French AS level

Hi, I've just done GCSEs and am expected to get A* in French. Just wondering, how much work is French A level compared to other subjects?

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Hi!

I think it all depends on how well you cope with languages as a whole. Some people think they have the largest workload, yet others think they have the smallest. Which other subjects are you taking?

In my experience, the workload changed dramatically from GCSE languages to A-level: the jump is huge, and there were a lot of people in my class who dropped out after the first month or even less. But that doesn't mean to say everyone will.

I personally don't think the work load is that bad, we get set a lot of tasks to do from the text book or online! I would advise that you learn your grammar, i got an A* in GCSE and i'm predicted an A this year but i'm worried i won't get it because i didn't learn enough grammar! Also AS french is a lot different to GCSE french, in GCSE you basically have to put your opinion after everything whereas AS in more learning set expressions and knowing the pros and cons of everything

Which other A levels did you take?

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I take history, media and sociology

I don't actually have French timetabled - I'm taking Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Maths and Further Maths. I want to continue with French though, and I asked a teacher if there was anything I could do over summer to keep it up a bit. She suggested doing French A level as an extra just with her in a study period - I originally agreed but have now said I can't because it would be too much work..

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I think it depends, I got an A at GCSE but then I was getting Us at the start of AS, I worked really hard and got up to Bs/Cs but then in the exam I received a D (A in oral exam and E in written paper).

I was really passionate about French until I saw that my grades weren't matching up to the effort I was putting in. That said, I never gave up. I think that if you keep being enthusiastic it will work, but don't let it take over you like I did (I was getting better marks in French but lower grades in other subjects because at the time I didn't know how to balance). You tend to know what you're capable of; I didn't take French at A2 despite loving the topics because I knew that I didn't have the capability to get good enough grades!

Ew haha I did GCSE History and hated it! That was partly because of my unorganised teacher, but yeah, I'm more for maths and science
Is that combination a lot of writing?

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I don't actually have French timetabled - I'm taking Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Maths and Further Maths. I want to continue with French though, and I asked a teacher if there was anything I could do over summer to keep it up a bit. She suggested doing French A level as an extra just with her in a study period - I originally agreed but have now said I can't because it would be too much work..

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I've never met anybody with the same subject combo as me!
I'm doing Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Maths and Further Maths next year and then French as an extra curricular

Oh wow!
So you're doing French on top of your other 5??!
Have you done AS yet? Or what stage are you at??

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I used to really like history at gcse so i obviously did it at A level but i hate it so much now. My teachers were so bad and we hated each other, so i stopped going to the lessons for a while ahah! I'm not expecting a good result in it, anything higher than a U will be fine with me, considering i didn't bother revising!
History was a lot of essays and my teacher used to set us so many tasks that he made out would only take half an hour but instead took like two hours! Media, is a lot of writing but i really enjoyed it and got 92/100 on coursework, so it paid off in the end. Sociology is so much writing, you have to put so many arguments in your essays it's so stressful
What a levels are you wanting to take?

Just finished my GCSEs xD
I'm doing five AS and then self-teaching French AS. I won't actually do the exam in it though xD

Haha! Same as me!! Not sure about the French though, how are you teaching yourself it??

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Wow, five A-levels and a potential sixth That's amazing! Your teacher clearly saw that you were capable enough to cope with the workload if she suggested doing French as an A-level on the side.

However, I think you have made the right decision; you wouldn't want to neglect it or let it stress you out too much! Also, you don't need an A-level to keep up your language skills, there are lots of apps and websites which you could use whenever you have any spare/free time.

I'm just going to get a French AS textbook and work from that. I'm also going to check in with my old french teacher from time to time.. Maybe ask her if she can mark an essay of mine or something like that. It's going to be a purely extracurricular thing

Ah thanks
I think I'm just gonna leave it because I won't have enough time to get a good grade with my other subjects as well!
Is the oral exam the one where you don't get the questions beforehand and you just kinda have to have a conversation??

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