AP English Literature Score Calculator
Enter your multiple-choice and essay scores
Frequently Asked Questions
55 multiple-choice questions (more than AP Lang's 45) make up 45% of the composite score. Three essays — Poetry, Prose Fiction, and Literary Argument — each scored 0-6, make up the remaining 55%, for a total of 100 composite points.
Cutoffs are very close to AP Lang's: roughly 67+ out of 100 for a 5, 53+ for a 4, 40+ for a 3.
They're considered comparably difficult, though AP Lit has more MCQ (55 vs 45) which can feel harder under time pressure, while its essays focus on literary analysis rather than rhetoric and argumentation.
No. College Board doesn't release exact current-year cutoffs before scores come out. This tool uses recent historical data to estimate your score.
AP English Literature composite score formula
| Section | Questions | Composite weight |
|---|---|---|
| Multiple choice | 55 questions | 45 points (45%) |
| Essays (Poetry, Prose Fiction, Literary Argument) | 3 essays, 0-6 each, 18 raw | 55 points (55%) |
| Total composite | — | 100 points |
Approximate AP score cutoffs (recent years)
| AP Score | Composite (out of 100) |
|---|---|
| 5 | 67+ |
| 4 | 53–66 |
| 3 | 40–52 |
| 2 | 28–39 |
| 1 | below 28 |
Example: 38 MCQ correct (out of 55) and 14 essay points (out of 18) gives a composite of (38/55)×45 + (14/18)×55 = 31.1 + 42.8 = 73.9 — comfortably in the 5 range.