AP English Language Study Guide
All 9 units of the AP English Language course, with the skills College Board lists for each and a short summary of what the unit covers.
Units at a glance
Unit 1
Unit 1 introduces the rhetorical situation, meaning the exigence, purpose, audience, writer, context, and message behind a text, and asks you to find the claims and evidence in an argument. Instead of full essays, you practice writing paragraphs that make a claim needing defense and support it with evidence from texts.
Skills in this unit
- Identify and describe components of the rhetorical situation: the exigence, audience, writer, purpose, context, and message.
- Identify and explain claims and evidence within an argument.
- Develop a paragraph that includes a claim and evidence supporting the claim.
Shaky on any of these? Paste your class notes for Unit 1 into the free flashcard maker or the free quiz maker.
Unit 2
Unit 2 keeps working on claims and evidence in other writers' arguments and adds how effective writers appeal to their audience's beliefs, values, or needs. You build a collection of claims and evidence about a topic, then use the patterns you see in it to write a thesis statement that requires proof or defense.
Skills in this unit
- Explain how an argument demonstrates understanding of an audience's beliefs, values, or needs.
- Demonstrate an understanding of an audience's beliefs, values, or needs.
- Identify and explain claims and evidence within an argument.
- Develop a paragraph that includes a claim and evidence supporting the claim.
- Identify and describe the overarching thesis of an argument, and any indication it provides of the argument's structure.
- Write a thesis statement that requires proof or defense and that may preview the structure of the argument.
Shaky on any of these? Paste your class notes for Unit 2 into the free flashcard maker or the free quiz maker.
Unit 3
In Unit 3 you keep collecting evidence, but the focus shifts to explaining how evidence connects to claims, so an essay keeps a clear line of reasoning from start to finish. You also learn several traditional methods of development that writers have long used to advance their arguments.
Skills in this unit
- Identify and explain claims and evidence within an argument.
- Develop a paragraph that includes a claim and evidence supporting the claim.
- Describe the line of reasoning and explain whether it supports an argument's overarching thesis.
- Develop a line of reasoning and commentary that explains it throughout an argument.
- Recognize and explain the use of methods of development to accomplish a purpose.
- Use appropriate methods of development to advance an argument.
Shaky on any of these? Paste your class notes for Unit 3 into the free flashcard maker or the free quiz maker.
Unit 4
Unit 4 focuses on making an argument stronger and more interesting with introductions and conclusions that show a real understanding of the rhetorical situation. You keep working on thesis statements and practice a few more methods of development.
Skills in this unit
- Identify and describe components of the rhetorical situation: the exigence, audience, writer, purpose, context, and message.
- Write introductions and conclusions appropriate to the purpose and context of the rhetorical situation.
- Identify and describe the overarching thesis of an argument, and any indication it provides of the argument's structure.
- Write a thesis statement that requires proof or defense and that may preview the structure of the argument.
- Recognize and explain the use of methods of development to accomplish a purpose.
- Use appropriate methods of development to advance an argument.
Shaky on any of these? Paste your class notes for Unit 4 into the free flashcard maker or the free quiz maker.
Unit 5
Unit 5 is about making an argument hold together, including how a text's organization and its transitions guide the reader through its line of reasoning. It also trains you to notice how specific words and phrases in other writers' arguments shape their tone and style.
Skills in this unit
- Describe the line of reasoning and explain whether it supports an argument's overarching thesis.
- Develop a line of reasoning and commentary that explains it throughout an argument.
- Explain how the organization of a text creates unity and coherence and reflects a line of reasoning.
- Use transitional elements to guide the reader through the line of reasoning of an argument.
- Explain how word choice, comparisons, and syntax contribute to the specific tone or style of a text.
- Strategically use words, comparisons, and syntax to convey a specific tone or style in an argument.
Shaky on any of these? Paste your class notes for Unit 5 into the free flashcard maker or the free quiz maker.
Unit 6
Unit 6 asks you to recognize and account for bias and limitations in the evidence you use. You draft a thesis from one body of evidence, then revise it when contradictory evidence comes in. You also study how the connotations of particular words reveal a writer's attitude toward a subject.
Skills in this unit
- Identify and explain claims and evidence within an argument.
- Develop a paragraph that includes a claim and evidence supporting the claim.
- Identify and describe the overarching thesis of an argument, and any indication it provides of the argument's structure.
- Write a thesis statement that requires proof or defense and that may preview the structure of the argument.
- Explain how word choice, comparisons, and syntax contribute to the specific tone or style of a text.
- Strategically use words, comparisons, and syntax to convey a specific tone or style in an argument.
Shaky on any of these? Paste your class notes for Unit 6 into the free flashcard maker or the free quiz maker.
Unit 7
Unit 7 continues revising claims to account for nuance, complexity, and contradictions in your sources. You learn to judge quickly whether new evidence supports, refutes, or qualifies a claim, then revise the claim with modifiers. It also covers how punctuation and design serve a writer's purpose, though grammar and mechanics are not the focus of the course.
Skills in this unit
- Identify and describe components of the rhetorical situation: the exigence, audience, writer, purpose, context, and message.
- Write introductions and conclusions appropriate to the purpose and context of the rhetorical situation.
- Explain ways claims are qualified through modifiers, counterarguments, and alternative perspectives.
- Qualify a claim using modifiers, counterarguments, or alternative perspectives.
- Explain how writers create, combine, and place independent and dependent clauses to show relationships between and among ideas.
- Write sentences that clearly convey ideas and arguments.
- Explain how grammar and mechanics contribute to the clarity and effectiveness of an argument.
- Use established conventions of grammar and mechanics to communicate clearly and effectively.
Shaky on any of these? Paste your class notes for Unit 7 into the free flashcard maker or the free quiz maker.
Unit 8
Unit 8 adds only a small amount of new content so the class can spend time on skills that Progress Check results show still need work. Its skills return to audience and style, including how writers build sentences to show how ideas relate.
Skills in this unit
- Explain how an argument demonstrates understanding of an audience's beliefs, values, or needs.
- Demonstrate an understanding of an audience's beliefs, values, or needs.
- Explain how word choice, comparisons, and syntax contribute to the specific tone or style of a text.
- Strategically use words, comparisons, and syntax to convey a specific tone or style in an argument.
- Explain how writers create, combine, and place independent and dependent clauses to show relationships between and among ideas.
- Write sentences that clearly convey ideas and arguments.
Shaky on any of these? Paste your class notes for Unit 8 into the free flashcard maker or the free quiz maker.
Unit 9
The final unit also adds only a little new content, leaving room to practice the skills you most need based on Progress Check results. Its listed skills focus on qualifying claims with modifiers, counterarguments, and alternative perspectives.
Skills in this unit
- Explain ways claims are qualified through modifiers, counterarguments, and alternative perspectives.
- Qualify a claim using modifiers, counterarguments, or alternative perspectives.
Shaky on any of these? Paste your class notes for Unit 9 into the free flashcard maker or the free quiz maker.
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Source
Unit titles, weightings and topics are from College Board's AP English Language and Composition Course and Exam Description (Fall 2024). The unit summaries are ours. All AP study guides and score calculators.