How hard is the AP Chinese Exam?

Test Preparation AP World Languages
1

I am planning to take the AP Chinese exam in May so I wonder how it’s like and what should I do to prepare myself for it. I currently speak Chinese fluently at home and I am pretty good with speak, listening, and writing but I lack the reading part. I can’t understand most characters in a passage so I am going to review that a lot. I know a lot of people get 5’s on the exam but I don’t know if I can get a 5 since I am not too good at reading Chinese characters without pinyin. I can speak and understand things really well but I just lack reading. I know we only type on the AP Chinese exam.

2

I took the exam many years ago but I’ll assume it hasn’t changed that much. There was a part where you had to record into the microphone a response to a conversation with a prerecorded voice, a part where you wrote a letter in response to a letter, a story narration, a segment on Chinese culture to which you had to reply and a larger question/answer section. If you speak fluently and can hold a solid conversation, you’re doing pretty well already and I’m guessing you can at least get a 3-4 off that alone. I personally also speak chinese fluently at home and can type it but don’t really have a solid foundation in writing/reading but still scored a 5 when I was ~13-14 yrs old.

You just need to understand the exam is not geared towards native Chinese speakers but rather American high schoolers so as long as you can read simple/common characters you’ll do fine. I would go over some basic intro chinese guides and you should be fine.

Good luck!

3

What percent do I have to get to get a 5 on the exam?

4

I dont think that is released information but for reference, in 2016 93% of students scored a 3 or above as per: https://www.totalregistration.net/AP-Exam-Registration-Service/2016-AP-Exam-Score-Distributions.php

It also has one of the higher percentages of kids getting a 5 on the exam. If you can comprehend Chinese at a pretty good level, you are completely fine.

5

How did you prepare for the exam?

6

Also do you know if the late testing exam is the same as the normal testing exam?