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<a https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7467335'> Year 12s: what will be the first way you research your future options? >>

AS Italian without GCSE

At my current school I study French and Spanish GCSE and I am on track to get A*s in both this summer. It's something which I have real love for and pick up easily. For sixth form I may have to move to another school as it is likely that they may not run AS French and there is also some doubt that an AS Spanish class will run (due to low numbers of applicants for these subjects). At the school which I am applying to I would have the opportunity to take both of these alongside English Language, and Italian. I just wondered how difficult it would be to do A level Italian without the GCSE. I am hoping that my knowledge of Spanish would be helpful If this isn't possible then does anyone know if I could sit the GCSE Italian alongside my A-levels?
Salut, xrachelbarber!

I'm britishpatriot, and I speak Italian fluently (semi-native) and I learnt French at school, taking my GCSEs early in year 9, and now, in year 10, I'm taking AS French. I've done a bit of Spanish on the side during the last year or so - nothing academic, just a bit of on-the-side work - which I'm hoping will look fantastic on my uni application if I can learn Spanish by then [w/o qualifications] :smile:

So I'm not the best-placed person to compare GCSEs and A/AS level standards between the languages, and my advice comes based on what I've seen of Spanish and what I know of French, compared to Italian.

Basically, I think Spanish and Italian are two very closely-related languages when it comes down to it, but to be frankly honest, when studying Spanish after having finished French, I felt as if Italian vocabulary looks perhaps more towards French vocabulary, but the grammar itself looks closer towards Spanish, and I feel as if Italian is a little less consistent when it comes to grammar, but that might just be because I have a more in-depth knowledge of it.

I would suggest that you consider taking GCSE Italian before you take AS Italian, and you should be able to do this relatively easily just by taking a couple of sessions in Italian outside of school and taking an exam at an examination centre, whilst probably reading a GCSE textbook in Italian (warning: I looked briefly for one last summer and couldn't find one, but I didn't look lots for it).

Whilst, of course, GCSEs aren't as important as A-levels, they show some understanding and knowledge, and are qualifications nonetheless. I would discourage you from jumping straight to AS Italian, just because, as you can probably presume, the vocabulary won't be there, and you'll get few marks for writing and speaking in a language guesstimated from good Spanish and French :smile:

Might it also be worth considering whether the new school might turn down your application to do Italian if you haven't taken a qualification in it yet?

Best of luck, anyway!

britishpatriot.
Original post by britishpatriot
Salut, xrachelbarber!

I'm britishpatriot, and I speak Italian fluently (semi-native) and I learnt French at school, taking my GCSEs early in year 9, and now, in year 10, I'm taking AS French. I've done a bit of Spanish on the side during the last year or so - nothing academic, just a bit of on-the-side work - which I'm hoping will look fantastic on my uni application if I can learn Spanish by then [w/o qualifications] :smile:

So I'm not the best-placed person to compare GCSEs and A/AS level standards between the languages, and my advice comes based on what I've seen of Spanish and what I know of French, compared to Italian.

Basically, I think Spanish and Italian are two very closely-related languages when it comes down to it, but to be frankly honest, when studying Spanish after having finished French, I felt as if Italian vocabulary looks perhaps more towards French vocabulary, but the grammar itself looks closer towards Spanish, and I feel as if Italian is a little less consistent when it comes to grammar, but that might just be because I have a more in-depth knowledge of it.

I would suggest that you consider taking GCSE Italian before you take AS Italian, and you should be able to do this relatively easily just by taking a couple of sessions in Italian outside of school and taking an exam at an examination centre, whilst probably reading a GCSE textbook in Italian (warning: I looked briefly for one last summer and couldn't find one, but I didn't look lots for it).

Whilst, of course, GCSEs aren't as important as A-levels, they show some understanding and knowledge, and are qualifications nonetheless. I would discourage you from jumping straight to AS Italian, just because, as you can probably presume, the vocabulary won't be there, and you'll get few marks for writing and speaking in a language guesstimated from good Spanish and French :smile:

Might it also be worth considering whether the new school might turn down your application to do Italian if you haven't taken a qualification in it yet?

Best of luck, anyway!

britishpatriot.

Thank you very much for this information! Yes, I have considered that the school won't let me do the AS it is something that they have to consider and test me on but it it would involve me doing a lot of learning over the holidays so i know a lot of the basic grammar and vocabulary.

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