0–1
Thesis
A defensible claim that responds to the prompt, not a restatement of it.
AP English Literature
Grade your AP Lit essay
Poetry analysis, prose fiction analysis, or literary argument. Paste your draft into this free AP Lit essay grader and get a score against the real three-row rubric in under 30 seconds.
how it's scored
AP Lit uses the same three-row rubric across all three essay types. The gap between a 3 and a 5 is almost always Row B: evidence that's quoted but never actually analyzed.
Poetry, prose, and literary argument essays all use the same three rows. Readers check whether evidence is analyzed, not just quoted.
| Essay type | Max score | Evidence focus | Common miss |
|---|---|---|---|
| Poetry analysis | 6 pts | Close reading of specific lines and images | Paraphrasing what the poem is about |
| Prose fiction analysis | 6 pts | Tracking a literary element across the passage | Plot summary instead of analysis |
| Literary argument | 6 pts | Textual support from a work the student chose | General claims without quoted evidence |
0–4
Evidence and commentary
Specific textual evidence, plus a clear line of reasoning explaining how it supports the thesis.
0–1
Sophistication
Only reachable once evidence and commentary scores at least 3 of 4. Nuance and complexity, not vocabulary.
Total: 6 points
no nonsense numbers
you need something you can trust. not just ChatGPT.
Accuracy
93.9%
of our grades within 1 point
of a real AP score
Agreement
0.84
average QWK*
across 98 human-graded essays
Precision
0.55
average MAE**
points off vs human scores
across 98 human-graded essays
Volume
essays graded
and counting
* QWK (Quadratic Weighted Kappa) measures how closely our scores match human AP graders. Our average QWK is 0.84 across 98 human-graded AP essays. Learnosity classifies 0.80+ as almost perfect agreement. Read more about our benchmarks.
** MAE (Mean Absolute Error) is the average number of points our total score differs from a human AP score. Our average MAE is 0.55 points across 98 human-graded AP essays. Lower is better.
