2023

AP Chinese Language
®

and Culture
Scoring Guidelines

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AP® Chinese Language and Culture 2023 Scoring Guidelines

Question 1: Story Narration 6 points

General Scoring Note

When applying the scoring guidelines, the response does not need to meet every single criterion in a column. You should award the score according
to the preponderance of evidence.

© 2023 College Board

AP® Chinese Language and Culture 2023 Scoring Guidelines
1 2 3 4 5 6
Very weak Weak Adequate Good Very good Excellent
Demonstrates lack of Suggests lack of Suggests competence in Demonstrates Suggests excellence in Demonstrates excellence
competence in competence in presentational writing competence in presentational writing in presentational writing
presentational writing presentational writing presentational writing
• Response incomplete • Response characterized • Narration tells a basic • Narration tells a • Narration includes a • Narration includes a
and difficult to follow; by description or listing, story consistent with complete story beginning, middle, and thorough and detailed
lacks narrative with little narration; stimulus but may have consistent with stimulus end that tell a logical beginning, middle, and
elements; may be may be inconsistent inconsistencies in its but may lack detail or and complete story end that tell a logical
inconsistent with with stimulus logical progression from elaboration or have consistent with stimulus and complete story
stimulus beginning to end minor inconsistencies in consistent with stimulus
TASK COMPLETION

its logical progression

from beginning to end
• Lacks organization and • Scattered information • Portions may lack • Generally organized and • Well organized and • Well organized and
coherence; very generally lacks organization or coherent; use of coherent, with a coherent, with a clear
disjointed sentences or organization and coherence; infrequent transitional elements progression of ideas progression of ideas;
isolated words coherence; minimal or use of transitional and cohesive devices that is generally clear; use of appropriate
no use of transitional elements and cohesive may be inconsistent; some use of transitional transitional elements
elements and cohesive devices; disconnected discourse of paragraph elements and cohesive and cohesive devices;
devices; fragmented sentences length, although devices; connected well-connected
sentences sentences may be discourse of paragraph discourse of paragraph
loosely connected length length
• Constant use of register • Frequent use of register • Use of register • May include several • Consistent use of • Consistent use of
inappropriate to inappropriate to appropriate to situation lapses in otherwise register appropriate to register appropriate to
DELIVERY

situation situation is inconsistent or consistent use of situation except for situation

includes many errors register appropriate to occasional lapses
situation
• Insufficient, • Minimal appropriate • Limited appropriate • Mostly appropriate • Appropriate vocabulary • Rich and appropriate
inappropriate vocabulary, with vocabulary and idioms, vocabulary and idioms, and idioms, with vocabulary and idioms,
vocabulary, with frequent errors that with frequent errors with errors that do not sporadic errors with minimal errors
frequent errors that obscure meaning; that sometimes obscure generally obscure
significantly obscure repeated interference meaning; intermittent meaning
LANGUAGE USE

meaning; constant from another language interference from

interference from another language
another language
• Little or no control of • Limited grammatical • Mostly simple • Mostly appropriate • Variety of grammatical • Wide range of
grammatical structures, structures, with grammatical structures, grammatical structures, structures, with grammatical structures,
with frequent errors frequent errors that with frequent errors with errors that do not sporadic errors with minimal errors
that significantly obscure meaning that sometimes obscure generally obscure
obscure meaning meaning meaning

© 2023 College Board

AP® Chinese Language and Culture 2023 Scoring Guidelines
Score of 0: UNACCEPTABLE—Contains nothing that earns credit
• Completely irrelevant to the stimulus
• Not in Chinese characters

NR (No Response): BLANK (no response)

© 2023 College Board

AP® Chinese Language and Culture 2023 Scoring Guidelines

Question 2: Email Response 6 points

General Scoring Note

When applying the scoring guidelines, the response does not need to meet every single criterion in a column. You should award the score according to
the preponderance of evidence.

© 2023 College Board

AP® Chinese Language and Culture 2023 Scoring Guidelines
1 2 3 4 5 6
Very weak Weak Adequate Good Very good Excellent
Demonstrates lack of Suggests lack of Suggests competence in Demonstrates Suggests excellence in Demonstrates excellence
competence in competence in interpersonal writing competence in interpersonal writing in interpersonal writing
interpersonal writing interpersonal writing interpersonal writing
• Email addresses • Email addresses topic • Email addresses topic • Email addresses all • Email addresses all • Email addresses all
stimulus only minimally only marginally or directly but may not aspects of stimulus but aspects of stimulus aspects of stimulus
addresses only some address all aspects of may lack detail or with thoroughness and
aspects of stimulus stimulus elaboration detail
TASK COMPLETION

• Lacks organization and • Scattered information • Portions may lack • Generally organized and • Well organized and • Well organized and
coherence; very generally lacks organization or coherent; use of coherent, with a coherent, with a clear
disjointed sentences or organization and coherence; infrequent transitional elements progression of ideas progression of ideas;
isolated words coherence; minimal or use of transitional and cohesive devices that is generally clear; use of appropriate
no use of transitional elements and cohesive may be inconsistent; some use of transitional elements
elements and cohesive devices; disconnected discourse of paragraph transitional elements and cohesive devices;
devices; fragmented sentences length, although and cohesive devices; well-connected
sentences sentences may be connected discourse of discourse of paragraph
loosely connected paragraph length length
• Constant use of • Frequent use of • Use of register • May include several • Consistent use of • Consistent use of
register inappropriate register inappropriate appropriate to lapses in otherwise register appropriate to register appropriate to
DELIVERY

to situation to situation situation is inconsistent consistent use of situation except for situation
or includes many errors register appropriate to occasional lapses
situation
• Insufficient, • Minimal appropriate • Limited appropriate • Mostly appropriate • Appropriate vocabulary • Rich and appropriate
inappropriate vocabulary, with vocabulary and idioms, vocabulary and idioms, and idioms, with vocabulary and idioms,
vocabulary, with frequent errors that with frequent errors with errors that do not sporadic errors with minimal errors
frequent errors that obscure meaning; that sometimes generally obscure
significantly obscure repeated interference obscure meaning; meaning
LANGUAGE USE

meaning; constant from another language intermittent

interference from interference from
another language another language
• Little or no control of • Limited grammatical • Mostly simple • Mostly appropriate • Variety of grammatical • Wide range of
grammatical structures, structures, with grammatical structures, grammatical structures, structures, with grammatical structures,
with frequent errors frequent errors that with frequent errors with errors that do not sporadic errors with minimal errors
that significantly obscure meaning that sometimes generally obscure
obscure meaning obscure meaning meaning

Score of 0: UNACCEPTABLE—Contains nothing that earns credit

• Completely irrelevant to the stimulus
• Not in Chinese characters

NR (No Response): BLANK (no response)

© 2023 College Board

AP® Chinese Language and Culture 2023 Scoring Guidelines

Question 3: Conversation 6 points

General Scoring Note

When applying the scoring guidelines, the response does not need to meet every single criterion in a column. You should award the score according to
the preponderance of evidence.

© 2023 College Board

AP® Chinese Language and Culture 2023 Scoring Guidelines
1 2 3 4 5 6
Very weak Weak Adequate Good Very good Excellent
Demonstrates lack of Suggests lack of Suggests competence in Demonstrates Suggests excellence in Demonstrates excellence
competence in competence in interpersonal speaking competence in interpersonal speaking in interpersonal speaking
interpersonal speaking interpersonal speaking interpersonal speaking
• Addresses prompt • Directly addresses • Directly addresses • Directly addresses • Directly addresses • Directly addresses
minimally or marginally prompt and provides prompt and provides a prompt and provides prompt and provides a prompt and provides a
TASK COMPLETION

an appropriate but basic but appropriate an appropriate thorough and very thorough and
incomplete answer answer response appropriate response; appropriate response;
may include includes elaboration
elaboration and detail and detail
• Very disjointed • Fragmented sentences • Disconnected sentences • Sentences may be • Connected sentences • Smoothly connected
sentences or isolated loosely connected sentences
words
• Very labored pace and • Labored pace and • Inconsistent pace and • Generally consistent • Smooth pace and • Natural pace and
intonation, with intonation, with intonation, with pace and intonation, intonation, with intonation, with
constant hesitation and frequent hesitation and hesitation and with intermittent occasional hesitation minimal hesitation or
repetition repetition repetition that hesitation and and repetition repetition
interfere with repetition
comprehension
• Frequent errors in • Frequent errors in • Errors in pronunciation • May have several • Occasional errors in • Accurate pronunciation
DELIVERY

pronunciation pronunciation (including tones) errors in pronunciation pronunciation (including tones), with
(including tones) (including tones) sometimes necessitate (including tones), which (including tones) minimal errors
necessitate intense necessitate constant special listener effort do not necessitate
listener effort listener effort special listener effort
• Constant use of register • Frequent use of • Use of register • May include several • Consistent use of • Consistent use of
inappropriate to register inappropriate appropriate to lapses in otherwise register appropriate to register appropriate to
situation to situation situation is inconsistent consistent use of situation except for situation
or includes many errors register appropriate to occasional lapses
situation
• Insufficient, • Minimal appropriate • Limited appropriate • Mostly appropriate • Appropriate vocabulary • Rich and appropriate
inappropriate vocabulary, with vocabulary and idioms, vocabulary and idioms, and idioms, with vocabulary and idioms,
LANGUAGE USE

vocabulary, with frequent errors that with frequent errors with errors that do not sporadic errors with minimal errors
frequent errors that obscure meaning; that sometimes generally obscure
significantly obscure repeated interference obscure meaning; meaning
meaning; constant from another language intermittent
interference from interference from
another language another language

© 2023 College Board

AP® Chinese Language and Culture 2023 Scoring Guidelines
• Little or no control of • Limited grammatical • Mostly simple • Mostly appropriate • Variety of grammatical • Wide range of
grammatical structures, structures, with grammatical structures, grammatical structures, structures, with grammatical structures,
with frequent errors frequent errors that with frequent errors with errors that do not sporadic errors with minimal errors
that significantly obscure meaning that sometimes generally obscure
obscure meaning obscure meaning meaning

Score of 0: UNACCEPTABLE performance—Contains nothing that earns credit

• Mere restatement of the prompt
• Clearly does not respond to the prompt
• “I don’t know,” “I don’t understand,” “Please repeat,” or equivalent in Chinese
• Not in Mandarin Chinese

NR (No Response): BLANK (no response although recording equipment is functioning) or mere sighs

© 2023 College Board

AP® Chinese Language and Culture 2023 Scoring Guidelines

Question 4: Cultural Presentation 6 points

General Scoring Note

When applying the scoring guidelines, the response does not need to meet every single criterion in a column. You should award the score according to
the preponderance of evidence.

© 2023 College Board

AP® Chinese Language and Culture 2023 Scoring Guidelines

1 2 3 4 5 6
Very weak Weak Adequate Good Very good Excellent
Demonstrates lack of Suggests lack of Suggests competence in Demonstrates Suggests excellence in Demonstrates excellence
competence in competence in presentational speaking competence in presentational speaking in presentational
presentational speaking presentational speaking and cultural knowledge presentational speaking and cultural knowledge speaking and cultural
and cultural knowledge and cultural knowledge and cultural knowledge knowledge
• Presentation addresses • Presentation addresses • Presentation addresses • Presentation addresses all • Presentation addresses all • Presentation addresses all
prompt only minimally topic only marginally or topic directly but may not aspects of prompt but may aspects of prompt aspects of prompt with
addresses only some address all aspects of lack detail or elaboration thoroughness and detail
aspects of prompt prompt
TASK COMPLETION

• Lacks organization and • Scattered information • Portions may lack • Generally organized and • Well organized and • Well organized and
coherence; very disjointed generally lacks organization organization or coherence; coherent; use of coherent, with a coherent, with a clear
sentences or isolated and coherence; minimal or infrequent use of transitional elements and progression of ideas that is progression of ideas; use of
words no use of transitional transitional elements and cohesive devices may be generally clear; some use of appropriate transitional
elements and cohesive cohesive devices; inconsistent; discourse of transitional elements and elements and cohesive
devices; fragmented disconnected sentences paragraph length, although cohesive devices; devices; well-connected
sentences sentences may be loosely connected discourse of discourse of paragraph
connected paragraph length length
• Cultural information has • Cultural information has • Cultural information is • Cultural information is • Cultural information is • Cultural information is
frequent or significant several inaccuracies generally correct but has accurate but may lack accurate and detailed ample, accurate, and
inaccuracies some inaccuracies detail detailed
• Very labored pace and • Labored pace and • Inconsistent pace and • Generally consistent pace • Smooth pace and • Natural pace and
intonation, with constant intonation, with frequent intonation, with hesitation and intonation, with intonation, with occasional intonation, with minimal
hesitation and repetition hesitation and repetition and repetition that intermittent hesitation and hesitation and repetition hesitation or repetition
interfere with repetition
comprehension
• Frequent errors in • Frequent errors in • Errors in pronunciation • May have several errors in • Occasional errors in • Accurate pronunciation
DELIVERY

pronunciation (including pronunciation (including (including tones) pronunciation (including pronunciation (including (including tones), with
tones) necessitate intense tones) necessitate constant sometimes necessitate tones), which do not tones) minimal errors
listener effort listener effort special listener effort necessitate special listener
effort
• Constant use of register • Frequent use of register • Use of register appropriate • May include several lapses • Consistent use of register • Consistent use of register
inappropriate to situation inappropriate to situation to situation is inconsistent in otherwise consistent use appropriate to situation appropriate to situation
or includes many errors of register appropriate to except for occasional lapses
situation
• Insufficient, inappropriate • Minimal appropriate • Limited appropriate • Mostly appropriate • Appropriate vocabulary • Rich and appropriate
vocabulary, with frequent vocabulary, with frequent vocabulary and idioms, vocabulary and idioms, and idioms, with sporadic vocabulary and idioms,
errors that significantly errors that obscure with frequent errors that with errors that do not errors with minimal errors
obscure meaning; constant meaning; repeated sometimes obscure generally obscure meaning
LANGUAGE USE

interference from another interference from another meaning; intermittent

language language interference from another
language
• Little or no control of • Limited grammatical • Mostly simple grammatical • Mostly appropriate • Variety of grammatical • Wide range of grammatical
grammatical structures, structures, with frequent structures, with frequent grammatical structures, structures, with sporadic structures, with minimal
with frequent errors that errors that obscure errors that sometimes with errors that do not errors errors
significantly obscure meaning obscure meaning generally obscure meaning
meaning

© 2023 College Board

AP® Chinese Language and Culture 2023 Scoring Guidelines

Score of 0: UNACCEPTABLE—Contains nothing that earns credit

• Mere restatement of the prompt
• Clearly does not respond to the prompt, completely irrelevant to the topic
• Not in Mandarin Chinese

NR (No Response): BLANK (no response although recording equipment is functioning) or mere sighs

© 2023 College Board