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Home > AP Courses and Exams > AP Exam Information > The AP Spanish Literature Exam The AP Spanish Literature Exam More About AP Spanish Literature... AP Exam Formats AP Spanish Literature Course Home Page AP Exams Calendars Exam Content This three-hour and 10-minute exam consists of a multiple-choice section (Section I) and a free-response section (Section II): Section I contains approximately 65 questions that test literary analysis and reading comprehension of works on the required reading list, as well as works not from the list. It includes questions on literary terminology. Although the passages consist primarily of prose fiction, also included are poetry, drama, essays, and literary criticism. Section II contains three essay questions. All of the questions test literary interpretation and analysis, in addition to skill in writing critical expository prose in Spanish. Each essay is evaluated for content, as well as the degree to which language usage supports that content -- evaluation of content accounts for 70 percent of each essay's score, and evaluation of language usage accounts for the remaining 30 percent. Questions 2 and 3 ask specifically about works on the required list. Essay 1: Poetry Analysis An essay analyzing how a given theme is treated in a particular poem. The poem is not from the required reading list, and may or may not be by one of the authors on the list. (The poem is printed in the exam.) Essay 2: Thematic Analysis May be one of two different types (only one will appear on any given exam): Type A: An essay analyzing how a given theme is treated in a particular work from the required reading list. (At least two works are listed in the exam, from which the candidate must choose one.) Type B: An essay analyzing how a given theme and/or topic is treated in two works from the required reading list. (Two or more works are listed in the exam, from which the candidate must choose two). Essay 3: Text Analysis May be one of two different types (only one will appear on any given exam): Type A: Short answers to two or three open-ended questions about an excerpt from a work on the required reading list. (The excerpt is printed in the exam.) Type B: An essay analyzing critical commentary about a particular work from the required reading list. (The critical commentary is printed in the exam.) Students are not allowed to use dictionaries or other reference works during the exam. All of the directions printed inside the exam booklets are in both English and Spanish. Multiple-Choice Questions For sample multiple-choice questions, refer to the Course Description.   AP Spanish Course Description, Effective Fall 2011 (.pdf/1.5MB) New! Free-Response Questions Below are free-response questions (FRQs) from past AP Spanish Literature Exams, as well as the scoring guidelines used to score them at the AP Reading, sample student responses, and commentary on those responses. Note that question numbers 2 and 3 in the free-response sections below from 2002 and earlier reflect the exam format in effect at that time; question numbers 2 and 3 follow a different exam format as of 2003. Question number 1 (poetry analysis) is identical in both previous and current exam formats. Free-Response Questions 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 1999-2002 2011: Free-Response Questions Questions Scoring Samples and Commentary Score Distributions All Questions Scoring Guidelines Student Performance Q&A Scoring Statistics Sample Responses Q1 Sample Responses Q2 Sample Responses Q3 Score Distributions 2010: Free-Response Questions Questions Scoring Samples and Commentary Score Distributions All Questions Scoring Guidelines Student Performance Q&A Scoring Statistics Sample Responses Q1 Sample Responses Q2 Sample Responses Q3 Score Distributions 2009: Free-Response Questions Questions Scoring Samples and Commentary Grade Distributions All Questions Scoring Guidelines Student Performance Q&A Scoring Statistics Sample Responses Q1 Sample Responses Q2 Sample Responses Q3 Grade Distributions 2008: Free-Response Questions Questions Scoring Samples and Commentary Grade Distributions All Questions Scoring Guidelines Student Performance Q&A Scoring Statistics Sample Responses Q1 Sample Responses Q2 Sample Responses Q3 Grade Distributions 2007: Free-Response Questions Questions Scoring Samples and Commentary Grade Distributions All Questions Scoring Guidelines Student Performance Q&A Scoring Statistics Sample Responses Q1 Sample Responses Q2 Sample Responses Q3 Grade Distributions 2006: Free-Response Questions Questions Scoring Samples and Commentary Grade Distributions All Questions Scoring Guidelines Student Performance Q&A Scoring Statistics Sample Responses Q1 Sample Responses Q2 Sample Responses Q3 Grade Distributions 2005: Free-Response Questions Questions Scoring Samples Grade Distributions All Questions Scoring Guidelines Scoring Commentary Student Performance Q&A Scoring Statistics Sample Responses Grade Distributions 2004: Free-Response Questions Questions Scoring Samples Grade Distributions All Questions Scoring Guidelines Scoring Commentary Student Performance Q&A Scoring Statistics Sample Responses Q1 Sample Responses Q2 Sample Responses Q3 Grade Distributions 2003: Free-Response Questions Questions Scoring Samples Grade Distributions All Questions Scoring Guidelines Scoring Commentary Student Performance Q&A Scoring Statistics Sample Responses Q1 Sample Responses Q2 Sample Responses Q3 Grade Distributions Important Note: PDF Files The links to exam questions for this course are in Adobe® PDF format, and you will need to use the Adobe® Acrobat® Reader® to view them. If you don't have Acrobat Reader 4.0 or higher installed on your computer, choose the link for the Adobe Web site below for installation instructions. For help downloading and printing PDF files, choose the link "PDF Troubleshooting" below in "See also." See also... Exam Information Index PDF Troubleshooting Adobe® Acrobat® Reader®

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