hey there again!! i am a current HS senior prepping for the AP german exam, and i am completely stuck on how to prep
my school does not offer an AP german class, but does offer the test. i am at the top of my class (highest level aka 4th year, in GNHS etc) so i decided to take a shot and try to take the exam. however, my classmates aren’t very good students (especially speaking) and i feel incredibly underprepared. plus, the exam is completely self prep
here are my current skills:
- writing: pretty good. my vocabulary is large and i only make occasional mistakes. i can form basic dialogue, and have experience with all four cases, past-tense, perfekt, and other cases. i also know how to do relative pronouns and several other types of sentences
- speaking: decent?? i am autistic, and it’s hard for me to translate my thoughts to speech. my pronounciation is good as well
- listening: bad, honestly. i have APD and it’s very hard for me to interpret anything speech-related (including english)
if you have experience with the test, please let me know! i have disability accommodations for 50% bonus time and breaks as needed, so i am able to take the test separate from my classmates. i don’t want to pull the test, but honestly i’m pretty worried
The multiple choice part is straight-forward. Review topics, vocabulary, grammar rules, examples, texts you’ve read etc.
(As with all multiple choice tests, if you’re in a “difficult” section and one answer looks totally obvious, it’s unlikely to be the right one or it wouldn’t be in a difficult section. Then again, if you’re really good, everything would seem obvious even harder answers, so, know yourself.)
If you’re doing well in class, you should do well on that part.
The harder part is the free response part.
1° to understand German better or become stronger at listening comprehension, if you have Netflix or any streaming service, watch German series/shows. Not films, but series/tv shows because your ear will get familiar with the characters’ voice&ticks and your brain will start preparing for what certain characters are likely to do or say. Start by watching in German with English subtitles, move to German with German subtitles 2 weeks before the test. Practice listening 2-2’30, twice with German subtitles then without, listen twice and summarize in English. You may need a partner ready to listen to your summary. The goal is for your summary to be as complete as possible: you can watch with English subtitles and check with your partner to know if you were clear, remembered key points, etc.
2° Presentational writing: look at the rubrics and what is evaluated. For instance, typically, using connectors and writing at the paragraph level is a big deal whereas having paragraphs made of one sentence, another sentence, another sentence without connectors loses you points.
3° written/oral questions: Remember that questions where you’re invited to talk about you, your life your experience… aren’t for a confessional. The grader WILL NOT know if you lied to make a better story or borrowed your classmate’s story because you had nothing to say. They don’t care: The goal is to create prompts to see what you’re able to produce, they DO NOT care whether it’s true, they only want to hear/read your German.