<p>If I can speak/understand decently, would it be better for me to take French w/ listening, or French w/o it? Which tends to be more generous?</p>
<p>Also, what study books would you guys recommend for each? (w/ listening & w/o)</p>
<p>Any other tips?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>bump bump bump</p>
<p>Bonjour! I hope I’m not too late to help! I personally wanted to take french with listening, but procrastinated, and took french w/o listening this past June. I think it was better for me personally, since the exam with listening is only offered in November, and the extra time from November to June was REALLY helpful.</p>
<p>I don’t know which curve is more generous, but the college board tries pretty hard to make them even out. You can probably find that information sifting through the collegeboard website, but I don’t envy you that job. BTW, on neither do you have to speak at all. That’s the AP test.</p>
<p>For prep, I did absolutely nothing. I had taken the AP french test just 2 weeks before, and I felt pretty confident in my abilities. I was right, and I got an 800. I would really recommend being at the most advanced level before taking a test like the subject test. It’s geared towards an advanced french 3 student or a mediocre french 4 student, but in order to be the best it’s really better to take it when you already know as much french as possible before even starting your prep. If that’s not an option for you, don’t sweat it.</p>
<p>What I would recommend for the subject test is a comprehensive grammar review. I did ALL of “Une Fois Pour Toutes” (look on ebay/amazon) which was AWFUL but worth it. SO MUCH GRAMMAR. I would also read a LOT. They had some pretty advanced vocab. I personally learned a lot of vocab reading french pulp fiction on fictionpress.com, because after a while you can only stand so much Camus, haha. If you want to kinda go the easier route and not kill yourself, get an AP prep book and do the grammar in that (REA was great, or Barron’s) or even a prep book specifically for the SAT2. I didn’t buy any of those for french but they helped a lot for other subject tests for me. If you’re determined to take listening, listen a lot. Like, TV5.fr or the UN french podcast. Those were REEEEALLY hard, but they helped enormously. Trust me, it’s much easier on the actual test, but it’s better to be ready for the worst. Good luck! It’s really not that hard! Vive la France!</p>
<p>The Listening test is easier to get an 800 on; the curve is only marginally better. Like GranuaileGrace said, Une Fois Pour Toutes is wonderful, as was REA (I preferred it over Barrons). Read newspapers, like Le Figaro, online, since many questions deal with a news prompt. Don’t neglect classical lit, either, since questions can come from there, too.</p>
<p>Hope that helps. Good luck!</p>