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One of the questions we get most in the English department is "what's the difference between AP English Literature and Composition and AP English Language and Composition?
The short answer is that AP Lit focuses mainly on analyzing fiction and drama, and that AP Lang focuses mainly on analyzing non-fiction and on making effective arguments.
A slightly longer answer is that AP English Literature is essentially a survey course of British literature. The focus is on reading notable works of British (and European) fiction, drama, and poetry. Of the two AP English courses, this is the one that is the most like "regular" English class. Students read fiction, poetry, and drama and analyze it for meaning. In the class you will read works by Geoffrey Chaucer, William Shakespeare, Virginia Woolf, George Orwell, Mary Shelley, and many other significant British authors. Writing will be a major part of the course and will focus on literary analysis/explication of themes, characters, etc. The summer reading list for AP Lit (from 2012-2013) can be viewed here.
AP English Language is very different from AP Lit and from other English classes you may have taken. It's primarily a rhetoric class, which means that students study the ways in which language is used to persuade. As I mentioned before, the reading is mostly non-fiction with a few fiction works sprinkled in. Students read famous literary non-fiction (non-fiction but not like a textbook) works such as Utopia, The Prince, and Silent Spring, as well as numerous short essays and other literary non-fiction writings. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood and Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett are two of the major fiction works that will be covered. As with AP Lit, writing will be a big part of the experience, but it will be a different type of writing. Students will focus on analyzing persuasive essays by famous authors and determining the meaning as well as the methods (form & content) behind the author's persuasion. In addition students will write argumentation essays about topics that are a currently a part of the larger national discussion. The summer reading list for AP Lang (from 2012-2013) can be viewed here.
The even longer answer comes in when you ask about the AP English exams and what the difference is between the AP English exams and the exams for almost every other subject?