Everything You Need to Know About the New AP Lit Guidelines

As you may have heard, the AP®* English Literature course is getting a bit of a redesign this summer, becoming effective in Fall of 2019. For the full report released by the College Board, click here. For the remix version, keep reading!

*AP® is a trademark registered by the College Board, which is not affiliated with, and does not endorse, this website.

Many AP® Lit teachers are already starting to panic about the new changes because frankly, changes are scary. But based on my reading and some discussion with other AP Lit teachers, I think these changes are positive overall and nothing to be scared of. 

Here are the main things to know: 

The biggest change is that the AP® Lit essay rubric is changing to an analytical, itemized rubric similar to those used on the AP® US History and AP® European History exams. The actual scoring guidelines have not been released yet, but the writing prompts are more specific in what students need to write about. More information will be provided at the AP® Reading this summer and will be sent out to AP® Lit teachers as well. 

AP® English Literature seems to be embracing different forms of fiction, perhaps even moving away from the old-fashioned “literary merit” model of years past. Instead, the course description breaks the literature down into three categories:

Much of the new changes to the AP® exam are supported by an abundance of new resources being supplied by College Board on their new AP® Classroom webpage. The webpage is advertised below:

Because of the new emphasis on “short fiction,” AP® teachers are already talking about adding more short fiction, such as excerpts from novels or short stories, and eliminating some longer works. This builds on Senior VP of CollegeBoard Trevor Packer’s tweet last summer hinting that this was the new direction of AP® Lit.

If you are feeling overwhelmed still, that’s perfectly natural. I too had a small moment of hyperventilation when I worried I had to eliminate all novels from my curriculum and add short stories instead. However, after reading further, and talking to some level-headed AP® Lit teachers, here are my personal take-aways:

• These are guidelines. No changes are necessary to your AP® Lit courses, except maybe tweaking your on-demand essay rubrics eventually. 
• CollegeBoard will be releasing more practice questions and resources to help new and struggling AP® teachers starting in the fall. 
• CollegeBoard may start allowing analysis of shorter prose works, even short stories, on Question 3, which overall means more modern and realistic reading material and student expectations. 

Because of a student trip to Italy this June, I am unable to attend the AP® Lit scoring in Salt Lake City. However, I have some friends who are sending me the materials as soon as they get them, and rest assured I am setting aside some time this summer to develop TpT resources based on the new writing expectations. If you have any additional questions for me, or suggestions for future resources, please email me at gina.litandmore@gmail.com. Finally, I encourage you to check out the new course description (linked above) and sign up for the AP® Classroom resource.