AP German Exam Info
Download PDFThe AP German Language and Culture Exam will test your ability to apply communication and language skills developed in the course and ask you to demonstrate your understanding of German-speaking culture.
In this exam, you’ll complete the multiple-choice and written free-response sections on paper, and you’ll record your spoken free response on a device supplied by the testing school.
AP German Language and Culture Exam
This is the regularly scheduled date for the AP German Language and Culture Exam.
Exam Components
Section IA: Multiple Choice
This section presents 4 sets of authentic print sources (announcements/advertisements, literary texts, articles and charts, letters) with questions. The questions will ask you to:
- Identify the main ideas and supporting details
- Determine the meaning of vocabulary words in context
- Identify the author’s point of view or the target audience
- Demonstrate knowledge of the cultural or interdisciplinary information contained in the text
Section IB: Multiple Choice with Audio
This section includes a variety of authentic audio sources, including conversations, audio reports, interviews, instructions, and presentations. It is divided into 2 subsections:
- The first includes 2 sets of audio sources that are paired with print materials on the same topic with questions (articles and audio reports, charts and conversations)
- The second includes 3 sets of audio sources with questions (interviews, instructions, presentations)
You will respond to questions about main ideas and supporting details. Some questions will require you to show understanding of cultural or interdisciplinary information.
You will have time to read a preview of each selection and skim the questions before listening to the audio. All audio texts will be played twice.
You are encouraged to take notes during this part of the exam and are given writing space for that purpose. Your notes will not be graded.
Section IIA: Free Response Written
There are two writing tasks in this section:
- Interpersonal Writing: Read and reply to an email message (15 minutes).
- Presentational Writing: Write an argumentative essay based on 3 sources, including an article, a table, chart, graph, or infographic, and a related audio source (played twice), that present different viewpoints on a topic (~55 minutes total: 15 minutes to review materials plus 40 minutes to write). You will have access to the print sources and any notes you may take on the audio during the entire 40-minute writing period.
Section IIB: Free Response Spoken
There are two speaking tasks in this section:
- Interpersonal Speaking: Participate in 5 exchanges in a simulated conversation (20 seconds for each response). For this conversation, you will be provided with a preview of the conversation, including an outline of each exchange.
- Presentational Speaking: Deliver a 2-minute presentation in response to a prompt in which you compare a cultural feature of a German-speaking community with which you are familiar to your own community or another community.
Skills You'll Learn
Understanding German when you hear it and read it
Holding conversations in real-life situations
Writing stories, letters, emails, essays, and other texts
Units
Unit 1 – Families in Germany
You’ll learn German language skills in the context of studying family life and values in German-speaking societies and explore contemporary beliefs and challenges that families face.
Skills you will practice may include:
- Interpreting promotional materials
- Understanding the elements of a formal letter
- Describing data from a table, chart, graph, map, or infographic
- Interpreting the context of a conversation and participating in it
- Crafting an email reply
- Giving a presentation on the nature of family and society
Unit 2 – Language and Culture in Germany
You'll build your vocabulary and learn about how language and culture shape and reflect evolving ideas about identity in German-speaking societies.
Skills you will practice may include:
- Identifying the main idea and summarizing poetry and literary texts
- Interpreting audio recordings and movies
- Comprehending articles and charts
- Drawing connections between texts and their larger cultural context
- Justifying ideas and opinions in writing
- Giving a presentation comparing German cultural concepts to familiar ones
Unit 3 – Beauty and Art in Germany
You'll explore how ideas of beauty and art influence and reflect culture in German-speaking communities.
Skills you will practice may include:
- Analyzing articles and advertisements about health and beauty
- Interpreting fables and children’s stories
- Understanding what is included in the format of typical letters and interpreting their meaning
- Practicing conversational skills
- Analyzing cartoons and infographics
- Replying to emails
- Giving a presentation on beauty and German-speaking culture
Unit 4 – Science and Technology in Germany
You'll examine how developments in science and technology affect daily life in German-speaking communities and use your growing language skills to help you interpret unfamiliar words and engage in more complicated texts.
Skills you will practice may include:
- Interpreting charts, tables, and infographics in context
- Reading articles about technological trends
- Understanding interviews
- Following verbal instructions
- Comprehending oral presentations
- Writing essays and citing sources
- Giving a presentation on the impacts of scientific and technological developments
Unit 5 – Quality of Life in Germany
You'll learn more about contemporary life in German-Speaking communities and how social status, cultural perspectives, and access to jobs and resources can make an impact on the quality of life.
Skills you will practice may include:
- Connecting literary texts to larger cultural topics
- Interpreting charts and articles
- Identifying perspective, tone, and attitude in a podcast
- Interpreting audio and video recordings
- Understanding instructions
- Crafting an email reply using idioms and expressions
- Participating in conversations
- Giving a presentation comparing cultures and quality of life
Unit 6 – Challenges in Germany
You'll explore how complex global issues affect people’s lives in German-speaking communities and engage in deeper discussions to suggest possible solutions.
Skills you will practice may include:
- Analyzing articles and charts on social issues
- Listening for connections and meaning in audio reports
- Making cultural connections among presentations
- Writing essays to address global issues and suggest solutions
- Giving a presentation on global challenges
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