<p>As I haven't seen a thread for this yet, I thought I'd start one.
Any tips from past AP French takers for how to succeed on the exam?</p>
<pre><code> I got a 5 on the AP French test in 2014, so I can offer you some helpful tips. I had a very good understanding of grammar when I started the year which helped immensely. The most important thing I would recommend is reading. Not children’s books, but real, classical French literature. Cyrano de Bergerac, Song of Roland, Les Miserables, The Three Musketeers all in French. Know that you will not understand each word or even each sentence, but try to master circumlocution and inference. Personally, I treated my AP French course like an AP English course in another language. I wrote detailed literary analyses about every French book I read, full-length essays, etc.
Now, you won’t have to do this type of literary analysis on the AP French test, but if you do it during the year your writing will improve an incredibly large amount. Of course, don’t forget to practice the actual type of writing you will have to do during the test. I wouldn’t stress about it, just familiarize yourself with the format of the persuasive essay and email response, memorize what you need to include in each and you will do fine. As for speaking, I just spoke in French with my teacher every day until the test, very seldom using English. Practice the conversations that you will have to do during the test of course, but realize that even simply speaking to another person in French is practice. As for the listening, I watched everything I had in my house in French. I turned on the French dubbing (without any subtitles) and just listened. Of course, I did not understand anything and initially everything seemed so quick and rapid. But, amazingly, I improved over time. Just stay the course and you will start to hear familiar words or phrases. As for vocabulary, I am sure your class will provide that. If you read as much as I suggested, however, your brain will naturally remember certain vocab words.
This is, essentially, all the practice that I did. Frankly, this helped me more than any Barron’s AP French or Princeton Review book could. You could buy them to familiarize yourself with the multiple choice questions, but they seemed very straightforward to me.
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<p>I took the test before finishing my third year, this May. I got a FOUR! I’m not a native speaker! What I did was, I bought Barron’s and studied it and did every activity and tests. For the listening, I downloaded the Radio France app and listened to it while I drove to school. It will be annoying because they speak fast. I learned vocabulary in class and just studied harder. Literature wise, we read Le Petit Prince in class. What I would suggest is too study verbs. Search for “681 French verbs”. It’s a huge list of verbs. Also, listen to Edith Piaf. I started listening to her to study, but now I’m a fan. </p>
<p>I took the test in 2014 with two years of French, against my teacher’s advice. I bought every single grammar book I could find in addition to Barron’s. In the end, I procrastinated and didn’t manage to read more than 20 pages of barrons the night before the test and never even touched the grammar books. During the exam i was a little nervous during the speaking portion and was hoping for a 4. I ended up getting a 5.</p>
<p>My tips would be:
-recognize and understand passé simple/anterieur (takes 1 min to learn)
-just know enough grammar to understand stuff
-ap graders are pretty forgiving when it comes to grammar errors so just write a lot
-have good listening skills and some basic knowledge of culture</p>
<p>if you’re taking the class don’t even bother prepping though. </p>
<p>Hey guys I have a bit of a unique situation. I’m a current high school sophomore and I’ve been thinking of self studying AP French. I’m not a native speaker but I took my entire elementary school career in French immersion so all of my classes were taught in French. I was also one of the smarter kids in that class, I picked things up quickly, and I won the French spelling bee every year if that means anything. I also remembering reading Sans Famille as a class if that gives any indication of the skill level. Unfortunately after elementary school I have not taken any French classes at school because they are not offered. However I have been using Duolingo in my spare time and i still have textbooks at home such as “Barron’s Complete French Grammar Review”. Could I conceivably get a 4 or a 5 on this year’s test?</p>
I’m taking AP French this year!
what has been hammered into my mind for the last semester: culture stay up to date with news, know how to take a stance on any topic and support it.
continue to practice listening, try to build stamina. the ap exam listening samples i’ve done in class were very long and boring; it’s really easy to become overwhelmed and give up. reading the questions beforehand has helped me.
Also pls, anyone that’s interested, maybe we should create a study group. And speak french to each other
Hi all. I’m planning on taking the ap this year after having taken 3 years of french. (Doubled up levels 2 and 3 currently in combined 4/5 class that serves as the equivalent of ap french). What’s the best AP prep book for this exam?
heyy guys. gonna take AP French test this year.
I got a 510 on the French SAT subject test. how hard is the AP French test in comparison?
almost AP French exam time (nooooo!!) how are you guys studying? so worried about the listening/comprehension portions. meh
I have absolutely no idea what’s going on when people are speaking French at a normal speed!!! None!!! I’ve been using this link: http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/resources/f/frenchlisteningexercises/introduction.asp. It’s pretty good but I’m sure it’s not comparable to what will be on the exam…I’m really not worried about anything but listening comprehension. I don’t think I can get any of the answers right!
Yay! I can share a link as well:
http://www.audio-lingua.eu/?lang=fr
go to recherche avancée on the right, you can change the settings (like if you have trouble listening to a male voice, or lose focus with longer passages, you can filter the search engine to find passages that will better suit your level to practice)
I’ve been listening to RFI Journal en Francais Facile almost everyday and it has really helped! It’s ten minutes long and it’s a new audio everyday. Right now I’m most nervous for the persuasive essay because I’m horrible at writing them in English, so writing them in French is even worse. I’m also nervous for the cultural comparison because it’s the only one I can’t bs.
Hey I saw this really late but thank you!! I’ll definitely check those out
Has anyone made/have access to a study guide for the cultural part- like a summary of each of the 6 themes? I’m just so confused and nervous about the cultural part, as I know nothing on it 
any help would be amazing! thx
I wouldn’t worry too much about it! The Barron’s book has a few examples.
I’ve been freaking out all day about this exam (aside from the cultural comparison haha)! I took a practice test and I got a pretty bad score, but I’m hoping the free response will boost me up to at least a 4.
Good luck tomorrow everyone! Sometimes I think it’s crazy that we can understand a completely different language. And if you think about it, we’ve never known more French than we do right now, so let’s go rock the exam!!
Is anyone completely not ready for this exam? Or is it just me
Nah I’m feeling a lil down about it. What are you feeling unprepared for?
Multiple choice is going to screw me over.