Oxford Modern Languages Students and Applicants

Original post by *Supernova*

Thanks v. much for replying - rep on the way in the next day or two!

Glad it's helpful. I forgot name and college btw: Fiona Potter, Exeter.

Reply 81

chinaberry

14

I'm just "revising" (actually, learning for the first time what I should have been revising for my exams...) grammar topics like cases, konjuntiv, noting vocab, subjonctif etc (I'm applying for French and German). Have you seen the specimen papers? When I first saw them they were frightening :frown:

but then I looked at them a bit more closely and it's nice how it all makes sense! Half an hour seems quite short though.

Reply 82

Original post by chinaberry

I'm just "revising" (actually, learning for the first time what I should have been revising for my exams...) grammar topics like cases, konjuntiv, noting vocab, subjonctif etc (I'm applying for French and German). Have you seen the specimen papers? When I first saw them they were frightening :frown:

but then I looked at them a bit more closely and it's nice how it all makes sense! Half an hour seems quite short though.

It goes in a blur :smile:

The test itself (for French at least) isn't too difficult.

They did seem to have a penchant for the ne explétif and neuter pronouns though for French:

http://french.about.com/od/grammar/a/negation_form_2.htm
http://french.about.com/b/2009/07/13/neuter-object-pronoun-optional-le.htm

These would sometimes be combined into sentences such as "Il est plus grand qu'il n'en a pas l'air"

The subjunctive is everywhere:
I remember one of the questions was to translate: "Give it back to me tomorrow, unless you want it earlier?"

In this case both the ne explétif and the subjunctive are required.

Also you have to be able to recognise literary tenses such as the passé simple
Last year we had to translate: "Il se mit à regarder autour de lui" which, if you're not careful, can look like the present tense...

You don't necessarily have to do loads of practice papers (There's only one on the Oxford website) As long as you are very thorough with A level grammar and are aware of some quirky extra grammatical points then you should be fine. :smile:

These are quite good for practice:
http://www.lang.ox.ac.uk/courses/tst_index.html

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 83

chinaberry

14

Original post by qwertyuiop1993

It goes in a blur :smile:

The test itself (for French at least) isn't too difficult.

They did seem to have a penchant for the ne explétif and neuter pronouns though for French:

http://french.about.com/od/grammar/a/negation_form_2.htm
http://french.about.com/b/2009/07/13/neuter-object-pronoun-optional-le.htm

These would sometimes be combined into sentences such as "Il est plus grand qu'il n'en a pas l'air"

The subjunctive is everywhere:
I remember one of the questions was to translate: "Give it back to me tomorrow, unless you want it earlier?"

In this case both the ne explétif and the subjunctive are required.

Also you have to be able to recognise literary tenses such as the passé simple
Last year we had to translate: "Il se mit à regarder autour de lui" which, if you're not careful, can look like the present tense...

You don't necessarily have to do loads of practice papers (There's only one on the Oxford website) As long as you are very thorough with A level grammar and are aware of some quirky extra grammatical points then you should be fine. :smile:

These are quite good for practice:
http://www.lang.ox.ac.uk/courses/tst_index.html

Aw thank you :smile:

So...could I translate that example like this:

Give it back to me tomorrow, unless you want it earlier?"

Redonnes le moi demain, sauf si tu le veuilles plut tot? (had to look up both "unless" and the subjunctif form! oh dear).

Couldn't you get round it by using the future tense? i.e. unless you will want it earlier? I guess that won't get you the marks though...

What if you don't have the vocab for something? Do you just sort of put quote marks round the English word and move on?

Do you know if you get scores back? I guess Oxford feedback would top a lot of other feedback!

Reply 84

chinaberry

14

Oh and if anyone could give any info on the written work we've got to send in...do you send it in before October 15th? My sixth form is being very vague about it (i.e. they don't know) and said just to wait and see.

Reply 85

Original post by chinaberry

Aw thank you :smile:

So...could I translate that example like this:

Give it back to me tomorrow, unless you want it earlier?"

Redonnes le moi demain, sauf si tu le veuilles plut tot? (had to look up both "unless" and the subjunctif form! oh dear).

Couldn't you get round it by using the future tense? i.e. unless you will want it earlier? I guess that won't get you the marks though...

What if you don't have the vocab for something? Do you just sort of put quote marks round the English word and move on?

Do you know if you get scores back? I guess Oxford feedback would top a lot of other feedback!

Just realised my example sentence doesn't make much sense :s-smilie:

It was along the lines of "Give it back to her tomorrow, unless she wants it earlier"

You can use redonner, but I think rendre would be slightly more common in spoken French.

Rends-le-lui, à moins qu'elle ne le veuille plus tôt.

A moins que is followed by a 'non negative ne'

If you use sauf si it would be followed by the indicative (sauf si elle le veut plus tôt) I think...

If you don't know vocab, but you know what they're testing, write something like "third person present subjunctive of 'to bark'" just to show that you know the grammatical point they're looking for.

The LAT isn't really like the TSA for PPE in that a poor score will not knock you out of the competition. Oxford run a grammar week for offer holders who didn't do well in the grammar test, which implies that enough people get offers despite under-performing in the grammar test :smile:

I don't think you get an official score back, but seeing as they've changed the date to be in-line with other aptitude tests, it might have changed.
I just cheekily asked my tutor whether he had marked the tests yet after my interview and, luckily, he told me how I did...I wouldn't recommend doing that though because it could have backfired.

Original post by chinaberry

Oh and if anyone could give any info on the written work we've got to send in...do you send it in before October 15th? My sixth form is being very vague about it (i.e. they don't know) and said just to wait and see.

There's a separate deadline.
As for what it should be, you can send in anything really....your English one should show a sustained argument/analysis of some sort.

Your foreign language essays will probably be considerably shorter (My friend at Exeter sent in a 250 word essay) though you can send in longer ones if you like.

Reply 86

Original post by chinaberry

Aw thank you :smile:

So...could I translate that example like this:

Give it back to me tomorrow, unless you want it earlier?"

Redonnes le moi demain, sauf si tu le veuilles plut tot? (had to look up both "unless" and the subjunctif form! oh dear).

Couldn't you get round it by using the future tense? i.e. unless you will want it earlier? I guess that won't get you the marks though...

What if you don't have the vocab for something? Do you just sort of put quote marks round the English word and move on?

Do you know if you get scores back? I guess Oxford feedback would top a lot of other feedback!

Hi fellow German applicant :biggrin:

How have you found the German practice tests?

Reply 87

catlover14

Original post by chinaberry

I'm just "revising" (actually, learning for the first time what I should have been revising for my exams...) grammar topics like cases, konjuntiv, noting vocab, subjonctif etc (I'm applying for French and German). Have you seen the specimen papers? When I first saw them they were frightening :frown:

but then I looked at them a bit more closely and it's nice how it all makes sense! Half an hour seems quite short though.

It was actually the other way round for me- The first time I looked at it it seemed quite easy but on further inspection I realised there were some tricky grammar questions. I did the practice test for French and got my teacher to mark it- I haven't got it back yet though.

Reply 88

languagegeek

1

Hey,
I am also going to be sitting some admissions tests, for french and german :frown:

I am really worried as in my classes grammar or translations have never really been covered. Although I have tried learning it at home, I still struggle with choosing the correct tenses. Has anyone got any grammar rules/tips that might be useful for either french or german?

I would be glad to help if anyone is doing spanish :smile:

Reply 89

Pfalzgraf

Original post by KatherineGiddins

It was actually the other way round for me- The first time I looked at it it seemed quite easy but on further inspection I realised there were some tricky grammar questions. I did the practice test for French and got my teacher to mark it- I haven't got it back yet though.

I would agree with this, I first looked at the German test at the beginning of the summer and put it aside thinking it would be fairly easy. However I went through it with my teacher and it threw up all sorts of conventions and rules we hadn't covered before.

Seeing as this is one part of the application that we can improve/be sure of, it's certainly a good idea to prepare well for it.

Reply 90

Original post by languagegeek

Hey,
I am also going to be sitting some admissions tests, for french and german :frown:

I am really worried as in my classes grammar or translations have never really been covered. Although I have tried learning it at home, I still struggle with choosing the correct tenses. Has anyone got any grammar rules/tips that might be useful for either french or german?

I would be glad to help if anyone is doing spanish :smile:

Hey have you had a look on here?
http://french.about.com/od/francophonie/u/practiceperfect.htm

There are lots of in-depth explanations.

I'd recommend doing this grammar test first:
http://french.about.com/library/weekly/bl-proficiency3.htm

The site will give you links to articles explaining any grammar points that you may have got wrong.

Reply 91

Original post by ispyjonnytriff

I would agree with this, I first looked at the German test at the beginning of the summer and put it aside thinking it would be fairly easy. However I went through it with my teacher and it threw up all sorts of conventions and rules we hadn't covered before.

Seeing as this is one part of the application that we can improve/be sure of, it's certainly a good idea to prepare well for it.

Original post by languagegeek

Hey,
I am also going to be sitting some admissions tests, for french and german :frown:

I am really worried as in my classes grammar or translations have never really been covered. Although I have tried learning it at home, I still struggle with choosing the correct tenses. Has anyone got any grammar rules/tips that might be useful for either french or german?

I would be glad to help if anyone is doing spanish :smile:

Hi fellow German applicants!!!

Reply 92

Pfalzgraf

Original post by such_a_lady

Hi fellow German applicants!!!

Hi!

Nice to meet you :biggrin:

Are you applying for German with another language or with history / philosophy etc? and which college?

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 93

Original post by ispyjonnytriff

Hi!

Nice to meet you :biggrin:

Are you applying for German with another language or with history / philosophy etc? and which college?

Why are you not in our amazing 2012 applicants for Oxford thread? :O

Applying with Spanish for Magdalen but secretly hoping I'll get an offer for Sole German :tongue:

Edit: we have four of the same choices!! And I may have used "Die Grenzen meiner Sprache sind die Grenzen meiner Welt" in my PS ... :tongue:

I love meeting fellow Germanophiles!!!

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 94

Pfalzgraf

Original post by such_a_lady

Why are you not in our amazing 2012 applicants for Oxford thread? :O

Good point - perhaps I'll meander over later and introduce myself :smile:

Applying with Spanish for Magdalen but secretly hoping I'll get an offer for Sole German :tongue:

I think German with a romance/latin based language is a good idea, I remember at the Oxford German open day the Professor was quite in favour of that as it provides a greater basis for future language learning (or something like that). I've yet to meet anyone for History and Modern Languages, but it is quite a small cohort - only 3 or 4 places for History and German :eek:

Edit: we have four of the same choices!! And I may have used "Die Grenzen meiner Sprache sind die Grenzen meiner Welt" in my PS ... :tongue:

As have I! Except I used the English version...it never occurred to me to use the German quote.... :tongue:

Reply 95

Banoffeepie16

2

I've had my head in my grammar books all day today... strangely addictive :smile:

Reply 96

Original post by ispyjonnytriff

Good point - perhaps I'll meander over later and introduce myself :smile:

I think German with a romance/latin based language is a good idea, I remember at the Oxford German open day the Professor was quite in favour of that as it provides a greater basis for future language learning (or something like that). I've yet to meet anyone for History and Modern Languages, but it is quite a small cohort - only 3 or 4 places for History and German :eek:

As have I! Except I used the English version...it never occurred to me to use the German quote.... :tongue:

No I used it in English but kind of used my own translation :tongue:

for the benefit of the Spanish tutors reading it!

Reply 97

catlover14

Original post by ispyjonnytriff

I would agree with this, I first looked at the German test at the beginning of the summer and put it aside thinking it would be fairly easy. However I went through it with my teacher and it threw up all sorts of conventions and rules we hadn't covered before.

Seeing as this is one part of the application that we can improve/be sure of, it's certainly a good idea to prepare well for it.

Yes my teacher marked mine and we went through it today- I didn't realise that the whole first section was to do with the subjunctive but I still managed to get 50%

Reply 98

languagegeek

1

Original post by qwertyuiop1993

Hey have you had a look on here?
http://french.about.com/od/francophonie/u/practiceperfect.htm

There are lots of in-depth explanations.

I'd recommend doing this grammar test first:
http://french.about.com/library/weekly/bl-proficiency3.htm

The site will give you links to articles explaining any grammar points that you may have got wrong.

Thank you, I have done the first few questions on here but I found them quite difficult :/ Are there not any hints/clues in sentences for their tenses?

Original post by such_a_lady

Hi fellow German applicants!!!

Hello

Nice to know I am not the only one wanting to do German, apparently it isn't very popular :/

Reply 99