<p>does anyone have any idea if selfstudying for a year and getting 5 on AP possible? has anyone tried this? please someone respond.</p>
<p>Do you know of any good books and review materials for AP Latin(v)</p>
<p>The AP Latin tests are incredibly difficult. Less students take them than any other test except French Literature, so the fact that 20% or so get 5s doesn't mean very much, since only the most qualified students are taking the test. But the curriculum is all online, and if you are able to translate everything in the curriculum and then review it before the test, the free response is easy. For the multiple choice, it is important to take practice tests, since few students are used to having to read and understand Latin to quickly.</p>
<p>My friend took both Latin Literature and Latin Vergil this year without having taken the classes. He did not self-study for them. This meant of course that he was sight-translating the passages on the test, and he said the only problem he had with the essays and free response questions was just a slew of vocabulary words which he didn't know. </p>
<p>That being said, he's essentially a Latin prodigy who was on my Certamen team (quiz bowl for Junior Classical League) all four years of high school. Certamen has different areas, including grammar, vocabulary, derivatives, Roman History, Roman Culture, Latin Literature, and Mythology. He did everything relating to the actual language, I did History/Culture/Literature. We made the State Finals four years in a row and won twice. So yeah, he's pretty good at Latin and not a good barometer to compare yourself to. I can't imagine that self-studying for the Latin tests would be a good idea.</p>
<p>yeah it wouldnt be a good idea unless ur very smart.</p>
<p>thankyou all for your respond</p>
<p>I took them both and got 5s. It's certainly not impossible. I self studied Latin Lit and took a class for Vergil. Just force yourself to sight translate on a regular basis and you'll develop enough competence with the language to work things out if you get stuck. Read from clean copies to prepare and don't be surprised if the tests seem hard.</p>
<p>I self-studied for AP latin literature and received a 5. The test is very difficult indeed and the lack of prepbooks makes it even harder to self-study. I wouldn't recommend it but what I did was basically translate Latin and kept translating until I knew the Latin text solidly. However, I did get very lucky on the test. Start studying early!!!! This is not a test you can really bs. Either you know the passages or you dont!</p>
<p>thank you elizabeth and physics for your comments</p>
<p>J mom, i've told you this before, the people who say they succeeded with self studying were people who already knew the fundamentals of latin. If you have a reasonable grasp of latin, it's easy to self study for these exams. </p>
<p>But your son has no prior latin experience. He will not get a five unless he devotes all of his free time to learning latin, and even then it's unlikely. He can take the test if he so chooses, but i sincerely doubt he'll get a 5 without prior experience. Latin is simply hard.</p>
<p>J mom, I don't know what grade your son is in, but as a rising junior I started studying Latin this winter, and from now until the hopeful AP Exam at the end of senior year I'm studying that, first taking notes on everything, then going back a second time to sharpen my latin skills. I'm using the complete idiot's guide, and it isn't that bad....I'll try to get more books as junior year progresses. I'm trying this technique with German and Italian as well, although I just started those two.</p>
<p>thanks again. My son is also a rising junior. He is really enjoying learning latin. Hope he will continue to do so. bloodandiron how many languages do you know? My son knows 5(latin included) and is planning to take AP exam. Why are you studing Latin? do you think college adm will think highly of it? My son wants this(5 lang) to be a hook for him.</p>