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Tips for GCSE French Higher Listening?

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Original post by science-oliver
what did you all get out of 60 in writing and speaking?

I got 58/60 on writing

58/60 speaking :smile:


How did you get your mark for the exams? Arent these controlled assessments and are yours being moderated?

The deadline for French Controlled assessments(writing,speaking) to be marked and sent to edexcel by the teacher is May 14Th. But your marks are your teachers Raw marks and are subject to change by the examiner/Grade boundaries?

Damn, I probably got A* Writing, A Speaking Hopppefully otherwise me and my teacher are going to have a little chat after school ... =)) :rolleyes:
Original post by science-oliver
what did you all get out of 60 in writing and speaking?

I got 58/60 on writing

58/60 speaking :smile:


I got pretty much the same, but it's only my teacher's marks.
Reply 62
Original post by Mediterrasian
I got pretty much the same, but it's only my teacher's marks.


How do you know what you got in the writing? My teacher won't even give my class a rough idea, because apparently the writing goes off to be marked as if it's a proper exam... I don't think they trust the teachers enough.
Original post by redsoup
How do you know what you got in the writing? My teacher won't even give my class a rough idea, because apparently the writing goes off to be marked as if it's a proper exam... I don't think they trust the teachers enough.


Apparently, you do 2 writing tasks of which your teacher marks one of them tasks and gives you a grade where as the other writing task gets moderated(marked by an external french edexcel examiner).

On the bright side, :rolleyes:
Both speaking exams are marked by your teacher however they both are given to the edexcel examiner.

I would recommend not worrying about those exams they are done and over in the past. Concentrate on the listening + reading exam which is on the 14Th
and 17Th may which is less than 2 weeks away Gl ! :smile:
(edited 11 years ago)
Original post by redsoup
How do you know what you got in the writing? My teacher won't even give my class a rough idea, because apparently the writing goes off to be marked as if it's a proper exam... I don't think they trust the teachers enough.


My teacher gave us our marks that she's given, but they are all being sent off to be moderated so I don't know if it's the final yet. Our teacher gave us them though because we were doing mocks at the time and wanted an estimate as to what our average grade would be like. Haha I agree, but I've heard that quite a few schools cheat on controlled assessments.
Reply 65
Original post by Mediterrasian
My teacher gave us our marks that she's given, but they are all being sent off to be moderated so I don't know if it's the final yet. Our teacher gave us them though because we were doing mocks at the time and wanted an estimate as to what our average grade would be like. Haha I agree, but I've heard that quite a few schools cheat on controlled assessments.


Yeah, I think they do cheat. In my school, there are some people who are really bad at french, so they wrote out their writing assessment before the french lesson, so that they were B/A standard, and when it came to the french lesson they wrote a load of rubbish and replaced it with the ones they had done earlier. My teacher didn't notice either! Even though someones had been folded in half and it was kind of obvious...
It's so annoying to think that some people actually work and others just do that!
Reply 66
Hey I'm doing the same exams to and really want to ace them as I'm a highish A (un-moderated) in the coursework but really want to get A* overall. Do you think that's still possible?? I hope so.

Anyway I think another good way to revise for the listening is to watch movies you know really well say Harry Potter in french with french subtitles to help. It's a bit random but I did this in year 10 watched a couple of movies and i'm finding the mocks really easy, so far almost all A*'s and that was without revising most of the vocab. I would definitely give this a try though as you find picking up things easier plus it's kinda fun. But I'm still going to go over the vocab learning most everything off by heart for the exams :smile:
Original post by redsoup
Yeah, I think they do cheat. In my school, there are some people who are really bad at french, so they wrote out their writing assessment before the french lesson, so that they were B/A standard, and when it came to the french lesson they wrote a load of rubbish and replaced it with the ones they had done earlier. My teacher didn't notice either! Even though someones had been folded in half and it was kind of obvious...
It's so annoying to think that some people actually work and others just do that!


Woah, that's sneaky. I know right, it seems unfair that people who don't even put the effort in can cheat their way to high marks. :frown:

Original post by mari_lynne
Hey I'm doing the same exams to and really want to ace them as I'm a highish A (un-moderated) in the coursework but really want to get A* overall. Do you think that's still possible?? I hope so.

Anyway I think another good way to revise for the listening is to watch movies you know really well say Harry Potter in french with french subtitles to help. It's a bit random but I did this in year 10 watched a couple of movies and i'm finding the mocks really easy, so far almost all A*'s and that was without revising most of the vocab. I would definitely give this a try though as you find picking up things easier plus it's kinda fun. But I'm still going to go over the vocab learning most everything off by heart for the exams :smile:


I think it's still possible. From what you've said, I'm sure you'll do really well in the exams, and if you're on a high A then you should have a great overall grade. :smile:

That's actually a really good idea, and that's so good that it's been getting you A*'s! Will definitely try it, thanks for sharing. :smile:
is it true that because this years listening exams are really hard so its predicted you will need like 16/40 for B ??? :O
Reply 69
Original post by techno836
is it true that because this years listening exams are really hard so its predicted you will need like 16/40 for B ??? :O


Who said that? Usually it's more than that for a B, but only like 18/40. It's because most people don't do amazingly, but in reality if you have done enough work it's very easy to get an A*. Last year the bounday was 28/40 and the year before 32.
Original post by redsoup
Who said that? Usually it's more than that for a B, but only like 18/40. It's because most people don't do amazingly, but in reality if you have done enough work it's very easy to get an A*. Last year the bounday was 28/40 and the year before 32.


my spanish teacher .. we did the mock specimen paper and i got 16/40 and she said that would probably just scrape a B this year ... i was like wtf :O .. i got a D on foundation in january :L ( havent even done any revision for it or owt because i had to all 4 controlled assessments ( we do the full corse in a year :/ )
Original post by techno836
is it true that because this years listening exams are really hard so its predicted you will need like 16/40 for B ??? :O


I have no idea but I hope so! I hope an A is quite low as well.
Original post by Mediterrasian
I have no idea but I hope so! I hope an A is quite low as well.


The grade boundaries for Listening Exams for edexcel current specification
Out of 40 UMS

32-34/40 = A*.
27-28/40 = A.
22-23/40 = B.
18-20/40 = C.

earlier on 2 weeks ago i started my french listening revision and was scraping 24s/40 after revising on movies(choir,survivants,amiele,ratitoule,district 13) and doing every single CGP(Full practice purple book) and doing every single listening past paper with audio transcript at least twice im scraping 28-30s =A.
You put the work in and you should get the grade as long as you dont panic on the exam day.
Original post by XxKingSniprxX
The grade boundaries for Listening Exams for edexcel current specification
Out of 40 UMS

32-34/40 = A*.
27-28/40 = A.
22-23/40 = B.
18-20/40 = C.

earlier on 2 weeks ago i started my french listening revision and was scraping 24s/40 after revising on movies(choir,survivants,amiele,ratitoule,district 13) and doing every single CGP(Full practice purple book) and doing every single listening past paper with audio transcript at least twice im scraping 28-30s =A.
You put the work in and you should get the grade as long as you dont panic on the exam day.


i do AQA will it be the same ? and that is UMS though not raw ?? :/
Original post by techno836
i do AQA will it be the same ? and that is UMS though not raw ?? :/


Im not sure with AQA as im with edexcel exam board.
why not go check the grade boundaries of AQA for the last couple years for the listening exam?

Dont be put off by the grade boundary try your best and have no regret :smile:
I used linguascope in the run-up to my exam other than that we did a lot of practice papers in class.
Original post by XxKingSniprxX
The grade boundaries for Listening Exams for edexcel current specification
Out of 40 UMS

32-34/40 = A*.
27-28/40 = A.
22-23/40 = B.
18-20/40 = C.

earlier on 2 weeks ago i started my french listening revision and was scraping 24s/40 after revising on movies(choir,survivants,amiele,ratitoule,district 13) and doing every single CGP(Full practice purple book) and doing every single listening past paper with audio transcript at least twice im scraping 28-30s =A.
You put the work in and you should get the grade as long as you dont panic on the exam day.


Thanks for this, the grade boundaries don't actually look that bad so fingers crossed! Wow, well done on those results and too true. :smile:

Original post by pink pineapple
I used linguascope in the run-up to my exam other than that we did a lot of practice papers in class.


Ah yes, I totally forgot about that website, thanks for reminding me!
Original post by Mediterrasian



Ah yes, I totally forgot about that website, thanks for reminding me!


No probelm, it really helped me at home as you can't really do listening papers so I strongly recommend it :smile:
4 days until the Edexcel listening exam on Monday...
Hmm.. my teacher helped from scratch since november til now with my hardwork dedication and commitment to get an A so far but apparently when i needed her today the Last revision preparation lesson before my exam she catches a cold...:frown:

FML.... bye bye edexcel log-in listening past papers.:confused::s-smilie:

Hello D Grade ! :redface:

:angry:
Original post by XxKingSniprxX
4 days until the Edexcel listening exam on Monday...
Hmm.. my teacher helped from scratch since november til now with my hardwork dedication and commitment to get an A so far but apparently when i needed her today the Last revision preparation lesson before my exam she catches a cold...:frown:

FML.... bye bye edexcel log-in listening past papers.:confused::s-smilie:

Hello D Grade ! :redface:

:angry:


Awh, that's unlucky. :frown: I'm sure you won't get a D grade though!

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