<p>okay... for those of you who saw me on the other thread... latin vergil was a flop... how about french lit? i have taken french for two years and know the tenses and vocab pretty well.</p>
<p>Yes... I would also like to know.</p>
<p>I'm taking AP French next year, could I just as easily take French Lit as well with a little help from Barron's, or would it be a bit more complicated than that?</p>
<p>Tenses and vocab? That's not what you need for French Lit. In addition, the test is being phased out so I'm not sure when it will finally leave the AP test lineup, but you'd best take it soon.</p>
<p>What you need for French Lit: read the required reading list, and study literary analysis terms. You will need to know how to analyze poetry using terms (anaphores, litotes, etc.) in addition to meter (decasyllable, etc.), rhyme (masculin/feminin), so on and so forth. You'll need to analyze novels using discussion of plotline, tone, discours (er, what's the English word?) and more. I just took French Lit this year and got a 4, but that's because I had hurt my hand and couldn't write fast enough on the essay, I'm fairly sure.</p>
<p>If you want to get a head start, here is the required reading list. Hop to it.</p>
<p>Novels:
Candide, ecrit par Voltaire
Pierre et Jean, ecrit par Maupassant
Moderato Cantabile, ecrit par Marguerite Duras</p>
<p>Plays:
L'Ecole des femmes, ecrit par Moliere
Le Cid, ecrit par Corneille
Une Tempete, ecrit par Aime Cesaire</p>
<p>Poetry:
"Le Pont Mirabeau", "Les Colchiques", "Mai", "Automne," ecrit par Apollinaire</p>
<p>"Correspondances", "Hymne </p>
<p>Ah, thank you Vivi!</p>
<p>I think what I'll do is read the reading list (mainly for the simple pleasure of reading it), buy Barron's, take a practice test, and if I get a three or higher, I'll sign up for the French Lit test.</p>
<p>I have read excerpts from quite of few of these already I believe.</p>
<p>Is the test entirely off of this material or is there some that you're expected to read & analyze on the spot?</p>
<p>The MC portion contains excerpts both from the required list and some outside sources, not too dissimilar from the English Lit exam.</p>
<p>As for the FR, there are two questions - one will involve poetry analysis of one of the poems on the required list, and the second will give you a prompt and ask that you use one (or two) of the three works (that they list below the question) to respond to it. The three works (novels or plays) will be from the required list.</p>
<p>In addition, in respond to the OP - if you've only taken French for two years I highly doubt you have the vocabulary and grammar base needed for the French Lit exam (unless, of course, your teacher was a psycho and taught you at an extremely advanced level!) At my school, French Lit is offered as the fifth-year French course (I ended up being the only student, haha), and it's pretty much... the French version of English Lit. If you're still in the process of trying to pick up all the tenses and expanding your knowledge of sentence structure, it'll be hard for you to express your opinions in an advanced rhetorical fashion. If you want to take a foreign language AP, aim for French Language first - it's a little harder than Lit, but the stuff that it's over doesn't require as much fluency as Lit. In fact, with only of two years of French under your belt I'm not even sure if you can get through the required reading list efficiently and still have time left to study - Pierre et Jean is known to everyone as the novel of death since it drags; 300 pages of boring impressionist-style writing will wear you out fast.</p>
<p>I've taken three years of French, and next year with AP French Language will be my fourth. My first two years were easy - I didn't learn much, I got A+ by studying five minutes before tests and nothing else, and it was entirely grammar & vocabulary-based. My third year, however, was taught out of a fourth year textbook, so not only was it grammar & vocabulary, but also history, literature, and a wee bit of art-based. It was taught by a teacher with INSANE expectations. Probably the hardest class I've ever taken in my entire life, but I learned so much.</p>
<p>I feel pretty qualified to do it - I think I'm taking AP French Language first semester, so I'll just spend all of second semester completing the reading list. This will also keep me prepped for my the AP French Language exam, and I suppose even my AP English Literature exam as well!</p>
<p>My only concern is that is seems that many colleges seem to offer the same credits for French Language as they do French Literature.... :(</p>
<p>Also, is there a textbook or anything else that compiles that entire reading list? Or would I have to obtain each item seperately?</p>
<p>The reading list actually just got changed up this year, so even if there were textbooks they would most likely be outdated. I highly doubt there are, though, so you'd do better just buying some cheap copies off Amazon or something.</p>
<p>Required Reading List for May 2008 and May 2009
The works added to the list are indicated by an asterisk.</p>
<p>Novels
Voltaire, Candide</p>
<p>Maupassant, Pierre et Jean</p>
<ul>
<li>Duras, Moderato cantabile</li>
</ul>
<p>Plays
* Corneille, Le Cid</p>
<p>Moli</p>