AP Spanish - Interpersonal Speaking: Can't get a hang of it. Advice?

Hey,

So this year, I’m taking AP Spanish. My teacher is doing exam review with us throughout the year, as well as the normally taught lesson to improve Spanish and whatnot. However, this is a tiny problem. Fortunately enough, I do score 5s (he was ann AP Spanish exam reader multiple times in the past) on the writing sections, as well as scoring 100% or 1 mistake on multiple choices. Unfortunately, ever since we starting speaking, I don’t do so hot. We’ve have non-graded practices on the Interpersonal Speaking section, and I always seem to mess up. The biggest problem I have is the 20 seconds. I DON’T know how to time myself, because trying to listen, comprehend, think of an answer, answer correctly, AND look at the clock is too much. EITHER I speak too little, thinking 20 seconds is up, or too much, thinking it’s been like 10. I have had PLENTY of Spanish speaking in the past - NEVER timed. So my question is:

How did you time yourself?
Were there special phrases/words you always used to make your time more lengthy?
How do I prevent “over-speaking”?
Any other tips/advice from 3/4/5 scorers on the exam?
Did YOUR professors give any of their personal advice?

I would VERY much appreciate it. Thanks so much!

My advice isn’t all that useful because I only got a 3, but the international speaking section really isn’t that important. I spoke about how Dia de Los Muertos isn’t a real holiday celebrated by the Spanish (I mixed it up with cinco de mayo lmao) and still managed to pass the exam. If you can speak Spanish well enough to where they can understand it, I think you’ll do fine.

Plus I think if they realize you’re a gringo they won’t be as harsh

Sorry, you get no leeway in scoring just because you are not latino.

Bump - and in reply to @lhw1998 , I actually have a very good Spanish-speaking accent, even though I’m not Latino myself. They don’t care if you’re “gringo” or latino, it just matters what you say.

I’m assuming you’re in AP Spanish Language and Comp (which I took last year and got a 5 on)? I would make sure that you have all of your thoughts and what you’re going to say planned out. Almost like a verbal essay (topic sentence, evidence, etc.) The timing is the hardest thing to measure and just comes with practice. My teacher had us in the lab and had us practice at least once a week. You could also pick up an AP Spanish book for practice at home–my teacher used that one and highly recommended it. It has a CD so you can actually practice authentic speaking prompts on your own.