Simply put, has anyone here taken the AP English exam? Is it easy? Can it be taken without taking the class, just going through a prep book? Would that be enough to do well on it? What level does your writing have to be?
I took the AP English exam, and I guess it would be possible to take it without taking the class. The most important thing to know is a lot of the books on the AP list (a bunch of classics, really) for the essays. It's good to have a nice basis in a lot of those, because you never know what the prompt will be and which book will fit it. You could probably find a book list online (or in that prep book of yours).
If you have a prep book, that should cover all the grammar and stuff you'd need to know for the multiple choice stuff. Just make sure you know that, and how to write an essay about poetry, an essay about fiction (a short story or an excerpt), and an essay on a book.
Although, if you have the option to take the AP class then you should take it. I loved my AP english class.
