French AS HELP

So I got an A* in my French GCSE and I keep getting Cs in my Oral and general writing. I just don't know what is expected at A Level and I am progressing in all my other subjects and I also love French so this is a bit depressing. What comes up in the exam? What do I need to revise? Many thanks for reading this :smile:

Reply 1

audi_turbo

I was actually in the same boat but then I ended up with full marks in the written exam (140/140) and 50/60 in the oral.

Reply 2

yasminzaracc

Well done, how did you do it?

Reply 3

puella_optima

I was in the same boat as you and got 57/60 in oral but C in the paper.

REVISE GRAMMER AND TOPIC RELATED VOCAB NOW.

I wanted to do french at Uni but got B over so had to drop it :frown:

So yeah, revise grammar and vocab and fingers cross that you have a good/helpful teacher unlike me!!

Reply 4

audi_turbo

The reading and listening are easy.

The mark scheme awards marks for doing a few different things in the writing section. Language, content and accuracy are among the biggest categories. For language you just have to make sure that you use plenty of tenses, including the subjunctive, imperfect and conditional. I also found it helpful to learn loads of "essay fillers" which are little phrases that can be added into any essay but are examples of high quality language. I also used idioms in a few places. To satisfy the content section just make sure that you pay attention to all the arguments you're taught in class so that you can put them into your essay. Using statistics shows that you've done research. It doesn't matter if you make up a statistic as long it sounds plausible. For accuracy just remember to check over the work. Common errors are disagreements with adjectives/verbs and genders and also missing accents too. Remember how to construct the various tenses. Also don't go over the word limit. I would always go over 240 words in class, which would not only mean that in the actual exam I wouldn't be awarded for material done after the 240th word but also that I'd make more mistakes due to writing more.

You'll find that as you practise essays over the year you'll get better at them as you adapt.

For the oral the same kind of advice stands, just make sure that you present statistics and ideas learnt in class. But the most important thing about the oral is that you're engaging with the examiner. So avoid huge gaps and make sure that it sounds like a real conversation as that's essentially what they're looking for with the oral.

Hope I've helped. Also some of the advice I was told might be different to what you've been told.