AP French

I’ve been in French for 4 years, and have only actually learned for two of those years, but I’m already taking AP French. It’s too late to change my decision. Because of this, I was wondering, what should I know before taking this class? How much French should I know and what things are important to remember? This is in order for me to catch up this summer and re-establish my french. If there are any tips for the class too, it’d really be appreciated!

Can you explain why despite having been in French for two years you have only learned for two of them? Did you have a bad teacher? Did you slack off? Were you out on medical leave? Etc?

If you want to brush up on your French before high school starts again in the fall, there are on-line resources that you can use to try to improve your French over the summer. For example the BBC offers some good lessons on-line for free. There are also some French movies on Netflix (if you have Netflix). In my experience these get easier to follow after some practice.

Another more drastic option to help you prepare would be to take an intensive French immersion course over the summer. There are some courses for high school students offered both in Canada (I think mostly in Quebec) and in France.

Amazon Prime also has a bunch of French shows. You should be able to watch them with French subtitles. You can watch LOU https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvYqgo9dGBPVvaa4paVIhwQ
Check if your cablepackage includes TV5Monde and watch whatever catches your fancy.
For teenager stuff, read L’étudiant https://www.letudiant.fr/ (for 18-25 yo) or Okapi http://www.okapi.fr/ (or 13-16yo) or Phosphore (for 15-20 yo) https://www.phosphore.com/
For news, but easy to read: https://monquotidien.playbacpresse.fr/

It was due to a very bad teacher!

Does anyone know about how much french i should know before getting started?

Have you taken the Subject test in French?
You should have an intermediate level in French. “how much” is hard to quantify but look at ACTFL guidelines for “intermediate”.

Also, it may not be too late to change classes. You will have to wait until teh fall and you may replace it with something that is not your top pick.

How about just get the text book they’ll use this fall and take it from there? Find out what the outside reading is and get started on that.

That would point you right at the work your class will do this fall, as opposed to general proficincy or online learning.

“Does anyone know about how much french i should know before getting started?”

I think that it is very difficult to quantify “how much” someone knows of a language unless you take a standardized test. I suppose that you could find a tutoring service to give you a practice AP test now so that you can see how far away you are from being ready. However, I don’t see how this would do much more than scare you into spending more time now getting ready – which is something that you can do without the practice AP test.

I think that the more exposure to a language that you get, the better that you will be in that language. The more French that you pick up over the summer the better you are going to do in AP French and the better your AP test score will be.

Getting the text book that they will use in the fall seems like a good idea to me. However, listening also would be very helpful. Listening with French subtitles as @MYOS1634 suggested would also be a good idea. I tried this last night with the BBC on-line French lessons (I am also trying to brush up on my French right now) and found them very helpful. If you were to spend 30 to 45 minutes per day five days per week between now and September, I think that this might make a HUGE difference.

Once school starts in the fall, I think that you should still take advantage of some “outside of class” resources. It is very hard to learn a language just sitting in a classroom without using the language.

I have had very bad French teachers, and at least one very good French teacher (as well as several somewhere in the middle). I know how much difference there is – huge. However, you can only do the best that you can do with what you are handed. Fortunately in this day and age you are handed a lot of resources over the Internet that you can choose to take advantage of if you want to.

I think it should be noted that OP didn’t say she is now going to live in France, needs to be fluent or at least fluid. Nor did she say this is abou the AP test. She just wants to be ready for this fall’s class, after a dud teacher. It’s about the hs class, it seems. So I suggested the text.

OP sounds pretty wise, to me. The prep may be fun, she may find she likes French better-- and go on to the fine suggestions about radio/tv/movies, online news in French or an online course, as extras. But that seems afer she gets a grounding for this particular class.

Best wishes.

Thank you! I dont know what book they use, but i do know there are prep books that i will start using. Thank you again for your help and i’ll let you know what i find most effective!

If you know which teacher you will have next year, ask to meet with them and find out what their expectations are for a student entering their French class this fall. If other students were in your class taught by a “dud” teacher, then it may be good for you to tell the new teacher so he or she can prepare to do a more extensive review.

Dude you just gave me a great idea thank you soo much! Also, does anyone know anywhere where i can find a French speaker by any chance? Or someone who already took the exam? Thank you!

Right now, prep books dont really do much! i do not recommend