Language Requirement

<p>I was accepted ED, and I just took the SAT II in January and sent it to Penn. I called the undergraduate admissions office today and they told me that as long as I took the test SOMETIME during my high school career I would place out of the requirement. hopefully i got a 650+...</p>

<p>Well Venkat I read that about the four semesters requirement on the site a few weeks ago (and I really dont wanna take a foreign language) after being accepted and decided to just self study to get a 4 on the spanish ap exam. I mean with three months to study and three years of spanish it aint gonna be that hard. I think I might call them too like abhim and see what they say</p>

<p>I guess I'm taking the SATII in May (graduate before the June SATII) but the website says that you need to take the SATII as part of your application. Guess I have to ask them about it too. There is no way I'm getting a 4 on the AP exam unless I can get a Hispanic kid to take the test for me.</p>

<p>I heard that what makes the Spanish AP test difficult is that it doesn't test rules, it tests the exceptions. and there are also listening and oral sections. I found the Jan SAT II to be somewhat difficult and I left around 6 blank (I had four years of honors spanish and I just reviewed Barron's the week before the test) I really hope that's the last SAT I ever have to take in my life...</p>

<p>The AP Spanish exam isn't as hard as it made out to be. I took the exam after only 2.5 years of regular spanish and passed. I am retaking it this year to get a 5.</p>

<p>This year though the exam is different, COMPLETELY!</p>

<p>Anyone here know of any good prep materials for the NEW AP spanish exam? I'm kinda scared since my teacher is horrible (she doesn't even know about the changes herself)</p>

<p>My teacher is really good. We have been using REA, Triangulo, and AP Spanish by Jose Diaz. We are using older versions of REA and Diaz but the Triangulo is new. I would recommend you watch Spanish movies. I got a blockbuster unlimited access so that I can watch the latest hollywood flicks in spanish. I think Barron's is pretty good also.
It also helps to try and speak some spanish with the natives. I live in a town where the population is 18% hispanic so its not that tough for me.</p>

<p>Thanks for replying sristi.</p>

<p>Mainly I need a book with good review of vocab/grammar. From Amazon reviews(REA especially) most of the prep books' authors questions are inaccurate. But then again I have NO IDEA how the test is gonna be in May. Do you think you could fill me in please?</p>

<p>Do you think the older versions are still useful? My library has the Barron's 05-6 version.</p>

<p>btw, Here in Texas I doubt I'd need to pay for blockbuster when we get 4 spanish channels free, lol!</p>

<p>lol i was just thinking that - most of my cable is in spanish from Laura (like jerry) to telenovelas (soap operas) to just random dubbed peliculas (movies). its interesting to see that ppl in different parts of the country have to get BBuster to hear spanish. </p>

<p>18%? lol try 98.1%</p>

<p>REA helps with the grammar a lot but the practice tests are really easy. Triangulo is more tough. it has sample ap questions but not full fledged tests.
yeah i think the older versions are useful because they only changed the speaking portion and the fill in the black questions. The rest are still on this year's test</p>

<p>Well, about our hispanic pop. I guess we can't compete with miami and houston.</p>

<p>Thanks. Ironically, the only thing I'm afraid of is the listening section. If I had the transcript I can understand 90 percent of any Spanish show, but when it's spoken, I get kinda lost. (I'm not a native speaker)</p>

<p>How long did you have to watch those Spanish movies to achieve fluency in understanding Spanish?</p>

<p>By the way, next year I'll be in AP French too so it's the same situation--I can read Voltaire but can't understand a radio broadcast. Anyone have advice for that?</p>

<p>There's only one way to improve listening... practice.</p>

<p>1.) Movies are always good. To start watch a movie you've already seen in English but dubbed - with Spanish and French so many movies are dubbed. Or watch a native film.</p>

<p>2.) Look online for broadcast news from that country. This really helped my Italian, even though it was kind of boring.</p>

<p>3.) Youtube has a lot of dumb videos, including the Simpsons in various languages.</p>

<p>You'll find after a while understanding just the gist to getting the finer details.</p>

<p>Thanks, chocoman.</p>

<p>About the movie thing, I don't know whether to watch it with subtitles on (so I realize what I didn't understand) or off (forcing myself to pay more attention). Any suggestions?</p>

<p>cooljoe...I put on spanish subtitles. Like you, I feel like I know how to read better in spanish than listen.</p>