GCSE French?

Hi

Why are the grade boundaries for aqa French so high (90% for a star).
Are the listening and reading hard or easy?

Thanks.

Reply 1

trad1998

Depends on how difficult you find the language... So everyone is going to say something different about the difficulties of papers.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 2

Clarinet

Original post by Coolme12345

Hi

Why are the grade boundaries for aqa French so high (90% for a star).
Are the listening and reading hard or easy?

Thanks.

Learning vocab is key, do a bit each day and you'll love that you've started early when it gets to May

They're high because they want to distinguish between the people who are best and the people who are very good

Listening and reading start easy and gradually get harder. As I said, as long as you know vocab, you'll be fine

Oh, and practise looking out for little things like 'ne...jamais' that they put in to try to catch you out

Reply 3

spectrum84

Clearing and Applications Advisor, Universities Forum Helper

Practice is key!! I used to do past papers and gradually, it helped my listening and reading and my French became progressively better. You should learn vocab but also doing listening papers is also really important because sometimes words sound different in a recording than the way you or your teacher say it.

Reply 4

redmeercat

The issue with French is that there will always be those who're either native speakers or who've spent time in France taking the GCSE alongside those you've never left the UK. This brings the grade boundaries up, meaning that those who haven't had the opportunities that others have had will find it harder. However, there are things that you can do:

1. Immersion is key. On a day-to-day basis, you can watch french series, listen to french music, even speak to French people if you can find someone (perhaps through a teacher?). Even if you don't understand everything, practising listening especially will help tune your ear to the language and teach you what sounds right and what sounds wrong.

2. Learn how to answer the questions by doing and marking past papers/ specimen papers/ revision workbook questions.

3. Learn vocab. Learn the GCSE set vocab, and if you have time after that, start on the A level vocab.

4. Practise grammar using workbooks.