AP French Language
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Advanced Placement French Language (also known as AP French Language or AP French) is a course offered by the College Board to high school students in the United States as an opportunity to earn placement credit for a college-level French course. Enrollment requirements for AP French Language differ from school to school, but students wishing to enter it should have a good command of French grammar and vocabulary as well as prior experience in listening, reading, speaking, and writing French.
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[edit] The Exam
The AP French Language class culminates in an exam to test students’ proficiency.
The exam is approximately 2½ hours in length. It measures the student's French ability in four general areas, each of which counts as one-fourth of the final grade. Listening and reading are tested in a multiple-choice section; writing and speaking as tested in a free-response section.
[edit] Section I
[edit] Listening
First, students are asked to listen to several brief exchanges between two speakers. The exchanges are spoken twice. Students must choose the most appropriate rejoinder from a selection of four choices.
For the second part, students listen to brief recorded monologues or dialogues and must then answer questions about what they just heard.
[edit] Reading
Students read several prose or poem sections and answer multiple-choice questions based on their content.
[edit] Section II
[edit] Writing
For the first part, the student must fill in omitted words or verb forms within paragraphs.
For the second part, he or she has 40-minutes to write an essay on a provided topic. The essay is judged on appropriateness and range of vocabulary, grammatical accuracy, idiomatic usage, organization, and style.
[edit] Speaking
Students respond to questions about some visual stimulus (such as a picture or series of pictures). The questions are both printed in the exam booklet and heard on a master recording. Students are given 90 seconds to prepare their answers and 60 seconds to respond to each question. They will hear a tone to signal when they are supposed to begin speaking.
[edit] Score Distribution
In 2005, 20,239 students at 3,363 schools took the exam. The grade distribution was:
| Score | Percent |
|---|---|
| 5 | 14.2% |
| 4 | 18.5% |
| 3 | 27.6% |
| 2 | 19.9% |
| 1 | 19.9% |
The mean grade was a 2.87.
