AP French Language
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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 3 hours and 20 minutes 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, or the next logical phrase in the dialogue, 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. The said monologues and/or dialogues are played one time.
[edit] Reading
Students read several written sections pulled from various sources 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] Grade distribution
In the 2007 administration, 21,709 students took the exam at 3,517 schools. The mean score was a 2.82.
The grade distribution for 2007 was:
| Score | Percent |
|---|---|
| 5 | 12.6% |
| 4 | 16.8% |
| 3 | 30.6% |
| 2 | 20.1% |
| 1 | 19.8% |
