# AP Spanish Language and Culture

Advanced Placement (AP) Spanish Language and Culture (also known as AP Spanish Language, AP Spanish IV, AP SpLang, or AP Spanish) is a course and examination offered by the College Board in the United States education system as part of the Advanced Placement Program.

## The course

This course is primarily a comprehensive review of all previous knowledge pertaining to the Spanish language. This class builds upon the skills developed within introductory and intermediate Spanish classes by applying each skill to a specific, contemporary context; common themes include health, education, careers, literature, history, family, relationships, and the environment. Students also strive to refine their skills in writing, reading, speaking, and understanding spoken Spanish. Students concentrate on developing proficiency in such skills, specifically in preparation for the AP Spanish Language examination. In addition, the course emphasizes mastery of linguistic competencies at a very high level of proficiency.
Despite the best attempts by the College Board, the AP Spanish Language curriculum is very fluid. Individual teachers can choose to present the material in a variety of ways. Because teachers inherently have different methods of pedagogy, issues arise that pertain to the necessity of a standardized Spanish curriculum for the exam. Since the Spanish language is so eclectic and can be tested in a plethora of manners, a more solidified curriculum covering specific vocabulary, verb forms and usages, expressions, and other facets of the language is hard to develop.
While some students may be concerned about their ability to demonstrate proficiency in an assessment that native speakers of Spanish also take, only the scores of students who study Spanish as a second language are factored in when creating the distribution curve of scores 1–5. Native speakers or heritage language speakers of Spanish are then compared to non-native distribution and assigned a score accordingly.
There are six AP themes in the course, and within each theme there are six contexts.
| Themes | Contexts |
| Families and Communities | Customs and Values, Education Communities, Family Structure, Global Citizenship, Human Geography, Social Networking |
| Personal and Public Identities | Alienation and Assimilation, Heroes and Historical Figures, National and Ethnic Identities, Personal Beliefs, Personal Interests, Self-Image |
| Beauty and Aesthetics | Architecture, Defining Beauty, Defining Creativity, Fashion and Design, Language and Literature, Visual and Performing Arts |
| Science and Technology | Access to Technology, Effects of Technology on Self and Society, Health Care and Medicine, Innovations, Natural Phenomena, Science and Ethics |
| Contemporary Life | Education and Careers, Entertainment, Travel and Leisure, Lifestyles, Relationships, Social Customs and Values |
| Global Challenges | Economic Issues, Environmental Issues, Philosophical Thought and Religions, Population and Demographics, Social Welfare, Social Conscience |

## The exam

As of May 2017, the exam, normally administered on a Tuesday morning in May, is divided into two sections with multiple parts each. Section One, Part A contains sections of reading comprehension, in which students read four different passages and then answer multiple-choice questions about them. This section is 40 minutes.
Section One, Part B contains readings with audio accompaniment and asks students multiple-choice questions to compare and contrast the two as well as synthesize each one individually. Section three contains audio presentations of approximately three minutes and has multiple-choice questions. The two sections combined are allotted 55 minutes.
In Section Two, Part 1A: Email Response, students respond to a formal e-mail with a short response and ask questions to the author. This section is 15 minutes.
In Section Two, Part 2A: Argumentative Essay, is a formal writing component takes the shape of a document-based question. Students must use two sources as well as listen to a recording to give a written answer to the question.
Section Two, Part 1B: Interpersonal Speaking, is an informal or formal speaking section, where students are expected to interact to a recorded dialogue, during which they have 20 seconds to answer each section.
Section Two, Part 2B: Presentational Speaking, asks students to give a formal oral presentation with a cultural comparison document and have four minutes to prepare and two minutes to record.
The test is approximately 3+1⁄2 hours in length.
Note: As of 2017, all audio responses must be digitally submitted online as a mp3 file. CD players are no longer accepted.
| Section | Item Type | Number of Questions and % Weight of Final Score | Number of Questions and % Weight of Final Score | Time |
| Section I | Multiple Choice | Multiple Choice | 50% | 95 minutes |
| Part A: Reading Section | Print Texts | 30 questions | 25% | 40 minutes |
| Part B: Reading and Listening Section | Print and Audio Texts | 35 questions | 25% | 55 minutes |
| Section II | Free Response | Free Response | 50% | 90 minutes |
| Part A: Writing | Formal Writing: Email Response | 1 prompt (12.5%) 15 minutes | 25% | 70 minutes |
| Part A: Writing | Formal Writing: Argumentative Essay | 1 prompt (12.5%) 55 minutes | 25% | 70 minutes |
| Part B: Speaking | Interpersonal Speaking (Simulated Conversation) | 5-6 response prompts (12.5%) 20 seconds to respond to each | 25% | 18 minutes |
| Part B: Speaking | Presentational Speaking (Cultural Comparison) | 1 prompt (12.5%) 4 minutes to prepare, 2 minutes to respond | 25% | 18 minutes |

## Grade distribution

Both tables range from 2014 and beyond since that is the last time the AP Spanish course and exam were changed.
The table below is the grade distribution combining both the native speakers and Standard Group:
| Score | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
| 5 | 24.6% | 27.4% | 27.8% | 19.5% | 23.2% | 24.9% | 30.5% | 17.3% | 23.6% | 24.3% | 21.2% |
| 4 | 34.9% | 35.1% | 34.7% | 34.8% | 35.0% | 34.6% | 36.4% | 39.7% | 28.5% | 30.0% | 31.4% |
| 3 | 29.8% | 27.5% | 26.9% | 34.2% | 30.1% | 29.5% | 23.1% | 33.0% | 29.7% | 29.6% | 30.4% |
| 2 | 9.2% | 8.7% | 9.2% | 10.0% | 10.4% | 9.3% | 8.8% | 16.5% | 15.0% | 13.5% | 14.0% |
| 1 | 1.5% | 1.2% | 1.4% | 1.5% | 1.3% | 1.7% | 1.2% | 3.5% | 3.3% | 2.7% | 3.0% |
| % of Scores 3 or Higher | 89.3% | 90.1% | 89.4% | 88.5% | 88.3% | 89.0% | 90.0% | 80.0% | 81.7% | 83.8% | 82.9% |
| Mean | 3.72 | 3.79 | 3.78 | 3.61 | 3.68 | 3.72 | 3.86 | 3.41 | 3.54 | 3.60 | 3.54 |
| Standard Deviation | 0.98 | 0.98 | 1.00 | 0.96 | 0.98 | 0.99 | 0.99 | 1.06 | 1.10 | 1.08 | 1.07 |
| Number of Students | 135,341 | 144,561 | 155,258 | 168,307 | 159,351 | 187,133 | 168,998 | 148,486 | 155,931 | 164,434 | 177,819 |
The table below is the grade distribution from the Standard Group:
| Score | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
| 5 | 18.5% | 19.1% | 19.4% | 15.9% | 16.5% | 15.2% | 17.0% | 12.9% | 15.5% | 16.1% | 16.2% |
| 4 | 33.2% | 32.9% | 32.2% | 31.9% | 31.8% | 31.2% | 37.1% | 27.9% | 27.5% | 29.1% | 29.5% |
| 3 | 32.9% | 33.3% | 32.4% | 35.9% | 34.6% | 35.9% | 30.1% | 36.3% | 35.4% | 35.1% | 33.7% |
| 2 | 12.6% | 12.5% | 13.7% | 13.6% | 14.6% | 14.6% | 13.6% | 19% | 18.1% | 16.4% | 16.8% |
| 1 | 2.8% | 2.3% | 2.2% | 2.7% | 2.5% | 3.0% | 2.2% | 3.9% | 3.5% | 3.2% | 3.8% |
| % of Scores 3 or Higher | 84.6% | 85.2% | 84.0% | 83.7% | 82.9% | 82.4% | 84.2% | 77.1% | 78.4% | 80.4% | 79.4% |
| Mean | 3.52 | 3.54 | 3.53 | 3.45 | 3.45 | 3.41 | 3.53 | 3.27 | 3.33 | 3.39 | 3.38 |
| Standard Deviation | 1.02 | 1.01 | 1.02 | 1.00 | 1.01 | 1.01 | 1.00 | 1.03 | 1.05 | 1.04 | 1.06 |
| Number of Students | 41,627 | 47,188 | 50,753 | 54,839 | 58,909 | 59,243 | 55,905 | 50,916 | 48,717 | 46,503 | 48,576 |
On the other hand, when considering only native speakers, they tend to perform outstandingly well on their own due to being already fluent in the language. For example, in 2020 (the year when overall scores peaked in recent times), the percentage of native speakers who earned each score is as follows: 5 - 37.2%, 4 - 36.0%, 3 - 19.6%, 2 - 6.4%, and 1 - 0.7%. Based on these scores, 92.8% passed the exam, with nearly three quarters earning a 4 or 5, and the mean score for this demographic was 4.03.