<p>Personally, I don't know if I need that much preparation. I was born in China, attended school till the end of 1st semester of 2nd grade in one of the best elementary schools in Beijing. I speak fluent Mandarin at home, can read any (simplified) book or newspaper at ease. </p>
<p>My writing (by hand)... ehh, I feel it definitely got worse. But hey, I heard it's all computerized, so I just need pinyin right? </p>
<p>I think I'm mostly worried the most about cultural. Exactly what do they mean by cultural? I mean I know some of the folk stories, and some main cuisines, but that's about yet. </p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>What I know about the AP Chinese exam is that they give you four pictures, and you will have to make a story using the four pictures. Hope that helped a little. </p>
<p>source: I heard from previous AP Chinese exam takers.</p>
<p>you sound like you will do fine. my advice would be to get an ap chinese study book and familarize yourself with the test format.</p>
<p>Hey good luck! Just want to share some of my learning experience:
My teacher told me vocabulary building is the key to learning a language well. Since Chinese is a pictographic language, she help building my vocabulary by adapting the radical-teaching approach, in which she introduced different parts(radicals) of a character to help understanding as well as memorizing. Research shows that with 1200 Chinese characters will cover 90% of understanding.</p>
<p>Here are some more tips:
- I’ve been learning Chinese for almost a year now. I had tried stuff like Rosetta Stone, Pimsleur etc., unfortunately they didn’t work out for me. Until I found a online Skype tutor from <a href=“chinesehulu.com - This website is for sale! - chinesehulu Resources and Information.”>Loading..., I started to feel I’m learning something. They are really professional and patient! The rate is also reasonable, so just check it out!
- For me, I’m studying 30 minutes to one hour a day depending on how busy my schedule is, which includes twice a week one hour online tutoring with my tutor.
- Also I found self-made flashcards extremely helpful to my learning.</p>
<p>Hope this will help! Let’s go for 5!!!</p>
<p>@laybug777, thanks for the advice! and @AEraser and @4everdancer18, you guys are absolutely right as well</p>
<p>I took the AP exam last May and indeed received a 5. I had 3 other more intense APs to study for (chem, bio, english lang) so I ended up studying 1.5 hrs the night before. </p>
<p>On the day of the test, I finished the multiple choice section in about 15-20 mins. Had to sit there for 45 mins</p>
<p>Hi, I’m taking it tomorrow and I was wondering if anyone here has taken it before?
I have no idea how much Im supposed to write for the writing part. Is there like a certain number of words we have to write?</p>