Using past AP Lit exams to prep?

I've heard that looking at past AP Lit exams can be a pretty nifty strategy for acing the big day. But, how do I go about this? Do past exams really help, and if so, where can I find these bad boys? And should I focus on certain years? Any advice would be super appreciated.

Yes, using past AP Literature and Composition exams as a part of your study strategy can indeed be a clever choice! One major benefit of this method is that it allows you to familiarize yourself with the types of questions that may appear on the actual exam. It can also improve your time management skills by giving you a sense of how quickly you need to work to complete the sections in the allotted time.

You can access a variety of past AP exams directly on the College Board's website. They provide free-response questions (FRQs) from previous year's exams along with scoring guidelines, sample responses from students, and scoring distributions. However, do note that full past exams (multiple choice section included) are typically not available to the public for test security reasons.

As for which years to focus on, this depends on the topics you're struggling with or want to reinforce. If you need more general practice you might consider going through as many past FRQs as possible to gain familiarity with different question types. But if there's specific content you're struggling with (like poetry analysis for example), you might try to find and specifically practice with FRQs related to that.

Last but not least, remember to frequently review and reinforce the feedback given in the scoring guidelines and sample responses - learning from mistakes made by past test takers can also be an effective route to improve. Just always keep in mind that self-understanding and conceptual mastery are key, so focus on understanding your mistakes and refining your approach, rather than just knowing the answer.