• Section I (the multiple-choice section) consists of two parts that assess the students' understanding of spoken Spanish (listening) and of literary and non-literary prose selections (reading).
• Section II (the free-response section) has two parts, which are designed to measure a student's writing and speaking skills in Spanish.

• The listening part of the exam begins with several short dialogues and narratives. For these exercises, the questions are spoken on the master recording but are not printed in the exam book, while the answer choices are printed but not spoken. After these short pieces, there are two longer selections each lasting about five minutes. During the recording, students may take notes and can see the printed questions; these questions are not spoken on the master recording. Students' notes will not affect their scores.
• For the reading comprehension portion of the exam, the student must read several passages, each of which is followed by multiple-choice comprehension questions. The passages are typically prose fiction, journalistic articles, or essays.
• The first part of the writing section will be an informal writing task. Students will be have 10 minutes to read a prompt and write their response. Examples may include writing an email message, a letter, a journal entry, or a postcard. The second writing exercise reflects an integration of the following skills: listening, reading, and writing (an example of the interpretive and presentational modes). Students will be required to read two documents, listen to a related source/recording, and respond to a written prompt. All sources, both written and aural, will be authentic -- either in their original format of rerecorded. Students will be encouraged to make reference to and cite all of the sources. Students will have 7 minutes to read the printed sources and then will listen to a stimulus of 3 minutes. After listening to the sound file, students will have 5 minutes to plan their responses and 40 minutes to write their essays. The total time allotted to this section will be approximately 55 minutes.
• The first speaking task is an example of the interpersonal mode of communication. It integrates listening and speaking in an informal setting of a conversation role-play. Students will be asked to interact with a recorded conversation. There will be five or six opportunities for the student to answer. Each response will be 20 seconds in length. Students will have time to read an outline of the stimulus conversation and the instructions before participating in the simulated conversation. The second part of the speaking section is an example of the interpretive and presentational modes. It integrates three skills: reading, listening and speaking. Students need to give an oral presentation in a formal and/or academic setting. They will be asked to read one document and listen to a recording, after which the will have two minutes to prepare for the presentation and two minutes to answer the related question making reference to both sources.

  AP Spanish Course Description (.pdf/2MB) Revised 09/2008