Reddit reviews Basic Patterns of Chinese Grammar: A Student's Guide to Correct Structures and Common Errors

Most apps are geared towards beginners and early/mid intermediate learners. The Chairman's Bao and Du Chinese offer HSK6 reading material, but whether HSK6 is "advanced" is a matter of personal opinion (IMO it's not).

In addition to learning through native materials (books, TV shows, etc.) your best grammar resources are going to be books, in addition to AllSet Learning's grammar wiki:

• [Allset Learning Grammar Wiki] (https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Main_Page)
  
• Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar: A Practical Guide
  
• Basic Patterns of Chinese Grammar
  
• Schuam's Outlines of Chinese Grammar
  
  Appropriate for Intermediate or Advanced Learners
  
  
• Common Chinese Patterns 330
  
• A Guide to Proper Usage of Spoken Chinese
  
• Error Analysis of 900 Sample Sentences
  
• A Learn's Handbook of Modern Chinese Written Expressions

At the beginning of 2016 I tested into a 202 class at my university after doing self study for a year on and off. I think it may be possible for you after two or three months, but a lot is going to hang on the leniency of the professor and your own ability to study extremely hard for the entire time. You'll also definitely be playing catch-up for at least a semester compared to the other students.

My test was a very short oral examination where the professor asked me questions about myself, my family, where I was from, and my apartment. I remember not understanding her when she asked "is your apartment far from campus?" Then I read some dialogues aloud from the textbook to test character recognition. She could tell I was motivated and did know some Chinese, so she allowed me to join the next quarter.

When I got into the class:

• My pronunciation was about average compared to other students. I minored in linguistics and am fairly obsessive about pronunciation, so it continued to improve while other students didn't pay as much attention to it over the course of the year. We all had pretty halting speech and couldn't come up with long sentences without pausing to think.
  
  
• My character recognition was abysmal and my reading was incredibly slow. This was the single worst part of my ability and it put me way behind when we had to take tests or quizzes. I worked on it constantly from day one of the class and haven't stopped since.
  
  
• Although I lacked lots of vocabulary, I never had any trouble understanding the professor. I wrote down in pinyin what she'd said and then asked a classmate to help me.
  
  
• My method of studying gave me an intuitive understanding of sentence structure that put me exactly on par with all the other students. The professor introduced new grammar throughout the year and I picked it up as fast as the others did.
  
  I know now that the way I self-studied was riddled with inconsistencies and my level could have been achieved much faster. So here's what I suggest you do:
  
  
• Learn correct pronunciation. It's worth it to learn about linguistics for this, because it will improve your pronunciation in all your languages. Learn pinyin backward and forward, including all its tricky parts that don't line up with English. Don't settle for anything that says "q is like ch in cheese" - Mandarin is NOT English and very few of the sounds are the same. Learn how all the sounds are made from Wikipedia articles, and practice like crazy to get your brain and tongue comfortable with all the new sounds. This is a phenomenal investment because good pronunciation tricks people into thinking you're better than you are. And even if you don't make it in AP Chinese, you'll still be way ahead of people who don't practice it.
  
  
• Quickly memorize a core base of nouns and verbs. I used this Memrise course. Aim for being familiar with all of these verbs plus the HSK 1 and 2 vocabulary lists in two weeks.
  
  
• Download Anki and use it religiously. If you don't know about spaced repetition, now is the time to learn. If you download pre-made decks, make sure to get them with audio so you're constantly hearing native Chinese.
  
  
• Learn full sentences. This is the key to internalizing Chinese grammar. Learn full sentences. Steal them from phrasebooks, practice aloud after the audio, and be ready to parrot dozens of set phrases at a moment's notice. Don't try making your own sentences until you've internalized hundreds or thousands of correct sentences from native sources. The Chinese Grammar Wiki is an amazing place for example sentences, and you can also find them on LineDict. Clozemaster is yet another tool for this. Check your local library for Mandarin courses and copy out the textbook dialogues. You want to saturate yourself with Chinese in context, not just vocab lists.
  
  
• If you want to spend a little money, you open up a whole new world of learning options. FluentU and Yabla make subtitled videos of native content. The Kauderwelsch phrasebooks (good thing you speak German) have word-for-word glosses and a good explanation of Chinese grammar. This book is a great introduction to grammar patterns too. Glossika is a course that will definitely kick your butt and give you amazing results if you stick with their suggested methods.
  
  
• Always be listening to Mandarin in some way. There are hundreds of thousands of Youtube videos and podcasts about any imaginable subject. Have them on in the background while you look for resources, make flashcards, or do anything else really. You've got to let the rhythm of the language soak into your ears.
  
  
• The characters will take a very long time to be familiar with, and they could be the biggest obstacle to your entry in the class. Do some research on the history of the characters and how they work, and then just always practice reading and writing them over and over. Copy out the example sentences from the resources you find, and surround yourself with Chinese text to read. It will take a long time before you're comfortable reading passages of text, but the more you try the easier it gets. It's hard for all the AP students too.
  
  
• A few weeks before you start school, or once it feels like the language is starting to come together in your mind, go on HelloTalk or SharedLingo (or both) and find some native speakers to practice with. Practice your pronunciation and your tones with them, and try having some short conversations too.

I also like this grammar book for beginners.