AP Chinese Language and Culture
Advanced Placement Chinese Language and Culture is a course offered by the College Board as a part of the Advanced Placement Program in the United States. It requires proficiencies throughout the Intermediate range as described in the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages Proficiency Guidelines. The course interweaves language and culture learning and is conducted mostly in Mandarin Chinese. The first AP Chinese test was administered on May 9, 2007. This course has the highest percentage of 5 scores out of all AP tests, a result of many native Chinese speakers taking the exam.Format of 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.
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 grade distributions since 2010 were:
| Score | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
| 5 | 76.7% | 72.3% | 71.1% | 69.7% | 68.1% | 65.2% | 62.1% | 68.4% | 66.1% | 60.1% | 55.3% |
| 4 | 13.2% | 13.9% | 13.2% | 14.6% | 13.8% | 15.4% | 16.6% | 11.3% | 12.2% | 14.9% | 15.5% |
| 3 | 6.6% | 9.2% | 10.9% | 10.7% | 12.3% | 12.1% | 14.7% | 12.5% | 13.0% | 14.8% | 17.8% |
| 2 | 1.5% | 2.1% | 2.3% | 2.3% | 3.1% | 3.3% | 2.7% | 3.3% | 3.7% | 4.0% | 5.2% |
| 1 | 2.0% | 2.5% | 2.5% | 2.8% | 2.7% | 4% | 3.9% | 4.5% | 5.0% | 6.2% | 6.2% |
| Mean | 4.61 | 4.51 | 4.48 | 4.46 | 4.43 | 4.36 | 4.30 | 4.38 | 4.31 | 4.19 | |
| Number of Students | 6,388 | 7,970 | 9,357 | 10,121 | 10,728 | 11,633 | 12,524 | 13,091 | 13,825 | 13,853 | |
