I want to do an Ancient Greek/ Classical Greek GCSE?
Foreign languages discussion, revision, exam and homework help.
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I want to do an Ancient Greek/ Classical Greek GCSE?Okay, so I'm about to go into year 9, where we start to prepare for our GCSEs. When my dad was at school, he did Ancient Greek, Latin and Classics. (He's 59, was in high school in the 1960's) Over the last few days, I've been reading a book on Ancient Greek and I know the alphabet and the basic pronounciation. I really really REALLY like the subject, and I want to do an Ancient Greek/ Classical Greek GCSE.
However, my school doesn't teach us Ancient Greek, so if I did I would either have to get a tutor or teach myself. My family doesn't have a lot of money so we wouldn't be able to afford a tutor, so I would have to kind of learn myself with some help from my dad.
Do you think I would be able to do an Ancient Greek GCSE? Should I do Ancient Greek or Classical Greek? And if I get a low grade in it is it better than not doing the exam at all?
(P.S. My teachers say that in most academic subjects at GCSE I'd be getting roughly A* so I'm fairly intelligent.) -
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Re: I want to do an Ancient Greek/ Classical Greek GCSE?Check your choice of exam boards. I had a similar plan to you some years ago, but gave it up due to time management issues. Read through the specification(s) thoroughly! There may not be a choice of boards.
I'm not sure that you'll be able to choose between the ancient Greek and classical Greek- I've only come across GCSE Classical Greek, and I think ancient Greek is a bit of a catch-all phrase for several variations/dialects of Greek spoken long ago.
Pros- it is probably written and reading only. In my experience*, teaching yourself to read or write a language to GCSE standard is quite possible, with a good textbook, interest in the language and with access to past papers. Speaking and listening are the really, really hard bits to do without a teacher.
The most important issue is not what grade you would get, but whether you can do it without it affecting your other subjects. It takes time and work. I can't answer that for you.
You will have to sit the exams as an independent candidate, using your school as the Study Centre, and you need to speak to a teacher about arranging that. You will probably have to pay the exam fees yourself. This will need doing by November, as the exam boards charge more for late entries.
*Thing is, everyone is different! -
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Re: I want to do an Ancient Greek/ Classical Greek GCSE?If you are successful, it could look very good on a personal statement in a few years.
Demonstrating ability to self-teach and keep oneself on track, without direction by a teacher is always impressive. -
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Re: I want to do an Ancient Greek/ Classical Greek GCSE?EDIT: when I say November, I mean the November of year 11. Not this November!
Basically, I think that you could do it. You have enough time to put in gradual but consistent effort, and if worst came to worst, you could drop it in year 11, to concentrate on your school subjects, and then take it up again in year 12 -
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Re: I want to do an Ancient Greek/ Classical Greek GCSE?Oh good! Thank, you that's very helpful <3(Original post by Octopus_Garden)
EDIT: when I say November, I mean the November of year 11. Not this November!
Basically, I think that you could do it. You have enough time to put in gradual but consistent effort, and if worst came to worst, you could drop it in year 11, to concentrate on your school subjects, and then take it up again in year 12
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Re: I want to do an Ancient Greek/ Classical Greek GCSE?Okay, first of all, Classical Greek is *exactly the same thing* as Ancient Greek. The only exam board that does it is OCR.
It is a difficult subject with a reasonable bit more grammar than Latin, so be prepared for alien looking vocabulary and some difficult grammar if you do take it. I took it though, got an A*, and it was very rewarding indeed. Best of luck!
