Trying to revise...
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Trying to revise...Does anyone else find the huge amounts of set book for Latin, difficult to learn? I'm fighting through the Pro Cluentio... been trying to learn it for days, and out of eleven chapters, I'm only on three.
Then there's the poems, and fianlly the word list. Yikes.
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That's why I quit Latin after AS.(Original post by Wilde_Oscar)
Does anyone else find the huge amounts of set book for Latin, difficult to learn? I'm fighting through the Pro Cluentio... been trying to learn it for days, and out of eleven chapters, I'm only on three. Then there's the poems, and fianlly the word list. Yikes.
I'm guessing that doesn't make you feel better... -
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Lol. That's exactly what I was thinking last year. Until I looked at the set texts for A2. Twice as long(Original post by Wilde_Oscar)
Does anyone else find the huge amounts of set book for Latin, difficult to learn? I'm fighting through the Pro Cluentio... been trying to learn it for days, and out of eleven chapters, I'm only on three. Then there's the poems, and fianlly the word list. Yikes.
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I find it sometimes helps if you translate the latin aloud from sight while a friend or relative is checking the english version. Or write out a full translation from sight, then go through and translate. You'll remember the mistakes you made. Obviously you need to learn it before you can be tested on it, though. Oh, and the notes at the front of the book are really helpful. The plot can get so confusing if you're not sure who's married to whom and who gets killed in what way etc. Just keep going!!
And if you get tired, just picture me, battling my way through nearly 500 lines of Virgil, and about 400 lines plus 40 pages in English of Cicero's 2nd Phillipic. And another wordlist. Oh, the joy. -
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Sorry guys, it doesn't get any better! I'm doing classics at cam (naelse, am I right in thinking you have an offer??) and got a bit of a shock to the system when I realised the sheer amount of set books you have to translate in your own time. For example, I am currently ploughing through 1500 lines of Hippolytus, having never done greek before this year, and that's only one of 10 set texts. Plus the Latin ones are longer, as you're expected to be better. Oh it's a hard life!!
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Well I'm only at A2 level at the moment, and I'm not finding it too much because I'm doing all my Latin and Greek set books with a friend, which does make it much easier. I expect it'll become a lot harder when I get to uni though.
Perhaps you classicists might like to add yourselves to the UKL classical society list? http://www.uk-learning.net/t35936.html -
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Oh dear. At the moment I read at a rate of about 5 mins/ line...(Original post by clara)
Sorry guys, it doesn't get any better! I'm doing classics at cam (naelse, am I right in thinking you have an offer??) and got a bit of a shock to the system when I realised the sheer amount of set books you have to translate in your own time. For example, I am currently ploughing through 1500 lines of Hippolytus, having never done greek before this year, and that's only one of 10 set texts. Plus the Latin ones are longer, as you're expected to be better. Oh it's a hard life!!
I got a questionaire from the DoS last week, asking me to highlight my weaknesses. I put down reading/translating, essay writing, vocab learning and grammar comprehension.
Not quite sure what to put down as strengths... I seem to remember being very good at colouring in. -
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That sounds horribly familiar!! It is possible to do it all, especially with the help of translations/online text aids etc but is just very time consuming! I would really really recommend translating as much of the texts for the first term as you can in the holidays (i didn't and have been playing catch-up ever since!) but it seriously makes things easier. Plus it is really worth being confident about them because I'd say about 60%+ of the exam content depends on a good knowledge of them, whether it be translations/essay questions/practical criticisms or linguistic structure. (I think after christmas the Newnham classicists had exams on the work for the COMING term, whereas other colleges had exams on the previous terms work or nothing at all so watch out!)
Also, there's a slightly odd divide in the classics faculty, not only between people with and without A-level greek, but also regarding the type of language teaching they've had. I would say about half the people in my year have been learning latin since the age of 7/8 if they went to prep school which gives them a major advantage over students who started at aged 14 like me. I feel on top of things now (although I may change my mind in a month when it's time for exams!) but at first all this was a major shock to the system. Apparently the faculty have been having meetings because they feel that first year classicists are overworked, it's certainly not the "doss" subject people often think it is (not that that's why I applied obvioulsy!) and some classicists are among the most dedicated to their subject out of all the people I've met! -
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(Original post by Wilde_Oscar)
Does anyone else find the huge amounts of set book for Latin, difficult to learn? I'm fighting through the Pro Cluentio... been trying to learn it for days, and out of eleven chapters, I'm only on three. Then there's the poems, and fianlly the word list. Yikes.
Yeah completely- I'm doing Pro Cluentio and Aeneid II. I find the best way is to have the english translation alongside the latin- that way you pick up one or two key words per line and then the rest of the line comes into place. Also if you write notes on the latin that might help. As for the word list, thats a bitch. The only real way i found to get round it is to make a separate list of words u dont know and go over them once or twice a week. Hope this helps- good luck with the exams! -
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Yeah, I'm revising Aeneid II and struggling with unseen comp and translation practice.... there's loads to do with the Aeneid, but i think it helps just dividing it up and learning a section every day, with the english translation alongside. But im having so much trouble with unseen translation and comp, Ovid and Livy.... I need an A to make Camb offer but comp is going to kill me.... and hearing all this stuff about the course at Camb nect year is scaring me too!
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Still struggling...Exam is in two weeks. And my Catullus is crap, my wordlist is bad, and my Pro Cluentio... I've memorised up to chapter seven, so I've got two chapters to go. Problem is, Greek Art and Architecture is in a week, and I have to revise that as well. *sigh*
Then there's the poems, and fianlly the word list. Yikes.
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