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AP Latin Literature

Advanced Placement Latin Literature (also AP Latin Lit) is an examination offered by the College Board's Advanced Placement Program for high school students to earn college credit for a college-level course in Latin literature.

Due to low numbers of students taking AP Latin Literature, it will be discontinued after the 2008-2009 year. The AP Latin: Vergil exam will still be offered.

Material tested

The AP Latin Lit exam is designed to test students' knowledge of a range of classical Latin literature, as opposed to the AP Latin: Vergil examination, which focuses almost exclusively on Virgil's Aeneid. The course itself can follow one of three different curricula, each focusing on a different pair of authors: Catullus-Cicero, Catullus-Horace, and Catullus-Ovid. For each syllabus, students are expected to be able to read, translate, interpret, and analyze selected poems by Catullus as well as selected writings of the secondary author.

All students are expected to be familiar with the following poems (approximately 800 lines worth) by Catullus: 1-5, 7-8, 10-13, 14a, 22, 30-31, 35-36, 40, 43-46, 49-51, 60, 64 (lines 50-253), 65, 68 (lines 1-40), 69-70, 72, 76-77, 84-87, 96, 101, 109, and 116.

Students who chose to study Cicero as their secondary author must be familiar with the entire contents of Pro Archia Poeta Oratio and Sections 17-23 and 100-104 from De Amicitia . It is also suggested that students read the entire English translation of De Amicitia.

Students who chose to study Horace must be familiar with the following Odes: 1, 5, 9, 11, 13, 22-25, and 37-38 from Book 1; 3, 7, 10, and 14 from Book 2; 1, 9, 13, and 30 from Book 3; and 7 from Book 4. They must also read 1.9 from his Sermones.

Students who chose to study Ovid must be familiar with the following stories from his Metamorphoses : Apollo and Daphne (lines 452-567 from Book 1), Pyramus and Thisbe (lines 55-166 from Book 4), Daedalus and Icarus (lines 183-235 from Book 8), Baucis and Philemon (lines 616-724 from Book 8), and Pygmalion (lines 283-297 from Book 10). They must also read 1.1, 1.3, 1.9, 1.11, 1.12, and 3.15 from his Amores .

Abilities tested

The AP Latin Literature exam tests students' abilities to:

Literally translate a selected Latin passage
Explicate certain words or phrases in context
Identify the content and significance of selected excerpts
Identify and analyze characteristic or noteworthy features of the authors' writing, including use of imagery, figures of speech, metrical and sound effects
Discuss particular themes or motifs not only suggested by passages but also relevant to other sections
Analyze and discuss structure as well as demonstrating awareness of the features used in the construction of a poem or argument
Scan the meter of selections

Exam format

The AP Latin Literature exam begins with a 60-minute multiple-choice section. Students are given four passages, three of which are shared with the AP Latin: Vergil exam and one of which is a passage of Catullus that students should have already studied. The multiple-choice questions are concerned with comprehension, translation, metrical scanning, poetic devices, and grammatical structures.

The students are then given a 120-minute free-response section. This section begins with a 15-minute reading period, during which students may view the free-response questions and outline their responses, but may not begin writing the essays. Students then have the remaining 105 minutes to respond to the questions.

Twelve questions are provided, three for each author on the syllabus. All students must answer the questions pertaining to Catullus. They then answer the three questions pertaining to the secondary author that they studied. It is suggested that students devote one hour of the essay-writing period to the Catullus questions and forty-five minutes to the remaining three questions.

Each set of questions includes one short translation of a poem or passage from the syllabus. For each of the remaining two Catullus questions, students are provided with one or two poems or excerpts of poems and must respond to a specific questions concerning the poetry. They must also answer a similar prompt for one of the essays for their secondary author. For the final question of the free-response section, students are given a passage from the secondary author. They must respond to short-answer questions concerning poetic devices, grammatical structures, and comprehension of both the literal text and implications from the grammar and vocabulary.