ap spanish lang: a guide
hey y’all! this next post in my “back to school” series is all about ap spanish. now to be honest, this was the hardest subject for me last year, but here are some tips and tricks to help you get through the class (and exam if you are reading this in may!)
general class tips
PRACTICE THE FRQs: Do as many emails, persuasive essays, conversations, and presentations throughout the year so you know how to do them on exam day. I would stress the email, conversation, and presentation more than the essay just because the essay is the same thing you would do in your english class but in spanish ;)
LEARN ABOUT SPANISH SPEAKING COUNTRIES: This is so important for the presentation part of the AP. The way my class did it, everyone learned about Spain and we all did in class presentations on a specific country.
PRACTICE THE MULTIPLE CHOICE: i am not going to lie, i did not practice the multiple choice until April and I had to cram study. Try to do one a week starting in January so you don’t end up like me lol.
DON’T STRESS THE VOCAB, BUT DO STRESS THE GRAMMAR: there are going to be words you don’t know on the ap exam. that’s ok, you can gain the definition from reading the context and circumlocate in your writing. but grammar is EXTREMELY important. In all the FRQs, they will grade heavily on grammar so be sure to freshen up on that.
resources i used
ap central
listening practice
practice for all the sections of the exam
albert.io practice
sample barron’s test
exam day tips
just like ap us, i will definitely post a whole thing closer to the exam next year, but here are some things to remember
BRING SNACKS AND A WATER BOTTLE! this test is 3+ hours. make sure you have eaten and slept before you go to the exam
ON THE READING MULTIPLE CHOICE: take your time and read carefully. there is always an email, pamphlet, prose, and data w/ article reading. pick your strongest to do first and do your weakest last.
ON THE LISTENING MULTIPLE CHOICE: gonna be honest, the audio quality is so bad on the test (especially if you take it in a gym), so just trust your gut, answer as many as you can after the first listening and then try to absorb more from the second. if you don’t understand anything, take a guess from the general gist of the audio. also, if you finish a prompt early, go back and check the reading/listening prompts so you can maximize your points
ON THE EMAIL FRQ: use this canned intro to impress the readers (not gonna lie, an actual lifesaver): quisiera darle las gracias por haberme escrito este correo. don’t forget to ask a question!
ON THE ESSAY FRQ: write it just like you would in english and use all the sources!
ON THE CONVERSATION: use the subjunctive whenever possible and do what the prompts tell you to do.
ON THE PRESENTATION: make sure you have a watch to time your 2 minutes. pick a country you feel comfortable talking about. you can kinda bs it, but don’t make blatantly wrong statements :)
best of luck to everyone taking ap spanish lang next year! let me know if you need any advice. get that pan!
reposting as ap szn is upon us
