<p>Okay, so I'm self-studying AP Spanish as a sophomore due to complicated school policies, and I've been using Barron's AP 2007. My supervising teacher is an awesome lady but hasn't the faintest idea about the test itself, and the teacher who has the actual AP Spanish class doesn't seem to either. </p>
<p>Anyway, today I was looking online at the CollegeBoard website, which I would assume was up-to-date, and the description they have for the AP exam is nothing like Barron's! No formal oral presentation, just telling a story based on pictures, no informal writing...what's going on here?</p>
<p>Could anybody with a competent AP teacher tell me what they've been told the format for this year's exam is? (I know it was changed.)</p>
<p>Um... are you taking Language or Literature? It sounds like language from your decision, but it would help if you could clarify. If your taking literature the format of the exam is a section of multiple choice followed by several long essays (3, I believe). I don't know about the Spanish Language AP, however, sorry.</p>
<p>Barrons has a new book for 2007 that is right. If you have an older version, it won't be right. The story part from pictures is from the old tests and is gone now. You now have informal speaking dialogues and a compare/contrast of 3 sources for the formal part. My teacher says the new test is harder than the old one, so I'm betting there will be a nice curve.</p>
<p>The new test has (my teacher is crazy and made us memorize this)
informal speaking
formal speaking
listening comprehension
short reading passages
long reading passages
fill in the blank with roots
fill in the blank with no root words
formal writing
informal writing.</p>
<p>its gonna be bad, we're studying for it, but the test is supposed to be so hard that a 5 in the past is now a 3. My teacher is gonna have a heart attack.</p>
<p>I know what all the sections are because we've done them so much. Do any of your classes use the Triangulo textbook? It's pretty good. </p>
<p>Also, the fill-in-the-blank vocab with no roots might be an awful section (I never seem to do better than an 80-85%), but it's only 2.5% of the total score. </p>
<p>A tip on that section: It's usually words that go together. Example: Porque su hija murio, ella esta ____ luto. </p>
<p>You just have to know that there's an expression, "estar de luto" that means to be in mourning over a family member. Knowing expressions like that and the little bits that make them up make the rootless section a lot easier. </p>
<p>P.S. forgive the lack of accents and such in the above example, and possibly the grammar. It's rather late, and I'm not going to spend the time to figure out how to put them in.</p>
<p>in response to qwertz82 and godiva07, only 8% of non-native speakers get a 5 on the exam (and this is not from last year's data i believe) -- from a collegebaord data sheet</p>
<p>What?? a 5 in the ap spanish exam is now a 3 because of the new edition??... i dont know if you're right about that. i mean, i am a native speaker, and from logic one would know that the ap spanish language cannot be any more difficult than the ap spanish literature. and a good amount of students in my school pass the ap spanish literature exam. therefore, though i may be wrong (highly doubtful), yo pienso que para sacar un 5 en el examen no deberia ser tan dificil. Yes, the exam is more difficult for the students who can barely speak spanish, but though it may be modified to be more rigorous, there's always a limit to how hard the exam may be. last year, AT LEAST 88% of the students who took ap spanish language in my school scored a 5. only about 5% got a 3 and the remaining 9% got a 4. Regardless, everyone in my school passed it. Now, the new edition may be a little more difficult for us, however, given the fact that my school is one of those examples where language is passed with a high percent(especially spanish), i highly doubt that the entire 100% of the ap spanish language passers in my school who scored a 5 would be minimized to only 60% with about only 20%, at most, scoring a 4 and the rest a 3, while the remaining get a 2.. Its almost impossible..</p>
<p>That 5 being 3 thing is not true. That would mean that the test would have gotten easier. I think whoever said that meant that what was once required to get a 5 would only only earn a 3 now meaning that the exam as a whole requires much more higher level thinking than before. Besides, this is the first time the test is being issued, there's no way that statistic would be accurate.</p>
<p>why do they torture us non native people. I mean it is virtually impossible for us to learn 1/4 of the stuff on the test in a classroom alone, its not like I am going to sit down and watch telenovelas for 4 years to prepare for the damn ap test. I am totally just going to screw it and if i fail, then f.u.ck. I fail, I just have to take the placement test [whether i pass or not] and be placed in a class which suits my knowledge level. I HATE APS SO MUCH RIGHT NOW</p>
<p>Aramin did a wonderful job breaking the test down :D </p>
<p>Yep, and this year is the new year for this Spanish exam...which I believe is more practical than the last one. Sure you might think the components are harder...but this time we're actually speaking into grabadoras and synthesizing information! </p>
<p>And keep in mind...you are only competing against those taking the exam on May 8th :D So do your best...and if you don't feel like you will get a 4 or 5....study for the placement!</p>