R

ECORDING

S

TUDENT

R

ESPONSES WITH

S

OFTWARE

FOR THE

AP

F

RENCH,

G

ERMAN,

I

TALIAN, AND

S

XAMS

Contents

Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 2

Technical Assistance ............................................................................................................................ 9

Exam Day Overview

1. Students record their responses.

(one CD per student).

sound card to hard disk in MP3 file format. Schools may use this program to record responses for the

AP French, German, Italian, and Spanish Language and Culture Exams and the AP Music Theory Exam.

The information contained here is supplemental to the detailed exam instructions

and proctor scripts in the

replace the exam instructions. Be sure to follow the directions in the

book when administering AP Exams.

• P

ause recording

• R

esume recording from a paused state

• S

top recording

• D

elete a recording

3. Save and name students’ MP3 files.

4. Copy each student’s MP3 file onto his or her student-response CD. You will need to use one CD per

Students should practice recording MP3 files by recording their responses using sample free-response

questions in the course and exam descriptions available on AP Central; free-response questions from

previous years’ exams available on the exam site for each course; and/or practice exams, which are

accessible on the AP Course Audit website by AP Course Audit-authorized teachers.

Audacity software is available for download under general public license (free).

Refer to the next page of this document for download and installation instructions.

Audacity is software designed for recording audio from the computer sound card to hard disk in MP3 format.

• The current release of Audacity is 2.1.2, and it replaces all previous versions.

We strongly recommend that your school’s technical consultant be involved in the following:

1. Determining if the Audacity software program is right for your school. (Use of Audacity is not required.)

2. Downloading Audacity and setting it up for each computer on which students will practice and take the exam.

3. Saving and naming MP3 files and preparing student-response CDs for return after the exam. Failure to

properly burn students’ MP3 files to CD may result in a score delay or an exam section score of 0.

Be certain to follow the detailed procedures given in the “Saving and Naming MP3 Files” section

of this document and in the

1. Open Audacity for your operating system (Windows or Mac), and follow the steps below.

W

indows: Audacity 2.1.2

installer (.exe file, 25.3 MB, including help files) or Audacity 2.1.2 installer

(.zip file, 10.5 MB, without help files)

To install, double-click the downloaded .exe file or right-click on the .zip file and extract the file to your

desired location. (Use the recommended folder to install Audacity.) Once the installation is complete,

click “Finish.” Audacity will launch unless the “Launch Audacity” box was unchecked.

Mac: Audacity 2.1.2 (.dmg file, 33.1 MB, including help files) or Audacity 2.1.2 (.zip file, 13.2 MB,

no help files)

To install, double-click the downloaded .dmg file to mount it or double-click on the .zip file and

•

•

3. Repeat these steps for each computer that will be used for testing.

4. To save recording files on a network drive or a file service, the user must have adequate file access

permi

ssions (read/write/change/modify) on the destination folder. It is highly recommended that you create

a network share on a file service for the purpose of saving audio recordings with appropriate disk space.

Then connect to this share from each recording workstation as a network drive. Assign necessary file

permissions to each user establishing the connection so that he or she can read/write files on the shared

location. Please seek assistance from your local site technician if necessary.

5. Be sure to configure your computer’s audio device as appropriate; seek technical assistance if necessary.

6. The Audacity website hosts a variety of links to helpful information and tutorials. The following link will

exams contains two speaking tasks. Students will be instructed by the master CD to pause their recordings

between tasks. Students must press “PAUSE,” not “STOP,” or they will create two files.

correct recording and save file format are activated. Create a folder on a local server to save student responses.

The folder should be called “2016 AP [Subject] Exam, [Form _].” The form (e.g., Form O) can be found

on the front cover of the Section II free-response booklet in the lower right-hand corner. You will save all

student responses in this folder until you copy them to individual CDs after students have been dismissed.

Begin with the script for Recording Student Responses on a Computer with MP3 Software that is provided

for your subject in the

book. Where that script says, “You’ll need to record

your AP number…,” read the following script instead:

You’ll need to record your AP number, and we’ll test to make sure everything

i

Make sure the student’s AP number label is on the CD. Place the CD in the case. Once the students’

responses have been successfully copied to the CDs, delete the files from the server.

school’s last administration.

1. Click Edi

t and then Preferences from the drop-down menu.

2. Under

Practice

• AP Coordinators and proctors work with their schools’ technical consultants to practice saving students’

• Students practice recording MP3 files on the same computers and with the same MP3 recording software

that they will use when taking the exam.