<p>Some background. These are the only AP exams he will take. He's a junior and his school doesn't allow AP classes until junior year and then only allows two.</p>
<p>His PSAT scores for CR and W were both 77 with almost no test prep - no SAT scores in yet. Also his AP English Language teacher seems to be doing good test prep in what she's teaching them. And he got a 95 in the class last marking period. And he's always been a great and fast writer. So we're thinking that he should just stay with the program and he'll probably get a 5. </p>
<p>But AP Spanish is a different story. Since he has little experience here it's hard to know how well he'll do. But he's never had the same talent in Spanish that he has in English. So a 3 is possible.</p>
<p>So we're thinking that the extra time may make a difference between a 3 and a 4 or 5 in Spanish. </p>
<p>As long as he has decent writing skills, general knowledge of rhetorical strategies and general knowledge of “classic literature” he should do fine. It’s the easiest test to make a 5 on in my opinion, aside from Human Geography, which is virtually pointless.</p>
<p>To answer it more directly, spend the time studying for Spanish. All of our 5s in my school were from people who never once studied. The people who did, ironically, did not do good on the actual test. He might want to look over a few rhetorical strategies and have in mind a few renowned authors to cite in his essay, but other than that, he should be fine with minimal preparation.</p>
<p>honestlly, if he doesn’t have the speaking part down at this point, don’t expect to much from that department unless you plan an “emergency” trip to mexico soon. So that could damage his chances of getting a 5.</p>
<p>i think vosamim is saying that if you aren’t good at speaking now, then you have a low chance of getting a 5.</p>
<p>Personally, I’m angry that they took out the fill-ins sections. It would have been much better if they took out the interpersonal speaking section.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t worry about studying for AP English Language. If your a good writer and have a strong teacher, you’ll do fine. My class last year studied very little but did a lot of writing and half of us got 5’s. Good luck with both tests!</p>
<p>birdrock, I have no doubt that your son is an excellent writer. But there’s a big difference between a great essay and a great AP essay. Your son definitely needs to read the format and get very familiar with the format of the essays. AP readers looks for specific trends and characteristics of essays and he needs to make sure he knows these characteristics and can write like they want him to.</p>
<p>This isn’t a long process- he could probably learn all of it in three-four hours which frankly, won’t impact his Spanish study that much.</p>