<p>I'm taking AP Spanish next year. I love Spanish, but I'm not sure if I'm up to par for AP just yet. What can I read or do to prepare over the summer. Anyone know any books or websites that'll help. I got the textbook my school uses for Spanish IV and workbooks from back in the day from Spanish III. I'm also working on getting like an informal tutor, whose really just a native speaking college student to help with grammar and speaking.<br>
Also, what prep book is ideal? Princeton review? Barrons? Something else? </p>
<p>Thanks!!</p>
<p>Just read anything in Spanish that interests you. Harry Potter, Hunger Games, Twilight, etc. all come in Spanish and can be easily found at B&N or Amazon. If you want to be more brazen try finding some non-translated books written by native speakers. It doesn’t really matter what it is, simply reading Spanish on a regular basis and doing your best to understand (identify vocab and grammar that’s giving you problems, but don’t try to figure everything out because it really slows down reading).</p>
<p>For listening find some Spanish music that you like, there’s some great artists out there.</p>
<p>Vocabulary: [Dashboard</a> | Memrise - the fun way to learn anything](<a href=“http://www.memrise.com/home/]Dashboard”>Memrise)</p>
<p>I can’t help with prep books cause I’m actually taking Ap German next year.</p>
<p>What I did to improve my reading was read some authentic Spanish articles every day. It really helped, I think. [url=<a href=“http://elpais.com/]This[/url”>http://elpais.com/]This[/url</a>] was the site that I used, as recommended by my teacher.</p>
<p>The main thing is to use the language as much as you possibly can, even if you can’t completely immerse yourself in it. For writing, I would look at released essay questions and try to practice with the formal writing based on that. If your teacher’s anything like mine though s/he’ll make you write a ton of them throughout the year; same thing with the informal writing.</p>
<p>Also, make sure you’re familiar with your recording equipment. My school uses the old cassette recorders, which took some getting used to. Of course, your school might use a recording method that you’re more familiar with.</p>
<p>Our main workbook was [url=<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Triangulo-Proposito-estudiante-edicion-Spanish/dp/1877653896]Tri”>http://www.amazon.com/Triangulo-Proposito-estudiante-edicion-Spanish/dp/1877653896]Tri</a></p>
<p>Learning to understand Spanish by native speakers is crucial. Try listening to a Spanish radio program, or some other way so you can get used to hearing it and comprehending it. Also, review the verb forms you know, and be comfortable with using them quickly. As mentioned by others, READ! That’ll be invaluable for understanding the questions.</p>
<p>Sent from my Desire HD using CC</p>
<p>In addition to books, it helps to watch TV shows on Telemundo or Univision. I find it a lot easier to sit down and watch them for a while since it feels less like studying and more like relaxing.</p>
<p>Know your grammar to the point where you are comfortable speaking and writing, and it becomes almost second hand. Like how in English, we don’t really think about conjugating verbs in our everyday conversation. Be sure know your transitional phrases for essays. I cannot stress how important this is. Things like sin embargo, como, adem</p>
<p>Learn your acentos too! I’d honestly recommend now, since it will make your life so much easier. Also try increasing your listening comprehension (ap test) by watching movies, preferably some from Spain since you don’t want to confuse yourself with too many idioms. Good luck, all I can say is that the test is not difficult, but if you are not native you have to pay attention and work hard. Btw, it’s much easier than Span Lit, so enjoy it! Te deseo mucha suerte :)</p>
<p>I took the exam this year as a non-native speaker and got a 5. I didn’t do much review, but I used Barron’s AP Spanish for most of it. The questions are very difficult, much harder than the actual exam, but I found that it helped relieve stress and anxiety at the actual test. I would recommend it for practice tests and exercises. I also bought the REA AP Spanish Language book, and even though I didn’t read it too thoroughly, it seemed like a good resource. If you need more of a comprehensive grammar review, I would go for this one, although the practice tests are in a bit of a strange format.</p>
<p>In my class, we used Una Vez Mas, which was really helpful in reviewing grammar. It’s entirely in Spanish, but fairly easy to comprehend. We also used the Prentice Hall AP Spanish book. The only downfall is that there is no answer key, but it does have lots of exercises and vocabulary. If you actually try and do a bit of review every day, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be able to pass. Buena suerte!</p>
<p>P.S. Most of the titles above that have “AP” in the name include the paragraph completion exercises from the old version of the exam. They are not necessary for the test now, so you can just ignore them.</p>
<p>I second the above user on the Barrron’s and REA recomendations. REA gives a very detailed grammer reveiw with practice questions at the end of each section. I found it extremely helpful for refining my basic Spanish knowledge and for assisting in writing skills. Additionally, last year my AP Spanish teacher made us write daily journal entries in Spanish to improve our writing. It was such a pain, but the practice was so worth it.</p>
<p>Listening to Spanish music is a fantastic way to develop your listening skills. I would recomend checking out artists like Shakira, Zoe, La Oreja de Van Gough, and Mana. Also, try playing your favorite movie with spanish audio. It’s a lot more entertaining that way. ;)</p>
<p>Lastly, you should DEFINITELY practice for the informal and formal speaking sections. I believe the Barron’s book includes practice tracks for speaking, so I’d suggest trying to complete one a week. For me the speaking was the scariest part of the exam, so preparing early can help alleviate some of this stress for you!</p>
<p>Good Luck!</p>
<p>I’m a non-native speaker and got a 5 this year. I honestly didn’t do much preparation outside of class besides listening to my local Spanish music station on the radio. In class, we had weekly informal/formal speaking practices, which we recorded on our own tape recorders. It was really painful to listen to myself speak awkward, broken Spanish during the first months, but I gradually improved over time.</p>
<p>Like the previous posts recommend, learn your accents and conjugations so they become natural to you. It also helps to know various transition words that you can use in both your informal and formal writing, like por eso, aunque, sin embargo, etc. The AP readers look for these key words to assess your command of the language.</p>
<p>Buena suerte!</p>
<p>I am a native speaker and scored a 5, but I’m still going to tell you what you definitely need to do.</p>
<p>You gotta go to the page where the collegeboard puts all the old FRQs and do every single one of them. This is probably the reason with I caked the test. I was so familiar with how to do everything just because I spent 3 whole days doing every single previously administered FRQ. Saved my butt…</p>