<p>How do the difficulties of the SAT Subject Chinese and the AP Chinese tests compare? I've heard that AP Chinese is extremely difficult, even for native speakers, but I wanted to get a second opinion. Do you need to write essays for the AP? (Because I can only type with pin yin I can't handwrite...-.-)</p>
<p>AP Chinese is very easy for native speakers. Over 80% of all test takers get a 5 on the exam.</p>
<p>^hey an0maly, don’t just look at the stats and assume. you also have to factor in that the people ATTEMPTING the AP chinese test are the top of the top, the aznest of the azn. i’ve taken it the first year and gotten a 5 (in 8th grade :D)</p>
<p>I’ve heard that SAT is easier, because it’s all multiple choice. You need to know a lot of culture for the AP. You write essays by typing. You also have to record a passage of you speaking the answer to a culture for 3~ minutes.</p>
<p>The AP Chinese test is relatively easy if you’re a native speaker who can also type in chinese. The SAT II Test is much much easier, since it is all multiple choice and only lasts 1 hour long. The AP test is about 2 hours long and requires you to type 2 essays and complete a speaking portion.</p>
<p>I personally thought the AP reading and listening were a lot easier and straightforward than the SAT whereas the SAT reading was more tricky. The AP speaking portion was rather challenging and a little strange because there were culture-related questions that you may kind of have to answer on top your head in a few seconds. Also, on AP there’s that presentation/speech at the end on culture-related stuff, which I thought was challenging. You have to know enough about one particular aspect of chinese culture to keep speaking for a couple of minutes.</p>
<p>If you’re going to take the AP, make sure you do a pretest because the typing on the test was slightly different than on a regular computer. By the way, you can type in either pin-ying or something else that I can’t remember. I love the typing part: if you don’t know which character to use, just type in the whole word and the correct character shows up by itself! On the other hand, sometimes when I did type in the right one the computer changed it to the wrong character… you got the point.</p>
<p>Thank you guys! It seems there are mixed opinions…I’ll probably just end up taking both. I am a very good speaker with a bit of a Northeastern accent (Go 东北!! :D)…and I can type quite fast in pin yin from all the chatting I do on QQ…</p>
<p>Anyone know if colleges will look down on me being Chinese born and taking these? I moved when I was only 5…I’m thinking it can’t hurt but who knows.</p>
<p>Btw the other one’s “BoPoMoFo”, Calico.</p>
<p>hi five heidark
I moved when I was five as well</p>
<p>and as for colleges looking down on you…the general consensus is that if you take the SAT II chinese and submit that as an admissions requirement is when colleges start getting annoyed because they view it as “lazy” since you don’t have to work/study for it. Although, if you submit the required number of SAT II’s for that college (let’s say that college requires 2) and then take an additional third or fourth subject test in chinese (simply proving you are bilingual), then it shouldn’t matter at all =D</p>
<p>Personally, SATII Chinese was a lot easier for me. The reading and “grammar” portion of the SATII was extremely easy, but the listening was a bit stressful (knowing that you only have one chance to listen to what the heck the lady in the CD is saying…sometimes, she speaks weirdly =[ ). The AP Chinese seems also fairly easy, but harder than SATII. The writing was no biggie because although I have forgotten everything on writing (*sigh, i have been Americanized =[ ), but typing changes everything because as long as you know how the word sounds, you can guess it by using 汉语拼音. There’s another choice, but only old people like my grandparents and taiwanese people use it (they look like Japanese Characters). Why don’t you take both??? hahaha</p>
<p>This topic may be done, but I thought I may want to give my 2 cents. I’m a non-native speaker who took the AP test in may, and it kinda kicked my butt. 
Especially the speaking. It was pretty awful. :P</p>