AQA A2 French- 19th JUNE 2012

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Anyone else here doing the historical essay?

Im doing the occupation of france...
Kinda stumped because I don't really know how the questions are presented..are they like, choose a year and explain an important event?
So far wrote 2 essays done hopely I can get a few more out!

How is everyone revising for the other parts?

Reply 61

Shuffle-BBC-

Original post by Lula

How is everyone revising for the other parts?

For the listening I watch 'Le Petit Journal' each day (http://www.canalplus.fr/c-divertissement/pid3351-c-le-petit-journal.html). It's improved my comprehension a lot over the last month or two. In addition to this I watch quite a bit of french film: 'Mesrine', 'Prophet', 'Amelie', 'La Heine', 'The diving bell and the butterfly' etc. Then on top of this 'Braquo', a french cop drama. And listen to some french music too.

For the reading I have a booklet from my school 'zig zag topical articles'. This has text to read and i've been translating it as well. I also read articles from 'Le Monde'.

For exam practise this week i'm going to redo all of the past papers which we've done in class.

For further translation excerises i've been using the ones from the previous spec.

And finally for the essay's, i'm doing the occupation topic and have learnt all of my oral preparation (i've got 2-3 pages of french which I wrote for that on different aspects of the occupation, Charles de Gaulle, Petain etc), then i'm writing it out. I'm going to work on my introduction and conclusion this week.

Obviously some of this i've been doing for a while, almost out of habbit, but emersing yourself in the language can't be a bad thing.

Hope this helps :smile:

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 62

retrodisco666

Original post by imno-superman

Haha, yeh same exam. It directly clashes with my economics though so I'm in isolation all day :frown:

Ideally, I need an A cause I've applied to do English Lit and French - my first choice is Leeds and I need and A in both those subjects to get in, and a B in my economics. I can slip to a B and still get into my insurance though.
BUT I WANT TO GO TO LEEEEEEEDS :frown:

I'm currently on a B I think, though I retook AS for the third time the other week, so it may have improved. I suck at the written exams, especially the essay part. It's annoying because I know that I can do French :angry:

I know the feeling I have a c in as so far, I need a c overall but I felt like I messed up in the speaking a2 so I'm really worried. Major panic! Haha

Reply 63

<3 inbetweener =D

kinda worried about doing my essay on the occupation as on all the examiners reports its said people arent analytical enough... but I find it so much harder to write about Un sac de billes!

How are people revising? I've saved one past paper, I'm going to try and go through grammar but I don't know what else to do, I've definitely neglected it in comparison with my other exams coz I'm so stuck on revision. Does anyone have any vocab lists or extra translations?

Reply 64

DannyW94

Original post by <3 inbetweener D

For extra translations I find it useful to go on sites like www.20minutes.fr - it's a general news site but you can find articles focusing on certain topics (like the environment for example), print them off and then try translating.

This site is not too bad for basic vocabulary lists but it is a bit limited...;

http://mfl.jimdo.com/resources/french-a2-level/

Reply 65

cerrr

Pheew, got Spanish out the way, so here I am, back to French...

I'm just planning on doing translations and essay plans for the next few days but I also have English Lit to revise for which is stressing me out. Spanish is meant to be my better language and I don't feel like it went brilliantly today so I'm worried for French...

Reply 66

imno-superman

I think I've already mentioned this but this site is good for vocab:

http://quizlet.com/BoBeauxs

Click on whichever flashcard set you want and you can test yourself on its spelling, learn it and then test yourself again until you know it. It's good because it's more active than just staring at words and hoping they'll somehow become memorable :biggrin:

Reply 67

DannyW94

Original post by imno-superman

That site is very useful - just did a little test and got 85% :biggrin:

Thank you!

Reply 68

<3 inbetweener =D

Original post by DannyW94

Original post by imno-superman

Thanks they were so helpful!

Reply 69

HollyWJ

Original post by imno-superman

that's a really helpful website, thanks!
In our school, we did WW2 in France and the film Etre et Avoir, definitely doing the war for the exam because facts are easy to talk about...
Basically, I've just made a giant timeline of all the of WW2 events in France (l'occupation, l'exode etc.) and then made cards for each thing with dates, a few facts and then what resulted from the event and a personal reaction- this is the key to getting the analytical marks, according to my teacher anyway!

Then learning basic topic grammar so it doesn't stump me tooo much in the reading/translations bit. Also cramming in how to construct all the tenses and when they're used, subjunctive triggers etc....

I really think I need to do some translating English articles into French, however, because that's the bit that's so difficult for me! Agh, can't wait for it to be over :frown:

Reply 70

Farah-Lou

Original post by Banoffeepie16

I'm studying la France sur l'Occupation and the director François Truffaut (the film 'Les Quatre cents coups')

How is everyone's preparation going? :smile:

This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

i'm doing Les Quatre Cents Coups too!! The people in my class are very good at french and essay writing (not including myself :tongue:

), yet everyone is getting c's or below in our essays (which is below all of our target grades), so i'm actually starting to question the marking of our essays... sooo basically what im asking isss: have you got any samples of essays on it that you could send me pleaseeee so i could compare and see what we're 'supposedly' doing wrong? (longest sentence ever? haha)
it would be of great help thanks :smile:

Reply 71

Farah-Lou

Not thinking about the listening and reading AT ALL.
not because i'm great at them (i'm genuinely rubbish at them LOL), but rather because the essay questions are DOING MY HEAD IN.

Got an A in french last year, with 31/35 in the essay question... yet somehow this year, i can't seem to get above an E?! very very depressing :frown:

anyone else finding them hard? (sorry for the rant :frown:

)

I'm doing Guy de Maupassant (Bel-Ami) and Truffaut (Les Quatre Cents Coups) btw :smile:

what sort of things are people focusing on for the author and the director? :smile:

Reply 72

retrodisco666

I think as a rule the a2 is much easier than the as. I hated the as so much, but writing about a novel is so much easier

Reply 73

cerrr

Original post by retrodisco666

I think as a rule the a2 is much easier than the as. I hated the as so much, but writing about a novel is so much easier

Do you really think?

I did the Spanish A2 yesterday and thought it was horrific in comparison to AS. I think it's a huge step up from AS to A2...

Reply 74

retrodisco666

Original post by cerrr

Do you really think?

I did the Spanish A2 yesterday and thought it was horrific in comparison to AS. I think it's a huge step up from AS to A2...

See I redid as French a few weeks ago and would have quite happily shot myself to get out of it as I found too difficult but when doing a2 essays and listening and reading exercises (the translation is the exception) I'm getting much better results and i personally find it easier...hopefully Ill still think this at the end of Tuesday...how was Spanish?

Reply 75

cerrr

Original post by retrodisco666

That's so surprising aha! A lot of people in my class who retook AS said it was much easier now they'd done A2...

I suppose the listenings and readings are easier but I think that just comes from developing the skill - that's what I feel certainly.

Spanish was dire. It was not a good paper. Hopefully French will at least be slightly easier... we'll see.

Reply 76

imno-superman

Original post by retrodisco666

Haha, I retook too but found it so much easier in comparison to the AS. Or at least the listening and reading sections were. Touch wood anyway...

Although I see where you're coming from in terms of the essay. I was never really sure what they wanted from us at AS? I was always told that my essays were 'too shallow' but it's hard to write a deep, meaningful and life-changing essay with the questions we were given. All you could do was answer it. With the A2 topics, if it's really something you have a passion for, that should translate :smile:

there's so much more room to comment and to provide the thought-provoking discussion they want.

Does anyone else feel like they're neglecting their other subjects for French? My French is probably the only exam I feel anywhere near prepared for.

Reply 77

retrodisco666

Original post by imno-superman

I see what you mean. How am I, at 17, supposed to write a well thought out essay about divorce! It was stupid. But I'm off to do french at uni and want a focus on literature so writing about a novel I feel is easier. And I'm rejecting all others but it's only english and I already have my grade it's just to see if I can improve slightly

Reply 78

retrodisco666

Original post by cerrr

Hopefully. I'm just trying to figure out what questions for the essay are going to come up

Reply 79

cerrr

Original post by retrodisco666

Hopefully. I'm just trying to figure out what questions for the essay are going to come up

What topics for the essay are you doing?

For film in Spanish it was 'what makes this film successful?' and 'why is this film important?' (I think)

And for a play it was 'compare two scenes' and 'important themes'.

But that's all I know because they were my topics....

I think it'll be quite general...