AP® English Language and Composition Practice Test 1 - Section 1 Multiple-Choice Questions 1-45

Sep 30, 2026

AP English Language and Composition Practice Test 1 focusing on Section I multiple-choice items. Students follow directions to read passages and select the best answers about content, form, and style, recording choices by filling the corresponding circles on the answer sheet. The test includes questions with careful attention to NOT, LEAST, or EXCEPT. Questions 1–11 and additional ranges reference a Helen Keller excerpt discussing optimism, suffering, and the value of confronting evil through meaningful action and learning.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages37

Reading Time1 h 33 min

AccessFree to download

Section 1: Multiple-Choice Questions 1–45

Reading passages and selecting best answers

AP® ENGLISH LANGUAGE and COMPOSITION PRACTICE TEST 1 © Marco Learning, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Advanced Placement® and AP® are trademarks registered by the College Board, which is not affiliated with, and does not endorse, this product. USE THIS SHEET TO RECORD YOUR ANSWERS FOR THE EXAM. SECTION 1: MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS 1–45 Indicate your answers to the exam questions by filling in each circle completely. Mark only one response per question. 1 A B C D E 2 A B C D E 3 A B C D E 4 A B C D E 5 A B C D E 16 A B C D E 17 A B C D E 18 A B C D E 19 A B C D E 20 A B C D E 31 A B C D E 32 A B C D E 33 A B C D E 34 A B C D E 35 A B C D E 6 A B C D E 7 A B C D E 8 A B C D E 9 A B C D E 10 A B C D E 21 A B C D E 22 A B C D E 23 A B C D E 24 A B C D E 25 A B C D E 36 A B C D E 37 A B C D E 38 A B C D E 39 A B C D E 40 A B C D E 11 A B C D E 12 A B C D E 13 A B C D E 14 A B C D E 15 A B C D E 26 A B C D E 27 A B C D E 28 A B C D E 29 A B C D E 30 A B C D E 41 A B C D E 42 A B C D E 43 A B C D E 44 A B C D E 45 A B C D E ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION SECTION I Time—1 hour 45 Questions Directions: This part consists of selections from prose works and questions on their content, form, and style. After reading each passage, choose the best answer to each question and completely fill in the corresponding circle on the answer sheet. Note: Pay particular attention to the requirement of questions that contain the words NOT, LEAST, or EXCEPT. Questions 1–11 refer to the passage below. The following passage is excerptedfrom a book by Helen Keller published in 1903. Most people measure their happiness in terms of physical pleasure and material possession. Could they win some visible goal which they have set on Line the horizon, how happy they would be! Lacking this 5 gift or that circumstance, they would be miserable. If happiness is to be so measured, I who cannot hear or see have every reason to sit in a corner with folded hands and weep. If I am happy in spite of my deprivations, if my happiness is so deep that it is a faith, 10 so thoughtful that it becomes a philosophy of life,—if, in short, I am an optimist, my testimony to the creed of optimism is worth hearing. As sinners stand up in meeting and testify to the goodness of God, so one whois called afflicted may rise up in gladness of conviction 15 and testify to the goodness of life. Once I knew the depth where no hope was, and darkness lay on the face of all things. Then love came and set my soul free. Once I knew only darkness and stillness. Now I know hope and joy. Once I fretted and beat myself 20 against the wall that shut me in. Now I rejoice in the consciousness that I can think, act and attain heaven. My life was without past or future; death, the pessimist would say,“a consummation devoutly to be wished.”But a little word from the fingers of another fell into 25 my hand that clutched at emptiness, and my heart leaped to the rapture of living. Night fled before the day of thought, and love and joy and hope came up ina passion of obedience to knowledge. Can anyone who has escaped such captivity, who has felt the thrill and 30 glory of freedom, be a pessimist?… If I tried, I could not check the momentum of my first leap out of the dark; .... With the first word I used intelligently, I learned to live, to think, to hope. Darkness cannot shut me in again. I have had a glimpse of the 35 shore, and can now live by the hope of reaching it…. Only by contact with evil could I have learned to feel by contrast the beauty of truth and love and goodness. It is a mistake always to contemplate the good and ignore the evil, because by making people neglectful 40 it lets in disaster. There is a dangerous optimism of ignorance and indifference.…Optimism that does not count the cost is like a house built on sand. A man must understand evil and be acqu

FAQs

What is the main task in Section 1 of the practice test?

After reading each passage, choose the best answer to each question about content, form, and style and mark only one response per question by filling in the circle completely.

What special instruction should students watch for in the questions?

Pay particular attention to questions that contain NOT, LEAST, or EXCEPT, since these words affect how the correct choice is determined.

What passage is referenced for Questions 1–11?

Questions 1–11 refer to an excerpted passage from a book by Helen Keller published in 1903.

Sep 30, 2026

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