AP Italian Free-Response Help (FRQ)

The Exam

It's without a doubt that AP Italian Language & Culture is one of the best AP courses out there, but it can be kind of hard to find information out there about how the exam works 🤷. So, today, we're going to review everything that you need to know about FRQs, from how they're scored to tips that you should follow to score high. Let's get into it! 

What Are FRQs?

FRQs (short for free-response questions) are questions that have you reply with an original answer like writing ✏️ or a presentation 🗣️, rather than choose from a selection of options. They're worth 50% of your final exam score, which is why it's so important that you know the ins and outs of all four kinds (interpersonal writing, presentational writing, interpersonal speaking, and presentational speaking). These four types are put into two larger groups—Free Response Written and **Free Response Spoken—**based on the skills that they are testing.

AP Italian FRQs

Interpersonal Writing

The Free Response Written FRQs are the first ones that you will do on exam day, and you'll get an hour and 10 minutes ⏲️ to complete both of them. The first one of the two, interpersonal writing FRQ, will have you formally respond to an email 📧 using the information that you've learned from the email and throughout the year during its corresponding unit (in the case of the prompt below, famiglia e società AKA Unit 1). This section takes 15 minutes, which may seem short but is actually a good amount 👍 of time for a such a short response.

Former Student Tip: Use this Quizlet to learn and practice different expressions that'll come in handy while writing the essay.

Image Courtesy of the College Board. Example of the interpersonal writing FRQ

Image Courtesy of the College Board. The criteria for a high scoring response

Presentational Writing

The presentational writing FRQ has you write an argumentative essay using three given sources like audio, articles, and graphs, which all have different perspectives on a common theme. Using the information from those sources, you have 55 minutes to write your best possible response and support the argument that you are making. The College Board recommends that you spend 15 of those minutes reviewing the sources 📚 and taking notes, while writing should take the bulk of time at 40 minutes 📝

Former Student Tip:** Want your argumentative essay to sound strong? Make sure to review the subjunctive tense (il congiuntivo) and conditional clauses/if statements (il periodo ipotetico).**

Image Courtesy of the College Board. Example of a source you may find on the presentational writing FRQ

Image Courtesy of the College Board. The criteria for a high scoring response

Interpersonal Speaking

At this point in your AP Italian exam, you'll be moving on to the Free Response Spoken section, which, like the previous section, is worth 50% of your final FRQ score. The third open-ended task is the interpersonal speaking FRQ, which has you reply to a prerecorded speaker 🗣️ 5 times as if you were in a conversation with one another. You will have 20 seconds for each response, which may seem like very little time 🤦, but is actually enough time to say all your thoughts and expand on them. 

For many nonnative AP Italian test takers, this section can be a bit difficult because it involves thinking on your feet 🧐, as you quickly prepare your responses and try to make them as effective as possible. But with practice (and Fiveable's new AP Italian resources!), you'll be prepared for this part of the exam!

** Former Student Tip: Improve your conversational skills by practicing with classmates or other people that you know that are fluent in Italian (teachers, family members, etc).**

Image Courtesy of the College Board. Example of the interpersonal speaking FRQ

Image Courtesy of the College Board. The criteria for a high scoring response

Presentational Speaking

Congrats, you've made it to your last FRQ! In the presentational speaking FRQ, the prompt will give you a characteristic of Italy or Italian society and have to compare it to something in your community. What's great about this FRQ is that the College Board's definition of "community" is extremely broad, which means that you can talk about your local area 🌎, your home 🏠, your country 🏛️, or anything else that you consider to be your "community." That is, as long as your presentation fits in the 2 minute period that you're given.

Former Student Tip: Throughout the year, read news in both Italian and English to keep up with current events and international perspectives of different topics.

Image Courtesy of the College Board. Example of the presentational speaking FRQ

Hopefully, this post helped you understand the 4 different types of FRQs on the AP Italian exam- interpersonal writing, presentational writing, interpersonal speaking, and presentation speaking- and what graders are looking for when reviewing 🔎 your responses. It may seem like a lot of information right now, but over time, with proper practice, this will become a piece of cake 🍰. Good luck, AP Italian students!