Practice Test 6 - AP English Literature and Composition

20 questions. Answer them in any order, then submit to see your score and every explanation.

In a short story, a teenager stands at the edge of a party, watching classmates laugh around a fire pit. He holds a soda can that sweats in his hand. The narrator says the can is "cold as a secret he keeps swallowing". Which choice best explains the function of the bolded imagery?
In the following excerpt, a stepmother, Elise, helps her stepdaughter, Wren, pack for college. Wren's father is downstairs, avoiding the task. Wren says, "He didn't even come up." Elise folds a sweater and says, "He's giving you space." Wren snorts. "He's giving himself relief." Elise smooths the sweater and says, "Let him be cowardly in his own language. You don't have to translate it into not loving you." Which choice best captures Elise's role in Wren's relationship with her father as suggested by the bolded line?
Read the following excerpt from an original drama passage: A cramped apartment living room. A suitcase sits open, half-packed. On the wall: a framed photo of a beach that none of the characters have visited. TESS: Don't look at it like it betrayed you. MIGUEL (holding a shirt): It did. TESS: It's a suitcase. MIGUEL: It's a promise. It's what you said when you said "soon." TESS (sits on the arm of the couch): I said "soon" because "never" would've ended us. MIGUEL: So you lied to keep me. TESS: I lied to keep us. MIGUEL (folds the shirt too carefully): You keep saying "us" like it's a third person who can take the blame. TESS: You're the one packing. MIGUEL: I'm the one doing something. TESS (gestures at the beach photo): That picture—my mother gave it to me. Said it was "a window." MIGUEL: It's a wall with better lighting. TESS (quiet): I didn't know how to leave without making you the villain. MIGUEL: So you stayed and made me the fool. TESS (stands, touches the suitcase handle): If you go, you'll prove I was right to be afraid. MIGUEL: If I stay, I'll prove you were right to be cruel. Which thesis is most defensible about how the excerpt portrays "soon" and the beach photo?
Read the following poem and answer the question that follows. Title: "Eulogy for a Houseplant" I told you to water it, but I said it lightly, as if thirst were a rumor. Now the leaves are thin as receipts, curled into their own small refusals. You stand by the window, palms open, as though the plant might forgive you by returning to green. But I remember the week I forgot too— how I watched the soil split, how I pretended the droop was posture. So I say, we did our best, and the pot stays quiet. How does the poem's movement among first-person ("I"), second-person ("you"), and first-person plural ("we") perspectives primarily develop meaning?
In the following original drama excerpt, a fisherman, Oleg, returns after years at sea to find his partner, Mira, has joined a coastal relocation program and wants to leave their flooded village. Oleg calls her a traitor to their ancestors. Mira says survival is not betrayal. As the tide siren wails, Oleg drags in a trunk from the dock and tips it open: inside is a child's life jacket with Mira's name written in Oleg's handwriting. What is the primary function of this significant event in the drama?
In this excerpt, a man opens a long-unread letter from his estranged sister: "The envelope was thin and slightly wrinkled, as if it had traveled through too many hands. He recognized her handwriting immediately—sharp, slanted, impatient. He held it for a full minute before tearing it open, afraid of what a few sentences could undo. The paper inside smelled faintly of lavender. As he unfolded it, the creases resisted, stubborn with old silence, and he had to flatten them with his palm." What is the function of the personification in the bolded phrase?
Read the poem below and answer the question that follows. Title: "The Apology Text" My phone lights up in the dark like a small stage. Your message begins with hey and ends with a period too firm. I reread it until the words lose their edges. My thumb hovers over the keyboard, a hesitant bird. Then **I delete my draft and type only: okay. The screen feels colder afterward.** I set the phone facedown as if it could blush. What is the primary function of I delete my draft / and type only: okay?
Read the following passage and answer the question below. Marta kept the bakery's front door unlocked even after the OPEN sign went dark. The bell above it still gave a hopeful little ring whenever a late customer pushed in, and she liked that sound more than she liked the quiet. The new owner—technically her boss, though he was younger than her nephew—had told her twice that the neighborhood wasn't what it used to be. Marta nodded both times, then returned to wiping the glass case until it squeaked. Tonight, her son's text sat unanswered on the counter beside the register. He'd written, Can you please stop staying late? I can pick you up. She had read it three times, each time feeling the same pinch of irritation at the word please, as if he were already practicing for her funeral. Outside, the streetlights made pale puddles on the sidewalk. Inside, the cinnamon rolls cooled in their trays, and the smell of sugar and yeast clung to her sleeves. When the bell finally rang, it wasn't a customer but Mr. Patel from the laundromat. He held a paper bag against his chest like it might break. "For you," he said, and his eyes darted toward the dark street. Marta took the bag. It was warm. "You shouldn't," she told him, though she didn't put it down. "It's just bread ends," he said quickly. "My wife says—" Marta cut him off with a small laugh. "Tell your wife I'm not starving." Then, softer, "Thank you." After he left, she slid the bolt into place. Her fingers lingered on the lock a moment longer than necessary, as if memorizing the feel of it. Which inference about Marta is best supported by the bolded detail?
Read the poem and answer the question. "Sunday Matinee" In the old theater, velvet seats hold the shape of strangers. The curtain rises slowly, as if tired. Above, a ceiling fan wobbles, keeping time with the plot. When the hero kisses the girl, the audience sighs together. I watch dust drift in the projector beam and think how easily we pay to feel something on schedule. What do the bolded setting details most strongly suggest about the speaker's critique?
Read the excerpt from a short story: On the last day of summer camp, the counselors handed out friendship bracelets like tiny contracts. Kids traded phone numbers, promised visits, swore nothing would change. Mira smiled and tied the bracelet on anyway, though she knew promises often dissolved as soon as the bus pulled away. As she packed her suitcase, she found a pebble she'd picked up at the lake on the first day, smooth from being held. Mira slipped it into her pocket and thought of a talisman, not magic, but the human need to carry proof that a moment mattered. What is the primary function of the allusion to a talisman?
Read the poem and the student's claim. Poem: The museum guard stands still as a frame. Tourists drift past the portrait of a queen. Her eyes follow no one— they are nailed in place. I wonder what it costs to be looked at forever. Claim: The poem questions the value of permanence when it entails confinement. Which option best supports the claim with evidence?
Read the following original poem excerpt: At the open mic, I swallow my name so it won't tremble on the microphone. The room smells of citrus cleaner and raincoats. When I finally speak, my voice arrives like a paper boat in rough water— creased, determined, almost certain to tip. In context, what is the primary function of the simile like a paper boat in rough water?
Read the poem below. The Candle in the Church Basement Downstairs, folding chairs and coffee in foam cups. A donation jar with loose change like reluctant rain. Upstairs, stained glass holds sunlight in colored fists. I light a candle for someone I cannot reach. The flame is small, but it insists— an argument made without words. When I leave, the basement door swings shut and the candle keeps speaking in my absence. Which thesis best interprets the poem's depiction of faith or hope?
Read the following excerpt from an original drama. [Snowy street. A broken streetlight. TONY shovels; his neighbor MS. KIM watches from her stoop.] MS. KIM: You don't have to do my steps. TONY: I don't mind. MS. KIM: You should mind. It's cold. TONY: Cold keeps me awake. MS. KIM: Sleep is good. TONY: Not for me. MS. KIM (quiet): Nightmares? TONY (shovels harder): Don't. MS. KIM: You can talk. TONY: Talking doesn't change anything. MS. KIM: It changes you. TONY (breath ragged): If I stop, the snow wins. MS. KIM: If you never stop, the snow isn't what wins. Which choice best describes the function of the contrast between "If I stop, the snow wins" and "If you never stop, the snow isn't what wins"?
Read the excerpt about a cook working alone after closing: "He scraped the grill until it shone, the way his father used to insist. The dining room chairs were upside down on tables, legs in the air like surrendered arms. The last customers' laughter still clung to the walls in faint smudges. He swept slowly, making neat lines in the crumbs. In the quiet kitchen, the sink complained as he ran the water, a thin, metallic groan that sounded like judgment." What is the function of the personification in the bolded phrase?
Read the excerpt from an original drama. [Stage directions: A public beach at sunrise. A row of "NO SWIMMING—BACTERIA LEVELS HIGH" signs lines the sand. A cleanup crew in reflective vests collects dead fish into bins. The water looks calm, almost inviting.] KAI: It looks fine. MIRA: That's how it tricks you. KAI: Then why come? MIRA: To remember what we're not allowed to do. What do the bolded details most strongly suggest about the setting?
Read the poem below. The River in Drought The river forgets its own width. Stones rise like knuckles. Fish-shaped shadows hover in shallow pockets, waiting for depth to remember them. On the bank, children throw pebbles and listen for the sound of what used to be. Even the current moves carefully, as if ashamed of its thinness. Which thesis best interprets the poem's personification of the river?
Read the following poem and answer the question. "Fence Line" You lean on the fence between our yards and talk about tomatoes, how yours split after rain. I nod, pretending interest, watching your hands do nothing with their wanting. When my dog barks, you flinch, then laugh, and say, "He doesn't know me." I almost answer, He used to. Which choice best interprets the relationship between the speaker and "you"?
In the following original drama excerpt, what do the bolded details most strongly reveal about Mara's perspective? [Evening. A cramped bakery kitchen. A single bulb hums. A ledger lies open beside a tray of unsold rolls.] MARA: Don't touch that drawer, Eli. ELI: I'm only looking for the twine. MARA: Twine's in the tin—where it's always been. ELI: You didn't have to lock the drawer. MARA: I didn't lock it. I just— (she stops) Eli, when you say "only," it sounds like the bell over the door. Like someone's already stepping in. ELI: It's just us. MARA: "Just" is how the oven goes cold. "Just" is how the rent climbs. ELI: You're talking like the place is about to fall apart. MARA: I count the coins twice before I sleep, because the first count is hope and the second is what we actually have. ELI: You could ask me. MARA: Ask? I watched my father ask. He asked until his voice turned polite, and politeness is what you wear when you're already losing. ELI: That's not fair. MARA: Fair is for customers. In here, we survive.
Read the poem below. "Garden After Frost" The basil has gone black at the edges, a polite grief. Tomatoes sag on their vines like lanterns with no wick. I step between beds, careful not to wake the brittle marigolds still insisting on orange. My father said: pull what's done. But I leave the stalks standing, thin scaffolds for the wind, proof that something tried. In the shed, twine waits coiled like a question. I close the door softly, as if the garden could overhear. Which thesis best presents an arguable interpretation of the poem's attitude toward endings?

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