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What is AP Chinese
AP Chinese Language and Culture (AP Chinese Language and Culture), referred to as “AP Chinese”, is an AP course that can be taken as an elective when applying to American universities. As a foreign language course, it allows middle school students to take elective courses. The course is designed for two years. Candidates who pass the exam can obtain college credits and can also take advanced Chinese courses in the fifth semester of the university.
The AP Chinese test is a level test. It does not directly test the knowledge that children have, but examines the children’s application ability through the knowledge of Chinese culture and language. As we Chinese usually say, apply what you have learned. This is in line with the educational characteristics of American school culture, and also reflects the intentions and requirements of American schools in foreign language teaching.
Is it useful to take the AP Chinese test?
Passing the AP Chinese exam has two major benefits.
First of all, a child who passes the exam can have one more AP exam score. Excellent scores can add points to the child’s university application for American universities, and excellent academic performance is the first step for a child to enter an ideal university.
Secondly, the excellent scores in the AP Chinese test can allow children to take advanced Chinese courses or be exempt from other foreign languages in the fifth semester of college.
How difficult is the Exam
The difficulty and scope of the AP Chinese course is equivalent to the level of a second foreign language in four semesters (about 250 hours) in American universities. The content includes Chinese listening, speaking, reading, writing and Chinese culture. The language is Mandarin, and the fonts are both simplified and traditional.
How to prepare for the exam
Usually AP Chinese courses will choose “Harvest”, “AP Chinese Mock Test Set”, “New Practical Chinese Textbook”, “Chinese Express” and other textbooks for teaching. As for how to choose suitable teaching materials, it is necessary for professional Chinese teachers to teach students according to their Chinese proficiency and learning ability.
In addition to the selection of teaching materials, since the AP Chinese course does not examine fixed grammar or vocabulary, but examinees’ overall understanding of Chinese and Chinese culture, candidates are required to have a certain amount of Chinese reading accumulation in ordinary times. In this way, you can have a general understanding of cultural knowledge, and you can quickly respond to the key points of the examination during the test, so as to avoid missing points due to deviations. Therefore, daily accumulation is very important, and at the same time, it is not possible to memorize it by rote. For idioms or stories with allusions, teachers or parents need to give in-depth explanations, and connect knowledge points to form a knowledge system.
As an authoritative test, the AP Chinese test has a greater weight in many college admissions considerations. It will help your child choose an ideal college. If you are interested in the AP test, there are more If you want to know more, please contact us.
Exam format and content
Exams are conducted on school computers, and all exam content is presented to students through computers. The content of the exam is conducted through four parts of listening, speaking, reading and writing.
The exam is divided into two parts, multiple-choice and open-ended questions. The entire test focuses on the child’s communication skills, reading comprehension and understanding of Chinese culture.
Listen, the test time is about 20 minutes, and there are about 30 questions. Assessment in the form of ABCD selection. The content is divided into two parts. In the first part, each question can only be heard once, and each question has 5 seconds to answer. In the second part, some can be heard twice, some can be heard once, each question has 12 seconds to answer, there are about 20 questions in total, accounting for 15% of the total test score.
The listening section accounts for 25% of the total score.
| Section | Question Type and Knowledge/Skills Assessed | Number of Questions and % Weight of Final Score | Time |
| Listening Part A | Rejoinders Knowledge/skills:
|
10–15 questions
10% |
10 minutes (Response time: 5 seconds per question) |
| Listening Part B | Listening Selections Sample Stimulus Types:
Knowledge/skills:
|
15–20 questions
15% |
10 minutes (Response time: 12 seconds per question) |
| Section | Question Type and Knowledge/Skills Assessed | Number of Questions and % Weight of Final Score | Time |
| Reading | Sample Stimulus Types:
Knowledge/skills:
|
35-40 questions
25% |
60 minutes |
The reading and reading test follows the listening test. The time is one hour. There are about 40 questions. Choose the correct answer from the four options of ABCD. The questions and four options are in English. The reading section accounts for 25% of the overall test score.
Forms include advertisements, essays, brochures, emails, letters, notes, stories, announcements, signs, road signs, and more. It mainly examines students’ ability to use Chinese in real life and their knowledge of Chinese culture.
Write, there are two writing sections, 15 minutes each. It is to use the computer for input, both traditional and simplified can be written on the computer through the method of inputting Chinese characters. Candidates writing with the Hanyu Pinyin input method use the Microsoft Pinyin IME or MSPY, and candidates writing with the phonetic symbol input method use the Microsoft New Phonetic IME. Candidates should also pay attention to using the software to practice writing during daily training.
The first content of writing is to look at pictures and write. Write a complete story based on the four pictures provided. The second content of writing is to respond to emails. The two writings are 15 minutes each. There is no word count requirement, and you can write as much as you can, but you must write closely around the theme. Writing constitutes 25% of the overall grade.
| Section | Question Type and Knowledge/Skills Assessed | Number of Questions and % Weight of Final Score | Time |
| Writing Part A | Story Narration
Knowledge/skills:
|
1 questions
15% |
15 minutes |
| Writing Part B | E-Mail Response
Knowledge/skills:
|
1 questions
10% |
15 minutes |
| Section | Question Type and Knowledge/Skills Assessed | Number of Questions and % Weight of Final Score | Time |
| Speaking Part A | Conversation Knowledge/skills:
|
6 questions
10% |
4 minutes (Response time: 20 seconds per question) |
| Speaking Part B | Cultural Presentation Knowledge/skills:
|
1 questions
15% |
7 minutes (Preparation time: 4 minutes Response time: 2 minutes) |
There are a total of 7 questions, of which 6 questions will focus on a topic, such as finding a job, being a volunteer or picking up an airport, etc. In addition, there is another question that is a cultural speech, usually an introduction to the relevant culture, this part always takes time Although it is only 15 minutes, the spoken language makes up 25% of the total score.
In this part of the exam, Chinese students have the advantage of being able to pronounce and pronounce clearly and clearly. What they need to train is how to speak decently and have something to say. For the content that you know very well, you can use the simple to control the complicated; for the content that you do not know very well, try to keep the story short and use the complicated to control the simple.
What are the differences and advantages of AP and IB?
Features of AP and IB
If maximum flexibility is required for families, AP is much better than IB in this regard. IB is a curriculum rooted in grades 11 and 12. Your child will not be admitted to the IB unless they are entering these two grades right away.
If you’re an 11th or 12th grader and you’re choosing between AP and IB, IB is the better choice, mainly because it puts more emphasis on writing than AP.
In the United States, only IB programs and private schools insist high school students write important research papers. The dean of college admissions loves and treats both equally. A student who has taken 12 APs may not have enough time to show his enthusiasm for the activity further. Because of the importance of AP courses, the American College Board has been paying attention to the development and role of AP courses, and has tried to innovate and improve. Just this year, the College Board of the United States implemented the reform of AP courses. The new AP courses pay more attention to students’ deep understanding and firm grasp of concepts, and to dilute the rote memorization and rigid application of formulas in exams.
The IB curriculum design mainly focuses on the last two years of middle school. Through two years of solid education, it cultivates elite talents who are recognized and prioritized by universities around the world.
The IB curriculum is not based on the curriculum system of any country in the world, but is a system of its own, which has extensively absorbed the advantages of the mainstream curriculum systems of many contemporary developed countries and covered its main core content. Therefore, the IB curriculum system is not only compatible with the mainstream education curriculum systems in the world, but also unique under the development of its own educational philosophy.
There are roughly the following main differences between AP courses and IB courses:
1. IB courses must be taken in schools with IB programs, and students can obtain a diploma if they pass the exam. AP courses are some of the university courses put into high school, for students who have spare capacity to study in advance. The selection of AP courses is very flexible. Students can choose AP courses offered by the school; they can also study online through the Internet; they can even study at home and take the AP exam at the end.
2. High school IB is actually a four-year academic system. The first two years are pre-IB, and the second two years are IB. Without the first two years of pre-IB, you cannot enter the second two years of IB. AP courses have no time limit on course selection.
3. IB studies include AP courses, but not vice versa.
4. AP exams have both multiple-choice questions and short essays, about half of which are divided, with a full score of 5 points; IB exams are mainly written in short essays, with few multiple-choice questions, and the full score of the test is 7 points.
5. IB courses cover a comprehensive and broad curriculum, while AP courses provide intensive learning in a single subject. Therefore, in terms of individual subjects, AP courses are deeper than IB courses; in general, IB courses are more difficult than AP courses.
6. The IB curriculum has a wide range, has a lot of writing, and has a large workload, which is more difficult for Chinese students. The theoretical knowledge and writing requirements of the IB curriculum greatly exercise students’ abilities and skills. AP courses, on the other hand, allow students to take only their stronger subjects without affecting their grade point average.
7. AP classes focus on imparting knowledge. IB courses go hand in hand with arts and sciences, focusing on the cultivation of comprehensive quality. Each course pays great attention to the training of the research process, the analysis of practical problems, and the cultivation of comprehensive ability. IB develops students’ international outlook through a wide range of extra-curricular and social activities.
In college admissions, which is more important, AP courses or IB courses?
Many people have asked this question in confusion, and many people have misunderstood this question. Especially in mainland China, there has been a misunderstanding that IB courses are more useful than AP courses when recruiting students because IB is more difficult and more valuable. Actually, this view is wrong. This view originally came from some teachers who taught IB courses, and later it was spread and amplified.
IB and AP courses and grades are more indicative of students’ learning ability and challenging spirit. Prestigious schools pay more attention to whether students can effectively use the resources of the school to challenge themselves and achieve good grades. To this end, college admissions officers will ask high school admissions counselors to indicate whether the applicant’s course portfolio is “most challenging”, “very challenging”, or “slightly more challenging” than the courses offered by the school. challenging”. If a student doesn’t have other bright spots, only students with the “most challenging” combination of courses will be considered by top universities. A sufficient number of IB and AP classes are among the “most challenging.”
Therefore, it doesn’t matter which grade is more important when admission to a famous American school, neither IB nor AP is more important than the other. These achievements are just a stepping stone, and more depends on the child’s soft power.
Learning Materials
