The Student Room Group

French A-level?

At GCSE I was originally working at Foundation Level predicted a 5. Through my hard work and the dedication between myself and my teacher I ended up moving to Higher Tier and in the end achieved a High 7. I am considering switching to A-Level French, Both my previous teacher and Head of Department believe I am capable if I worked as hard as I did at GCSE. I know other people who achieved 7’s who are doing it. Perhaps it’s because I originally did Foundation that I feel I might not be capable. I also am worried that it won’t progress naturally and I will struggle the entire way through however I know it builds up like it did at GCSE, It just feels that the end result is so far away and appears difficult. If anyone could answer any of the following questions for me.

Is it a good A-Level subject? Enjoyable etc.
Is it a Lot of work? (I imagine so, I am willing to work hard but just wondered in general).
Do you believe it is an Impressive/ Useful A-Level to have?
Did you feel it progressed naturally, so that you weren’t floundering and struggling?
Reply 1
Original post by robrob17
At GCSE I was originally working at Foundation Level predicted a 5. Through my hard work and the dedication between myself and my teacher I ended up moving to Higher Tier and in the end achieved a High 7. I am considering switching to A-Level French, Both my previous teacher and Head of Department believe I am capable if I worked as hard as I did at GCSE. I know other people who achieved 7’s who are doing it. Perhaps it’s because I originally did Foundation that I feel I might not be capable. I also am worried that it won’t progress naturally and I will struggle the entire way through however I know it builds up like it did at GCSE, It just feels that the end result is so far away and appears difficult. If anyone could answer any of the following questions for me.

Is it a good A-Level subject? Enjoyable etc.
Is it a Lot of work? (I imagine so, I am willing to work hard but just wondered in general).
Do you believe it is an Impressive/ Useful A-Level to have?
Did you feel it progressed naturally, so that you weren’t floundering and struggling?

hi! I am currently in year 13 doing French A level (AQA). I do speak french at home so i will probably be biased but I do think you should go for it. Taking a language will definitely give you an advantage. Although I do have more knowledge, it is quite challenging for me too, and A level French has humbled me haha.
the reading/listening aspect of it is not that hard, quite similar to GCSE french really, you read from the textbook in lessons and work your way through the activities. the year 12 content is a bit boring, you learn about different kinds of families/heritage and basic stuff, whilst in year 13, you go into the culture of france, crime and more interesting topics. there is the literature aspect to it (the writing paper) which i would consider challenging because you have to read a book and watch a movie and write about it, it's definitely my least favourite part of the course (only because my grammar is horrible at times lol)
i think the speaking part definitely will allow you to show your capability, but we haven't started it yet so i wouldn't be able to give you an informed answer.
i do struggle at times, but i think it's good to have that kind of balance, i wouldn't say it's a lot of work and it's not a huge step from GCSE, especially as you got a 7 which is really good.
this is a really long answer but hope it helped haha

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