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

The course consists of six units, covering key topics relevant to both the coursework and 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

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

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. The 5-rate for the Chinese exam, on average, steadily declined as the years passed^{[original research?]}. 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]	2024[22]
5	81.0%	85.5%	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%	54.2%	53.3%
4	11.8%	8.1%	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%	18.8%	19.4%
3	4.5%	4.7%	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%	15.4%	15.9%
2	1.1%	0.8%	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%	5.0%	4.9%
1	1.5%	1.0%	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%	6.6%	6.5%
% of Scores 3 or Higher	97.3%	98.3%	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%	88.4%	88.5%
Mean	4.70	4.76	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	4.09	4.08
Standard Deviation	0.74	0.67	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	1.22	1.21
Number of Students	3,261	4,311	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	16,495	17,905

See also

• Chinese as a foreign language
• Language education in the United States