How to write the AP English Language argument essay

You are given a concept or idea and argue your own position on it, with evidence from your reading, studies, experience or observation. Specific evidence, explained claim by claim, earns the top of the evidence and commentary row.

Row A, thesis	0 or 1 point
Row B, evidence and commentary	0 to 4 points
Row C, sophistication	0 or 1 point
Time	About 40 minutes per essay

What earns each row

Thesis: a defensible position that responds to the prompt, not an obvious fact or a vague one that must be inferred.
Evidence and commentary: specific evidence for every claim, and commentary that consistently explains how the evidence supports a line of reasoning of several claims.
Sophistication: a nuanced argument that takes on a complexity or tension, or that shows where the argument stops applying.

A plan for 40 minutes

Spend five minutes choosing a position and listing the examples you know well enough to use in detail.
Choose fewer, more specific examples: one well-explained case beats three named in passing.
Order the claims so that each builds on the last, and say how in your transitions.
Qualify where honesty demands it: say when your position holds and when it does not.

Common ways to lose points

General evidence ("many people", "throughout history") with no specific case.
Telling a story without explaining how it supports the claim.
Repeating the same point in each paragraph instead of building a line of reasoning.

Try 2 questions

The following is a draft of a proposal a student is writing to her high school principal, asking that volunteer work at a local community theater count toward the school's service requirement. It may need revision.

(1) I am a junior at Kenwood High School, and I am writing to propose a change to the school's community service guidelines. (2) Every Kenwood student must complete forty hours of service before graduation, and the guidelines count work at food banks, animal shelters, hospitals, and city parks. (3) Hours spent volunteering at the Elmwood Community Theater do not count, because the guidelines describe theater as a hobby rather than a service. (4) That rule is unfair and, frankly, kind of ridiculous. (5) I think volunteering at the theater is a good thing.

(6) The Elmwood Community Theater is not a club for its own members. (7) It is a nonprofit that stages five plays a year and offers free matinees for the county's elementary schools and for residents of its two senior centers. (8) Last season, more than 2,000 children and older adults saw a play there without paying.

(9) Volunteers also do work that the theater could not run without. (10) They build and paint sets, sew costumes, run the lights and sound, and sell tickets and usher at every performance. (11) During the week before a show opens, some volunteers hang around until eleven at night to finish the set.

(12) Some teachers may worry that students would count hours spent rehearsing their own roles. (13) My proposal would count only backstage and front-of-house work. (14) A theater staff member would sign each student's log after every shift, just as supervisors do at the food bank and the animal shelter.

(15) Thanks.

Question 1

The writer wants to revise sentence 5 (quoted here) so that it states the proposal as a position and previews the two reasons developed in the second and third paragraphs. “I think volunteering at the theater is a good thing.” Which version best accomplishes this goal?

Question 2

The writer wants to add a sentence after sentence 9 that gives evidence that the theater depends on its volunteers' work. Which choice best accomplishes this goal?

Next step

Take the free practice test Take the argument essay lesson

College Board's AP English Language scoring rubrics

Questions people ask

How is the AP English Language argument essay scored?

Out of 6: 1 point for a defensible thesis, up to 4 for evidence and commentary, and 1 for sophistication.

What evidence can I use in the argument essay?

Any specific, relevant evidence: from your reading, history, current events you know well, your studies, your own experience or observation.

Do I need a counterargument in the argument essay?

It is not a separate point, but answering another view is one way to build a nuanced argument, which can earn the sophistication point.