AP English Language Practice Questions (Free, with Answers)

Getting ready for the AP English Language and Composition exam? These 20 free practice questions cover both kinds of multiple-choice questions on the exam: reading questions about short nonfiction passages and writing questions that ask you to revise a student draft. Read each passage first, answer the questions on your own, then tap Show answer to check your thinking.

Every passage on this page is short and original, so you can practice the core skills quickly: reading for purpose, tracking a line of reasoning, and explaining what a writer’s choices do for an audience.

What the AP English Language exam covers

• The rhetorical situation: speaker, audience, purpose, context and the writer’s choices
• Claims and evidence: how writers state a position, support it with evidence and explain why the evidence matters
• Reasoning and organization: line of reasoning, structure, transitions, concessions and rebuttals
• Style: word choice, syntax, figurative language and tone, and the effect each has on readers
• Reading and writing questions: multiple-choice sets on published-style nonfiction and on student drafts that need revision
• The three essays: synthesis, rhetorical analysis and argument, all scored on thesis, evidence and commentary, and sophistication

How to use these questions

Work through the questions without notes, the way you would on test day. Read each passage once with purpose before you look at the choices, and ask who is writing, to whom and why. Keep track of the ones you miss and why you missed them.

Don’t just check whether you got the right letter. Read every explanation, even for questions you answered correctly. Many wrong answers on this exam are half right or describe what a sentence says instead of what it does, and the explanations show you how to spot those traps.

Practice questions

Question 1

Questions 1 to 4 refer to this letter, written for this page. The writer, library and city are fictional.
To the members of the Riverton City Council: I have worked the evening desk at the Eastside branch library for nine years. Most nights, the people who come in after six are not browsing. They are a nurse finishing her online certification, two brothers whose apartment has no internet, and a retired machinist who reads the newspaper here because he can no longer afford a subscription. I understand that the budget is tight, and I do not envy the choices in front of you. But closing the branch at five would not trim a luxury from these patrons’ lives. It would take away the only hours they have. Before you vote, I ask you to visit us one evening. The proposal will look different from a seat at our tables.

The writer’s description of the evening patrons (“a nurse finishing her online certification, two brothers… and a retired machinist”) primarily serves to

A. make the effect of the proposed cut concrete for the council.
B. prove that the library is busier in the evening than during the day.
C. criticize the council members for not using the library themselves.
D. establish the writer’s expertise in managing library budgets.

Show answer

Answer: A. The council is weighing an abstract budget line. By naming specific people and what they use the library for, the writer shows exactly who would lose access. Nothing in the letter compares evening and daytime traffic, so B goes beyond the text.

Question 2

Refer to the passage in Question 1. The sentence “I understand that the budget is tight, and I do not envy the choices in front of you” functions mainly to

A. concede that the branch should close at five.
B. introduce new evidence about the city’s finances.
C. acknowledge the council’s constraints before the writer presses an objection.
D. shift the letter’s focus from the patrons to the writer’s own job.

Show answer

Answer: C. This is a concession that builds goodwill with the audience. The very next word, “But,” pivots back to the writer’s objection. Granting that the budget is tight is not the same as agreeing with the cut, which is the trap in choice A.

Question 3

Refer to the passage in Question 1. The writer’s request in the final two sentences is most likely intended to

A. warn the council that patrons will protest the vote.
B. suggest that the council hold its meetings at the library.
C. admit that the writer’s argument rests only on personal opinion.
D. invite the council members to see the patrons’ needs firsthand.

Show answer

Answer: D. Asking the council to visit “one evening” and sit “at our tables” invites them to witness the need the letter describes. The tone is respectful throughout, so there is no threat of protest.

Question 4

Refer to the passage in Question 1. Which choice best describes the line of reasoning in the letter as a whole?

A. A statistic, a quotation from an expert, and a summary of both
B. The writer’s experience, specific examples, a concession, a rebuttal, and a request
C. A history of the library, a criticism of the council, and a warning
D. A request, a counterargument, and an anecdote about the writer’s childhood

Show answer

Answer: B. The letter opens with the writer’s nine years at the desk, gives examples of patrons, concedes the tight budget, answers it (“But closing the branch…”), and ends by asking the council to visit. The letter contains no statistics or expert quotations.

Question 5

Questions 5 to 7 refer to this passage from an essay, written for this page.
When I was a child, my father refused to buy a road map. He believed that getting lost was part of the trip, and he was right more often than I like to admit. Wrong turns gave us a roadside fruit stand, a lake we never would have found, and one memorable afternoon in a town whose name none of us could pronounce. Today my phone delivers me to every destination without a single mistake. I arrive on time, and I arrive knowing almost nothing about where I have been. Efficiency is a gift. It is also, often, a trade, and we rarely stop to ask what we gave up.

The list of things the family found by taking wrong turns (third sentence) primarily serves to

A. show that the writer’s father was a careless driver.
B. describe the scenery of the region where the writer grew up.
C. illustrate the rewards of getting lost that the writer later contrasts with modern navigation.
D. suggest that road maps are less reliable than phones.

Show answer

Answer: C. The fruit stand, the lake and the unpronounceable town are the rewards of getting lost. They set up the contrast with the phone that makes no mistakes and leaves the writer knowing almost nothing about the trip. The list is about what was gained, not about scenery for its own sake.

Question 6

Refer to the passage in Question 5. The sentence “I arrive on time, and I arrive knowing almost nothing about where I have been” relies mainly on

A. parallel structure that places a gain beside a loss.
B. a rhetorical question that challenges the reader.
C. an appeal to the authority of experts on travel.
D. a concession that the writer’s father was wrong.

Show answer

Answer: A. The repeated “I arrive” sets two clauses side by side: arriving on time is the gain, and knowing nothing about the trip is the loss. The matched structure makes the trade the writer describes easy to see.

Question 7

Refer to the passage in Question 5. In the final sentence, the word “often” has which effect?

A. It emphasizes that efficiency is always harmful.
B. It introduces a counterargument that the writer goes on to reject.
C. It shifts the tone of the passage from reflective to angry.
D. It qualifies the claim, so the writer does not say that efficiency always costs something.

Show answer

Answer: D. “Often” limits the claim. The writer calls efficiency “a gift” and then says it is often, not always, a trade. Qualifying a claim this way makes it more defensible, which is why choice A, “always harmful,” is the opposite of what the word does.

Question 8

Questions 8 to 10 refer to this draft. A student is writing a letter to the school board proposing a composting program in the cafeteria. This draft may need revision.
(1) Our cafeteria throws away a lot of food. (2) Last spring, the environmental club weighed the cafeteria’s trash for one week and found that 410 pounds of it was food scraps. (3) A composting program would turn that waste into soil for the school garden. (4) Some board members may worry about the cost. (5) Lincoln High, a school of similar size in our district, started composting two years ago for less than $600, mostly for bins and signs. (6) Composting would cut waste, lower the cost of trash pickup, and give science classes a real project to study.

The writer wants to revise sentence 1 (reproduced below) so that it states a clear position for the school board.
Our cafeteria throws away a lot of food.
Which version best accomplishes this goal?

A. (as it is now)
B. Our cafeteria throws away a lot of food, which is a problem many schools share.
C. The board should fund a cafeteria composting program that would turn our food waste into a resource.
D. Some people care about food waste, and some people do not.

Show answer

Answer: C. Only choice C states what the writer wants the board to do and hints at the reason. The original and choice B describe a problem without taking a position, and choice D avoids taking any side at all.

Question 9

Refer to the passage in Question 8. Sentence 5 functions mainly to

A. introduce a second, unrelated reason for composting.
B. answer the concern in sentence 4 with evidence from a comparable school.
C. concede that composting would be too expensive for the district.
D. provide background about the environmental club’s survey.

Show answer

Answer: B. Sentence 4 raises the cost concern, and sentence 5 answers it with a specific figure from a similar school in the same district. That pairing is a counterargument followed by a rebuttal backed by evidence.

Question 10

Refer to the passage in Question 8. The writer wants to add a final sentence that addresses the board directly and asks for a specific action. Which choice best accomplishes this goal?

A. Composting is something every school should probably think about someday.
B. The school garden grew tomatoes, peppers, and beans last year.
C. In conclusion, food waste is bad, and composting is good.
D. I ask the board to approve a one-semester composting trial so that we can measure the results.

Show answer

Answer: D. Choice D speaks to the board, names a concrete action (a one-semester trial), and gives a reason that answers cautious readers. The other choices are vague, off topic, or simply restate the issue without asking for anything.

More practice from the AP+ workbook

These next 10 questions come straight from our AP+ Review Workbook, with the same explanations you’ll find in its answer key.

Question 11

Keynote address to a national teachers’ conference. The speaker and the research cited are fictional.
You are not in this profession for the money. We all know that. You are here because at some point in your life a teacher changed the direction of your thinking, and you wanted to do that for someone else. My seventh-grade English teacher handed me a book and said, without ceremony, “This is the best thing I have ever read. I think it might change how you see the world.” She was right. I became a teacher because of that moment. Research confirms what you already know: students who feel genuinely seen by at least one adult at school are far more likely to graduate. You are not just teachers. You are architects of possibility. Never let anyone, whether a politician, a school board, or a budget committee, tell you otherwise.

The speaker’s opening sentences (“You are not in this profession for the money. We all know that.”) primarily serve to

A. introduce an argument for raising teachers’ salaries.
B. signal that the speaker is not a teacher.
C. establish common ground with the audience.
D. criticize teachers for accepting low pay for many years without any protest.

Show answer

Answer: C. The opening voices a truth that everyone in the room already shares, which bonds the speaker with the audience before the speech makes its larger point. The speech never argues for higher salaries, and the speaker later says, “I became a teacher because of that moment.”

Question 12

Refer to the passage in Question 11. The metaphor “architects of possibility” is best described as an attempt to

A. introduce a criticism of school budget committees.
B. concede that teachers’ influence on their students is limited by outside forces.
C. elevate the audience’s sense of their work.
D. describe the physical design of school buildings.

Show answer

Answer: C. The metaphor recasts everyday teaching as designing students’ futures. It lifts the audience’s sense of the value of their work, which fits the speech’s purpose of honoring and encouraging teachers.

Question 13

From an essay about city noise, written for this workbook.
We talk about silence as if it were empty, a gap between the sounds that matter. But anyone who has lived beside a highway knows that silence is a resource, and like every resource it is unevenly distributed. The quiet streets of this city are not quiet by accident. They are quiet because someone with money or influence decided where the trucks would not go. Noise, in other words, is a map of power. If you want to know who matters in a city, close your eyes and listen.

The writer’s purpose is primarily to

A. describe the pleasures of quiet neighborhoods in the city.
B. explain the health effects of living near a busy highway.
C. argue that cities should ban truck traffic on all streets.
D. show that the distribution of noise reveals inequalities in power.

Show answer

Answer: D. The essay reframes noise as evidence of unequal power: quiet streets are quiet because someone with money or influence decided where the trucks would go. It never proposes a ban, so choice C goes beyond the text.

Question 14

Refer to the passage in Question 13. The sentence “Noise, in other words, is a map of power” functions as

A. a concession to readers who disagree with the writer.
B. a shift to a new and unrelated topic.
C. a piece of statistical evidence for the writer’s claim about city traffic.
D. a restatement of the claim as a metaphor.

Show answer

Answer: D. The phrase “in other words” signals a restatement. The sentence takes the claim the writer has been building and states it in its sharpest form, as a metaphor.

Question 15

A student is writing an argument essay for a class anthology about whether towns should keep public pools open despite rising costs. This draft may need revision.
(1) Every June, the Westbrook town pool opens, and every June the town council asks whether it can afford to keep doing so. (2) This year the question is serious: repairs to the pool’s filter system will cost more than the pool earns in two seasons. (3) Still, the town should pay for the repairs. (4) The pool is the only place in Westbrook where children from every neighborhood swim together. (5) It also offers the town’s only free swimming lessons, and drowning remains a leading cause of accidental death for young children. (6) Pools are fun. (7) Critics argue that the money would be better spent on roads, which every resident uses. (8) That argument treats the pool as a luxury. (9) A town that cannot teach its children to swim has not saved money; it has moved the cost somewhere harder to see.

The writer is considering deleting sentence 6. Should the writer delete it?

A. Yes, because it is a vague claim that interrupts the essay’s reasoning.
B. Yes, because it contradicts the claim made in sentence 4.
C. No, because it adds an emotional appeal the essay needs.
D. No, because it introduces the counterargument in sentence 7.

Show answer

Answer: A. “Pools are fun” is a vague claim that adds nothing to the essay’s line of reasoning about safety and community. It does not contradict sentence 4, so the reason in choice B is wrong even though the answer is yes.

Question 16

Refer to the passage in Question 15. The writer wants to add specific evidence to sentence 4 to support the claim about bringing neighborhoods together. Which addition would most effectively accomplish this goal?

A. , and many people enjoy spending time there on hot afternoons in July
B. , where last summer’s swim team included children from all six of the town’s elementary schools
C. , though some residents prefer to swim at the lake outside town
D. , which was built in 1962 and has been repainted several times since then

Show answer

Answer: B. Only choice B gives a specific detail that supports the claim about shared space: children from all six elementary schools on one team. The other choices add details about enjoyment, a competing lake or the pool’s history, none of which shows neighborhoods coming together.

Question 17

A student is writing a short profile for a science club newsletter. This draft may need revision.
(1) In 1823, a young woman in Lyme Regis, England, uncovered the first nearly complete skeleton of a plesiosaur, a marine reptile so strange that some experts at first suspected it was a fake. (2) Her name was Mary Anning. (3) Anning had little formal schooling, and she supported her family by selling the fossils she found in the crumbling cliffs near her home. (4) Lyme Regis is now a popular destination for tourists. (5) Scientists bought her specimens and described them in journals, often without mentioning her name. (6) The Geological Society of London, the leading scientific body of its kind, did not admit women. (7) Anning’s discoveries helped convince scientists that whole kinds of animals could become extinct. (8) Her story is a reminder that who gets credit for knowledge is not always who produced it.

Which choice, added at the beginning of sentence 6 (and adjusting capitalization), most effectively signals that the sentence presents a further barrier to Anning’s recognition?

A. As a result,
B. Nevertheless,
C. Moreover,
D. For instance,

Show answer

Answer: C. Sentence 5 gives one obstacle (scientists published her finds without naming her), and sentence 6 adds a second (the Geological Society did not admit women). “Moreover” signals an addition. “As a result” would wrongly claim that one caused the other.

Question 18

Refer to the passage in Question 17. The writer is considering adding the following sentence after sentence 7.
Before then, many naturalists doubted that any kind of animal could vanish entirely.
Should the writer add this sentence?

A. Yes, because it explains why Anning’s discoveries were significant.
B. Yes, because it introduces a new subject that the next paragraph of the profile could develop.
C. No, because it repeats the information given in sentence 7.
D. No, because it shifts the focus away from Anning’s fossils.

Show answer

Answer: A. The new sentence shows what scientists believed before Anning’s work, which explains why her discoveries mattered. It adds context rather than repeating sentence 7, and it keeps the focus on the impact of her fossils.

Question 19

A student is revising a rhetorical analysis paragraph about a speech to a state legislature on environmental policy. This draft may need revision.
(1) The speaker uses a lot of repetition in his speech. (2) He says “They drank from rivers they had not polluted. They breathed air they had not poisoned. They planted crops in soil they had not depleted.” (3) This is repetition. (4) The three parallel sentences build a picture of an abundance that earlier generations enjoyed and did not damage. (5) Then the speaker writes a very short sentence: “We inherited what they left us.” (6) The short sentence makes the legislators realize that they are responsible.

The writer is considering deleting sentence 3. Should the writer delete it?

A. Yes, because it labels the device without adding analysis.
B. Yes, because it contradicts the claim in sentence 1.
C. No, because it identifies the device for the reader.
D. No, because it provides evidence for sentence 4.

Show answer

Answer: A. “This is repetition” only labels the device, which sentence 1 has already done. Naming a device earns nothing on its own, so the sentence adds no analysis and can go.

Question 20

Refer to the passage in Question 19. The writer wants to revise sentence 6 (reproduced below) to explain the effect more fully.
The short sentence makes the legislators realize that they are responsible.
Which version best accomplishes this goal?

A. (as it is now)
B. The short sentence is very effective and makes a big impact on the legislators.
C. After the long, flowing sentences, the abrupt “We inherited what they left us” stops the reverie and shifts the burden from past to present, implicating every legislator in the room.
D. The short sentence shows that the speaker is a good writer who knows about sentence length and uses short and long sentences throughout the speech to keep the attention of the legislators who are listening to him in the chamber.

Show answer

Answer: C. Choice C explains how the shift in syntax creates the effect: the abrupt short sentence after long, flowing ones stops the rhythm and moves responsibility onto the listeners. Choices B and D praise the writing or describe it at length without explaining how it works on this audience.

How did you do?

If you got 17 or more right, you have a strong foundation. Focus your review on the explanations for any you missed. If you got 12 to 16 right, you’re on track, but a few units need more practice. If you got 11 or fewer right, start with the unit reviews before doing more practice questions.

Our AP+ English Language and Composition Review Workbook covers every skill with original passages, reading and revision question sets, guided practice for all three essays and a full-length practice exam with answers and model responses. It’s available as an instant PDF download or a paperback.

See the AP+ English Language and Composition Review Workbook →

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