Important Updates
Support for Students and Schools Impacted by Coronavirus
In response to school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we’re offering at-home testing for 2020 AP Exams. Note that any related adjustments to 2020 AP Exams, such as length or content covered, may not be reflected on all AP Central pages. Visit Taking Online AP Exams for the latest exam information.
New Secure Practice Exams
The first of three new AP Italian Language and Culture secure practice exams is now available on the AP Course Audit site and in the AP Classroom question bank. The second and third will be posted later in the spring. Each practice exam matches this year’s exam specifications and includes scoring guidelines and a scoring worksheet. Note: the scoring worksheets use past averages; while the worksheets account for the changes to this year’s exam, the cut score ranges may not fully align with the 2020 exam standards.
As a reminder, these exams are most appropriate for student practice late in the school year, as the exam date approaches.
Get Real-Time Feedback from Personal Progress Checks
Personal progress checks in AP Classroom are a great way to ensure your students are continuing to build mastery of content and skills. The real-time results can help you and your students prioritize additional practice before the AP Exam.
Exam Overview
Exam questions assess the course concepts and skills outlined in the course framework. For more information on exam weighting, download the AP Italian Language and Culture Course and Exam Description (CED). Scoring guidelines for each of the sample free-response questions in the CED are also available.
Encourage your students to visit the AP Italian Language and Culture student page for exam information and exam practice.
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- Thu, May 14, 2020
AP Italian Language and Culture Exam Day
Exam Format
Starting in the 2019-20 school year, the AP Italian Language and Culture Exam will have question types and point values that will remain stable and consistent from year to year, so you and your students know what to expect on exam day. The 2020 AP Italian Language and Culture Exam will have a new Section I (Multiple-choice); see the description below. The only change in Section II (Free-Response) is
the name of the persuasive essay, which is now called the argumentative essay, to better align it with what is expected in this task, but the task itself is not changing, nor is how it is scored.
| Exam Updates | |
| 2019 Exam | Starting with the 2020 Exam |
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Section 1: Multiple Choice 70 Questions | 1 Hour 20 Minutes | 50% of Exam Score
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Section 1: Multiple Choice 65 Questions | 1 Hour 35 Minutes | 50% of Exam Score The questions are in nine sets, each with fixed numbers and types of questions.
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Section 2: Free Response 4 Tasks | ~ 1 Hour 28 Minutes | 50% of Exam Score
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Section 2: Free Response 4 Tasks | ~ 1 Hour 28 Minutes | 50% of Exam Score
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Exam Tasks and Content
Section 1A: Multiple Choice
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Interpretive Communication: Print Texts. This section consists of a variety of authentic print materials (e.g., journalistic and literary texts, announcements, advertisements, letters, charts, maps, and tables). Students will be asked 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 1B: Multiple Choice with Audio
- This section consists of a variety of authentic audio materials, including interviews, podcasts, public service announcements, conversations, and brief presentations. It is divided into 2 subsections:
- Interpretive Communication: Print and Audio Texts (combined). 2 sets of audio sources paired with print materials on the same topic with questions (articles and audio reports, charts and conversations).
- Interpretive Communication: Audio Texts. 3 sets of audio sources with questions (interviews, instructions, presentations).
- Students will respond to questions about main ideas and supporting details. Some questions will require students to demonstrate their understanding of cultural or interdisciplinary information.
- Students 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.
Section 2A: Free Response Written
- 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, graph, chart, 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). Students will have access to the print sources and any notes they may take on the audio during the entire 40-minute writing period.
Section 2B: Free Response Spoken
- Interpersonal Speaking: Participate in 5 exchanges in a simulated conversation (20 seconds for each response). For this conversation, students 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 students compare a cultural feature of an Italian-speaking community with which they are familiar to their own community or another community.
Digital Audio Submission
All student audio responses for AP French, German, Italian, and Spanish Language and Culture Exams must be submitted through the Digital Audio Submission (DAS) portal to be scored. Visit Submitting Audio for more information about the DAS portal.
The Digital Audio Capture (DAC) app is an additional recording option available for the AP French, German, Italian, and Spanish Language and Culture Exams. The 2020 version of the DAC app for use on Apple iPad tablets will be available for download in the spring. Schools that use the DAC app must use the 2020 version of the app. (Files recorded using previous versions of the DAC app will not be accepted by the DAS portal.)
Exam Questions and Scoring Information
For free-response questions (FRQs) from the 2019 exam, along with scoring information, check out the table below.
Be sure to review the Chief Reader Report. In this invaluable resource, the chief reader of the AP Exam compiles feedback from members of the AP Reading leadership to explain how students performed on the FRQs, summarize typical student errors, and address specific concepts and content with which students have struggled the most that year.
| Questions | Scoring | Samples and Commentary | Score Distributions |
|---|---|---|---|
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AP Italian Language 2019 Audio Scripts
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Interpersonal Writing Presentational Writing Interpersonal Speaking Presentational Speaking
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Scoring Distribution |