Whats the best way to revise for french oral exams..?

.. ? because mine is comming up quite soon and I have about 100 questions (like 20 in each of the 5 topics) which i need to memorise ..
my french is weak and i'm prettly scared about the oral exam ... :o:

i've noted down some french filler prhases as well which i can use ... but i need to be able to know all the answers of the questions as well though :s-smilie:

so please share your revision techniques and experiences of oral exams

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Reply 1

rainbow drops

Write all the questions down that you think you could possibly be asked on separate pieces of paper, put them in a hat or something, pull one out randomly and answer it. Repeat.

Reply 2

mfc20

Write the questions and answers down on paper, I did it for German and got a surprising A/A*. Also, try to link some of the questions together. For example, if there are like 5 questions about cinema, link them together and answer them all from one basic cinema question. you will get more marks and also it make it easier to learn a few paragraphs rather than loads of little annoying questions.

Reply 3

el scorcho

whatever you do, don't try to revise your answers to the oral questions word for word... maybe learn off a few good phrases in each topic that's likely to come up... but if you treat the exam like a memory test there's a good chance you'll forget something and mess everything up... just answer the questions naturally and don't make it all sound too contrived

Reply 4

mamooshka

Invest in some Post-Its, put key phrases/fillers on them and stick them around the house - in the bathroom, on the fridge, next to your bed etc.

Also try and have a few hours each day when you're only allowed to speak French, it helped me :smile:

And get your friends/family to test you.

Bon chance!

unskinned bananas

don't bother memorising them...if you do, it sounds so forced in the exam and you'll lose marks for spontaneity. i would just write down bullet points to each of the questions, and learn the key words. you should be able to form sentences around them in the actual test.
also, get people to fire like 10 questions at you every day, in the most random situations. it should help loads

Reply 7

tabbycat1

Do you have a french assistant at your school? For GCSE I got the french assistant to record all the answers on a tape, then at home I paused the tape after each answer and repeated it to myself. It's also really useful for getting your pronunciation spot on. And you don't even need a french assistant you could get your french teacher to do it.

Reply 8

J-OD

a trip to paris with no english people is a good way. however that may not be feasible. Get a dictaphone, tape yourself reading it out and listen to it before you go to bed. This way works for english lit quotes too.
i never learned my oral topics as im bilingual and speak french at hope, so may not be the best person for advice - bonne chance!

Reply 9

gemmalouise

As sad as it sounds I tend to talk to myself when I'm preparing for an oral exam. I'll sometimes have full-blown conversations in French with myself, on the topics of the questions. It helps just to hear the language and stuff you want to say.
Or try and get together with a friend who is also doing the exam - you can go to a library/coffee shop, and just sit and bounce ideas/questions off of each other.

Reply 10

collegedropout

I need some help with this too, my oral is coming up at the start of May. Has anyone got some really good set phrases that I could just chuck in threre while I'm thinking of something relevant to reply with - perhaps some phrases using difficult tenses etc?
Thanks for any help

Reply 11

Pre

collegedropout

i know some 'filler phrases' ...

Je veux dire que - i would like to say that
C'est vraiment une question difficile mais - its truly a difficult question but
Je pense - I think
Je ne suis pas sur, mais - im not sure but
Je ne sais pas, mais - i don't know but
quant a moi - as for me
selon moi - according to me
je suis d'accord - i agree

i hope that helped a bit =)

Reply 12

Muppety_Kid

Pre

i've noted down some french filler prhases as well which i can use ... but i need to be able to know all the answers of the questions as well though :s-smilie:

so please share your revision techniques and experiences of oral exams

Are you doing GCSE? It sounds suspiciously like what I had to do...

If this is the case, don't take what I say next too seriously (you'll see), but the exam's usually over-hyped. Honestly, it's not as big a deal as everybody makes it out to be, and I'm not sure trying to learn 100 responses is the best way of scoring highly.

I think your time might be better spent in learning some decent topic-specific vocabulary, some nice phrases and a few facts and figures. You want to sound spontaneous and original! :smile:

Reply 13

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Muppety_Kid

yes i am doing gcse

i see what you're saying .. but im afraid that if i dont learn the responses word for word i may not have anything to say ..
i am in set 1 for french but am still very nervous about my french speaking because it just sounds seriously stupid :o:

i was thinking that maybe if i wrote down and memorised bullet points for answers that may be better ..??

Reply 14

Muppety_Kid

Pre

i was thinking that maybe if i wrote down and memorised bullet points for answers that may be better ..??

Are you doing AQA? As long as you've hammered the presentation, the questions aren't too bad. I think learning bullet points would be much better though - you might find that trying to learn huge chunks of text ironically works against you. On the one hand, you should have something to say, since you'll have prepared every eventuality (or at least tried to!), but if you get a question you weren't expecting, it could throw you and make you forget everything.

If you come up with some rough ideas of what you're going to say and then form the sentences on the day, I think it'll be much safer. There's no need to be nervous, I'm sure you'll be fine. Is it French in general that you're not confident about, or the speaking exam?

GCSEs tend to be after A levels, so you've got a while to get things sorted yet. Is there a French assistant at your school? (I doubt it, but it's worth asking...). :smile:

Reply 15

Pre

Muppety_Kid

Are you doing AQA?

this will sound really bad but i actually dont know

Muppety_Kid

Is it French in general that you're not confident about, or the speaking exam?

speaking part .. i dont mind talking in general but its the fact that i have t talk in another language which is scary

Muppety_Kid

Is there a French assistant at your school? (I doubt it, but it's worth asking...). :smile:

nope... not that i know of anyway

Reply 16

AG_SILVA

For GCSE i had 120 questions roughly. Contrary to whats been said, I learned them all, but managed to keep my spontaneity by having a few phrases here and there which i through in. Memorising worked well for me, as i got full marks...However it is different for everyone. You say your french is weak. In this case I would part-learn answers to topics, not so much questions. For example, for cinema, learn 4/5 sentences which could come up. And have some 'fillers' as you mentioned for the questions you may not remember.

The idea of the french assistant works great IMO. If you have one at school, spend as much time as you can with them.

Also...relax before the exam...you wont helo yourself if you go into it a nervous wreck. :smile:

Reply 17

rainbow drops

If you're going to learn answers, at least add in some pauses and euuuhh's so it sounds vaguely convincing.

Reply 18

Pre

rainbow drops

If you're going to learn answers, at least add in some pauses and euuuhh's so it sounds vaguely convincing.

will do

Reply 19

username225218

Alongside the other suggestions, would you be able to talk to your friends in the language? That's what me and my friends are doing at the moment in preparation of our German AS and I've found that speaking it aloud frequently really does help.