French A Level?

Hey

Firsly, sorry for yet another thread about a-level choices but i'm abit confused.

I've finished year 11 and just waiting on starting sixth form, i'm going to be doing Art, Biology and Psychology. I was also going to take Sociology but after doing it at GCSE I thought it might be too repetitive at a-level so i'm having second thoughts.. the subject i'd take instead of soc would be French and tbh i've not done brilliantly at it at GCSE [had a really rubbish teacher and didn't put much effort in] and i'm thinking i've got a B in it but I do want to take it next year. I'm confused because I know i'm not brilliant at it [don't know much vocab and forgetful on tenses etc] but I also know if I do take it and put some hard work in i'll be okay with it.

Just wondered if anyone in year 12 or 13 has done french and your opinion of it etc, were you expected to just know previous stuff or was it re taught etc? I said i'd teach myself some french over summer but tbh I can't be bothered. I don't know whether to take sociology which I know i'm good at after doing it at GCSE or to take a risk and do french, knowing that I could get a crap A level grade in it...

Thanks :smile:

x

Reply 1

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

17

French at A level is an absolute bitch, full stop. You're pretty much thrown into it so don't go into A level french with bad french lol. I got an A* btw and found it absolutely horrible

Reply 2

hellogoodbye24

OP

2

Ha

got a lot to look forward to then :|
I was predicted an A but really doubt i've got it and now i'm trying to make my mind up whether to take it or not, cause the two teachers at my school who do A level french are really lovely and good teachers, and I know i'd work hard etc
:s-smilie:

decisions..
x

Reply 3

Cognoverant

I've just finished AS, and am fairly confident about it. I think it's quite a good course, and it does allow for lack of knowledge of grammar, as they realise that people may not have learned so many tenses at GCSE.

However, my teacher is brilliant, mostly because she's French, so I don't know. It depends a lot on the teachers

Reply 4

Aleeece123

2

I think a lot depends on how big your class is next year tbh- i do french and spanish, and for french there were 14 people in the class, so we slowed down a bit more to make sure everyone followed all the tenses and learned the new vocab etc etc so i didn't think there was much of a jump from gcse to AS (although for gcse we had an absolutely amazing teacher and i think nearly all the class got an A*)

BUT for spanish there are only 2 of us, and so we go a lot faster, and are expected to know all the grammar and vocab already, including irregular verbs in stupid tenses (and last year we didn't have a great teacher so that didn't really help) so the jump for that was enormous

In the end though i think it comes down to how much effort you're prepared to put in- if you work hard enough and put the time in to learn what you've done in class it should be fine :smile:

Reply 5

Kane_Fizz

3

grow up with the font

Reply 6

VanillaCat

2

hellogoodbye24

Hey

Firsly, sorry for yet another thread about a-level choices but i'm abit confused.

I've finished year 11 and just waiting on starting sixth form, i'm going to be doing Art, Biology and Psychology. I was also going to take Sociology but after doing it at GCSE I thought it might be too repetitive at a-level so i'm having second thoughts.. the subject i'd take instead of soc would be French and tbh i've not done brilliantly at it at GCSE [had a really rubbish teacher and didn't put much effort in] and i'm thinking i've got a B in it but I do want to take it next year. I'm confused because I know i'm not brilliant at it [don't know much vocab and forgetful on tenses etc] but I also know if I do take it and put some hard work in i'll be okay with it.

Just wondered if anyone in year 12 or 13 has done french and your opinion of it etc, were you expected to just know previous stuff or was it re taught etc? I said i'd teach myself some french over summer but tbh I can't be bothered. I don't know whether to take sociology which I know i'm good at after doing it at GCSE or to take a risk and do french, knowing that I could get a crap A level grade in it...

Thanks :smile:

x

I say go for it mate! The fact that I'm going to do French at uni reflects that I enjoyed the course, and it really broadened my horizons.

You're gonna have to ditch the "tourist French" that you learned at GCSe though. It can be really tough to get your head round new grammar, such as the subjunctive; but I personally find that stuff fun :woo:

Plus, more and more employers want people who've taken a modern language past GCSE.

I don't see the harm in giving AS a try.

Reply 7

hellogoodbye24

OP

2

Thanks for the help! Yeah one of the teachers is french but i've been taught by both of them in year 8 and 9 and they're really good, think I might end up taking it and i'm sure i'll work hard enough :smile:

Hm love how you spent the time to come on here and insult the font, nice

x

Reply 8

x_skater_jnoo_x

1

well here's my most accurate opinion (just finished year 12)...

i do physics, chemistry and biology, so i obv needed a subject to relax and it was french :P
what you said about doing well if you put effort and do well is 100% true because at the start of year 11 i was getting Cs but i kept learning vocab and within 3 weeks (not exaggerating) i was a solid a*...
over holidays all i done was learn vocab and verbs etc > www.verb2verbe.com ...or verbe2verb dunno
it really put me at ease for year 12 french...and you get used to the level, i done aqa and tbh the jump really isn't that big, and you notice how easy it gets near the end of the year when you do practice papers...even my teacher was annoyed at the difficulty...he said the tape might as well say 'question un, la réponse est B' and the real exam pft that was a joke it's one subject i'm 100% sure i have an a in...
the only thing i wasn't happy about at the start of the year was the fact we have to do written essays in the exam (for gcse it was just coursework for writing), and for that it's important you brush up on grammar in holidays...

and even if you aren't used to writing...you'll get better without noticing...i was actually at the bottom of the class for writing, my teacher was very worried and had to pull me out of lesson for a talk (i was getting something awful like 12/13 out of 35...my last mock result was 31/35, one of the highest if not the highest in the class...

a girl in year 13 got a c d d, guess what the a was in? FRENCH :P

if you do aqa you're very lucky though other boards are probs of similar difficulty...

anyone can do french see if they're really up to it :wink:

but if you really don't have much interest in french don't it because then you'll always be in trouble no matter how easy it can get

Reply 9

x_skater_jnoo_x

1

hellogoodbye24

Thanks for the help! Yeah one of the teachers is french but i've been taught by both of them in year 8 and 9 and they're really good, think I might end up taking it and i'm sure i'll work hard enough :smile:

Hm love how you spent the time to come on here and insult the font, nice

x

yeah i'd say take it kid

Reply 10

natty_d

15

Take French, its great. :yep:

Reply 11

hellogoodbye24

OP

2

x_skater_jnoo_x

well here's my most accurate opinion (just finished year 12)...

i do physics, chemistry and biology, so i obv needed a subject to relax and it was french :P
what you said about doing well if you put effort and do well is 100% true because at the start of year 11 i was getting Cs but i kept learning vocab and within 3 weeks (not exaggerating) i was a solid a*...
over holidays all i done was learn vocab and verbs etc > www.verb2verbe.com ...or verbe2verb dunno
it really put me at ease for year 12 french...and you get used to the level, i done aqa and tbh the jump really isn't that big, and you notice how easy it gets near the end of the year when you do practice papers...even my teacher was annoyed at the difficulty...he said the tape might as well say 'question un, la réponse est B' and the real exam pft that was a joke it's one subject i'm 100% sure i have an a in...
the only thing i wasn't happy about at the start of the year was the fact we have to do written essays in the exam (for gcse it was just coursework for writing), and for that it's important you brush up on grammar in holidays...

and even if you aren't used to writing...you'll get better without noticing...i was actually at the bottom of the class for writing, my teacher was very worried and had to pull me out of lesson for a talk (i was getting something awful like 12/13 out of 35...my last mock result was 31/35, one of the highest if not the highest in the class...

a girl in year 13 got a c d d, guess what the a was in? FRENCH :P

if you do aqa you're very lucky though other boards are probs of similar difficulty...

anyone can do french see if they're really up to it :wink:

but if you really don't have much interest in french don't it because then you'll always be in trouble no matter how easy it can get

That was really helpful(Y) I think i'll spend some of the summer i've got left looking over vocab and grammar etc because I am interested in french and i've really enjoyed learning it, excpet for the horrid teacher I had in year 10/11! Think it might be good for me to push myself aswell and work hard at it and hopefully get a good grade :smile:

quite looking forward to it now! x

Reply 12

.Scout.

14

There is no doubt about it; french at A level is hard, but not totally impossible if you are willing to put the work in!
I took my French GCSE a year early, but only came out with a C. Really wish i hadn't botherd with the whole fast-track thing as then i seemed to waste a year after it doing some crappy business french course before i started A level.
I started A level knowing all these business phrases but no grammar or anything.
I worked my arse off,like seriously, and came out with an A at AS, so it is managable!!

Good luck, and hope you enjoy the course, i found it really interesting!

Reply 13

Ooh La La

I loved French AS, I don't know how well I'll of done but loved it! We went over all the tenses again as relearning some of the tenses and grammar was in the AS textbook. You do need to be able to learn vocab quickly, though, and not be afraid of speaking. I found it really fun, though. I'd recommend it.

Reply 14

KieranKelly

I got a B at French GCSE, and I loved it at AS, as I had a small class of 5 (as people aren't big on languages at my school), I found it really enjoyable and interesting. I wasn't the best in GCSE, but its different in A-level, you don't have people in the class who don't want to be there, so there aren't many distractions, and you get to have discussions, and its a good feeling when you can give a good argument in another language.
And...
Languages > Sociology
:awesome:

PS: You also have plenty of time to brush up on grammar and vocabulary.

Reply 15

yesiambored

1

I got a really high A* in it at GCSE and I found the transition to AS massive and I had to work my ars off to try and get an A at A2. On saying that the specification has changed now so I don't know what the new course is like.. but like any subject if you are interested in it and willing to put the work in to get a good grade then go for it!!!!

Reply 16

hazzypants

16

Well I've finished AS french and I got a B in it. I got an A at GCSE French.

It is true that plenty of people with A*s get Ds or Cs at AS level, I know plenty... but I think largely it is due to people not bothering.

Only do it if you like it and your willing to put a bit of work in. Languages are hard, much harder imo than alot of other humanities, however if you like it then it shouldn't be much of a problem.

It is a big jump.. you need to learn lots of tenses and irregular verbs etc. Having said that, I don't think I know all the tenses that well... in my spec (WJEC board) 40% of the grade was oral.. which was really quite easy... you can memorise answers, and have ones that are quite sophisticated memorized and pre-prepared.

All in all learning langauges is fun! I don't think I'm going to continue to A2 as I want to study I science related course at uni... but it really is great fun! You get to tlak lots, learn about a different culture... go on a french exchnage... it's fantastic :smile:

French A Level?

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