Can I still get an A* in OCR Latin if I start revising now?

OCR Latin Literature exam is on the 24th and I have to memorise the translation for about 264 lines of Latin/English amongst those two exams.

I also have to learn a defined vocab list of around 500 words (900 including principle parts) for the Language exams on Wednesday and Friday.

Is this possible to get an A* by then (especially Lit)? Would like replies from anyone, however people that take the same course would be helpful too.

P.S: My set texts are Pliny (Avunculus Meus + Arria) and Virgil Aenied IX

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Reply 1

?Hannah

Original post by nega166

Hello, I think that you could still get A*'s in Latin (if you work really hard at it!) I don't know what other exams you have coming up, so am unsure on how much revision you will have to do for those!

Unfortunately, I don't take Latin myself - but I have two close friends that do. They say that they find Latin revision difficult, but they use an app called 'quizlet' to help cement their learning. It's really good as you can test yourself on vocab etc.

In regards to learning your 250 words of translation, it is all about repetitive reciting. Good luck :smile:

I am sure you will do really well.

Sorry that I wasn't that much help, hopefully someone who studies Latin theirselves will pop up :smile:

Reply 2

stripedbox

I'm doing Latin AS. Of course you can. I have to do exactly the same for Cicero and Ovid before the 24th starting tomorrow afternoon after my Latin language exam. Let's do it!

Reply 3

Sam1999__

Forgive me if this sounds ignorant but what is the point in learning Latin as so few people speak it

Reply 4

nega166

Original post by Sam1999__

Forgive me if this sounds ignorant but what is the point in learning Latin as so few people speak it

You don't really learn it to speak it: it's just highly regarded and can be quite interesting.

Reply 5

nega166

Original post by hannahrobinsxn

I am sure you will do really well.

Sorry that I wasn't that much help, hopefully someone who studies Latin theirselves will pop up :smile:

Thank you for the advice!

Original post by stripedbox

I'm doing Latin AS. Of course you can. I have to do exactly the same for Cicero and Ovid before the 24th starting tomorrow afternoon after my Latin language exam. Let's do it!

Haha aight, good luck man, I've learnt 23 lines already, although I have an exam almost every day this week I'll try and finish before next week. I also have to revise whole Physics syllabus though :frown:

Reply 6

Classics_Teacher

It's possible, but getting an A* in Latin is pretty tricky anyway, so to try and do it in a matter of days is somewhat ambitious! My advice would be to make sure you learn your set texts really well (both translation and how to analyse them) and then to work on vocab and grammar for the language side. The things that normally set apart an A grade candidate from an A* one are the 'harder' grammar structures - uses of the subjunctive, for example!

Good luck!

Reply 7

pixiefuller

Hi I am doing the same set texts as you!
I have started learning the prose (since the prose exam is earlier) but it is difficult keeping it in my head for now!
I am not doing as much revision for Language as I have done some past papers and received marks I am happy with, but will still keep doing some vocab revision on Quizlet.
I'm sure you can get an A* - although the grade boundaries are really high (90%!) - but with lots of revision it's definitely possible :smile:

Reply 8

outgoingpopcorn

Original post by nega166

Original post by pixiefuller

Hi, I am doing the same course as you, the same set texts and I have the same exam dates. I have only memorised and learnt the notes for Arria so far I was planning to do Virgil, death of pliny the elder and a day in the life over the weekend. For the language exams I have started to look over my grammar notes and I also spent ages last year putting all the vocab onto quizlet and I have been learning the vocab by playing the gravity game, I find it really useful.

I will put the link to the thing I made on quizlet here, I apologise if there are any mistakes in it.

https://quizlet.com/112645049/a40ht-vocab-list-for-ocr-gcse-latin-flash-cards/

Reply 9

UmbralArbiter

I am taking the same course as you apart from that I'm not doing 2 set texts (Aeneid IX and Sources). I hope the language papers went well for you.

With regard to the set texts, I would advise against solely learning to recite it and instead try your best to learn how the English translation corresponds to the Latin, especially if you decide to quote in your answers. Also familiarise yourself thouroughly with the chronology of events as this will be helpful both generally and for structuring your 8-marker in order to fulfill the criterion of discussing the whole text.

Bona fortuna!

Reply 10

VidiViciVeni

Original post by Sam1999__

Forgive me if this sounds ignorant but what is the point in learning Latin as so few people speak it

This theory could be applied to the vast majority of topics of any subject at school... Why, for example, should we learn about logarithms or Pythagoras' theorem when we surely would never use them in real life? The fact is it shows you have an aptitude for learning new concepts and applying them- it basically shows that you are clever. Bojo read Classics at Oxford and everyone knows he is a genius,

Reply 11

VidiViciVeni

Having suffered the same ordeal as you last year I can confirm that this can be done... It just requires a load of rote learning! I would say not to worry about any style notes for the literature as it is fairly easy to spot the emphatic word position, alliteration etc. No real need to learn any grammar apart from the case endings and common tenses. The papers are very formulaic so does as many as you can, they always try to catch you out with the same tricks such as plurimos- VERY many and so on!

Reply 12

asox

Hi I'm doing the same set texts as you and OCR exams too... (found the first language easy but second kinda hard...)
I'm learning the set texts this weekend from scratch so I know how you feel - I'm also aiming for an a*!

Reply 13

nega166

Original post by asox

Yo. I'm revising a whole science syllabus atm and I've learnt day in the life of plliny and arria part 1, no virgil and none of the rest of pliny. Think I'll finish? I have 8 other exams that week too :frown:

Reply 14

asox

Original post by nega166

How did you find the exam today?

Reply 15

nega166

Original post by asox

How did you find the exam today?

It was ok, I should get 42-47. I didn't know the "faces" question and the 2 after on the death of pliny the elder cos I didn't learn that far, so I'll lose those 3 but apart from that I should get all the marks. (depends on generosity of 10 marker, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't lose marks anywhere else tho)

I haven't started learning Virgil and I have maths the same day ://

Reply 16

asox

Original post by nega166

haven't learnt vergil either - I know how you feel!
sucks that you have maths though...I did that last year - at least you don't have a high knowledge subject that day (maths doesn't need THAT much revision)

Reply 17

nega166

Original post by asox

What are you aiming for overall in latin?

Reply 18

asox

Original post by nega166

What are you aiming for overall in latin?

was hoping for an a* but I'm not too sure if I'm gonna get it as I know I made 5/6 mistakes on the Language 2 paper and usually you lose quite a few for errors you don't realise you've made...and seeing as every mark is nearly 2% and the a* is 90% I'm already on/under the boundary for that paper so I'm not sure! But ideally I would like an a*.

Reply 19

nega166

Original post by asox

same, although I think (fingers crossed) I got 100 in both languages, Pliny could go either way tbh. To secure it I'll need around 37+ in Virgil I guess. Think it's doable with around 2 hours revision? I'm planning not to learn the translation, but rather learn the story in English really well and know what happens, and learn literary analysis like the back of my hand. Maths will have to take a backseat lol