Reference articles on history, science, culture and more
Encyclopedia

AP German Language and Culture

Advanced Placement course and exam

Image credit is listed at the end of this article.

Advanced Placement (AP) German Language and Culture (also known as AP German Language or AP German) is a course and examination provided by the College Board through the Advanced Placement Program. This course is designed to give high school students the opportunity to receive credit in a college-level German language course. It is generally taken in the fourth year of high school German study.

01Exam

The AP German Language and Culture exam administered around the end of the academic year is split into two parts, a multiple-choice section and a free response section, each with equal value in the overall exam score.

Format

SectionNumber of QuestionsNumber of Minutes%
Section I, Part A: Multiple Choice - Interpretive Communication: Print Texts30 questions40 minutes50%
Section I, Part B: Multiple Choice - Interpretive Communication: Print and Audio Texts35 questions~55 minutes
Section II Part A: Free Response - Writing2 questions~70 minutes50%
Section II, Part B: Free Response - Speaking6 questions~18 minutes

Grade distribution

The grade distributions for the AP German Language and Culture exam since 2009 are:

Score 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026
5 23.3% 24.8% 23.4% 26.2% 25.9% 23.1% 24.7% 21.4% 23.0% 22.4% 21.0% 23.9% 18.0% 20.0% 21.8% 24% 19% 24%
4 21.7% 20.0% 19.6% 25.6% 23.4% 23.1% 24.0% 22.5% 24.1% 22.7% 24.2% 33.9% 19.5% 19.1% 21.3% 18% 23% 17%
3 24.0% 23.1% 23.6% 27.5% 28.4% 27.1% 28.2% 27.0% 28.5% 25.9% 27.2% 16.0% 27.6% 26.5% 24.9% 25% 27% 27%
2 18.9% 18.6% 19.8% 13.9% 16.3% 18.5% 16.6% 20.6% 17.5% 21.6% 19.5% 19.5% 23.5% 22.9% 19.2% 22% 19% 22%
1 12.2% 13.4% 13.6% 6.8% 6.0% 8.2% 6.4% 8.5% 6.9% 7.4% 8.2% 6.7% 11.4% 11.6% 12.8% 11% 12% 10%
% of Scores 3 or Higher 68.9% 67.9% 66.6% 79.3% 77.7% 73.3% 77.0% 70.9% 75.5% 71.0% 72.3% 73.8% 65.1% 65.5% 68.0% 67% 69% 68%
Mean 3.25 3.24 3.19 3.50 3.47 3.34 3.44 3.28 3.39 3.31 3.30 3.49 3.09 3.13 3.20 3.22
Standard Deviation 1.33 1.36 1.36 1.21 1.21 1.24 1.21 1.25 1.21 1.24 1.23 1.23 1.26 1.29 1.32 1.32
Number of Students 5,001 5,389 5,232 4,754 4,966 5,111 5,103 4,945 5,089 5,053 5,160 4,928 4,315 4,450 4,375 4,185 4,213 4,200

02AP German Literature

The College Board originally offered two AP German exams: AP German Language and AP German Literature. However, in 1983, due to the persistently low number of AP German Literature exam students, the College Board dropped the Literature exam. Since then, they have offered only the AP German Language exam.

Watch videos about AP German Language and CultureExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article AP German Language and Culture, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

Images, from Wikimedia Commons:

Fathomly is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Wikimedia Foundation. Spotted a problem? Tell us.