AP Spanish?

[vegangirl]

<p>Hi guys. Has anyone taken this class? My school is offering it this year for the first time, and they're being SO WEIRD about it. First of all, it's being offered as a SEMESTER LONG course, and students can take it after either 2 1/2 or 3 1/2 years of spanish (it's a second semester course). So that means someone can go from Spanish three or four into AP spanish. And believe me, the quality of the spanish classes at my school is not great. </p>

<p>A friend of mine is planning to take the course 2nd semester of this year. She is currently a spanish three student. I've been trying really hard to talk her out of it, but she said the teacher said it's fine because, get this, "the course material of spanish four and AP spanish don't overlap, so it doesn't matter what order you take them in." What? I think the teacher is crazy, personally. But more importantly, I don't want my friend to fail the exam.</p>

<p>So what I'm wondering for people who have taken this exam before is: how difficult did you find the exam to be? how many years of spanish did you take before taking the test? how close to fluency in spanish do you have to be to do well?</p>

<p>Thanks :-)</p>

[celebrian25]

<p>at my school, you can take ap spanish after 3 yrs. (9th spanish 1, 10th spanish 2, 11th spanish 3 12 ap spanish 4) or after 4 yrs. (8th spanish 1, 9th spanish 2, 10th spanish 3, 11th spanish 4, 12 spanish 5) so i think she'll be all right if she puts some degree of work into it</p>

<p>btw the test is very hard because a ton of natural speakers take it, making the curve harsh</p>

[slipstream99]

<p>I took 3 years of Spanish before the test: Spanish I, Spanish IV, then AP Spanish. You don't have to really be able to speak it that well, since that is only part of the exam. You do, however, have to be able to understand both spoken and written Spanish. I thought I bombed the exam (probably because of my horrible speaking skills) but ended up with a 5. Also, lots of the people in my class that didn't really do that much work ended up with 5s. The teacher left much to be desired, but I made her make everyone by the Barron's AP book and told her what we would do each day, so that probably helped. I disagree with celebrian that the curve is harsh...there is no way I would have gotten the score I did if the curve wasn't generous.</p>

<p>Overall, if your friend knows all the irregular conjugations, nouns, etc. and can understand Spanish in print and sound, she'll do fine.</p>

[run4fun]

<p>I've been taking Spanish for 13 yrs. now and just took the AP Spanish exam one day because our teacher recommended it, we aren't even in an AP Spanish class. Everyone except for one person in the class got a 5. The exam was obvioulsy easier for us than it will be for someone who has only taken a few years of spanish, but its really not that hard in the first place. As long as you can understand spoken Spanish, and write coherently, your set. The oral part of the exam apparently doesnt have much weighting as my friend only got through one of six pictures you have to describe and still got a 5. Good luck to y'all.</p>

[vegangirl]

<p>slipstream, but AP spanish is still the equivalent spanish 5 at your school, even if you only took three years, right? I just don't understand how one can go from a semester's worth of spanish 3 into AP spanish, and then after only a semester be ready for the exam. I don't know, maybe I'm being too pessimistic. </p>

<p>celebrian- didn't know about all the native speakers, that's interesting.</p>

[vegangirl]

<p>for you guys who did well on the exam, how close to fluency are you?</p>

[celebrian25]

<p>well that's what i've been told, and i guess it's a lot to cram into 1 semester</p>

[marko]

<p>In my school we have one of the best teachers...LOL 100% passing rate...and for our school we count it as AP Spanish 4 Language and AP Spanish 4 Literature. Since our school has a lot of mexicans, myself included (its near the border). we have Native and Non native. Spanish 3 is only for non natives, so that means that from Spanish 2 you go into AP if you are native. Everyone passes with a 5, except those that are non native in AP, they get a 4 or a 5 if they care a lot.
I didnt think it was really hard, of course I am a native speaker =). I didnt take the class, no self study, nothing and still passed with a 5. I took literature, for that one you have to have the class.</p>

[vegangirl]

<p>hmm, okay. maybe this is an easier exam than i thought?
didn't anyone have trouble with it?</p>

[lazieeryceboi]

<p>I hope it's easy too. Unfortunately, there are many native speakers in my class! I can't understand anything they say! I know I'm definitely screwed for the speaking part. </p>

<p>What I wonder is why do native speakers take the class? I mean it can't be considered a foreign language class for them rite?</p>

[celebrian25]

<p>well you can't judge based on what a native speaker thinks, based on the fact they've been speaking it al their lives, compared to the high school student who has been speaking it for 3-5 years. There's a native speaker in my class, spanish 4(i live in ohio, so not a lot of natives) and he has to do everything in reverse (he just immigrated here about 2 weeks ago and he speaks VERY limited english), we have to write a project in english for day of the dead,while he's writing it in spanish, in the end, i just don't think you can compare what a native speaker feels about the test compared to a non native speaker</p>

[zantedeschia]

<p>In my school you can take Spanish AP after Spanish III Honors, or III if you're very good. THere aren't a lot of native speakers, I'm not very good at all, wouldn't consider myself fluent and I got a 5.</p>

[vegangirl]

<p>Thanks for the input.
I was looking through the archives of the old CC, and a lot of people complained that AP spanish was hard. but this thread makes it sound like it's a fairly easy AP. I guess it just depends on the person. hum.</p>

[dot_commie]

<p>I'm having the same problems as you, except we're on trimesters. It's the first year they offer it, and it's offered the first two trimesters...which means you go a trimester cold then take the AP test. Which is stupid. You take it after 4 Spanish courses, which are 2 trimesters long = 8 trimesters = 2 1/3 years. I've taken longer than that, though, since I came from a different school - I took 3 in middle school (we learned the same thing they teach in High School here) and 1 my freshman year. Plus, my family is half Puerto Rican. I'm not a native speaker, but I can understand dialect and idiom well. Our teacher doesn't really err SPEAK spanish. It's a little worrisome. So far this year, we've only done 40 pages of the textbook...:/</p>

[zantedeschia]

<p>Well I don't think the test is EASY, because you do have to work hard in the class and study, but I think your friend can do it after Spanish III.</p>

[teal]

<p>At my school, we took AP span after 3 years, and it was 2 semesters long; the test was not easy, but it was not super difficult/impossible; you really need to be comfortable writing, speaking, and reading in spanish</p>

[manderz1]

<p>I took Spanish I in 8th, II in 9th, and III in 10th, took AP Language in 11th an dI am now in Literature!</p>

<p>I passed the test, and I suck at multiple choice...and have a meager vocabulary. I'm thoroughly enjoying Lit (WAAYYY better than Language) and learning WAY more. My speaking, reading, and writing skills have improved 200% since September.</p>

[manderz1]

<p>lazie,</p>

<p>a lot of speakers choose to take it as an elective...and you'd also be surprised. Language is probably EASIER for a non native (as far as everything but speaking goes)...because we have learned all of the annoying little rules, while they pretty much have been taught by the spoken tongue...Most can't spell, and some can't even recognize words when reading..it really depends.</p>

<p>Anyway, I love the native speakers in my class. They're soooo much fun and having a variety of accents and inputs DEFINITELY helps.</p>

[mag00]

<p>how difficult did you find the exam to be?
- The easiest five I have ever gotten</p>

<p>how many years of spanish did you take before taking the test?
- I speak spanish at home, but I could not write/read it. I learned how to write/read spanish through my school's spanish program.</p>

<p>how close to fluency in spanish do you have to be to do well?
- Not that close really. I was surprised I got a 5 because I totally bombed the essay (I wrote three paragraphs and somehow wrote about American/Cuban History, WTF?). The CR type questions are the most boring thing in the world. I remember one was about a writer/philosopher guy who would sit at a library and just watch people. Another 4-5 paragraph essay was on the origin of @. </p>

<p>Aside from this, the test was very very very easy. I think the part I had the most trouble on, aside from the essay, was the section that tells you to fill in the blank with a word. The problem with this is that it could be ANY word and if you fail to put accent marks, you get it wrong.</p>

[slipstream99]

<p>I remember the origin of @! And there was one about turtles too i think...</p>