I am technically a native speaker, but I have a little trouble reading and writing (mostly writing), and my vocabulary is limited to colors, some animals, vegetables, and other commonly used words (I don’t know many sayings). I can take an intro Chinese class for free outside of school for review, plus I can ask my parents for help, but I’m worried about my accent. Will points be deducted for speaking with an accent and will there be a severe penalty if I say a word in Taiwanese by accident?
Any Taiwanese/Chinese speakers out there?
I’m not Taiwanese, but I will try to offer some tips as a fellow native speaker and former test taker!
First off, take a look at the AP syllabus and the example questions they have in there to gauge where you stand. You may find it harder or easier than you think.
If your speaking vocab is limited to what you said, you may have some trouble with the speaking portions. The dialogue portion will usually ask things about society/life, for example school, extracurriculars, traveling, lifestyle, etc. When I took the test two years ago, the questions were about volunteering at a library, suggestions I had for a culture night at the library, and my thoughts on the benefits of volunteering. Take a look at the sample audio questions on the CB website and see if you can answer them.
The presentation portion is focused on culture, you will be asked to give a 2min speech about an aspect of Chinese culture based off of the prompt they give you. So, you will have to know about Chinese culture, as well as be able to speak clearly about it. I was asked to give a speech about a type of Chinese cuisine, and I talked about Sichuan cuisine and its characteristics.
I don’t quite remember how they deduct points for speaking, but if you are coherent and use correct grammar rather smoothly, you should be fine. If you say something in Taiwanese by accident, just move on or correct yourself quickly, I don’t think it’ll be too big of a deal.
My biggest bit of advice for speaking is to PRACTICE. I was surprised when I studied for this test how much I was affected by my nerves. Also, you need to get used to the time constraints; even though the time limits don’t seem like much (20 sec for each dialogue response, 2 min for the speech), if you speak too fast or don’t know enough, you’ll end up with way too much time left with nothing left to say.
If you have any other questions, feel free to ask!
Thank you sooooo much, @silmaril!!! If I start studying now, along with several other AP’s, how much tume do I need to practice? I know I’ll be busy and I think I am a little more rusty on reading than I originally thought…
Start as early as you can, language takes a bit longer to stick. My situation when I prepared for the test was a little different from yours, since I went to a weekly Chinese school, meant for native speakers who were American-born/left China at a young age, for quite a few years before taking this AP test.
We did start prepping for that year’s test around this time of the year. What we did for “homework” was either one MC reading packet per week, or a set of the two writing prompts. We didn’t use a specific review book, since my teacher had photocopied questions from several different books (which is probably not 100% legal haha), but I think some other threads on here have said Barron’s is pretty good. You can always have your parents correct your writing (which will be done through pinyin input typing on the test).
But yeah, practice is key for everything on this test, the more you do the questions the more comfortable you will feel. When I took the test I thought it was easy, but the questions can really trip you up if you’re not used to them.
@silmaril I went to Chinese school for a few years too, in elementary school… Any specific years you thought had better/more similar questions? Also, did your parents speak a lot of Chinese at home? My parents always start sentences in English and trail off into Chinese.
Anyone else have suggestions and/or comments?
Totally forgot until now; Did you get a 5?
Yeah, my parents primarily speak Chinese to me. And yes, I did get a 5!!
I saw a couple other threads about AP Chinese, they probably have more info too.
I’m going to try and get my parents to speak to me in Chinese now!!! Congrats on the 5 (if it’s not too late)!
I just looked up what ‘pinyin’ was… And as it turns out, I have never heard about it till now, and I have no idea how to use it!!! Should I just wait until the 16-17 school year and practice a little bit, or can I learn to type in pinyin under a year!!! 
I think pinyin is pretty simple to learn; there are probably a bunch of sites online that have a guide. You should download a pinyin input onto your computer though to practice if your computer doesn’t have it- I’m pretty sure the download is free. My family uses MSPY Simplified, which also has a traditional character option. But there’s another one called Microsoft New Phonetic, which uses Zhuyin fuhao instead of pinyin to type characters. I have zero idea how to use Zhuyin, but I know Taiwan uses it. AP offers both inputs as an option on the test.
There’s a ways to go before you have to sign/pay for exams, so maybe start practicing this year and see how you feel when exam sign up starts. If you have a couple years of high school ahead, take it when you feel confident!
Jeez I haven’t been on in forever… I’m probably not going to take it this year, because I know I’ll need to practice a bit more. Thanks anyway, @silmaril !! I’ll try pinyin and if I’m not up to it by the sign up date, I’ll practice over the summer.
I’ll PM you or start a thread if I need more help. You’ve helped a ton, and thanks a bunch!
hello, I know this is kinda of late, but I am Taiwanese, and I took AP Chinese as a sophomore, and got a 5 on the AP test. If you need any help, PM me.
Hello basedchem & silmaril,
I’m trying to get information to help my son, freshman in high school, who is an American Born Chinese. He wants to take Chinese as a foreign language in HS but was not available–currently taking French. His teacher at Chinese school is encouraging him to take to AP Chinese exam during his junior or senior year. I do not understand the purpose of taking AP Chinese exam. By taking French for 2 years, he will fulfill the 2 years foreign language requirement. Is a foreign language course required for college curriculum? Is that why you take AP Chinese exam? Does AP Chinese exam score affect your high school GPA? Hope you both can clarify for me.
Much appreciated! Thank you! Clueless Mom
@JeannieKL Generally colleges require 2 or more years of foreign language classes, so if he continues to take French in high school, he will fulfill the foreign language requirements for most colleges. I believe that more selective colleges recommend students to take 4 years of foreign language. He does not have to take an AP language exam. No, the AP exam score does not affect GPA.
I took the AP Chinese exam partly due to personal reasons, partly because at my Chinese school, almost everyone who manages to make it til high school takes the AP exam, and partly due to wanting extra college credit. I did get college credit (6 credits if I remember correctly) from the exam. However, the Chinese placement test that I took from my university ended up giving me way more credits (24!) and placed me in a much more advanced class than the AP test could have. So, in my case, the AP Chinese exam ultimately didn’t have any benefits, but that’s mostly because I took the placement test since I wanted to continue Chinese in college. Still, I enjoyed and still enjoy learning Chinese and I honestly learned a lot preparing for the exam, so I am glad that I took it.
I would weigh your options and consider time, money, net benefits, and effort required before making a decision. Hope this helps!
Thank you for your prompt response! When you’ve said 4 years of foreign language, does it have to be the same language for those 4 years? So, he’ll take French for 2 years in high school, and then he may take AP Chinese exam to get credit for those colleges that may require 4 years of foreign language. Is that correct? By the way which state are you in? Maybe different state mandates different requirements. We live in Texas. Thanks again!
I am honestly not sure how some colleges would view 2 years of a foreign language combined with an AP language exam in another language. I hear that it’s recommended to stick with one language for both 2 year or 4 year requirements. Generally the 2 or 4 year requirements indicate foreign language classes that are taken THROUGH your high school. As in, if your son took French for all 4 years of high school, he would definitely fulfill any 4 year requirement. The general wisdom that I’ve seen on this forum is that the SAFEST and SUREST way to fulfill these requirements is to take the foreign language classes that are physically offered by your high school.
I attended high school in Wisconsin, but my understanding is that these foreign language requirements are set by colleges, not the states.
No.
When a college says x# of years of a foreign language, they mean of the same language. A college’s recommendations as listed on the website is meant to cover most, but not all, of the applicants.
This is really a question that needs to be directed to the individual colleges.
State requirements are for HS graduation; colleges set their own recommendation/requirements for HS preparation, which may exceed state-mandated HS graduation requirements.