AP French: What You Need to Know

Whether you’re preparing for the AP French exam or just wondering what exactly AP French is all about, this comprehensive guide has the answers you’re looking for. 

In this article, we’ll look at:

• What AP French is

• Everything you need to know about the AP French Language and Culture exam (including format, how long it takes, and ways to prepare)

• How Busuu’s French language learning resources can help dedicated French learners

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AP French: The basics

To get started, let’s take a closer look at AP French Language and Culture.

What exactly is AP French?

AP French Language and Culture is an Advanced Placement (AP) course, part of the AP Program for American high school students. Many four-year colleges and universities in the United States accept AP courses for college credit or to allow students to begin their university studies at a more advanced level (thus the name advanced placement). The courses are designed to teach critical thinking and offer challenging material to high achieving students.

At Busuu, we use the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), where AP French is considered intermediate, or roughly equivalent to the B1-B2 level. Many of the topics at the B1 level and higher in Busuu’s Complete French course overlap with AP themes and content.

Is AP French hard?

That depends on you! AP French is an intermediate-level course taught almost entirely in French, so it requires a firm grasp of the French language. If you are just starting to learn French, AP French is not the course for you – instead, you’ll want to look at beginner French classes.

For learners who have taken several years of French, AP French Language and Culture may be a good fit. The course is designed to develop fluency and provide challenging material and concepts, so it’s certainly not an easy course, but all AP classes are designed to challenge the learner. Whether you personally find it difficult will depend on your proficiency in French and unique skill set.

If you’re finding it challenging or want to beef up your French skills before starting AP French, consider adding bite-sized French lessons to your daily routine! When you learn with Busuu, you can take lessons for free. It’s better than scrolling, and it can help build your vocabulary, interpretation and communication skills, and confidence in French.

What do you learn in AP French language and culture?

The AP French Language and Culture course focuses on achieving language proficiency, including vocabulary use, comprehension and interpretation, communication skills, and cultural understanding. 

Specifically, AP French looks at six core themes:

• Families and communities

• Personal and public identities

• Beauty and aesthetics

• Science and technology

• Contemporary life

• Global challenges

It also challenges students to be proficient in reading, listening, responding out loud and responding in writing to challenging content and dialogues in French.

Similar lessons on Busuu can be found at the B1 and B2 levels. In these courses, you work on French fluency, learn idioms and cultural understanding, and build knowledge about French art, history and identity.

What are the French language exam levels?

AP French grading

When you take AP French, you’re scored from 1 to 5, from emerging to proficient to advanced, with 1 representing a lack of understanding and 5 representing the most advanced learners. Each individual skill is given a score of 1 to 5. These are then weighted and averaged to give you a final total grade out of 5. (For a complete rubric on how each skill is graded, you can view the robust AP resource document on the subject.)

AP French equivalents 

In US high schools, AP French is typically the most advanced French course available, with the exception of schools participating in the International Baccalaureate (IB) program. IB offers equally challenging High Level (HL) French courses and is generally considered to help students reach a B2 level on the CEFR, and high achieving students may reach the C1 (advanced) level.

IB and AP French cannot be compared one to one – IB puts more focus on world context, skills for living in a French-speaking country, and French literature and long-form essay writing. However, many of the key competencies are the same.

Going beyond high school, many institutions of higher education offer advanced French courses at the B2-C1 level and up (the highest level of language competency according to the CEFR is C2).

Frequently asked questions about the AP French exam

In this section, we dive into the nitty gritty about the AP French Language and Culture exam.

What is the AP French exam format?

The AP French exam is divided into two sections.

Section one is made up of 65 multiple choice questions, divided in two parts:

• Part A: Print texts only

• Part B: Combined print and audio and audio-only texts

Section two is divided into four free response questions:

• One email reply (15 minutes)

• One argumentative essay (55 minutes)

• Conversation and cultural comparison questions (combined, 18 minutes)

How long is the AP French exam?

The AP French exam takes just over three hours to complete.

What do you need to know for the AP French exam?

The AP exam is designed to test overall comprehension and critical thinking skills rather than rote memorization. While the topics and concepts may be familiar from class, the exam, like the course, centers around these six themes:

• Families and communities

• Personal and public identities

• Beauty and aesthetics

• Science and technology

• Contemporary life

• Global challenges

This is why it’s important for AP French students to focus on building their French language skills overall, so they can tackle unfamiliar content in the exam.

Here’s how Busuu can help you study for the AP French exam

From vocabulary to skill-building exercises, study better with convenient lessons designed by experts as you prepare for the AP French Language and Culture exam.

Listening & Reading

When you learn French with Busuu, you’ll be given audio, video, and written passages and asked to respond to questions about them. These are key skills you’ll need for AP French.

Productive Skills

Busuu’s complete French course helps you build your productive skills – meaning skills like writing and speaking – to help you tackle free response questions on the AP French exam. 

Cultural Context

Busuu’s B1- and B2-level French lessons focus on French-language art and culture past and present, in line with the AP French Language and Culture curriculum.

Ready to excel on your AP French exam?

Use these tips and resources to help you prepare.

Practice makes parfait

While there are many different ways to practice for the AP French exam, the most important thing is simply that you practice! 

 You can practice with this complete AP French practice exam from 2011 and with the up-to-date sample exam questions provided in the official AP course and exam description. You can also see free response questions and review sample student answers from AP French past exams here on the AP website.

Busuu’s French lessons are another convenient way to practice, with multiple choice questions based on both written and spoken communication, as well as short answer written and spoken responses to prompts. 

When you learn with Busuu, you’ll get feedback on your exercises from native French speakers, which can help improve your pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary so you can speak more like a native speaker and approach questions with confidence.

Learn smarter with spaced repetition

Spaced interval repetition is a study technique where you learn strategically in smaller bursts and refresh consistently over time rather than cramming all at once. Studies on spaced repetition have found that it is a much more effective tool for learning and retaining information in the long term. 

When built into software, spaced repetition works like digital flashcards, set up to remind you of things you’ve learned at strategic times based on a projected ‘forgetting curve.’ 

When you learn and hold onto information more effectively, you don’t have to work as hard to remember that information at test time. That means you can focus on studying exam-taking techniques and tackling more complex concepts rather than remembering vocabulary or basics taught earlier in the course.

Put study tools to work for you

If you’re taking AP French this year, you’re in luck! There are more tools than ever available to help you build your French skills and succeed in AP French, whether you want a great grade for college admissions or are working on your French proficiency so you can live and work in the French-speaking world one day.

We may be biased, but we can’t recommend Busuu enough to help you meet your French goals. When you learn with Busuu, you get:

• Lessons at your level, designed by language experts 

• Built-in spaced repetition

• Personalized review tools that capture what you need to practice from your exercises

• Lessons based around readings, audio recordings and interpersonal dialogues, followed by multiple choice questions to practice interpretation and understanding

• Lessons on French culture, identity, media and history

• Spoken and written free response practice

• Feedback from native French speakers

You can take a placement test and start studying with Busuu’s French courses today.

AP French can be a challenge

But with the right tools and support, you can tackle AP French and succeed in your AP French exam.

And the best part is, you can get started for free. 

So take the first step toward reaching your AP French exam goals by enrolling in Busuu’s Complete French course today.

Prepare for AP French now!