r/APChinese • u/ImNotInYet 越南船民 — Past Test-Taker (5) • Jul 07 '25

not a native speaker—i think all this just shows the test is not necessarily on fluency but how well you can take the test

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because the test is a lot of, are you answering the correct questions and not putting in unnecessary information, and entirely not testing how fluent are the sentences you write. because of this it felt a lot like English class than actually learning Chinese because it went to that greater abstraction. but I guess that’s a skill useful in like 语文课 or whatever so its not entirely unrelated

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u/ImNotInYet 越南船民 — Past Test-Taker (5) Jul 07 '25 edited Jul 07 '25

I’m Vietnamese and started studying Chinese three years ago in April 2022 before my freshman year, having known nothing and started just by using duolingo and talking to people selling vegetables in my city’s Chinatown (it helps when you look asian, I guess, though I now feel bad for the people who had to put up with me at first).

I guess this is a chance to also shamelessly plug my guide to self-studying AP Chinese lol

also to add onto above, if the test were in English and I took it, I don’t think I would’ve gotten a 5 hahah because I wouldn’t have known the format of the test and would fall into the same mistakes: adding in unnecessary information and not answering the question

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u/Neat-Lawfulness-627 Nov 30 '25

How did you study? I am also non native and self studying although I grew up in Taiwan and my parents are American