2025 AP Lang Spring Practice Exam

What does the phrase “baneful peculiarities” most likely refer to?

• Legal codes in the South

• The author’s personality

• The peculiarities of plantation life

• The harmful features of slavery

The “hydra-headed monster” is a metaphor for:

• Slave-owners

• Spectators of slavery

• The system of slavery

• Resistance movements

What rhetorical appeal is used in the first paragraph to build the speaker’s credibility?

• Logos

• Ethos

• Pathos

• Irony

How does the speaker address the audience?

• Condescendingly

• Hostilely

• Conspiratorially

• Dismissively

Lines 12–25 serve to:

• Narrate an anecdote

• Show Southern culture

• Analyze slavery’s structure

• Praise religious teachings

What two forces justify slavery, according to the speaker?

• Moral and educational

• Legal and religious

• Historical and economic

• Ethical and emotional

What does italicizing “master’s ledger” emphasize?

• Dehumanization of slaves

• Bureaucratic tracking

• Ownership of land

• Religious hypocrisy

What is the main contrast in lines 28–40?

• Slaves and slave owners

• Black and white slaves

• Slaves and their masters’ comforts

• Old and young slaves

What rhetorical strategy is used in the repeated “he is…that another may…” format?

• Allusion

• Hyperbole

• Parallelism

• Symbolism

What myth is the speaker refuting in the final paragraph?

• Slaves are disobedient

• Slaves are content

• Slavery is over

• Slave owners are kind