<p>Bummer. 760 on the French test sans listening and a lousy 4 on the AP exam. I'm not a native speaker. :(</p>
<p>I wish I had taken with listening, but I couldn't. =/ The only month available was when I was re-taking the SAT I.</p>
<p>The Japanese test was pretty easy, but you won't get a good score unless you -really- can understand the listening portion well.</p>
<p>French was disgustingly hard. Getting in A in AP 400...but don't even think I cracked I 500. 490 I believe. Didn't even understand a good portion of the questions.</p>
<p>I would not completely agree, especially on Spanish. I am practically fluent (no, not lying... time abroad, and mid-advanced on ACTFL scale according to my college profs) and only got a 700. Granted, I was not as fluent then (and estimate I would get around a 750 now, though I won't retake unless I try to take another SAT 2, like Japanese. Nonetheless, the curve really did kill me. If you look, the average for native speakers is only around 730.</p>
<p>I think since the test is all multiple-choice, pure test-taking ability also comes into play. Moreso than say on the AP exam, since it is harder to fudge recorded speaking and essay writing.</p>
<p>Another factor setting many of the language tests apart is the lack of prep. materials. Spanish and French have several Barrons/PR/Kaplans type books, and I've seen at least one for German and Latin, but there are none (at least that I know of and/or that are commonly available) for the other languages. Additionally, several of the language tests are only given once a year; there's generally no opportunity to retake if one is interested in improving one's score as there would be for the other subject tests. For tests like Japanese, students are unable to choose which type to take - they <em>must</em> take the listening version. I think high scores by non-native speakers on these tests are particularly impressive, and would hope colleges would as well.</p>
<p>800 is 54th percentile for Chinese. But you can bet that we native speakers have sweated for that score more than you will ever sweat for your nonnative Spanish or French score. Because in Chinese, being a fluent native speaker does not easily nor does it usually translate to being literate in any sense. You memorize your vocabulary character by character. There are like 10 characters for every pronounced syllable, and you need about 2000 for functional literacy. </p>
<p>I'm top of my class in Spanish but have tried and failed to become literate in my native Chinese 3 times. And I mean really tried... ><</p>
<p>In our school 95% of the kids who took the spanish test, which is about 50 per year, got 800. I was one one of the unlucky few who got 740. Then again every one at my school are native speakers. This goes with the AP test also. Mostly 5s with a sprinkle of 4s. Sorry for killing the curve guys.</p>