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150 multiple-choice questions and 100 flashcards, written to the College Board AP Latin Course and Exam Description blueprint. Every question carries a full rationale.
College Board AP Latin Course and Exam Description (public). Curriculum framework covers required readings: Caesar's Commentarii de Bello Gallico (selections from Books 1, 4, 5, 6) and Vergil's Aeneid (Books 1, 2, 4, 6 selections), in both Latin and translation. Units include grammar/syntax, vocabulary, literary devices, dactylic hexameter scansion, Roman history & culture, and translation analysis. MCQs reference public CED skills and the openly available original Latin texts.
CoStudy's AP Latin bank holds 250 items. Every multiple-choice question carries a written rationale explaining why the correct answer is correct and why each distractor is tempting but wrong.
A sample of 12 multiple-choice questions from the bank, with the full rationale shown.
BG 1.1: 'Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres, quarum unam incolunt Belgae, aliam Aquitani, tertiam qui ipsorum lingua Celtae, nostra Galli appellantur.' What case is 'quarum'?
Answer: C — Genitive plural — partitive ('of which')
'Quarum' = genitive plural feminine of relative pronoun 'qui, quae, quod,' referring to 'partes.' Partitive genitive: 'of which [parts] the Belgae inhabit one.' Note the antecedent agreement (feminine plural) but case from the relative clause's needs.
Aeneid 4.165-166: 'speluncam Dido dux et Troianus eandem / deveniunt.' What is the subject of 'deveniunt'?
Answer: C — 'Dido' and 'dux Troianus' (compound subject, hence plural verb)
Compound subject: Dido AND the Trojan leader (Aeneas). 'They come into the same cave' — the consummation of their union during the storm hunt. 'Eandem' = accusative singular feminine modifying 'speluncam'.
Roman epic poetry typically invokes:
Answer: D — The Muse (e.g., 'Musa, mihi causas memora…' in Aeneid 1.8)
Greek and Roman epics traditionally open with an invocation to the Muse, asking divine help to recount the story.
AENEAS's son is named:
Answer: B — ASCANIUS (also called IULUS) — accompanies Aeneas from Troy; foundational ancestor of Julian gens (clan of Julius Caesar + Augustus) per Roman legend
Ascanius/Iulus: links Trojan-Roman origin to Augustan house. Julian propaganda traced ancestry to Venus → Aeneas → Iulus. Aeneid commissioned by Augustus highlights this. Founded Alba Longa per legend. Romulus + Remus were eventual descendants who founded Rome itself.
Aeneid 1.343-344 (Venus tells of Dido): 'huic coniunx Sychaeus erat, ditissimus auri / Phoenicum.' What case is 'auri'?
Answer: C — Genitive — with superlative 'ditissimus' (richest IN gold)
Adjectives of plenty/want take the genitive. 'Ditissimus auri' = wealthiest of/in gold. Sychaeus was Dido's first husband, murdered by her brother Pygmalion for his gold — the trauma framing Dido's tragic story.
A Roman LEGION at full strength under Caesar had approximately:
Answer: C — 5,000 infantry (organized into 10 cohorts of ~480 men), plus cavalry/auxiliaries attached
Roman legion (post-Marian reforms): ~5,000-6,000 infantry. 10 cohorts × 6 centuries × 80 men. Caesar commanded up to 11 legions in Gaul. Auxiliaries (non-citizens, cavalry, archers) added. Crucial military background for reading Caesar's tactical descriptions.
Translate: 'Caesar veritus ne Helvetii per provinciam iter facerent, pontem rescidit.' What kind of clause is 'ne...facerent'?
Answer: C — Substantive clause of fear (after 'veritus' = fearing) — 'ne' = lest
After verbs of fearing, 'ne' + subjunctive means 'lest/that' (positive fear: fear that something WILL happen). 'Ut' would mean 'fear that something will NOT happen' (counterintuitive — reversed). 'Caesar, fearing lest the Helvetii cross through the province, cut down the bridge.'
Which figure of speech occurs when 'and' is omitted between items in a list (e.g., 'veni, vidi, vici')?
Answer: B — Asyndeton
Asyndeton omits conjunctions for swift, emphatic effect. Polysyndeton is the opposite (many conjunctions). Caesar's 'veni, vidi, vici' is the classic example.
In dactylic hexameter, the FIFTH foot is conventionally:
Answer: B — Almost always a dactyl (giving the 'da-DUM-de-de' rhythm before the final foot)
By convention, the 5th foot is dactylic, producing the characteristic 'shave-and-a-haircut' rhythm. Lines with spondaic 5th foot ('spondaic lines') are rare and stylistically marked. Sixth foot = spondee or trochee.
BG 6.21 (Germans on chastity): 'Intra annum vero vicesimum feminae notitiam habuisse in turpissimis habent rebus.' What construction is 'habuisse'?
Answer: D — Perfect active infinitive — subject of 'habent in turpissimis rebus'
Perfect infinitive 'habuisse' (to have had) functions as subject of the matrix clause. 'Habent in turpissimis rebus' = 'they consider [it] among the most shameful things.' Caesar's ethnographic contrast: Germans value sexual abstinence before age 20.
Aeneid 2.557-558 (on Priam's death): 'iacet ingens litore truncus, / avulsumque umeris caput et sine nomine corpus.' What does 'avulsum' modify?
Answer: A — 'caput' — neuter perfect passive participle agreeing with 'caput'
'Avulsum' (torn off) is perfect passive participle, neuter nominative singular, agreeing with 'caput' (head, neuter). 'A head torn from the shoulders' (umeris = ablative of separation). The decapitated Priam — image of Troy's utter ruin.
Latin NOUN CASES include:
Answer: D — Nominative (subject), genitive (possession), dative (indirect object), accusative (direct object), ablative (by/with/from), vocative (direct address); plus locative for places
Five regular cases plus vocative (sometimes counted as separate). Latin is highly inflected — word order more flexible than English because case shows function. AP Latin: must identify case + function in context. Common: ablative absolute, dative of possession, genitive of description.
6 sample cards from the 100 in the bank.
Famous opening of De Bello Gallico?
'Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres' — 'All Gaul is divided into three parts.'
2nd declension masculine?
Servus (slave). Endings: -us, -i, -o, -um, -o, -e (voc -e is special).
Translate: 'Dico te venire'?
I say (that) you are coming.
AP Latin required readings?
Caesar's De Bello Gallico (selections from Books 1, 4, 5, 6) + Vergil's Aeneid (Books 1, 2, 4, 6 — selected passages).
Femina?
Woman.
Fatum (fate)?
Predetermined destiny. Aeneas is fated to found Rome.
These samples are a small slice. The full bank runs flashcards, multiple choice and timed mock exams with per-chapter progress tracking, on the web and in the iOS app.
The AP Latin bank holds 250 items: 150 multiple-choice questions, 100 flashcards. 18 of them are on this page to read free, with no signup.
Yes. Every multiple-choice item carries a written rationale that states the controlling principle behind the correct answer and then addresses each wrong option in turn — why it tempts and precisely where it fails. Knowing why the plausible answer was wrong is worth more than knowing which letter was right.
College Board AP Latin Course and Exam Description (public). Curriculum framework covers required readings: Caesar's Commentarii de Bello Gallico (selections from Books 1, 4, 5, 6) and Vergil's Aeneid (Books 1, 2, 4, 6 selections), in both Latin and translation. Units include grammar/syntax, vocabulary, literary devices, dactylic hexameter scansion, Roman history & culture, and translation analysis. MCQs reference public CED skills and the openly available original Latin texts.
The samples on this page are free to read in full, rationales included, with no account. The complete 250-item bank, the timed mock exams and per-chapter progress tracking are part of CoStudy on the web and in the iOS app.
Last reviewed 2026-08-22. Banks are written against the certifying body's published exam outline and re-checked when that outline changes — exams get renumbered, retired and reweighted, and a bank written to a superseded outline teaches the wrong proportions. Figures that are re-indexed annually are deliberately not asserted as rules; the questions test the governing principle instead.
This bank is written against the College Board's published exam material. Check the AP Course and Exam Descriptions for the current outline, fees and eligibility rules — those change, and the certifying body is the only authority on them. CoStudy is not affiliated with the College Board.