Español AP Consejos de los estudiantes del año anterior

What activities or homework helped you the most to prepare for the day of the AP exam? ß“What I’ve noticed is that reading exercises not only helped with comprehension, but with my writing as well. When I can see the Spanish syntax in reading, it’s easier to work that into writing.”

Now that you’ve taken the AP test, what advice would you give to future students? ß“Look over transitional phrases as well as some common words before the test to strengthen essays and the speaking section.”

Now that you’ve taken the AP test, what advice would you give to future students? ß“Start early in the year w/ AP studying and continuously practice to get into the habit of knowing what material to expect.” ß“Get acquainted with listening in Spanish.” ß“Do not cram! You can’t get fluent overnight. Study and practice outside of class. The test gauges your knowledge of the language; you don’t get a full dose of Spanish in one class period.”

Now that you’ve taken the AP test, what advice would you give to future students? ß“SPEAK the language. Don’t just learn it by reading and writing.” ß“Try to formulate your thoughts in Spanish and speak in Spanish to hispanohablantes.” ß“Take Triángulo more seriously. It’s modeled after the exam.”

Now that you’ve taken the AP test, what advice would you give to future students? ß“Try to expose yourself to more things Spanish.” ß“Buy the Baron’s AP Spanish book to practice at home!” ß“Watch movies in Spanish with subtitles. It is very helpful.”

Your Main Task! Your main job: the faster you build up your Spanish vocabulary, the faster your discourse competence grows.

`

What section of the exam was most difficult for you and why? ß“The listening section because it was hard for me to understand and was so long I couldn’t concentrate.” ß“Presentational speaking, because of the limited time for planning.”

What section was the most difficult for you personally and why? ß“By far the speaking section. The improvisation was difficult and preparing comparisons/contrasts for the presentational speaking was especially hard. Also, because I have problems with public speaking, I felt way too nervous to really be successful.” ß“The oral section – I don’t have a very good accent, and I got nervous.”

What section was the most difficult for you personally and why? ß“Reading and listening – After listening and reading the passages, I thought I had understood them pretty thoroughly, but the questions and answer choices actually threw me off at times.

What sections do you feel we should spend more time on in class? ßUnanimous! – Speaking and listening, along with reading. ß“Reading literature (most important) and timed writing.”

Do you feel that Triángulo was beneficial in preparing for the test? ß“If I realized it was my prep book I would have studied it more.” ß“It mimics the test format.” ß“Triángulo wasn’t that beneficial to me, but I found the discussions in class very useful.” ß“Yes, I think the interpersonal speaking practice was helpful and the “ensayo basado en 3 fuentes,” but the fill-in-the-blank pages were irrelevant to the AP exam.

Do you feel that Triángulo was beneficial in preparing for the test? ß“Yes, because Triángulo was harder than the actual test.” ßMany students agreed with this observation. ß“Triángulo was insanely hard.” ß“Yes, it was beneficial. Could have been more interesting, but yes, it was beneficial.”

What strategies / class activities / study sheets / tips helped you the most? ß“Foros for speaking and the graphic organizers for organizing my thoughts.” ß“Listening to music.” ß“The Guided Notes.” ß“The handout about essay writing.”

What strategies / class activities / study sheets / tips helped you the most? ß“The Suggested Phrases worksheet for speaking and writing. Also, the Triángulo conversations.” ß“The study sheets with the wheel was helpful. It got all my notes on a topic in one place.” ß“How to cite sources and transitional phrases.”

Any other comments or suggestions to make the class better? ß“I think it would be worth holding a full- length practice exam, like on a seminar day or weekend, like AP Stats and AP US do, well in advance, with time to review and correct mistakes afterward.” ß“Read a little more fiction.”

Any other comments or suggestions to make the class better? ß“Have each student conference with you for one of their essays.” ß“More emphasis on speaking, listening and reading.”