AP Chinese Language and Culture

Advanced Placement (AP) Chinese Language and Culture (commonly known as AP Chinese) is a course and exam offered by the College Board as a part of the Advanced Placement Program in the United States.[1] 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. The first AP Chinese courses were offered worldwide in the fall of 2006, followed by the exam in May 2007.[2]

Topic Outline edit

The course covers six units. Students should know these topics to succeed in the course and on the exam.

Units
Families in Different Societies
The Influence of Language and Culture on Identity
Influences of Beauty and Art
How Science and Technology Affect Our Lives
Factors That Impact the Quality of Life
Environmental, Political, and Societal Challenges

Exam edit

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.[3]

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 edit

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.[4] The exception is in 2022, when the AP Japanese Language and Culture exam narrowly had a higher 5-rate by 0.5 percentage points. It is worth noting that 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:

Score 2007[5] 2008[6] 2009[7] 2010[8] 2011[9] 2012[10] 2013[11] 2014[12] 2015[13] 2016[14] 2017[15] 2018[16] 2019[17] 2020[18] 2021[19] 2022[20] 2023[21]
5 81.0% 82.2% 81.5% 76.7% 72.3% 71.1% 69.7% 68.5% 65.3% 62.8% 68.4% 66.1% 60.1% 55.4% 57.2% 49.3% 50.0%
4 11.8% 10.3% 9.8% 13.2% 13.9% 13.2% 14.6% 14.4% 16.0% 16.4% 11.3% 12.2% 14.9% 15.5% 15.5% 19.6% 17.0%
3 4.5% 4.9% 6.0% 6.6% 9.2% 10.9% 10.7% 11.6% 11.8% 14.4% 12.5% 13.0% 14.8% 17.9% 15.5% 18.0% 18.0%
2 1.1% 1.0% 1.0% 1.5% 2.1% 2.3% 2.3% 2.8% 3.1% 2.7% 3.3% 3.7% 4.0% 5.1% 4.6% 5.3% 6.0%
1 1.5% 1.6% 1.7% 2.0% 2.5% 2.5% 2.8% 2.7% 3.9% 3.7% 4.5% 5.0% 6.2% 6.1% 7.1% 7.8% 9.0%
% of Scores 3 or Higher 97.3% 97.4% 97.4% 96.5% 95.4% 95.2% 95.0% 94.5% 93.0% 93.7% 92.2% 91.3% 89.8% 88.7% 88.2% 86.9% 85.0%
Mean 4.70 4.71 4.69 4.61 4.51 4.48 4.46 4.43 4.36 4.32 4.36 4.31 4.19 4.09 4.11 3.97 3.93
Standard Deviation 0.74 0.75 0.77 0.84 0.93 0.95 0.97 0.98 1.06 1.05 1.10 1.14 1.20 1.22 1.24 1.26 1.31
Number of Students 3,261 1,992 5,100 6,388 7,970 9,357 10,121 10,728 11,633 12,524 13,091 13,825 13,853 14,663 13,122 15,277 17,000

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "AP Chinese Language and Culture Course". AP Central. College Board. Archived from the original on 1 May 2023. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  2. ^ "AP Chinese Language and Culture". College Board. Archived from the original on 13 August 2006. Retrieved 12 July 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  3. ^ "AP Chinese Language and Culture Course and Exam Description, Effective Fall 2020" (PDF). College Board. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 May 2023. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  4. ^ "2018 AP Exam Score Distributions".
  5. ^ 2007 Grade Distributions
  6. ^ SCORE DISTRIBUTIONS
  7. ^ "STUDENT SCORE DISTRIBUTIONS" (PDF). Retrieved January 12, 2024.
  8. ^ AP Chinese 2010 Score Distribution
  9. ^ AP Chinese 2011 Score Distribution
  10. ^ The College Board. "AP Chinese Language Student Score Distributions" (PDF). Retrieved 7 May 2013.
  11. ^ AP Chinese 2013 Score Distribution
  12. ^ "STUDENT SCORE DISTRIBUTIONS" (PDF). Retrieved January 12, 2024.
  13. ^ "STUDENT SCORE DISTRIBUTIONS" (PDF). Retrieved January 12, 2024.
  14. ^ "STUDENT SCORE DISTRIBUTIONS" (PDF). Retrieved January 12, 2024.
  15. ^ "AP Score Distributions – AP Students | College Board".
  16. ^ "Student Score Distributions, AP Exams - May 2018" (PDF). The College Board. Retrieved December 24, 2022.
  17. ^ "STUDENT SCORE DISTRIBUTIONS" (PDF). Retrieved July 9, 2020.
  18. ^ "STUDENT SCORE DISTRIBUTIONS" (PDF). Retrieved June 9, 2021.
  19. ^ "STUDENT SCORE DISTRIBUTIONS" (PDF). Retrieved 2022-07-06.
  20. ^ "Student Score Distributions" (PDF). Retrieved October 1, 2023.
  21. ^ "AP Chinese Lang. and Culture - Compare Score Distributions Across Years". www.totalregistration.net. Retrieved 2023-07-12.

External links edit