<p>I honestly think everyone is exaggerating when they say that it's ~impossible~ to get a 5 without being a native speaker, even if you take the AP course. My sister took the AP French exam last year without taking the course and got a five. She started learning in 7th grade and she took it at the end of junior year. (She's not even a mind-blowingly amazing French speaker, either.) I intend to take it in May 2014, my junior year. </p>
<p>So why do people say that it's oh so hard? Not even to self studying, but just taking the test. Je ne comprends pas.</p>
<p>The curve does favor them, but it’s very possible to get a 5 as a non-native speaker. I started Spanish in 8th grade, a year later than all of my friends, and got a 5 as a junior, last year, in my 4th year of study. Most of my friends had taken it for at least 5 years, but most of them got 2s, 3s, and 4s. That being said, there is also a heavy correlation between the age you start learning the language and how well you end up being able to communicate in it. It’s more based on puberty though, so actually the late-bloomers tend to do better.</p>
<p>In regards to the curve, on the actual exam, there is a bubble on the answer sheet that asks something along the lines of, “Is this language spoken at home or have you lived in a country/region for 2 or more months where this langauge is predominantly spoken?” If you answer no, they assume you to be a non-native/non-heritage speaker. This is population the curve is based on. Roughly 12% of this groups gets 5s each year. Then the rest of the people are put into the curve as well, which heavily skews the percentages upwards.</p>
<p>tl;dr, it’s not too difficult to get a 5. If you’re better than the rest of the non-native speakers, you’re fine. Good luck!</p>
<p>My two cents : Most people who take AP language aren’t that interested OR they can barely speak the language. If you can speak the language without feeling mentally drained and read at the level of a native first grader, then you are probably good for a 3. Self study for 1-2 years would suffice.
Also, I’ve been studying Spanish for about 8 months and know way more than the non native kids in Spanish 4. Take note that some of those kids are a lot more intelligent than me.</p>