Advanced Placement (AP) Chinese Language and Culture (commonly known as AP Chinese) is a course and exam offered by the
College Board
The College Board, styled as CollegeBoard, is an American not-for-profit organization that was formed in December 1899 as the College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB) to expand access to higher education. While the College Board is not an asso ...
as a part of the
Advanced Placement Program
Advanced Placement (AP) is a program in the United States and Canada created by the College Board. AP offers undergraduate university-level curricula and examinations to high school students. Colleges and universities in the US and elsewh ...
in the United States. It requires proficiencies throughout the Intermediate range as described in the
American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Proficiency Guidelines. The course interweaves language and culture learning and is conducted mostly in
Mandarin Chinese
Mandarin ( ; zh, s=, t=, p=Guānhuà, l=Mandarin (bureaucrat), officials' speech) is the largest branch of the Sinitic languages. Mandarin varieties are spoken by 70 percent of all Chinese speakers over a large geographical area that stretch ...
. The first AP Chinese courses were offered worldwide in the fall of 2006, followed by the exam in May 2007.
Topic outline
The course consists of six units, covering key topics relevant to both the coursework and the exam.
Exam
The AP Chinese Language and Culture Exam is approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes in length. It assesses Interpersonal, Interpretive, and Presentational communication skills in Mandarin Chinese, along with knowledge of Chinese culture.
Section I consists of multiple-choice questions.
* Part A: Listening
* Part B: Reading
Section II, the free-response section, requires one to produce written and spoken responses.
* Part A: Writing
* Part B: Speaking
Grade distribution
The AP Chinese Language and Culture exam consistently has the highest percentage of 5 scores out of all AP tests, likely attributed to fluent Chinese speakers taking the exam for credit.
The exception is in 2022, when the
AP Japanese Language and Culture exam narrowly had a higher 5-rate by 0.5 percentage points. The 5-rate for the Chinese exam, on average, steadily declined as the years passed. The grade distributions since the exam's debut in 2007 were:
See also
*
Chinese as a foreign language
Chinese as a foreign or second language is when non-native speakers study varieties of Chinese, Chinese varieties. The increased interest in China from those outside has led to a corresponding interest in the study of Standard Chinese (a type of ...
*
Language education in the United States
Language education in the United States has historically involved teaching English to immigrants; and Spanish, French, Latin, Italian or German to native English speakers. Bilingual education was sponsored in some districts, often continuou ...
References
External links
AP Chinese Language and Culture at CollegeBoard.comAP Chinese Language and Culture Course
{{DEFAULTSORT:Advanced Placement Chinese Language And Culture
Chinese language tests
Advanced Placement