don’t have time to dig into more. Plus, more ideas will simply cloud the essay and confuse your reader.

Using your outline, start each body paragraph with a “mini claim” that makes an argument about what it is you’ll be saying in your paragraph. Lay out your pieces of evidence, then provide commentary for why your evidence proves your point about that literary device.

Move onto the next literary device, rinse, and repeat.

Sixth: Commentary and Conclusion 

Finally, you’ll want to end this brief essay with a concluding paragraph that restates your thesis, briefly touches on your most important points from each body paragraph, and includes a development of the argument that you laid out in the essay.

In this particular example essay, the writer concludes by saying, “Utilizing romantic imagery and hyperbole to shape the Speaker’s perspective, Cary emphasizes the need to embrace change though it is difficult, because growth is not possible without hardship or discomfort.” This is a direct restatement of the thesis. At this point, you’ll have reached the end of your essay. Great work!

Seventh: Sophistication 

A final note on scoring criteria: there is one point awarded to what the scoring criteria calls “sophistication.” This is evidenced by the sophistication of thought and providing a nuanced literary analysis, which we’ve already covered in the steps above.

There are some things to avoid, however:

• Sweeping generalizations, such as, “From the beginning of human history, people have always searched for love,” or “Everyone goes through periods of darkness in their lives, much like the writer of this poem.”
• Only hinting at possible interpretations instead of developing your argument
• Oversimplifying your interpretation
• Or, by contrast, using overly flowery or complex language that does not meet your level of preparation or the context of the essay.

Remember to develop your argument with nuance and complexity and to write in a style that is academic but appropriate for the task at hand.

If you want more practice or to check out other exams from the past, go to the College Board’s website .

Brittany Borghi

After earning a BA in Journalism and an MFA in Nonfiction Writing from the University of Iowa, Brittany spent five years as a full-time lecturer in the Rhetoric Department at the University of Iowa. Additionally, she’s held previous roles as a researcher, full-time daily journalist, and book editor. Brittany’s work has been featured in The Iowa Review, The Hopkins Review, and the Pittsburgh City Paper, among others, and she was also a 2021 Pushcart Prize nominee.

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Expert Guide to the AP Language and Composition Exam

Advanced Placement (AP)

With the 2023 AP English Language and Composition exam happening on Tuesday, May 9, it's time to make sure that you're familiar with all aspects of the exam. In this article, I'll give a brief overview of the test, do a deeper dive on each of the sections, discuss how the exam is scored, offer some strategies for studying, and finally wrap up with some essential exam day tips.

Exam Overview

The AP Language and Composition exam tests your rhetorical and composition skills. Essentially, how do authors construct effective arguments in their writing? What tools do they use? How can you use those tools to craft effective writing yourself? That is the essence of rhetorical analysis.

The exam has two parts: the first section is an hour-long, 45 question multiple-choice section. It includes five sets of questions, each based on a passage or passages. In this section, there will be 23-25 rhetorical analysis questions which test your rhetorical skills. There will also be 20-22 writing questions which require you to consider revisions to the texts you're shown.

The second section is free response. It starts with a 15-minute reading period, and then you'll have 120 minutes to write three analytical essays:

• One essay where you synthesize several provided texts to create an argument
• One essay where you analyze a nonfiction passage for its rhetorical construction
• One essay where you create an original argument in response to a prompt.

You will have about 40 minutes to write each essay, but no one will prompt you to move from essay to essay—you can structure the 120 minutes as you wish.

In the next sections I'll go over each section of the exam more closely—first multiple choice, and then free response.

The AP English Language and Composition Multiple-Choice

The multiple-choice section tests you on two main areas. The first is how well you can read and understand nonfiction passages for their use of rhetorical devices and tools. The second is how well you can "think like a writer" and make revisions to texts in composition questions.

You will be presented with five passages, about which you will receive a small amount of orienting information, e.g. "This passage is excerpted from a collection of essays on boating" or "This passage is excerpted from an essay written in 19th-century Haiti." Each passage will be followed by a set of questions.

There are, in general, eight question types you can expect to encounter on the multiple-choice section of the exam. I've taken my examples from the sample questions in the " Course and Exam Description ."

Magic eight-ball says there are eight types of multiple-choice questions!

Type 1: Reading Comprehension

These questions are focused on verifying that you understood what a certain part of the passage was saying on a concrete, literal level. You can identify these questions from phrases like "according to" "refers," etc. The best way to succeed on these questions is to go back and re-read the part of the passage referred to very carefully.

Type 2: Implication

These questions take reading comprehension one step further—they are primarily focused on what the author is implying without directly coming out and saying it. These questions will have a correct answer, though, based on evidence from the passage. Which interpretation offered in the answers does the passage most support? You can identify questions like these from words like "best supported," ‘"implies," "suggests," "inferred," and so on.

Type 3: Overall Passage and Author Questions

These questions ask about overall elements of the passage or the author, such as the author's attitude on the issue discussed, the purpose of the passage, the passage's overarching style, the audience for the passage, and so on.

You can identify these questions because they won't refer back to a specific moment in the text. For these questions, you'll need to think of the passage from a "bird's-eye view" and consider what all of the small details together are combining to say.

Type 4: Relationships Between Parts of the Text

Some questions will ask you to describe the relationship between two parts of the text, whether they are paragraphs or specific lines. You can identify these because they will usually explicitly ask about the relationship between two identified parts of the text, although sometimes they will instead ask about a relationship implicitly, by saying something like "compared to the rest of the passage."

Type 5: Interpretation of Imagery/Figurative Language

These questions will ask you about the deeper meaning or implication of figurative language or imagery that is used in the text. Essentially, why did the author choose to use this simile or this metaphor? What is s/he trying to accomplish?

You can generally identify questions like this because the question will specifically reference a moment of figurative language in the text. However, it might not be immediately apparent that the phrase being referenced is figurative, so you may need to go back and look at it in the passage to be sure of what kind of question you are facing.

Type 6: Purpose of Part of the Text

Still other questions will ask you to identify what purpose a particular part of the text serves in the author's larger argument. What is the author trying to accomplish with the particular moment in the text identified in the question?

You can identify these questions because they will generally explicitly ask what purpose a certain part of the text serves. You may also see words or phrases like "serves to" or "function."

Type 7: Rhetorical Strategy

These questions will ask you to identify a rhetorical strategy used by the author. They will often specifically use the phrase "rhetorical strategy," although sometimes you will be able to identify them instead through the answer choices, which offer different rhetorical strategies as possibilities.

Type 8: Composition

This is the newest question type, first seen in the 2019/2020 school year. For these questions, the student will need to act as though they are the writer and think through different choices writers need to make when writing or revising text.

These questions can involve changing the order of sentences or paragraphs, adding or omitting information to strengthen an argument or improve clarity, making changes to draw reader attention, and other composition-based choices.

Some very important stylish effects going on here.

The AP English Language and Composition Free Response

The free response section has a 15-minute reading period. After that time, you will have 120 minutes to write three essays that address three distinct tasks.

Because the first essay involves reading sources, it is suggested that you use the entire 15-minute reading period to read the sources and plan the first essay. However, you may want to glance at the other questions during the reading period so that ideas can percolate in the back of your mind as you work on the first essay.

Essay One: Synthesis

For this essay, you will be briefly oriented on an issue and then given anywhere from six to seven sources that provide various perspectives and information on the issue. You will then need to write an argumentative essay with support from the documents.

If this sounds a lot like a DBQ , as on the history AP exams, that's because it is! However, this essay is much more argumentative in nature—your goal is to persuade, not merely interpret the documents.

Example (documents not included, see 2022 free response questions ):

Essay Two: Rhetorical Analysis

In the second essay, you'll be presented with an excerpt from a nonfiction piece that advances an argument and asked to write an essay analyzing the rhetorical strategies used to construct the passage's argument. You will also be given some orienting information—where the passage was excerpted from, who wrote it, its approximate date, where it was published (if at all), and to whom it was directed.

Example (excerpt not included, see 2022 free response questions ):

Essay Three: Argument

In the third essay, you will be presented with an issue and asked to write a persuasive essay taking a position on the issue. You will need to support your position with evidence from your "reading, experience, and observations."

This doesn't look like a very well-constructed argument.

How The AP Language and Composition Exam Is Scored

The multiple-choice section of the exam is worth 45% of your score, and the free-response section is worth the other 55%. So each of the three free-response essays is worth about 18% of your score.

As on other APs, your raw score will be converted to a scaled score of 1-5. This exam has a relatively low 5 rate. Only 10% of test takers received a 5 in 2022 , although 56% of students received a score of 3 or higher.

In terms of how the raw score is obtained, the multiple-choice section is similar to other AP multiple-choice sections: you receive a point for every question you answer correctly, and there is no penalty for guessing.

The grading rubrics for the free-response questions were revamped in 2019. They are scored using analytic rubrics instead of holistic rubrics. For each free-response question, you will be given a score from 0-6. The rubrics assess three major areas:

#1: Thesis (0 to 1 points): Is there a thesis, and does it properly respond to the prompt?

#2: Evidence and Commentary (0 to 4 points): Does the essay include supporting evidence and analysis that is relevant, specific, well organized, and supports the thesis?

#3: Sophistication (0 to 1 points): Is the essay well-crafted and does it show a sufficiently nuanced understanding of the prompt?

Each scoring rubric broadly assesses these three factors. However, each task is also different in nature, so the rubrics do have some differences. I'll go over each rubric—and what it really means—for you here.

Synthesis Essay Rubrics

EVIDENCE AND COMMENTARY

SOPHISTICATION

Time to synthesize this dough into some cookies.

Rhetorical Analysis Essay Rubrics

Examine your texts closely!

Argumentative Essay Rubrics

The best kind of frenzy is a puppy frenzy!

AP English Language Prep Tips

Unlike its cousin, the AP English Literature and Composition exam, the AP Language and Composition exam (and course) have very little to do with fiction or poetry. So some students used to more traditional English classes may be somewhat at a loss as to what to do to prepare.

Luckily for you, I have a whole slate of preparation tips for you!

Read Nonfiction—In a Smart Way

A major thing you can do to prepare for the AP Lang and Comp exam is to read nonfiction— particularly nonfiction that argues a position , whether explicitly (like an op-ed) or implicitly (like many memoirs and personal essays). Read a variety of non-fiction genres and topics, and pay attention to the following:

• What is the author's argument?
• What evidence do they use to support their position?
• What rhetorical techniques and strategies do they use to build their argument?
• Are they persuasive? What counterarguments can you identify? Do they address them?

Thinking about these questions with all the reading you do will help you hone your rhetorical analysis skills.

Learn Rhetorical Terms and Strategies

Of course, if you're going to be analyzing the nonfiction works you read for their rhetorical techniques and strategies, you need to know what those are! You should learn a robust stable of rhetorical terms from your teacher, but here's my guide to the most important AP Language and Composition terms .

• We've compiled a list of 20 rhetorical devices you should know.
• A heroic individual from Riverside schools in Ohio uploaded this aggressively comprehensive list of rhetorical terms with examples. It's 27 pages long, and you definitely shouldn't expect to know all of these for the exam, but it's a useful resource for learning some new terms.
• Another great resource for learning about rhetorical analysis and how rhetorical devices are actually used is the YouTube Channel Teach Argument , which has videos rhetorically analyzing everything from Taylor Swift music videos to Super Bowl commercials. It's a fun way to think about rhetorical devices and get familiar with argumentative structures.
• Finally, a great book—which you might already use in your class—is " They Say, I Say. " This book provides an overview of rhetoric specifically for academic purposes, which will serve you well for AP preparation and beyond.

You also need to practice argumentative and persuasive writing. In particular, you should practice the writing styles that will be tested on the exam: synthesizing your own argument based on multiple outside sources, rhetorically analyzing another piece of writing in-depth, and creating a completely original argument based on your own evidence and experience.

You should be doing lots of writing assignments in your AP class to prepare, but thoughtful, additional writing will help. You don't necessarily need to turn all of the practice writing you do into polished pieces, either—just writing for yourself, while trying to address some of these tasks, will give you a low-pressure way to try out different rhetorical structures and argumentative moves, as well as practicing things like organization and developing your own writing style.

Not the most auspicious start to an argumentative essay.

Practice for the Exam

Finally, you'll need to practice specifically for the exam format. There are sample multiple-choice questions in the " AP Course and Exam Description ," and old free-response questions on the College Board website.

Unfortunately, the College Board hasn't officially released any complete exams from previous years for the AP English Language and Composition exam, but you might be able to find some that teachers have uploaded to school websites and so on by Googling "AP Language complete released exams." I also have a guide to AP Language and Composition practice tests .

Once you're prepped and ready to go, how can you do your best on the test?

AP Language and Composition Test Day Tips

Here are four key tips for test-day success.

You are one hundred percent success!

Interact With the Text

When you are reading passages, both on the multiple-choice section and for the first two free-response questions, interact with the text! Mark it up for things that seem important, devices you notice, the author's argument, and anything else that seems important to the rhetorical construction of the text. This will help you engage with the text and make it easier to answer questions or write an essay about the passage.

Think About Every Text's Overarching Purpose and Argument

Similarly, with every passage you read, consider the author's overarching purpose and argument. If you can confidently figure out what the author's primary assertion is, it will be easier to trace how all of the other aspects of the text play into the author's main point.

Plan Your Essays

The single most important thing you can do for yourself on the free-response section of the AP English Language exam is to spend a few minutes planning and outlining your essays before you start to write them.

Unlike on some other exams, where the content is the most important aspect of the essay, on the AP Language Exam, organization, a well-developed argument, and strong evidence are all critical to strong essay scores. An outline will help you with all of these things. You'll be able to make sure each part of your argument is logical, has sufficient evidence, and that your paragraphs are arranged in a way that is clear and flows well.

Anticipate and Address Counterarguments

Another thing you can do to give your free responses an extra boost is to identify counterarguments to your position and address them within your essay. This not only helps shore up your own position, but it's also a fairly sophisticated move in a timed essay that will win you kudos with AP graders.

Address counterarguments properly or they might get returned to sender!

Key Takeaways

The AP Language and Composition exam tests your rhetorical skills. The exam has two sections.

The first section is an hour-long, 45 question multiple-choice test based on the rhetorical techniques and composition choices.

The second section is a two-hour free-response section (with a 15-minute initial reading period) with three essay questions: one where you must synthesize given sources to make an original argument, one where you must rhetorically analyze a given passage, and one where you must create a wholly original argument about an issue with no outside sources given.

You'll receive one point for every correct answer on the multiple-choice section of the exam, which is worth 45% of your score. The free-response section is worth 55% of your score. For each free-response question, you'll get a score based on a rubric from 0-6. Your total raw score will be converted to a scaled score from 1-5.

Here are some test prep strategies for AP Lang:

#1 : Read nonfiction with an eye for rhetoric #2 : Learn rhetorical strategies and techniques #3 : Practice writing to deploy rhetorical skills #4 : Practice for the exam!

Here are some test-day success tips:

#1 : Interact with each passage you encounter! #2 : Consider every text's overarching purpose and argument. #3 : Keep track of time #4 : Plan your essays #5 : Identify and address counterarguments in your essays.

With all of this knowledge, you're ready to slay the AP English Language and Composition beast!

Noble knight, prepare to slay the AP dragon!

What's Next?

Want more AP Lang review? We have a complete collection of released AP Language practice tests , as well as a list of the AP Lang terms you need to know and a guide to the multiple choice section .

Taking the AP Literature exam? Check out our ultimate guide to the AP English Literature test and our list of AP Literature practice tests .

Taking other AP exams? See our Ultimate Guides to AP World History , AP US History , AP Chemistry , AP Biology , AP World History , and AP Human Geography .

Need more AP prep guidance? Check out how to study for AP exams and how to find AP practice tests .

These recommendations are based solely on our knowledge and experience. If you purchase an item through one of our links, PrepScholar may receive a commission.

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Associated Press (AP) Style Guide: AP Style Guide

Ap style guide.

• Primary and Secondary Sources
• Basic Research Strategies
• Evaluating Sources
• Contact Information & Feedback

AP Style Guide Information

• NMU Writing Center Dept This link provides information regarding Associated Press style. The following information comes from the NMU Writing Center.

What is AP Style?

AP Style (a.k.a. Associated Press Style) provides guidelines for grammar and citations in news writing. It's the style guide most newspapers, magazines, and other media outlets use, so this style is a must-have for anyone who wants to work in journalism or media writing.

History of AP Style

The Associated Press was founded in 1848 by six New York newspapers who desired to share resources for international news.  The newspapers saved money by sharing the news that arrived by telegraph wire and dividing the expenses evenly; this prevented competition for information.  The AP is currently the largest news gathering organization in the world and uses its style to keep the news easy to read, concise and free of bias. First published in 1977, The Associated Press Stylebook lists the rules regarding grammar, spelling, punctuation and usage. The Stylebook is the standard guide for most U.S. newspapers, magazines and other media.

Using AP Style

Note: This is not a substitute to the AP Stylebook, which is changing often and contains thousands of entries.

Spell out numbers one through nine, but write numbers 10 and above as numerals.

Example: She bought three cats and 11 bags of cat food.

Percentages

Write percentages as numerals, followed by the word "percent."

Example: The unemployment rate rose by 2 percent.

Write ages using numerals.

Example: He is 111 years old.

Dollar amounts

Express dollar amounts as numerals, preceded by the "$" sign.

Example: $5, $15, $150, $150,000, $15 million, $15 billion, $15.5 billion

Street addresses

Use numerals for numbered addresses. Abbreviate street, avenue, and boulevard when used with a numbered address, but otherwise spell them out. Never abbreviate route or road.

Example: He lives at 123 Washington St.

Example: His house is on Washington Street.

Example: Her house in on 234 Hancock Road.

Use numerals for dates, but do not include "th" after the date. Abbreviate months August through February when used with dates. Do not abbreviate months March through July when used with a date or any month without a date.

Example: The festival is on Oct. 15.

Example: She had her baby on July 12.

Example: I love the weather in November.

Job titles are generally capitalized when they appear before a person's name, but lowercase after the name.

Example: President Barack Obama has two daughters.  

Example: Barack Obama was the president.

Film, book, and song titles

Capitalize titles. Put long works in italics and short works in quotes. Do not use quote marks with reference books or the names of newspapers or magazines.

Example: He rented Harry Potter  on DVD.

Example: She read an essay called "How to Catch a Butterfly." 

• Associated Press Style The following information comes from the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) Associated Press Style.

Associated Press Style Introduction

Associated Press style provides guidelines for news writing. Many newspapers, magazines and public relations offices across the United States use AP style. Although some publications such as the New York Times have developed their own style guidelines, a basic knowledge of AP style is considered essential to those who want to work in print journalism.

This Web page is intended to provide an introduction to AP style and a summary of some AP style rules; however, the Associated Press Stylebook includes more than 5,000 entries – far more than can be covered here. For a complete guide to AP style, writers should consult the most recent edition of the Associated Press Stylebook or visit the AP Stylebook website .

The content of newspapers and other mass media is typically the result of many different writers and editors working together. AP style provides consistent guidelines for such publications in terms of grammar, spelling, punctuation and language usage. Some guiding principles behind AP style are:

• Consistency

AP style also aims to avoid stereotypes and unintentionally offensive language.

Common Style Guidelines

The Associated Press Stylebook provides an A-Z guide to issues such as capitalization, abbreviation, punctuation, spelling, numerals and many other questions of language usage. What follows are summaries of some of the most common style rules.

Abbreviations and Acronyms

Some widely known abbreviations are required in certain situations, while others are acceptable but not required in some contexts. For example, Dr., Gov., Lt. Gov., Rep., the Rev. and Sen. are required before a person’s full name when they occur outside a direct quotation. Please note, that medical and political titles only need to be used on first reference when they appear outside of a direct quote. For courtesy titles, use these on second reference or when specifically requested. Other acronyms and abbreviations are acceptable but not required (i.e. FBI, CIA, GOP). The context should govern such decisions.

As a general rule, though, you should avoid what the Associated Press Stylebook calls “alphabet soup.” Consult the Associated Press Stylebook for specific cases.

For numbered addresses, always use figures. Abbreviate Ave., Blvd., and St. and directional cues when used with a numbered address. Always spell out other words such as alley, drive and road . If the street name or directional cue is used without a numbered address, it should be capitalized and spelled out. If a street name is a number, spell out First through Ninth and use figures for 10th and higher. Here are some examples of correctly formatted addresses: 101 N. Grant St., Northwestern Avenue, South Ninth Street, 102 S. 10th St., 605 Woodside Drive.

For ages, always use figures. If the age is used as an adjective or as a substitute for a noun, then it should be hyphenated. Don’t use apostrophes when describing an age range. Examples: A 21-year-old student. The student is 21 years old. The girl, 8, has a brother, 11. The contest is for 18-year-olds. He is in his 20s.

Books, Periodicals, Reference Works, and Other Types of Compositions

Use quotation marks around the titles of books, songs, television shows, computer games, poems, lectures, speeches and works of art. Examples: Author Porter Shreve read from his new book, “When the White House Was Ours.” They sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” before the game.

Do not use quotations around the names of magazine, newspapers, the Bible or books that are catalogues of reference materials. Examples: The Washington Post first reported the story. He reads the Bible every morning.

Do not underline or italicize any of the above.

Dates, Months, Years, Days of the Week

For dates and years, use figures. Do not use st, nd, rd, or th with dates, and use Arabic figures. Always capitalize months. Spell out the month unless it is used with a date. When used with a date, abbreviate only the following months: Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov. and Dec.

Commas are not necessary if only a year and month are given, but commas should be used to set off a year if the date, month and year are given. Use the letter s but not an apostrophe after the figures when expressing decades or centuries. Do, however, use an apostrophe before figures expressing a decade if numerals are left out. Examples: Classes begin Aug. 25. Purdue University was founded May 6, 1869. The semester begins in January. The 1800s. The ’90s.

If you refer to an event that occurred the day prior to when the article will appear, do not use the word yesterday. Instead, use the day of the week. Capitalize days of the week, but do not abbreviate. If an event occurs more than seven days before or after the current date, use the month and a figure.

Newspapers use datelines when the information for a story is obtained outside the paper’s hometown or general area of service. Datelines appear at the beginning of stories and include the name of the city in all capital letters, usually followed the state or territory in which the city is located. The Associated Press Stylebook lists 30 U.S. cities that do not need to be followed by the name of a state. See states and cities below. Examples:

• DENVER – The Democratic National Convention began...
• ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Republican National Convention began...
• YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – President Bush spoke to a group...

When writing about height, weight or other dimensions, use figures and spell out words such as feet, miles, etc. Examples: She is 5-foot-3. He wrote with a 2-inch pencil.

Use figures for any distances over 10. For any distances below 10, spell out the distance. Examples: My flight covered 1,113 miles. The airport runway is three miles long.

Always use a person’s first and last name the first time they are mentioned in a story. Only use last names on second reference. Do not use courtesy titles such as Mr., Mrs., Miss or Ms. unless they are part of a direct quotation or are needed to differentiate between people who have the same last name.

Never begin a sentence with a figure, except for sentences that begin with a year. Examples: Two hundred freshmen attended. Five actors took the stage. 1776 was an important year.

Use roman numerals to describe wars and to show sequences for people. Examples: World War II, Pope John Paul II, Elizabeth II.

For ordinal numbers, spell out first through ninth and use figures for 10th and above when describing order in time or location. Examples: second base, 10th in a row. Some ordinal numbers, such as those indicating political or geographic order, should use figures in all cases. Examples: 3rd District Court, 9th ward.

For cardinal numbers, consult individual entries in the Associated Press Stylebook. If no usage is specified, spell out numbers below 10 and use figures for numbers 10 and above. Example: The man had five children and 11 grandchildren.

When referring to money, use numerals. For cents or amounts of $1 million or more, spell the words cents, million, billion, trillion etc. Examples: $26.52, $100,200, $8 million, 6 cents.

Punctuation

Use a single space after a period.

Do not use commas before a conjunction in a simple series. Example: In art class, they learned that red, yellow and blue are primary colors. His brothers are Tom, Joe, Frank and Pete. However, a comma should be used before the terminal conjunction in a complex series, if part of that series also contains a conjunction. Example: Purdue University's English Department offers doctoral majors in Literature, Second Language Studies, English Language and Linguistics, and Rhetoric and Composition.

Commas and periods go within quotation marks. Example: “I did nothing wrong,” he said. She said, “Let’s go to the Purdue game.”

States and Cities

When the name of a state name appears in the body of a text, spell it out. State abbreviations should also be avoided in headlines where possible. States should be abbreviated when used as part of a short-form political affiliation. Examples: He was travelling to Nashville, Tenn. The peace accord was signed in Dayton, Ohio. The storm began in Indiana and moved west toward Peoria, Ill. Updated guidance to AP style notes that state names can also be abbreviated for the following purposes:

• Naming states in dateline text
• Naming states in photo captions
• Naming states in lists or tables
• Naming states in in editor's notes and credit lines

Here is how each state is abbreviated in AP style (with the postal code abbreviations in parentheses):

You will notice that eight states are missing from this list. That is because Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas and Utah are never abbreviated.

AP style does not require the name of a state to accompany the names of the following 30 cities:

The exact time when an event has occurred or will occur is unnecessary for most stories. Of course, there are occasions when the time of day is important. In such cases, use figures, but spell out noon and midnight . Use a colon to separate hours from minutes, but do not use :00 . Examples: 1 p.m., 3:30 a.m.

Generally, capitalize formal titles when they appear before a person’s name, but lowercase titles if they are informal, appear without a person’s name, follow a person’s name or are set off before a name by commas. Also, lowercase adjectives that designate the status of a title. If a title is long, place it after the person’s name, or set it off with commas before the person’s name. Examples: President Bush; President-elect Obama; Sen. Harry Reid; Evan Bayh, a senator from Indiana; the senior senator from Indiana, Dick Lugar; former President George H.W. Bush; Paul Schneider, deputy secretary of homeland security.

Technological Terms

Here are the correct spelling and capitalization rules for some common technological terms:

• BlackBerry, BlackBerrys
• eBay Inc. (use EBay Inc. when the word begins a sentence)
• e-book reader
• Google, Googling, Googled
• IM ( IMed, IMing ; for first reference, use instant messenger )
• iPad, iPhone, iPod (use IPad, IPhone, or IPod when the word begins a sentence)
• social media
• Twitter, tweet, tweeted, retweet
• World Wide Web, website (see the AP's tweet about the change) , Web page
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AP English Language and Composition Writing Study Skills

Writing is central to the AP English courses and exams. Both courses have two goals: to provide you with opportunities to become skilled, mature, critical readers, and to help you to develop into practiced, logical, clear, and honest writers. In AP English, writing is taught as “process”—that is, thinking, planning, drafting the text, then reviewing, discussing, redrafting, editing, polishing, and finishing it. It’s also important that AP students learn to write “on call” or “on demand.” Learning to write critical or expository essays on call takes time and practice.

Here are some key guidelines to remember in learning to write a critical essay:

• Take time to organize your ideas.
• Make pertinent use of the text given to you to analyze.
• Quote judiciously from the text to support your observations.
• Be logical in your exposition of ideas.

If you acquire these skills—organizing ideas, marshalling evidence, being logical in analysis, and using the text judiciously—you should have little trouble writing your essays on the AP Exam. Practice in other kinds of writing—narrative, argument, exposition, and personal writing—all have their place alongside practice in writing on demand.

As you study and practice writing, consider the following points.

Reading directly influences writing skills and habits.

Reading and writing are intertwined. When you read what published authors have written you are immersed not just in their ideas, but in the pulsing of their sentences and the aptness of their diction. The more you read, the more that the rhythm of the English language will be available to influence your writing. Reading is not a substitute for writing, but it does help lay the foundation that makes good writing possible.

Writing is fun.

When you have penned what you think is a great sentence or a clean, logical paragraph, read it over to yourself out loud. Enjoy it. Delight in the ideas, savor the diction, and let the phrases and clauses roll around in your mind. Claim it as part of yourself. You may discover you have a voice worthy of respect.

A tip from E. M. Forster

He is reputed to have said that he never knew clearly what it was he thought until he spoke it; and once he had said it, he never knew clearly what it was that he said until he had written it down. Then, Forster noted, he could play with it and give it final form. Be like Forster: think, speak, write, analyze your writing, then give it final shape.

Write purposefully with rhetorical awareness.

When you write, fashion your text with awareness of key rhetorical elements. What is the message of your text? How do you intend to convey your message to your particular audience? Give shape to your thinking with language that enlightens your readers and lets you achieve your aims.

Pay close attention to the task verbs used in the free-response questions. Each one directs you to complete a specific type of response. Here are the task verbs you’ll see on the exam:

• Analyze: Examine methodically and in detail the structure of the topic of the question for purposes of interpretation and explanation.
• Argue your position: Formulate a claim and support it with evidence.
• Read: Look at or view printed directions and provided passages.
• Synthesize: Combine different perspectives from sources to form a support of a coherent position.
• Write: Produce a response in writing.

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Ultimate Guide to the AP English Language and Composition Exam

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The AP Language and Composition exam is one of the most popular exams taken year after year. In fact, in 2019, over 10% of the more than five million students who took AP exams took the Language and Composition test. AP Lang is most often taken by high school juniors, many of whom go on to take the AP English Literature exam their senior year. Plenty of seniors and even sophomores take this test too though, contributing to its popularity. If you’re planning to take the AP Language and Composition exam, whether you have taken the class or self-studied, look no further. Here’s our complete guide to the AP Lang exam, full of expert tips and free study resources.

When is the AP Language and Composition Exam?

On Wednesday, May 6, at 8 am, the College Board will hold the 2020 AP Language and Composition exam. For a comprehensive listing of all the AP exam times and AP score distributions from 2019, check out our post 2020 AP Exam Schedule: Everything You Need to Know .    

About the AP Language and Composition Exam

The AP Language and Composition exam is based primarily on the study of rhetoric, wherein an author attempts to persuade, inform, or motivate an audience using established techniques. The College Board encourages students who are interested in studying and writing various kinds of analytic or persuasive essays on nonliterary topics to take this course. It tests students on their reading comprehension, rhetorical analysis, synthesis of information, and written argumentation.

Big Ideas: The AP Language and Composition exam is built on a foundation of four big ideas. Big ideas are threads that run throughout the AP Language and Composition course that are vital for making connections and developing a deeper understanding of concepts found within it. The four big ideas are: 

• Rhetorical Situation: Understanding what an author is communicating, how they convey that message, and what the impact of their rhetorical strategies are.
• Claims and Evidence: Making claims and justifying them, while acknowledging or responding to opposing arguments. 
• Reasoning and Organization: Guiding a reader’s understanding of text through its organization and the development of its argument. 
• Style: The stylistic choices writers make and their impact. 

Course Skills: Along with exploring and connecting concepts with big ideas, students will develop eight course skills—four sets of two paired reading and writing skills—necessary for analyzing and composing arguments. The course skills and the weight they’re given on the multiple-choice section of the AP Language and Composition exam are: 

  About the AP Language and Composition Exam Content

The Language and Composition exam is one of the longer AP exams, clocking in at 3 hours and 15 minutes from start to finish. The Language and Composition exam is structured in two sections—one featuring multiple-choice, the other free-response questions. 

Section 1: Multiple Choice 

1 hour | 45 questions | 45% of score

There have been some changes to the AP Language and Composition Exam for 2020. The first section remains one hour long and is still worth 45% of your score, but the number of questions has shrunk from 52-55 to 45. The variance in types of questions asked is also now more clearly defined—questions are now presented in 5 sets with 23-25 reading questions (reading and analyzing nonfiction texts) and 20-22 writing questions (“read like a writer” and consider revisions to stimulus texts), both of which will use shorter stimuli than previous exams. Below is the structure of the multiple-choice section of the AP Language and Composition exam. 

Sample of a multiple-choice reading question: 

Sample multiple-choice writing question: 

Section 2: Free Response

2 hour 15 minutes | 3 questions | 55% of score

The second section takes 2 hours and 15 minutes to complete and consists of 3 free response questions worth 55% of your score. These prompts are each of a different type: one synthesis question, one passage analysis, and one argumentative essay.

Synthesis Question: The synthesis question asks students to consider a scenario and then formulate a response to a specific element of it using at least three accompanying sources for support. Sources used in the essay need to be cited to be considered legitimate.  

Sample synthesis free response question: 

Analysis Question: The analysis question asks students to read a short passage and analyze and discuss various devices used by the author, such as strategies, argumentative techniques, or motivations. 

Sample analysis free response question: 

Argument Question: The argument question gives a position in the form of an assertion from a documented source and asks students to form their own argument to defend, challenge, or qualify it using supporting evidence. 

Sample argument free response question: 

The format of the free response section is unchanged this year; however, the scoring has shifted from a holistic rubric to an analytic rubric. The new rubric hasn’t been released, but you can gain insight into what type of answers the College Board is looking for by reading the sample free response questions found in the AP Language and Composition Course and Exam Description . 

AP Language and Composition Score Distribution, Average Score, and Passing Rate

In 2019, 54.3% of the students who took the AP English Language and Composition exam received a score of 3 or higher. Only 9.9% of students who took the exam achieved the top score of 5, and 14.5% of students who took the exam scored a 1. That said, students take the course seriously and prepare diligently will often find that the test is not as difficult as the results indicate.

 If you’re curious about other score distributions, see our post Easiest and Hardest AP Exams .

Best Ways to Study for the AP Language and Composition Exam

Step 1: assess your skills.

Take a practice test to assess your initial knowledge. Though the College Board AP Language and Composition website provides a number of sample test questions, it does not provide a complete sample test. You can find a practice test in many of the official study guides, and some even include a diagnostic test to act as your initial assessment. Varsity Tutors offers a handful of free AP Language and Composition diagnostic tests on its website. You’ll also find a free practice exam from College Countdown to use for your assessment. 

Once you have taken some kind of formative assessment, score it to identify your areas of strength and areas in need of improvement. It can be helpful to have a teacher or friend score your free-response essays, as these are a bit more subjective than the multiple-choice section. With an accurate formative assessment, you’ll have a better idea of where to focus your studying efforts.

Step 2: Know Your Material

In the case of AP English Language and Composition, this means focusing on your reading and writing skills.

When reading, make sure to preview important elements such as the title, author’s name, and any other information available like the table of contents or introduction. As you read, make sure to stop periodically to consider the main ideas and the way the author supports them. Underline important evidence as you go. Reread complex or important sentences.      

One consultant to the College Board writes about the “SOAPSTone” approach to reading, which is an acronym for a series of questions that students should ask themselves when analyzing a 

piece of prose. The questions are:

• Who is the Speaker?
• What is the Occasion?
• Who is the Audience?
• What is the Purpose?
• What is the Subject?
• What is the Tone?

For more about using this technique, read about it on the College Board website .

Writing high-quality free-response essays takes practice and time. Make sure to organize your ideas using a rough outline before you begin writing. Use direct evidence from the text to support your ideas, and quote judiciously with correct citations. As you’re writing, be aware of rhetorical elements and use them effectively.

For more specific information about the test, consider using a formal study guide, such as Barron’s AP English Language and Composition, 7th Edition or the Princeton Review’s Cracking the AP English Language & Composition Exam 2020, Premium Edition . 

Alternatively, there are many online study resources available. Some AP teachers have even published their own study guides or review sheets online, like this AP Lang guide by Mrs. Smith at Pinnacle High School.

Another way to study is to use one of the recently-developed apps for AP exams. These are a great way to get practice questions in while on-the-go. Make sure you read reviews before choosing one, as their quality varies widely. This AP Lang app by Varsity Tutors has decent reviews, and might be worth checking out.

Step 3: Practice Multiple-Choice Questions

Once you have your theory down, test it out by practicing multiple-choice questions. You can find these in most study guides or through online searches. Here are some AP Lang practice questions and tests , and more are available in the College Board’s course description .

Try to keep track of which areas are still tripping you up, and go back over this theory again. Keep in mind, the key to answering questions correctly is understanding the passage, so practice active reading skills as you tackle the multiple-choice questions. This includes underlining, mouthing words, and circling key points. Remember, the answer will always be found in the text.

Step 4: Practice Free-Response Essays

As indicated on your exam, it is recommended that you spend 15 minutes reading the question, analyzing, and evaluating the sources, and 40 minutes writing your response. Try to stick to this timeline when practicing your free-response essays to see if it works for you. You do not have to follow it on exam day, but having a good idea of how much time it typically takes for you to plan and write will be an advantage.

As you tackle your open responses, identify what each is asking you to do. When asked to synthesize, you know you will be taking pieces of evidence from multiple sources to form a single argument. Use specific examples and make them stand out by explicitly stating, “For example…” or “As Source C indicates in paragraph 3…” Also, be sure to cite your sources appropriately while writing.

When writing an analysis of rhetorical strategies used, first consider the elements of SOAPSTone as discussed above. Also consider the five canons of rhetoric . This means thinking about the author’s invention, arrangement, and style. Memory and delivery are obviously less apparent in written pieces, but their roles in a speech are still important. As you read, try to underline specific places that highlight relevant examples.   

Finally, when writing your own persuasive argument, support your ideas with concrete examples from current events, literature, etc. Try to vary your sources to build credibility and address counterpoints to craft an even stronger response.

As you prepare for the writing portion of your exam, be sure to review how your free responses will be scored. The College Board supplies free response questions and authentic scored student responses with written explanations dating back to 1999; these are an invaluable tool for this exercise.

Step 5: Take Another Practice Test

Take another practice test to evaluate the progression of your knowledge, as well as identify persistent areas of weakness. Study.com offers a free online practice AP Language and Composition exam . Over time, you should begin to notice areas in which your studying should be increased and those which you are strong in. Repeat the above steps if time permits to incrementally increase your score. 

Step 6: Exam Day Specifics

If you’re taking the AP course associated with this exam, your teacher will walk you through how to register. If you’re self-studying, check out our blog post How to Self-Register for AP Exams .

For information about what to bring to the exam, see our post What Should I Bring to My AP Exam (And What Should I Definitely Leave at Home)?

Want access to expert college guidance — for free? When you create your free CollegeVine account, you will find out your real admissions chances, build a best-fit school list, learn how to improve your profile, and get your questions answered by experts and peers—all for free. Sign up for your CollegeVine account today to get a boost on your college journey.

For more guidance about the AP exams, check out these other informative articles: 

2020 AP Exam Schedule

How Long is Each AP Exam?

Easiest and Hardest AP Exams

Related CollegeVine Blog Posts

AP Style Composition Titles

Home » AP Style » AP Style Composition Titles

The following guidelines are rules set out in the AP Stylebook for AP style book titles, computer game titles, AP Style movie titles, opera titles, play titles, poem titles, album titles, AP Style song titles, radio and television titles, and the titles of lectures, speeches, and work of art.

In AP Style, magazines names and titles are governed by their own rules. See AP Style Magazine Names .

How to Capitalize Composition Titles

Capitalize the principal words, including prepositions and conjunctions of four or more letters.

Capitalize an article (a, an, the) or words of fewer than four letters if it is the first or last word in the title.

Put quotation marks around the names of all of the aforementioned types of works except the Bible and books that are primarily catalogs or reference materials. Items of reference include almanacs, directories, dictionaries, encyclopedias, gazetteers, handbooks, and other such similar publications. You should not include quotations around such software titles such as Adobe Photoshop or Windows.

You should translate a foreign title into an English one unless the specific word is commonly known by its foreign name. There is one exception to this and that is for reviews of musical performances. In such instances, you should generally refer to the work in the language that it was sung in, so as to differentiate it for your reader. However, musical compositions in Slavic languages are always referred to in their English translations.

For other classical music titles, use quotation marks around the composition’s nicknames but not compositions that are identified by their sequence. For example,

• Beethoven’s “New World Symphony,” but Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.

Below are a number of examples for composition titles in AP Style,

AP Style Book Titles

• “To Kill a Mockingbird”
• “The Magician’s Nephew”
• “Of Mice and Men”

AP Style Movie Titles

• “Saving Private Ryan”
• “Trouble With the Curve”
• “The Dark Knight Rises”

AP Style Song Titles

• “Stairway to Heaven”
• “Good Vibrations

AP Style Videogame Titles

• “Call of Duty”
• “God of War”
• “Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell”

AP Style Opera Titles

• “A Night in the Chinese Opera”
• “Nixon in China”
• “The Lighthouse”

AP Style Play Titles

• “The Sound of Music”
• “The Book of Mormon”
• “Fiddler on the Roof”

AP Style Poem Titles

• “The Road Not Taken”
• “A Pretty a Day”
• “Seeker of Truth”

AP Style Album Titles

• “Appetite for Destruction”
• “And Justice for All”
• “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”

AP Style Television Titles

• “How I Met Your Mother”
• “The Tonight Show”
• “Good Morning America”

AP Style Website Titles

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Want to write a college essay that sets you apart? Three tips to give you a head start

1. Keep it real. It’s normal to want to make a good impression on the school of your choice, but it’s also important to show who you really are. So just be yourself! Compelling stories might not be perfectly linear or have a happy ending, and that’s OK. It’s best to be authentic instead of telling schools what you think they want to hear.

2. Be reflective . Think about how you’ve changed during high school. How have you grown and improved? What makes you feel ready for college, and how do you hope to contribute to the campus community and society at large?

3. Look to the future. Consider your reasons for attending college. What do you hope to gain from your education? What about college excites you the most, and what would you like to do after you graduate? Answering these questions will not only give colleges insight into the kind of student you’ll be, but it will also give you the personal insight you’ll need to choose the school that’s right for you.

Have questions about college prep? We're here to help.

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MIT study explains why laws are written in an incomprehensible style

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Legal documents are notoriously difficult to understand, even for lawyers. This raises the question: Why are these documents written in a style that makes them so impenetrable?

MIT cognitive scientists believe they have uncovered the answer to that question. Just as “magic spells” use special rhymes and archaic terms to signal their power, the convoluted language of legalese acts to convey a sense of authority, they conclude.

In a study appearing this week in the journal of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , the researchers found that even non-lawyers use this type of language when asked to write laws.

“People seem to understand that there’s an implicit rule that this is how laws should sound, and they write them that way,” says Edward Gibson, an MIT professor of brain and cognitive sciences and the senior author of the study.

Eric Martinez PhD ’24 is the lead author of the study. Francis Mollica, a lecturer at the University of Melbourne, is also an author of the paper .

Casting a legal spell

Gibson’s research group has been studying the unique characteristics of legalese since 2020, when Martinez came to MIT after earning a law degree from Harvard Law School. In a 2022 study , Gibson, Martinez, and Mollica analyzed legal contracts totaling about 3.5 million words, comparing them with other types of writing, including movie scripts, newspaper articles, and academic papers.

That analysis revealed that legal documents frequently have long definitions inserted in the middle of sentences — a feature known as “center-embedding.” Linguists have previously found that this kind of structure can make text much more difficult to understand.

“Legalese somehow has developed this tendency to put structures inside other structures, in a way which is not typical of human languages,” Gibson says.

In a follow-up study published in 2023, the researchers found that legalese also makes documents more difficult for lawyers to understand. Lawyers tended to prefer plain English versions of documents, and they rated those versions to be just as enforceable as traditional legal documents.

“Lawyers also find legalese to be unwieldy and complicated,” Gibson says. “Lawyers don’t like it, laypeople don’t like it, so the point of this current paper was to try and figure out why they write documents this way.”

The researchers had a couple of hypotheses for why legalese is so prevalent. One was the “copy and edit hypothesis,” which suggests that legal documents begin with a simple premise, and then additional information and definitions are inserted into already existing sentences, creating complex center-embedded clauses.

“We thought it was plausible that what happens is you start with an initial draft that’s simple, and then later you think of all these other conditions that you want to include. And the idea is that once you’ve started, it’s much easier to center-embed that into the existing provision,” says Martinez, who is now a fellow and instructor at the University of Chicago Law School.

However, the findings ended up pointing toward a different hypothesis, the so-called “magic spell hypothesis.” Just as magic spells are written with a distinctive style that sets them apart from everyday language, the convoluted style of legal language appears to signal a special kind of authority, the researchers say.

“In English culture, if you want to write something that’s a magic spell, people know that the way to do that is you put a lot of old-fashioned rhymes in there. We think maybe center-embedding is signaling legalese in the same way,” Gibson says.

In this study, the researchers asked about 200 non-lawyers (native speakers of English living in the United States, who were recruited through a crowdsourcing site called Prolific), to write two types of texts. In the first task, people were told to write laws prohibiting crimes such as drunk driving, burglary, arson, and drug trafficking. In the second task, they were asked to write stories about those crimes.

To test the copy and edit hypothesis, half of the participants were asked to add additional information after they wrote their initial law or story. The researchers found that all of the subjects wrote laws with center-embedded clauses, regardless of whether they wrote the law all at once or were told to write a draft and then add to it later. And, when they wrote stories related to those laws, they wrote in much plainer English, regardless of whether they had to add information later.

“When writing laws, they did a lot of center-embedding regardless of whether or not they had to edit it or write it from scratch. And in that narrative text, they did not use center-embedding in either case,” Martinez says.

In another set of experiments, about 80 participants were asked to write laws, as well as descriptions that would explain those laws to visitors from another country. In these experiments, participants again used center-embedding for their laws, but not for the descriptions of those laws.

The origins of legalese

Gibson’s lab is now investigating the origins of center-embedding in legal documents. Early American laws were based on British law, so the researchers plan to analyze British laws to see if they feature the same kind of grammatical construction. And going back much farther, they plan to analyze whether center-embedding is found in the Hammurabi Code, the earliest known set of laws, which dates to around 1750 BC.

“There may be just a stylistic way of writing from back then, and if it was seen as successful, people would use that style in other languages,” Gibson says. “I would guess that it’s an accidental property of how the laws were written the first time, but we don’t know that yet.”

The researchers hope that their work, which has identified specific aspects of legal language that make it more difficult to understand, will motivate lawmakers to try to make laws more comprehensible. Efforts to write legal documents in plainer language date to at least the 1970s, when President Richard Nixon declared that federal regulations should be written in “layman’s terms.” However, legal language has changed very little since that time.

“We have learned only very recently what it is that makes legal language so complicated, and therefore I am optimistic about being able to change it,” Gibson says. 

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What is ChatGPT? Here's everything you need to know about OpenAI's chatbot

• ChatGPT is getting a futuristic human update. 
• ChatGPT has attracted users at a feverish pace and spurred Big Tech to release other AI chatbots.
• Here's how ChatGPT works — and what's coming next.

OpenAI has started rolling out an advanced voice mode for its blockbuster chatbot ChatGPT.

Sam Altman's company began rolling out the chatbot's new voice mode to a small group of ChatGPT Plus users in July. OpenAI said the new voice feature "offers more natural, real-time conversations, allows you to interrupt anytime, and senses and responds to your emotions."

The feature is part of OpenAI's wider GPT-4o launch, a new version of the bot that can hold conversations with users and has vision abilities. The chatbot's vision features are expected as a later release. 

The move is a big step for the future of AI-powered virtual assistants, which tech companies have been racing to develop.

Since its release in late 2022, hundreds of millions of people have experimented with the tool, which is already changing how the internet looks and feels to users.

Users have flocked to ChatGPT to improve their personal lives and boost productivity . Some workers have used the AI chatbot to develop code , write real estate listings , and create lesson plans, while others have made teaching the best ways to use ChatGPT a career all to itself.

ChatGPT offers dozens of plug-ins to ChatGPT Plus subscribers. An Expedia plug-in can help you book a trip, while one from OpenTable will nab you a dinner reservation. OpenAI has also launched Code Interpreter, a version of ChatGPT that can code and analyze data .

While the personal tone of conversations with an AI bot like ChatGPT can evoke the experience of chatting with a human, the technology that runs on large language model tools doesn't speak with sentience and doesn't "think" the way humans do. 

That means that even though ChatGPT can explain quantum physics or write a poem on command, a full AI takeover isn't exactly imminent , according to experts.

"There's a saying that an infinite number of monkeys will eventually give you Shakespeare," said Matthew Sag, a law professor at Emory University who studies copyright implications for training and using large language models like ChatGPT.

"There's a large number of monkeys here, giving you things that are impressive — but there is intrinsically a difference between the way that humans produce language, and the way that large language models do it," he said. 

Chatbots like ChatGPT are powered by large amounts of data and computing techniques to make predictions to string words together in a meaningful way. They not only tap into a vast amount of vocabulary and information, but also understand words in context. This helps them mimic speech patterns while dispatching an encyclopedic knowledge. 

Other tech companies like Google and Meta have developed their own large language model tools, which use programs that take in human prompts and devise sophisticated responses.

Despite the AI's impressive capabilities, some have called out OpenAI's chatbot for spewing misinformation , stealing personal data for training purposes , and even encouraging students to cheat and plagiarize on their assignments. 

Some efforts to use chatbots for real-world services have proved troubling. In 2023, the mental health company Koko came under fire after its founder wrote about how the company used GPT-3 in an experiment to reply to users. 

Koko cofounder Rob Morris hastened to clarify on Twitter that users weren't speaking directly to a chatbot, but that AI was used to "help craft" responses. 

Read Insider's coverage on ChatGPT and some of the strange new ways that both people and companies are using chat bots: 

The tech world's reception to ChatGPT:

Microsoft is chill with employees using ChatGPT — just don't share 'sensitive data' with it.

Microsoft's investment into ChatGPT's creator may be the smartest $1 billion ever spent

ChatGPT and generative AI look like tech's next boom. They could be the next bubble.

The ChatGPT and generative-AI 'gold rush' has founders flocking to San Francisco's 'Cerebral Valley'

Insider's experiments: 

I asked ChatGPT to do my work and write an Insider article for me. It quickly generated an alarmingly convincing article filled with misinformation.

I asked ChatGPT and a human matchmaker to redo my Hinge and Bumble profiles. They helped show me what works.

I asked ChatGPT to reply to my Hinge matches. No one responded.

I used ChatGPT to write a resignation letter. A lawyer said it made one crucial error that could have invalidated the whole thing .

Read ChatGPT's 'insulting' and 'garbage' 'Succession' finale script

An Iowa school district asked ChatGPT if a list of books contains sex scenes, and banned them if it said yes. We put the system to the test and found a bunch of problems.

Developments in detecting ChatGPT: 

Teachers rejoice! ChatGPT creators have released a tool to help detect AI-generated writing

A Princeton student built an app which can detect if ChatGPT wrote an essay to combat AI-based plagiarism

Professors want to 'ChatGPT-proof' assignments, and are returning to paper exams and requesting editing history to curb AI cheating

Related stories

ChatGPT in society: 

BuzzFeed writers react with a mix of disappointment and excitement at news that AI-generated content is coming to the website

ChatGPT is testing a paid version — here's what that means for free users

A top UK private school is changing its approach to homework amid the rise of ChatGPT, as educators around the world adapt to AI

Princeton computer science professor says don't panic over 'bullshit generator' ChatGPT

DoNotPay's CEO says threat of 'jail for 6 months' means plan to debut AI 'robot lawyer' in courtroom is on ice

It might be possible to fight a traffic ticket with an AI 'robot lawyer' secretly feeding you lines to your AirPods, but it could go off the rails

Online mental health company uses ChatGPT to help respond to users in experiment — raising ethical concerns around healthcare and AI technology

What public figures think about ChatGPT and other AI tools:

What Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and 12 other business leaders think about AI tools like ChatGPT

Elon Musk was reportedly 'furious' at ChatGPT's popularity after he left the company behind it, OpenAI, years ago

CEO of ChatGPT maker responds to schools' plagiarism concerns: 'We adapted to calculators and changed what we tested in math class'

A theoretical physicist says AI is just a 'glorified tape recorder' and people's fears about it are overblown

'The most stunning demo I've ever seen in my life': ChatGPT impressed Bill Gates

Ashton Kutcher says your company will probably be 'out of business' if you're 'sleeping' on AI

ChatGPT's impact on jobs: 

AI systems like ChatGPT could impact 300 million full-time jobs worldwide, with administrative and legal roles some of the most at risk, Goldman Sachs report says

Jobs are now requiring experience with ChatGPT — and they'll pay as much as $800,000 a year for the skill

ChatGPT may be coming for our jobs. Here are the 10 roles that AI is most likely to replace.

AI is going to eliminate way more jobs than anyone realizes

It's not AI that is going to take your job, but someone who knows how to use AI might, economist says

4 careers where workers will have to change jobs by 2030 due to AI and shifts in how we shop, a McKinsey study says

Companies like Amazon, Netflix, and Meta are paying salaries as high as $900,000 to attract generative AI talent

How AI tools like ChatGPT are changing the workforce:

10 ways artificial intelligence is changing the workplace, from writing performance reviews to making the 4-day workweek possible

Managers who use AI will replace managers who don't, says an IBM exec

How ChatGPT is shaping industries: 

ChatGPT is coming for classrooms, hospitals, marketing departments, and everything else as the next great startup boom emerges

Marketing teams are using AI to generate content, boost SEO, and develop branding to help save time and money, study finds

AI is coming for Hollywood. 'It's amazing to see the sophistication of the images,' one of Christopher Nolan's VFX guy says.

AI is going to offer every student a personalized tutor, founder of Khan Academy says

A law firm was fined $5,000 after one of its lawyers used ChatGPT to write a court brief riddled with fake case references

How workers are using ChatGPT to boost productivity:  

CheatGPT: The hidden wave of employees using AI on the sly

I used ChatGPT to talk to my boss for a week and she didn't notice. Here are the other ways I use it daily to get work done.

I'm a high school math and science teacher who uses ChatGPT, and it's made my job much easier

Amazon employees are already using ChatGPT for software coding. They also found the AI chatbot can answer tricky AWS customer questions and write cloud training materials.

How 6 workers are using ChatGPT to make their jobs easier

I'm a freelance editor who's embraced working with AI content. Here's how I do it and what I charge.

How people are using ChatGPT to make money:

How ChatGPT and other AI tools are helping workers make more money

Here are 5 ways ChatGPT helps me make money and complete time-consuming tasks for my business

ChatGPT course instruction is the newest side hustle on the market. Meet the teachers making thousands from the lucrative gig.

People are using ChatGPT and other AI bots to work side hustles and earn thousands of dollars — check out these 8 freelancing gigs

A guy tried using ChatGPT to turn $100 into a business making 'as much money as possible.' Here are the first 4 steps the AI chatbot gave him

We used ChatGPT to build a 7-figure newsletter. Here's how it makes our jobs easier.

I use ChatGPT and it's like having a 24/7 personal assistant for $20 a month. Here are 5 ways it's helping me make more money.

A worker who uses AI for a $670 monthly side hustle says ChatGPT has 'cut her research time in half'

How companies are navigating ChatGPT: 

From Salesforce to Air India, here are the companies that are using ChatGPT

Amazon, Apple, and 12 other major companies that have restricted employees from using ChatGPT

A consultant used ChatGPT to free up time so she could focus on pitching clients. She landed $128,000 worth of new contracts in just 3 months.

Luminary, an AI-generated pop-up restaurant, just opened in Australia. Here's what's on the menu, from bioluminescent calamari to chocolate mousse.

A CEO is spending more than $2,000 a month on ChatGPT Plus accounts for all of his employees, and he says it's saving 'hours' of time

How people are using ChatGPT in their personal lives:

ChatGPT planned a family vacation to Costa Rica. A travel adviser found 3 glaring reasons why AI won't replace experts anytime soon.

A man who hated cardio asked ChatGPT to get him into running. Now, he's hooked — and he's lost 26 pounds.

A computer engineering student is using ChatGPT to overcome learning challenges linked to her dyslexia

How a coder used ChatGPT to find an apartment in Berlin in 2 weeks after struggling for months

Food blogger Nisha Vora tried ChatGPT to create a curry recipe. She says it's clear the instructions lacked a human touch — here's how.

Men are using AI to land more dates with better profiles and personalized messages, study finds

Lawsuits against OpenAI:

OpenAI could face a plagiarism lawsuit from The New York Times as tense negotiations threaten to boil over, report says

This is why comedian Sarah Silverman is suing OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT

2 authors say OpenAI 'ingested' their books to train ChatGPT. Now they're suing, and a 'wave' of similar court cases may follow.

A lawsuit claims OpenAI stole 'massive amounts of personal data,' including medical records and information about children, to train ChatGPT

A radio host is suing OpenAI for defamation, alleging that ChatGPT created a false legal document that accused him of 'defrauding and embezzling funds'

Tips on how to write better ChatGPT prompts:

7 ways to use ChatGPT at work to boost your productivity, make your job easier, and save a ton of time

I'm an AI prompt engineer. Here are 3 ways I use ChatGPT to get the best results.

12 ways to get better at using ChatGPT: Comprehensive prompt guide

Here's 9 ways to turn ChatGPT Plus into your personal data analyst with the new Code Interpreter plug-in

OpenAI's ChatGPT can write impressive code. Here are the prompts you should use for the best results, experts say.

Watch: What is ChatGPT, and should we be afraid of AI chatbots?

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