Practice Test 9 - AP English Literature and Composition

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

Read the original drama excerpt. [Stage: A dining table. A bowl of oranges with one moldy fruit sits in the center.] FELIX: Just throw the bad one out. MARI: It touched the others. FELIX: That's not how it works. MARI (moving the bowl away): It is in families. What is the dramatic function of the bowl of oranges with one moldy fruit?
Read the following poem, in which the speaker watches a roommate study late at night, and answer the question that follows. "Desk Lamp" You underline the textbook like you're fencing, thin blue lines parrying each paragraph. I stare at the ceiling's hairline cracks, mapping constellations out of boredom. You sip cold coffee without wincing, eyes fixed on tomorrow's exam. I eat cereal from the box, pretending hunger is a plan. When the lamp clicks off, you whisper, Done. I keep my eyes open in the dark, listening to your breathing settle like a book returned to its shelf. What is the function of the contrast between "You underline the textbook" and "I stare at the ceiling's hairline cracks"?
Read the poem below. "Museum Audio Guide" The headset hisses, then a voice tells me what the painter meant. I stand before the river scene and try to feel instructed. A child points: "Look, the boat!" His wonder lands without a label. I envy him, then scold myself for envy in a quiet room. The voice insists: "Notice the light— it symbolizes departure." But the canvas holds its own weather, and my chest misreads it as return. A guard clears his throat. I step back, obedient. My thoughts keep stepping forward, wet-footed, past the velvet rope. When the tour ends, the voice goes dark. I take off the headset slowly, as if silence might accuse me of having felt the wrong thing. In the context of the poem, what is the function of the conflict between the speaker's desire for unmediated wonder and the pressure to experience the art "correctly"?
In the following excerpt from an original drama, a student claims that the playwright uses symbolic props to emphasize how memory is constructed and revised. [Attic. Late afternoon. Dust in sunbeams.] SIMON (opening a trunk): Here—our mother's diary. ADA (taking it, then stopping): It's not hers. SIMON: It's in her handwriting. ADA (flipping pages): The first half is. The rest is yours. SIMON: I only filled in what she would've said. ADA (holding up a page where ink is darker): You filled in what you needed. [She tears out a page and the sound is louder than it should be.] Which piece of evidence most effectively supports the student's claim?
In this excerpt from an original drama, a couple, Iris and Tom, sit in their backyard after a storm knocked down a tree. TOM: It missed the house. IRIS: Barely. TOM: We got lucky. IRIS: Luck is just math we don't know. TOM: You always do that. IRIS: Do what? TOM: Make everything heavy. IRIS: Because it is. TOM: It's a tree. IRIS: It's a warning that fell sideways. What does Iris mean by "a warning that fell sideways"?
Read the excerpt: "At the beach, the lifeguard tower stood tall and vigilant, painted a fresh red that demanded attention. Beneath it, the sand where last night's bonfire had burned was low and ashy, still smelling faintly of beer and salt. Children built castles beside the char, pretending the ground had never been on fire." What is the most likely function of the contrast between the tower "tall and vigilant" and the fire-scarred sand "low and ashy"?
In the following excerpt, the narrator recounts receiving an award they believe they did not earn: "When they called my name, I stood up with the careful slowness of someone accepting a verdict. The applause sounded like rain on a roof you don't own. I smiled—because you're supposed to—and shook the principal's hand, which was damp in a way that made me feel briefly superior. Onstage, the microphone smelled like pennies. I said thank you to my teachers, and I meant it, though meaning is slippery when you're borrowing it. Afterward, my friend Lina whispered, 'You deserve it.' I laughed a little too loudly, just to keep the lie from settling." What do the narrator's sensory sharpness and uneasy metaphors of "borrowing" most strongly indicate about their attitude toward the award?
Read the poem below and answer the question that follows. Title: "The Envelope" The letter arrives with my name printed in a font too cheerful. I hold it over the trash like a test. The paper is thick, expensive with intention. In the kitchen, the kettle tries to sing. I tell myself: later. Then **I slide my finger under the flap and the glue gives way with a soft, final sigh.** Inside, words wait to rearrange my life. What is the primary function of the glue gives way / with a soft, final sigh?
Read the following original poem, then answer the question. My mother folds laundry with a surgeon's calm, creasing shirts into obedient squares. She says nothing about the rent notice, only smooths a sleeve as if it were a worry. Outside, the streetlight flickers—an uncertain halo. I offer jokes; she offers silence, warm and firm. In her hands, even frayed socks look forgiven, as though she's waiting for Penelope's loom to finish what the day keeps unravelling. The allusion to Penelope's loom most strongly emphasizes the mother's
Read the following excerpt from a short story: In the rehearsal room, the chorus repeated the same eight measures until the notes felt worn. Aria mouthed the words without sound, saving her voice for when it mattered. She had joined the choir to disappear into harmony, to let other voices cover her edges. But during the final run-through, the director stopped and pointed at her. "You," he said. "Sing it alone." The room waited. Aria inhaled. Attention, she thought, was a spotlight that burned colder than darkness. What is the primary function of the metaphor "a spotlight that burned colder than darkness" in the excerpt?
Read the following poem excerpt: Title: "Sunday at the Barber's" Old men trade stories like cards worn soft. The radio talks about rain. I sit in the corner, saving my words like coupons, waiting for a day I can afford to speak. Which choice best describes the speaker's attitude toward conversation, as suggested by the bolded phrase?
A narrator describes her best friend as "honest to a fault." Yet when asked about a ruined surprise party, the friend answers with compliments that don't address the question, repeats the narrator's words with a slight change in tense, and washes the same clean glass three times while speaking. Which option best explains how the bolded evidence supports the claim that the friend is avoiding the truth in this moment?
Read the following original poem, then answer the question. The garden is a patchwork of stubborn green behind chain-link and a neighbor's barking dog. I kneel in dirt that smells like pennies, pulling weeds that return with new names. My grandmother hums, not to soothe me but to keep time with the work. She presses seeds into the ground as if writing a letter to the future. When rain finally comes, she lifts her face like Demeter hearing footsteps on the stairs. The allusion to Demeter primarily helps convey
Read the following excerpt from a short story: The apartment's radiator clanged like a complaint whenever June tried to sleep. In the narrow hallway, the carpet had worn into a path that led from the door to the kitchenette, as if previous tenants had rehearsed the same small life. The window looked onto a brick wall close enough to touch, and the only strip of sky was a pale ribbon that changed color without ever widening. June taped a postcard of mountains above the sink, but the corners curled in the damp air, refusing to stay flat. How does the setting function to develop the excerpt's central concerns?
Read the excerpt below from an original one-act drama. [Evening. A cramped apartment kitchen. A stack of unopened envelopes sits beside a chipped mug. MAYA (22) stands at the sink, scrubbing the same spoon. LENA (45), her mother, enters holding a folded letter.] LENA: They called again. MAYA: (without turning) From the clinic. LENA: From the college. Financial Aid. They said if we don't answer by Friday, they'll— MAYA: They'll do what they always do. Close the file. Move on. LENA: (sets the letter down) You could call them back. MAYA: You could stop leaving their messages on the counter like they're prayers. LENA: Don't talk like that. MAYA: Like what? Like I can't afford to be hopeful? LENA: Like hope is a luxury. MAYA: It is. LENA: (quietly) I signed the loan papers. MAYA: You said you wouldn't. LENA: I said I didn't want to. MAYA: That's not the same thing. LENA: I did it for you. MAYA: No. You did it so you could say you did it. LENA: (stung) You think I want this? You think I want to owe strangers money until I'm seventy? MAYA: I think you want to be the kind of mother who makes a sacrifice. Even if you don't ask what I'm sacrificing. LENA: And what are you sacrificing, Maya? MAYA: My name on a debt I didn't choose. Your name on a debt you can't pay. LENA: You'd rather stay here and count tips forever? MAYA: I'd rather choose my own trap. LENA: (picks up the letter) Then tell me what you're choosing. Because all I see is you standing still. In the excerpt, what is the primary function of the conflict over the loan and who gets to choose the "trap"?
In the following original drama excerpt, perspective is shaped by a character who misinterprets a physical action while the audience is shown the action's true cause. DRAMA EXCERPT: A dim hallway outside an apartment. A door with peeling paint. A single ceiling bulb flickers. SIMON stands with a bouquet. JESS opens the door a crack. JESS: What do you want? SIMON: To apologize. [JESS's phone buzzes loudly. She flinches and shoves it into her pocket.] SIMON: Still jumping at messages? JESS: It's nothing. [In the pocket, the phone screen faces the audience. The notification reads: "LANDLORD: FINAL NOTICE."] JESS (to the audience, aside): Let him think it's a person. It's easier than letting him see the math. SIMON: I knew it. He's still bothering you. Question: The function of the perspective created by the visible phone notification and JESS's aside is primarily to
Read the following excerpt from an original drama. A museum gallery after hours. A motion sensor clicks. CURATOR IRENE stands beside a covered painting; security guard OMAR holds a flashlight. OMAR: You're not supposed to be here this late. IRENE: I'm supposed to be wherever the collection is. OMAR: That's a fancy way of saying "rules don't apply." IRENE: The rules are for the public. OMAR: The public paid for half of this place. IRENE: And I protect it from the public's fingerprints. OMAR: You protect it from their eyes too. IRENE: I protect it from ignorance. OMAR: You mean from questions. IRENE: Questions are fine. Touching is not. OMAR: Nobody's touching. They just want to see the new piece. IRENE: It isn't ready. OMAR: It's been "not ready" for six months. IRENE: Conservation takes time. OMAR: Or secrecy does. IRENE: Watch yourself. OMAR: I am. That's my job. IRENE: Then do your job and stop prying. OMAR: I'm prying because the donor's name is missing from the paperwork. IRENE: The paperwork is internal. OMAR: The board doesn't think so. IRENE: The board panics when it can't control a story. OMAR: Maybe it should control it. IRENE: If you report this, you'll ruin the acquisition. OMAR: If I don't report it, I'll become part of whatever you're hiding. Which choice best explains the function of the conflict between Irene's demand for secrecy and Omar's insistence on reporting?
In the following original drama scene, a character's choice reveals an aspect of their character. [Night. A city bus stop. Sodium lights buzz. A digital sign reads "DELAYED." RAE, mid-30s, holds a grocery bag with a torn handle. A TEEN, hoodie up, sits on the bench, foot tapping.] TEEN: You got a dollar. RAE: I've got groceries. TEEN: That's not what I asked. RAE: (shifts the bag) No. TEEN: Figures. [The teen stands, pacing closer. Rae watches, then reaches into the grocery bag and pulls out a still-warm loaf of bread. She holds it out.] TEEN: What's that. RAE: Food. TEEN: I said a dollar. RAE: You said you needed something. You didn't say what. TEEN: (snorts) You think I'm some charity case. RAE: I think you're hungry. [The teen hesitates, then takes the bread quickly and turns away.] RAE: "Don't thank me. Just don't pretend you weren't offered more than what you asked for." What does Rae's choice and dialogue most reveal about her character?
Read the following excerpt from an original drama. [Train platform in winter. Breath visible. YVETTE holds a small suitcase; OMAR holds two tickets.] OMAR: The train is on time. YVETTE: Trains are never on time. OMAR: This one is. YVETTE: Then it's suspicious. OMAR (hands her a ticket): Just get on. YVETTE (doesn't take it): I don't leave places. Places leave me. OMAR (ticket trembling): Then let this be the first place you choose. Which choice best describes the function of the contrast between "I don't leave places. Places leave me." and "Then let this be the first place you choose."?
Read the following excerpt from an original drama passage. [A rural church fellowship hall after a funeral. Folding tables are covered with plastic lace, but the lace is wrinkled and sliding. A coffee urn hisses and sputters. On a bulletin board, a hand-lettered sign reads "POTLUCK NEXT SUNDAY" beside a flyer for "Grief Group," the tear-off tabs already gone.] AUNT RUTH: Eat something. CALEB: I'm not hungry. AUNT RUTH (tugging the plastic lace straight): You think hunger cares? CALEB: Everyone's acting like the schedule still matters. [AUNT RUTH taps the potluck sign, then the grief flyer.] AUNT RUTH: It does. That's how we don't fall through. The setting's potluck sign, sputtering coffee urn, and wrinkled plastic lace primarily function to

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