<p>can anyone tell me about the exam? & rate it's difficulty please</p>
<p>the exam is being updated with a big new emphasis on reading and less on grammar (but still the 20 fill in the blanks questions). The oral is also a little faster. The test I thought was very difficult but the curves are steep. You need experience with 1. grammar, 2. reading, and 3. the format of the test (take a couple of practice ones)</p>
<p>Definitely take practice tests. I took it in 2005 and was very well prepared, but I still walked out of the exam room feeling dazed, thinking "Gosh, that was harder than I expected," and none too sure if I'd done very well. (It was, by the way, my first AP exam ever--I was a sophomore--so that might partly explain my dazedness at the end. And I did end up doing very well, after all. :) )</p>
<p>I've not got the hard facts about it, but bananaman seems to have it covered. :p :D</p>
<p>I'm going to assume you're talking about the Spanish Language test here.</p>
<p>I took it last year and got a 4 on it after about...four hours of studying. So, that's decent I suppose.</p>
<p>My teacher had a bunch of copies of the Barron's prep book and he let us borrow them the weekend before the test...this book is incredibly frustrating but it might have been useful. I did some of it the night before my AP and was freaking out because some of the exercises were so hard, but I'm glad I looked at it because the book was MUCH HARDER than the test. </p>
<p>The test is formatted like this:
-a couple sections of short listening exchanges, like a conversation or something, followed by questions you hear and answers typed on a page
-some longer listening sections that actually have the questions typed, so that you can answer them as you go along -- the listening part is the hardest part to study for, but the Barron's book comes with some CDs, i only used one of them though
-there's a lot of reading comprehension (this is where you NEED to know vocab. grammar isn't as important on this section because as long as you know the stem of a conjugated verb you can figure out the meaning of the sentence, but vocab is crucial here. a lot of people didn't have time to finish this part but i only left like 2 or 3 at the end blank)
-writing: the essay topic last year was pretty broad, i had plenty of time to finish it. know some good transitional phrases and vocab words to toss in there if you can (probably a bad approach but it worked for me)
-speaking- there are some short interview questions - last year they were really dumb and i actually started laughing in the middle of one of my responses because it was so stupid
then there is the longer narrative, where you look at a picture sequence and tell a story about it. it's easy to get flustered on that one.</p>
<p>this was a lot of info, sorry for being so long! i hope it helped! reply with any specific questions, i'm here and bored...so go ahead.</p>
<p>Thanks for sharing all of that great info. Has the AP Spanish format changed since '06 or is it going to change in '07?
Also, is there any other AP book recommended for Spanish besides Barron's?</p>
<p>there aren't really any books out yet to help prepare for the changes in the exam (yes, there are MAJOR changes in the exam for 2007 version- that includes an essay citing documents, a 2 minute speaking presentation, a cue-less fill in the blank, etc.)</p>
<p>check out apcentral.collegeboard.com to see how the new exam will be formatted</p>
<p>my ap spanish language class....</p>
<p>24 students...
-19 5s
-2 4s
-2 3s
-1 1 (the kid hated the teacher, and just sat there for the exam)</p>
<p>but then again, i was the only kid born in the US... so w/e.... i got one of the 4s... still happy! i have the same maestra for spanish lit... whoot whoot! since i got a 4 i got credit for 2 semesters of spanish at the comm. college, so im taking intermediate spanish 1 & 2 this year over there... </p>
<p>as for the exam... it wasnt too bad... the speaking on the tape killed me... im used to neutral spanish... not castillian, i was like... WHAT? european lisp=not cool...</p>