AP Foreign Lang Exams Mean Nothing

So I got all my AP scores, and I’m very surprised by my Spanish Lang score. I got a 5 on it, and I cannot maintain a real conversation in Spanish, nor can I understand TV shows, movies and songs without Spanish lyrics or subtitles for me to read along with. So no, college board, I’m not extremely proficient in the Spanish language.

If it’s this easy for a non-native speaker to get a 5 (since I never studied or practiced outside the class for it), then I cast doubt on the legitimacy of the test. The college I’m attending won’t take AP credit, but I know a lot of schools accept AP Foreign Language tests to fulfill foreign lang requirements, and that means college students will graduate without any real grasp of that language.

By AP Spanish score of 5 alone, my D got the credit for the first 200 level Spanish in college. She got credit for another 200 level Spanish by the placement exam. It does not fulfill the foreign language for graduation in her college if she is not major in engineering. Most students scores 5 in a foreign language cannot communicate in that language. It only indicates you have achieved somewhat entry college level skill of that language. I took French in college and I cannot understand TV shows, movies and songs in French either.

Correct. An AP class generally equates to a 4th semester language course. The AP exams test to an intermediate level of proficiency. Nobody (including colleges) is claiming that a student that takes 4 semesters of a FL in college will be fully proficient. Some may, but most will not.