FRQ 4 – Presentation

This guide organizes advice from past students who got 4s and 5s on their exams. We hope it gives you some new ideas and tools for your study sessions. But remember, everyone's different—what works for one student might not work for you. If you've got a study method that's doing the trick, stick with it. Think of this as extra help, not a must-do overhaul.

📌 Overview

• Students compare an aspect of a Spanish speaking community to their own or another familiar community
• 13% of Exam Score
• 2 minutes
• 5 Pt Rubric
  • Demonstrates excellent presentational speaking and cultural knowledge (5)

💭 General Advice

Tips on mindset, strategy, structure, time management, and any other high level things to know

• What can helped you is pick one Spanish speaking country a few months ago and learn a lot about their culture rather than small bits from everywhere, so you have information to fit any prompt thrown at you!
• Don’t write down an entire script in your prep time, write concise notes about your main ideas!
• Adding to previous points, aim to become thoroughly familiarized with 1-2 Spanish speaking countries, having general background information on their art movements, technology, governments, socio political issues, their economy, and their traditions!
  • These will be necessary as the task for the presentation typically dwells on the comparison of a Spanish speaking country to your country of residence. Having this general background will aid in giving you a foundation from which to start your analysis.
  • Your knowledge over these subparts doesn’t have to be overly intricate. If you begin by focusing on one specific country earlier on in the year, gathering and memorizing such facts, it will help you have a more extensive background, and information from which to draw from.
• Generally, practice speaking in the language being examined as much as you can as the exam approaches, this will help you gain fluidity and confidence. Overall, the use of the language becomes much more natural.
• Develop a list of words, phrases, synonyms, and transitional words that you can use to bridge gaps in your vocal presentation. This can help prevent repetitiveness, vagueness, and or stumbling over words while speaking.
• Always, no matter how many times you’ve done it in a class over the school year, go back to published responses and exam questions from the years prior.
  • It can helpful to read through the comments AP graders left on students’ submission. Gather this insight and keep it in mind while you’re doing your exam.
  • Go through the different example responses, and try to determine what aspects of a response ended up distinguishing a score of a 1 from a 3, and a 3 from a 5.
  • Try to find patterns and or response structures that have worked for students from the given example responses! In this manner you can have something to draw from going into the vocal presentation.

🕛 Before you Write

What should a student do in the first few minutes, before they start writing?

• Prepare your response! Take a breath and try to think basically! A lot of times, the cultural comparison questions are very broad! Keep your mind open and don’t overcomplicate when thinking about your response.
• Create a T-chart to organize your thoughts. One side for each culture. This will serve as a quick reference during your presentation, helping you stay organized and articulate your ideas effectively. There is no need to write in complete sentences as you are short on time, preferably do bullet points.

🏛️ Structuring Your Response

• Use a structure you are comfortable using and practice with, it can be something like introduction to the question, similarities, differences, and conclusion.
• Be comfortable using transition words between different parts of your presentation, they come in handy for so many parts of the exam.
• Building on the previous point, incorporate to showcase a diverse vocabulary. When making comparisons employ phrases like “similarmente,” “las dos obras,” “ambas regiones/paises,” “tanto ___ como ___, “ and “en comparacion”. For contrasting, utilize expressions such as “sin embargo,” “por otro lado,” “a diferencia de,” “en contraste,” and “es distinto a”. These transitions enhance the flow of your presentation and help in the clarity of your comparative and contrasting points.
• When presenting, establish a solid structure by starting with a greeting, introducing yourself, and addressing the theme. An effective might sounds like, “Buenos días, mi nombre es [Your Name], y hoy voy a comparar [insert theme] tanto en mi comunidad de [Community Name] como en [Spanish Speaking Community].” This sets a clear tone for your cultural comparison, engaging your audience from the beginning and providing a roadmap for your comparison.

😬 Common Mistakes

• Try not to focus so much on getting all your information out and rather on what you are saying and how you are saying it. Once again, utilizing different tenses (including the subjunctive!!) will really demonstrate to readers the depth of your speaking abilities! Try to remember this when you are thinking about a response!
• Take a breath!! A lot of people make the mistake of talking way too fast and running out of things to say to fill up the remaining time. It’s better to run out of time than to run out of things to say. The latter can reflect poorly on your score for this section. Try and think of your talking points in sections or in a format where you can add transition words and place emphasis on certain points. Think of it like a presentation or a Pecha Kucha (if you’ve ever done one in class) and speak at a moderate pace.

💡Tips for Fluent Presenting

• It’s better to have less information that is fluent than crammed fast info, so try your best to speak at a calm pace to prevent mistakes that come with speaking too fast.
• Pace yourself, your response doesn’t have to hit 5:00 exactly as long as it is within the required time range.
  • It is important you keep this in mind, so that you don’t feel pressured to add on/cram in information towards the end to merely hit the maximum time stamp.
  • This may lead to repetitiveness, lack of fluidity, and your response may be taken as unorganized (having been all over the place, without following one particular point).
• Prior to going into the exam, ensure you have memorized transitional phrases and or synonyms to bridge gaps in knowledge and statements made.
• Filler words: When speaking, avoid using words like “ummm” or “ I mean”. Instead, employ filler phrases in Spanish for a smoother delivery. Some expressions are “pues,” “entonces,” “bueno,” and “es decir”. These phrases will not only help you gather your thoughts but also contribute to a more fluent and confident presentation in Spanish.