Matryoshka Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 Does anyone have any experience with this test? My dds will probably take it in the spring. I was thinking I would buy a practice book. There apparently is no practice book by any of the regular test prep book publishers. WTH? There is one book in English by some obscure publisher, and the reviews on Amazon say it is a random bunch of multiple-choice questions with no relation to the test, nor are the types of writing or questions anywhere to be found in said book (although it does claim to be for the AP). Okaaay. I found one other prep book - apparently printed in Germany(!), even though this is obviously a US test :confused1: ?? There are zero reviews of this book anywhere to be found, so I have no idea if it lines up with the test. It does specifically say it's for the AP German test. Anyhoo - anyone have their kids take this, or have some familiarity with the format, types of questions, best things to study? They've been going to German Saturday School for years and their German is good (and their school has suggested that the 10th graders take the AP), but as we all know it helps to study for a particular test format. It's unclear how much their Saturday School will prep specifically for the AP, though, as they're focusing this year on a German-made test, the DSD 1, and doing lots of practice for the kinds of things to be found on that test. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In The Great White North Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 We bought the materials from the College Board, along with practice tests. I don't know how much they helped. https://store.collegeboard.org/sto/freeTextSearch.asp They used to have a released exam but I couldn't find it today. Dd took it before it was "new and improved." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joan in GE Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 I believe the AP German exam was revised as the French one....The French one is VERY different from the previous exam...It is built around 6 themes...and perfect grammar is much less important than before... They require more written and oral work than before...eg email sample, argumentative writing sample, presentation, and I think one other oral sample, though I'm drawing a blank... You can go into the AP Audit preparation materials and find lots of ideas of what type of preparation they are looking for..... We're going with Oklahoma but I did find a book mentioned somewhere, maybe on the AP teacher's community, Denk Mal...So far though, dd is pretty busy with the Oklahoma materials... HTH, Joan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted February 1, 2014 Author Share Posted February 1, 2014 Thanks, Joan. I went on the AP website, and found sample questions and answers, including for the written response and conversation. Looks like it was revised in 2011; the samples are all from the 2012 and 2013 tests. They also give rubrics for written response and conversation, and say how and why the sample answers were graded. I did notice that the grammar wasn't perfect even on the level 5 answers! I actually think the revision in focus could help my kids, as after so many years at Saturday School, their oral and written work is I think fairly good, although their grammar is not yet perfect. They're having to write sometimes an essay a week this year to prepare for the DSD1, and are working also on preparing an oral presentation for it as well. Hopefully this will be enough to give them direction for prep. I guess if there are no good materials, it'll save me a hunk of money not having to buy them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttichen Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 My kids took the German exam last year and they both got 5s. There were no real practice materials published yet. There was one text that was supposed to be aimed at the new exam, but it was pretty much useless. My kids had already taken AP French though, so they were familiar with the new exam format. If you submit a syllabus to the college board, you will be able to join the teacher forums. Teachers have been developing materials and sharing them with each other there. We used a lot of those and dh made some of his own following their example. We had our kids read and discuss newspaper articles, watch the news, write essays, etc. They memorized lots of Wise Guys songs, read novels, watched movies, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In The Great White North Posted February 2, 2014 Share Posted February 2, 2014 The College Board has also started limiting the official practice tests to teachers who have passed the AP course audit, so you may want to do that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted February 2, 2014 Author Share Posted February 2, 2014 The College Board has also started limiting the official practice tests to teachers who have passed the AP course audit, so you may want to do that. Unfortunately I'm not teaching them any course myself, so I don't think I could get them to approve an audit! They do their coursework at the Saturday School. What is up with Kaplan, Princeton, etc. not putting out a single prep book for the German AP? I think I might be okay with the online stuff I printed, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In The Great White North Posted February 2, 2014 Share Posted February 2, 2014 I don't think you have to actually teach the course to get an audit approved, but it is too late for this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted February 2, 2014 Author Share Posted February 2, 2014 I don't think you have to actually teach the course to get an audit approved, but it is too late for this year. What exactly does one do/submit to get an audit approved? You mean they'd allow parents of kids in a class to submit the syllabus for a class their kid's enrolled in and get access to teacher materials? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted February 2, 2014 Share Posted February 2, 2014 Unfortunately I'm not teaching them any course myself, so I don't think I could get them to approve an audit! They do their coursework at the Saturday School. What is up with Kaplan, Princeton, etc. not putting out a single prep book for the German AP? I think I might be okay with the online stuff I printed, though. Are there books for other languages with fewer test takers? Japanese? Chinese? Latin? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted February 2, 2014 Share Posted February 2, 2014 What exactly does one do/submit to get an audit approved? You mean they'd allow parents of kids in a class to submit the syllabus for a class their kid's enrolled in and get access to teacher materials? That's an interesting question. There is a way for a homeschooler to add an online provider (who has an approved syllabus) to their homeschooler account on the College Board Professional site. But I don't really know what that would get you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted February 2, 2014 Author Share Posted February 2, 2014 There is a way for a homeschooler to add an online provider (who has an approved syllabus) to their homeschooler account on the College Board Professional site. But I don't really know what that would get you. Yeah, that's a double-no. They're in ps high school, not homeschooled anymore, and the outside provider (Sat school) is not online. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted February 2, 2014 Author Share Posted February 2, 2014 Are there books for other languages with fewer test takers? Japanese? Chinese? Latin? Since you ask, I looked. :) There are lots of books for AP Chinese and Italian, including from the major providers. There seem to be at least a couple for AP Latin that are well-reviewed. AP Japanese seems to be in the same shoes as German, with one off-brand book with very bad reviews. Although one of the reviewers mentioned that virutally all the test-takers when his dd took the test were native speakers (which is I think also often true of Chinese, but not for German. Why the disparity?) Kind of surprised Italian fares better than German. I actually didn't even know there was an AP Italian exam... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttichen Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 What exactly does one do/submit to get an audit approved? You mean they'd allow parents of kids in a class to submit the syllabus for a class their kid's enrolled in and get access to teacher materials? To get an audit approved, google AP Course Audit, read the info on your course, look at the samples and the checklist of what you have to include, write a syllabus that meets the requirements, create an account, and submit it. You don't have to say your kids are taking the class somewhere else. We usually don't submit a syllabus for science classes. Our kids take them at the CC and we call them "Biology 101/102" etc. on the transcript. We do have them prep for and take the AP exam as well, though, to validate the CC grades and prove they've learned the material. That worked fine until youngest dd took the new bio exam last year and got a 3. She is taking chem this year and we don't want a repeat of that, so we decided to submit a syllabus so we can get access to the new teacher materials. Dh made a syllabus based on the syllabi from the CC teacher, filling in anything that was missing with stuff we'd need to do at home. He wrote it like he was teaching the whole class. It's a bureaucracy. Just do what they ask and you'll get approved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joan in GE Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Well, I'm just looking around for a school where dd can take the AP German exam - not so easy! Was even thinking of going back to the US to combine a visit, since AP's can be rare and so expensive here...But the districts where my relatives live don't offer it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttichen Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 You can ask if they'll give it to your child even if they don't offer it. Some of the high schools in our district will do that. Last year my dc were the only ones in the county taking the AP German exam! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Well, I'm just looking around for a school where dd can take the AP German exam - not so easy! Was even thinking of going back to the US to combine a visit, since AP's can be rare and so expensive here...But the districts where my relatives live don't offer it! What about traveling to Germany? The JFK School in Berlin is a German bilingual gymnasium that offers AP German. I did find this interesting table of international schools that offer AP and IB programs. http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/211957.pdf There is a definite bias towards IB programs, though the document mentions that some schools that are IB program schools may still offer limited AP exams. It at least gives you a list of schools in Europe to poke at. If you have family living anywhere near Fairfax County Virginia (northern Virginia area outside DC), they are very welcoming towards non-enrolled students taking exams. I know that AP German is offered in the district. So maybe you could fly into Dulles Airport, spend a couple days in the DC area and then go on to family visits. Huge pain, I know. Right now I'm trying to find spots for my kids to take tests in California. But at the moment I have no idea where we'll be living when we move there. Does complicate matters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joan in GE Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Well I finally got through to someone in Zurich and should know by tomorrow whether they can confirm a place! And at least it is cheaper than Zug Ecolint wihch wanted 270 chf for one test = close to 300$ and they didn't even have a place... I did find this interesting table of international schools that offer AP and IB programs. http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/211957.pdf Right now I'm trying to find spots for my kids to take tests in California. But at the moment I have no idea where we'll be living when we move there. Does complicate matters. Your situation is a lot worse than mine! And that is an interesting table...I can't figure out why it doesn't show Switzerland though...there are schools that offer some other AP's, just not all... BTW - for those looking for schools - the AP course ledger is helpful for finding them. And it seems better than in years past - asier to see what courses are given... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Well I finally got through to someone in Zurich and should know by tomorrow whether they can confirm a place! And at least it is cheaper than Zug Ecolint wihch wanted 270 chf for one test = close to 300$ and they didn't even have a place... Your situation is a lot worse than mine! And that is an interesting table...I can't figure out why it doesn't show Switzerland though...there are schools that offer some other AP's, just not all... BTW - for those looking for schools - the AP course ledger is helpful for finding them. And it seems better than in years past - asier to see what courses are given... I don't think the listing was a comprehensive list of international schools. There was some comment on the first page that it was a list of schools that had received some kind of support from State. So if a school didn't have students from a US Embassy or consulate then it might not be included. Just looking at the schools in Berlin, it doesn't list the schools that prepped for UK tests rather than IB or AP (even though there were embassy families enrolled there). Nor does it list at least one other school that preps for IB that was in Berlin. Maybe the year the table was prepared there were no students enrolled at that one? Anyway, it's a starting point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joan in GE Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 What about traveling to Germany? The JFK School in Berlin is a German bilingual gymnasium that offers AP German. The Berlin idea is actually very good! I was thinking about this again last night... Now we want to work in a little 'immersion' time...Even though we'll go to Zurich, there's the Swiss German problem....so I was thinking it would be better to have immersion in a 'standard German' speaking town...It's just that we have free accommodation in Zurich... The transport from Geneva is the same cost! Easyjet flies there from Geneva for about 40 and the train to Zurich will cost 40...There is just the carbon footprint... When I first looked at the word Berlin - it seemed so far away and so much more costly - but actually it wouldn't be, in typical circumstances... So I'm posting this just in case anyone else reads this in Europe...:-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joan in GE Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 @Joan: Did you consider a Goethe Institute Certificate instead of AP ? In a European setting Goethe Certificates (like Cambridge and Alliance Francaise) might be preferable above AP, I think (I can be wrong) Such certificate exams can be attended at an ambassade of that Country. Otherwise :bigear: Hi loesje! Actually, I'm planning for her to do Goethe after the AP.... Cost wise, I think OSU German is a better deal for the lower levels. So my rational is to bring her along as far as she can go in the US system for a reasonable price, and then switch over to Goethe... Plus, there's the possibility that she'd enter higher education here with US credentials, so she'd need the AP exam results with her other AP's (I guess that would be for Germany since she already has AP French and will have AP English) as a cohesive group of tests...You enter with the 'high school' credentials by country.... But clearly AP German is not enough to prepare her for the subject of German for Swiss exams so then she'd need a higher level of coursework to help prepare for those... We're a very mixed case, I know!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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