Hi everyone! I am a sophomore in high school who just took the AP Mandarin Chinese exam this past Thursday, and since I tend to worry too much, I’m just going to put a few questions out here for others to answer.
Some Background Info:
I am personally an ABC (American-Born Chinese), but speaking in general (in both English and Chinese) has never been one of my strengths. Since I don’t talk very much (introvert) and I haven’t been talking to my parents as much (they are native Chinese speakers as well, but we talk in “Chinglish”, or a mix of Chinese and English, a lot) in Chinese because I’ve been busy with schoolwork, my Chinese has been deteriorating. Plus, I haven’t been around a lot of Chinese-speaking people for a while and I don’t have Chinese school anymore (been going there since I was about 3 - didn’t take it seriously until 6th grade - and graduated from the school last school year), so I haven’t had the chance to talk to anyone other than my parents in the language. I am fairly good at reading, listening, and writing (typing on the computer). Overall, I think I am pretty fluent in the language. I hold myself to high standards, so school can get really stressful. This is my first year taking any AP classes, and I am already taking more than 1 AP class.
Questions:
First of all, how harshly is this exam graded? I know that many of the students who take this are native speakers, so I’m not sure if there will be less of a curve or not. I personally think that I didn’t do very well on the conversation speaking portion, but I think I did rather well on the presentation and the other sections of the exam, so I don’t know if I’ll have a lesser chance of getting a 5. Sometimes when my nerves get to me and when there are a lot of distractions around me, I start making a lot of mistakes. I know that I was fully capable of answering all the questions in the conversation section in this year’s exam (they were a lot easier than I expected), but since I was nervous and was slightly distracted by the sounds of the other people around me, I messed up a lot. I forgot to say a couple of words, kept on pausing (paused too long for one of them and didn’t finish my answer before the time was up because I forgot to say a phrase), and I think I only did well on one of the conversation answers. How much will my grade on the conversation section affect my overall exam score?
Second of all, do you know how many mistakes are allowed before your score gets negatively impacted?
These are all the questions I have right now. If you can please answer them, that would be great! Thank you.
(NOTE: Please do not criticize me and say that I should have done well because I’m a native speaker and had started learning the language at a young age. I have moments where I get really nervous and I never know how I will perform after I get nervous. Please be considerate and thoughtful in your answers. 
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