AP Spanish?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

I have the option to take high-school Spanish all through high-school and take AP Spanish junior or senior year – depending on if I can successfully test out of Spanish 3 and take Spanish 4 sophomore year (MOST probable is that I only test out of Spanish 3A, or half of the class, so I have to take the second half during sophomore year and go through the regular schedule to take AP Spanish senior year).

Firstly, I am not sure to choose between language or literature; I feel like we have a choice or something but the only thing that the list titles the class as in “AP Classes Available at this School” is ‘AP Spanish’. I think I will end up going with Language because I am not sure about Literature, especially reading, since its another language. Also, literature seems like a lot of extra work.

I have a couple questions in regards to the class:

  1. What are your thoughts on a non-spanish speaker taking this AP Spanish class? I am doing pretty well in my Spanish 2 class, all A’s, and I feel like Spanish 3 won’t be that much of a step up in scale; however, I see online that most people who take the AP exam for this class are native speakers, which worries me about the exam difficulty and whether I will be able to learn enough in my class to score well on the exam.

  2. What are your thoughts in regards to either the literature or language class? Which one is the most preferable, or the least work-intensive overall? (Just an opinion question, I realize both are a lot of work)

  3. For any English speakers who learned Spanish primarily in class, have you ever taken AP Spanish? If so, what one and what were your thoughts on it? What did you end up scoring on the AP exam?

I am considering whether it is worth continuing Spanish because I could just stop after Spanish 3.
Thanks for the input!

2

@Deferno54
Lol…Trust me when I say, you have nothing to worry about. I too am a non - Spanish speaker (African American male) who is currently in Spanish 6 and it really is not all that bad… in fact it is quite enlightening and helps to broaden ones knowledge (especially if somewhere down the road you decide to take Art History AP) I have also had the privilege of taking Spanish 5 language/literature and thoroughly enjoyed learning about writers/artists such as: Neruda, Garcia Lorca, Borges, Allende, Marquez, Cervantes, Kahalo, El Greco, Miro, Dali, and ect. I must admit, at first it was quite challenging however what AP class is not… moreover with regard to the AP exam I wish I could give you a bit of advice, however I never did take it…but I do assure you it really is a fun experience.

3

I’m a non-native spanish speaker (my nickname in class is gringo :-/ ), but I haven’t had much trouble with AP Spanish language. It definitely took me longer to read than the rest of the class, and I did not understand somethings at first (by the third month I stopped having that problem luckily lol). I’m a sophomore now, I tested out of Spanish 4 after taking spanish 1-3 in 7th-9th grade. To be honest, whether you can do this or not is up to you. If you watch TV in spanish, listen to music in spanish, etc, even for only 5 hours a week, you should do fine.

Oh, and I definitely would NOT recommend AP spanish lit unless you took lang first. Lit is a ridiculous amount of reading, like literally reading books in a week or two (of course it may depend on your teacher). Even though I did really well in lang, I’m not taking lit because it is very hard to handle if you have other APs or study-intensive classes, or clubs.

4

Many non-native Spanish speakers, myself included, have taken the class. It’s fine.

Agreed. And in most schools, AP Spanish Lit has AP Spanish Language as a prereq.

Yup. The AP Spanish Lit reading list is extensive, and unlike the AP English Lit course, there is no deviation from the reading list. To get a sense as to what you’d need to read. look [url=https://apstudent.collegeboard.org/apcourse/ap-spanish-literature-and-culture/required-reading-list]here[/url]. Also unlike the AP English Lit exam, you do not (at least in recent years) get to choose your own examples of works for the FRQ’s.

5

Never shy away from a challenge! AP Spanish is just like any other AP class. Organize, prepare, and study. Period. Learn the teacher’s expectations, read the syllabus, and maybe get a tutor. You’ve got it!

6

Taking AP Spanish Language is a great idea, it’s a tough exam and colleges like to see that, and if you do good on the exam in May, you’ll have fufilled the Foreign Language Requirement at any school you want to go to (except Ivy League of course.)

7

Except Ivy League? Ummm, no. Brown does not have a foreign language requirement. Yale requires at least 1 semester of FL at Yale. The other 6 all provide exemptions for the FL requirement with an appropriate score on the AP Spanish exam.