<p>The AP Exam for French Language is coming up!</p>
<p>Any advice on how to study, what to use to study, or what to study if you already took it?</p>
<p>I got the Princeton Review French SAT II Book because I didn't see any AP French Language books.</p>
<p>This can be a thread where we all share ideas, questions, and comments about the AP French Language Exam.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>we're screwed. AHAHA anyone have any helpful sites on structure? it's my weakest area.</p>
<p>There's a Barron's book that comes with an audio cassette that you can use to prep for the listening/speaking sections. Go over the free response sections that are online and try to get old tests from your teacher. I took the test a couple years ago and the hardest part for me was the FRQ fill-in-the blank section. I felt that the essay and speaking were unexpectedly easy, but that's just my two cents.</p>
<p>Edit: I checked on Amazon and it looks like the new version of the Barron's book comes with CD's. There's also another AP French Language book on sale, but it looks like that one isn't very good unless your teacher has the teacher's edition with CD's and answers.</p>
<p>My teacher said that the Barrons was misleading for the exam</p>
<p>I have the barron's book, but I really don't know where to start. My teacher hasn't really been preparing us for the exam until recently, so I definitely feel screwed, especially for the orals.</p>
<p>I know for a fact that the person who wrote the Barron's book was a grader for the AP french test because my french teacher knows her (as she is an AP grader as well) on a first name basis. </p>
<p>My teacher never said anything about the Barrons being misleading.</p>
<p>Hi guys,</p>
<p>Here's a structure tip that always worked well when I was taking foreign language APs and IBs. Instead of worrying about structure during the exam, memorize a few basic idiomatic constructions beforehand and then work them in. Fluent usage of idioms is a very advanced skill that is very easy to fake in a written test. Also, to show you know something like the subjunctive, memorize one subjunctive construction and throw that in there. The reader doesn't know whether you came up with it on the spot or not.</p>
<p>Similarly, for the orals (can't remember if those are only for IB, or for both), memorize several French verbal tics. That way, instead of saying "ummmm" or leaving gaps in the tape, you can thrown in that weird french "eeeuuuuh" sound, or the ol' "hein," or "en fait." Little tics like that are easy to internalize, relatively easy to pronounce, and they'll go a long way towards making you sound authentic.</p>
<p>Mike</p>
<p>"memorize a few basic idiomatic constructions beforehand and then work them in."</p>
<p>o____o, do you know how many idiomatic constructions there are in french? </p>
<p>btw people, what's "en" used for besides a pronoun for "some" and as the thing before verbs ending in "ant" like.."En mangeant"</p>
<p>There are tons of them, like there are in any language. But that's why demonstrating a facility with some of them will set you apart--the people who can't use them will mess them up so often that if you can use them correctly some of the time you'll be noticeably better. If you're looking for some, you can find them in any good, huge dictionary. I remember just flipping through mine and jotting down everything that struck me as novel and unique.</p>
<p>"En" is used primarily to replace "de + [non-personal noun]" constructions, and to set time constraints in participial phrases like the one you mentioned. Otherwise, it's basically used like English "in" for various expressions like "en fait," "en principe," "en francais," et cetera.</p>
<p>That reminds me--if you can separate "en," "dans," and "a (the preposition, not the third-person verb form)," and use them appropriately, that's a big deal.</p>
<p>m</p>
<p>ok, so that's the essay. My weak point is the structure fill in the blanks part. Any help with those? I always get them wrong :</p>
<p>oooh, I forgot about those :)</p>
<p>I always did relatively well on them because I knew my pronouns. As I recall (correct me if I'm wrong), between knowing your pronouns and knowing your conjugations/moods/voices, you could pretty much take care of all the fill-in-the-blanks. Is that accurate?</p>
<p>m</p>
<p>Ok so how about we get a list of some pre-constructed ideas/sentences so we can end up working some of them in</p>
<p>I'm thinking the following:</p>
<p>Si clause sentences
Random pronoun sentences
Subjunctive sentences
A couple of idiomatic sentences</p>
<p>I noticed that usually the subjects are pets, driving, and other "teenager" issues... parents are usually involved</p>
<p>If we can think of some general things to say beforehand, that'd be awesome!</p>
<p>xitammarg</p>
<p>no :D there's a structure fill in part and a verb fill in part. the verb fill in part is easy but structure is death. i would show j00 two sentences from a review book but I dunno if that's allowed o_o</p>
<p>Hi Munkee,</p>
<p>That makes a lot more sense, what you just said. Now it's starting to come back to me :)</p>
<p>What's in the structure part? I remember questions with preceeding object pronouns. What else is in there?</p>
<p>And even if you probably can't post those questions, can you post what they're about? I remember the grammar, and I feel like I remember how I prepared; I just don't remember exactly what the test was like.</p>
<p>m</p>
<p>when 'en' is used in front of a verb ending in -ant it means 'while'. Like En marchant means while walking and en mangeant means while eating, etc.</p>
<p>My teacher said that you only need 75% to get a 5, is that true?</p>
<p>I totally don't get the subjunctive. Sometimes afer 'que' you use it and sometimes you don't? Anyone get it?</p>
<p>Hi Atari,</p>
<p>The subjunctive is a difficult thing in every language. (Which is weird, because according to a lot of theories on the origin of language, the subjunctive existed before the indicative. But that doesn't help us here, does it? :) ) Basically, the subjunctive's purpose in any language is to discuss a condition contrary to fact. Keeping that in the back of your mind might help you assimilate the usage.</p>
<p>But learning actual usage in a particular language is where it gets sticky. Most people will try to learn where to use the subjunctive by memorizing a list--and while that's what I'd recommend for working it into an essay, it's not really helpful for learning to use it in everyday speech.</p>
<p>But here, again, you get into difficulty, althought it's a difficulty of a different kind. The sad fact is that the usages you learn in a textbook may or may not reflect (usually don't) the real usages of a native speaker. In real life, the subjunctive appears in a person's speech (or doesn't) based on an array of factors. In French, one native speaker might say *"il ne me semble pas que + [indicative]" in one situation, and *"il ne me semble pas que + [subjunctive]" in another situation, just like a native English speaker might say "If I was you" sometimes and "If I were you" at other times.</p>
<p>So . . . I said all of that to say this:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>If the subjunctive doesn't make sense to you, it's probably because it usually isn't taught accurately--people teach it like it's set in stone and like every native speaker always uses it according to hard-and-fast rules, which is not the case.</p></li>
<li><p>If you're taking a test and need to show that you know how to use the subjunctive, then I'd recommend learning a few usages by heart ("il faut que," "je ne pense pas que," whatever). Throw em in there wherever appropriate--it's not too hard. For the other parts of the test, when in doubt, ask yourself "is this an instance where the speaker is trying to describe a situation that doesn't actually exist?" If the answer is yes, you probably need the subjunctive.</p></li>
<li><p>If you actually want to learn when people really use the subjunctive in real life, you'll probably want to get some source materials in the target language. You don't need to do that for the AP or IB, though. In fact, it might be a bad idea. (Imagine if you were a french student taking an "American English AP" and you prepared for it by watching MTV. After watching MTV you'd pick up a lot of current usages, but you probably wouldn't get a very good grade.)</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Bottom line--memorize a few constructions and be done with it, for purposes of the test. It's probably not worth trying to understand it fully :) That's my advice, anyhow.</p>
<p>m</p>
<p>xitammarg:
Could you provide some more examples? I ALWAYS have problems on the oral, I have a horrible tendency to blank out and say a lot of um... or er... and I'm really worried. To do well on the oral, do we need to use a lot of complex verb structures like conditional or subjunctives? arg.. how do I NOT blank out?</p>
<p>Hi m2,</p>
<p>First, are you embarrassed to do the oral? A lot of people have told me they couldn't feel comfortable with the oral because they just thought they "sounded stupid." If that's the case, it's something you need to get yourself over before you can make any real progress. Just realize that everybody has to do this to take the AP, that nobody speaks French perfectly, and that you're going to make stupid-sounding errors but that's okay--so will everybody else.</p>
<p>Then, for the blanking-out: My best advice is just not to think about it. When you focus on blanking out, you'll blank out even more. Instead, I think if you can focus on throwing in those verbal tics I talked about before, you'll be able to fill any blank spaces with something that at least sounds French :). Also, you have more time than you think--if you take a one-second break, it will feel like an eternity to you but a listener wouldn't even notice it.</p>
<p>Don't worry too much about the complexity on the oral (that's my advice, anyhow). Save that more for the written test--I'd focus more on pronunciation and the rhythm of the language formy oral. Of course, if you <em>can</em> throw in some complexity and use it correctly, I imagine that probably helps, but I'd still stick to stock expressions I had memorized.</p>
<p>As for actual examples, I don't want to give you any that aren't correct :) I'd get a good, thick dictionary and flip through it looking for phrases, if you're talking about the written--the dictionary will definitely be correct, which isn't true of me. For the orals, you can do stuff like this:</p>
<p>Q: Decrivez votre famille.</p>
<p>A: [in sort of a musing, thoughtful, "french" tone of voice, like somebody smoking and drinking an espresso on the riviera :) ] euuuh, alors . . . en principe, c'est assez simple: [begin description of family]</p>
<p>Now, you gotta do that with the right accent and the right relaxed feeling. But if you get it right (it isn't hard), you'll see you've just worked in several extremely authentic-sounding constructions while saying ABSOLUTELY NOTHING OF ANY SUBSTANCE. This buys you some time to think of what you actually want to say in response to the question. Then, for the next question, you can lead in in the same sort of way; just change things around and make it natural: "bon . . . vraiment, il me semble que [begin actual answer, finishing answer with something] et, euuuh, en fait, c'est tout." You're just larding the responses with these pre-programmed stock phrases. It isn't cheating or anything--the point of the oral is to sound like a french speaker, and french speakers talk like that. If you were taking the test in English and started every answer with "well," or "ummm," or "hmmm, lemme see," you'd sound like a real English speaker. Which is the point.</p>
<p>By the way, if you ever watch real free-style rappers, you'll see they basically use the same idea :). They work out several rhymes in advance, then work on fitting them to a particular situation. This is the same idea. Only yours doesn't have to rhyme, and it's in french :)</p>
<p>Anyhow, I think if you work on this a little bit you'll get the hang of it pretty quickly. And it really builds your confidence.</p>
<p>One last thing--I want to say that I'm basing this entirely on my own limited experience, and NOT on any in-depth study of past French APs. So take all of this advice with a grain of salt. This is what I did on the AP and IB and it worked very well, and I've tutored other people to do this and they did well too (4s and 5s). But there might be a better way, I dunno.</p>
<p>Mike</p>
<p>mike,</p>
<p>do you think you could provide us with some stock phrases using subjunctive or a si-clause with the subject being something about family or friends or some other teenage thing...</p>
<p>That'd be awesome!</p>
<p>My teacher confused the hell out of me with the subjunctive and she's a native french speaker lol. I asked her for extra help and she basically explained the whole thing to me in French which made it even worse. </p>
<p>Thanks a lot for all your useful posts!</p>