<p>I've searched this forum a bunch of times for concerns dealing with AP Spanish Language. It's been said that this exam is the toughest out of any, for non-native speakers, of course. I am a senior this year and I plan to work really hard this year so I can pass the AP Spanish exam.</p>
<p>I understand it only depends on how well you know the language after x number of years, but there has GOT to be some sort of preparation source to rigorously prepare for this AP exam. From what i've heard, its ridiculously impossible.</p>
<p>For those of you in the same boat, or that have already completed this course, help me out! I know a bunch of us on CC have the same questions, too. So Thanks in advance!!</p>
<ul>
<li>What are the best prep books/guides for this course?</li>
<li>If you have taken the AP exam, tell us your score and what you used to prepare. How did you do throughout the year in the course?</li>
<li>What is the best way to conquer the listening on the AP exams?</li>
<li>Any other tips for this exam?? Was it really as tough as anticipated?</li>
</ul>
<p>Also, if you are taking the language this year, what are you doing in class? In my school, we have a 30 word vocab quiz every week (spanish to spanish definitions), listen to native speakers and do podcast summaries weekly. We also have 5 formal essays throughout the year. The rest of the class is just grammer and speaking. What do your schools do in this course?</p>
<p>I am taking this course in my school and I am not a native speaker…it is the most difficult class out of all my AP classes ( I take six weighted classes). I have tried to get the same questions answered but no one seems to be on the same boat as me lol. AP Spanish isn’t something that has a set type of way to study for the exam, that’s why.
I just try to use Spanish as much as i can in daily life; I try to talk more in spanish with my hispanic friends and I try to listen to music in spanish too. Oh, and I watch my favorite movies in spanish now lol…it’s really the best I can do. I think vocabulary for me is the biggest hurdle…I need to memories all the SAT vocab along with this foreign language vocab…it’s pretty challenging!!</p>
<p>My school uses the book by jose diaz (THE guy in Ap spanish lol) the red and white cover one…and some other books on grammar,etc</p>
<p>I’m in the same boat - I think I’m gonna take the AP test to get out of college requirements and am looking for a prep book. I just saw on Amazon that the Princeton Review now has one. I think I’ll get it because they’ve been so good for the other ones, but does anyone have experience with it?</p>
<p>I got an AP spanish prep book (as I have for every AP test). Honestly, it was completely useless. There is just no substitute for continually reading, listening, and speaking spanish; the only real preparation for the exam you can do is get a list of important vocab and memorize it all.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>What are the best prep books/guides for this course? I used Barron’s, but minimally. Make sure you hone your listening skills, familiarize yourself with all the verb tenses and expand your vocabulary!</p></li>
<li><p>If you have taken the AP exam, tell us your score and what you used to prepare. How did you do throughout the year in the course? I took it last year and got a 5. Honestly, what helped me the most was a great spanish ap class.</p></li>
<li><p>What is the best way to conquer the listening on the AP exams? Practice, practice, practice. Listen to news broadcasts in spanish. watch telenovelas. whatever you do, you need to practice listening a few times a week at least. </p></li>
<li><p>Any other tips for this exam?? Was it really as tough as anticipated? It was honestly pretty crazy, I must admit. Don’t count on luck. I’m pretty good at reading so that wasn’t too bad. But are you good at speaking? That threw me off a bit. You need to get the timing down.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>100% percent true. If you’re looking for vocabulary expansion or grammar review, the Diaz book or Barrons/PR respectively will get the job done, but that’s not the focus of the test. Ultimately, a book is no substitute for reading, writing, and listening practice.</p>
<p>The structure of the test is favorable to the student - even if you have a mediocre score in one section, strong performances in the remaining sections will offset it and make it possible to score a 5. As far as listening is concerned, keep in mind that the test doesn’t focus on analysis of material but rather ability to comprehend it. On the practice listening sections I took, and on the AP test, I often found that the most straight-forward answer was typically the correct answer. Also, CollegeBoard reuses reading passages from one year to another, so I would strongly recommend reading as many old passages as you can find.</p>
<p>When learning vocabulary, make sure to focus on a select few key topics. On the formal speaking and formal writing sections, CollegeBoard consistently uses prompts related to the same themes - the environment, business, Latin American culture, and Latin American government and society. Ask your teacher what other themes appear in the prompts, and learn the relevant vocab. rather than trying to cram as many words as you possibly can.</p>
<p>From a native Spanish speaker who had to learn English: listen to the news. News tend to be in fairly good spanish and with very little accent (and most of the time you have a good idea what they are talking about so it helps you get a better feel for the language)</p>
<p>I’m taking it this year. =] Recently, we reviewed grammar (all the indicative stuff). Before that, we were reading a simplified version of Don Quijote. Before that, we read some fables. Sometimes we do listening/speaking/essay-writing practice using our AP review book, but way less than anything else. For my classmates (at least the non-native speakers) and me, listening/speaking are definitely the hardest sections. When our teacher asks us stuff, we’re like, “UHHH… ella… estaba… trabajando en… UMMM…” XD It’s probably the biggest hurdle.</p>
<p>I took the exam last year (5) when I was in Spanish 3 honors (I didn’t know a word of Spanish before Freshman year). For a couple months before the exam, I prepped with Barron’s. The cds were particularly useful. I also watched Telemundo a lot, which was good practice for listening comprehension, although some of the vocabulary can be too colloquial and/or advanced for the exam (try to use subtitles). During the listening sections, I would try to focus on the words that you know instead of wasting time thinking about ones that you obviously won’t figure out. It would help to think of the variations in pronunciations of words based on accent, speed of speech, etc.
I thought the exam was very easy (I actually involuntarily laughed at some of the listening portions because they were so easy). The only part that I wish I would have practiced more for is the formal speaking section, which I thought I did bad on (my score suggests otherwise).
As a caveat, though, I was easily fluent in Spanish by the time I took the exam, despite the small amount of time I had been learning it. I spend a considerable amount of my free time learning it.</p>