AP ITALIAN LANGUAGE AND CULTUREThe 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.

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 Tasks and Content

Section 1A: Multiple Choice

• 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 (available this fall). 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.