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Anywhere here got an A* on GCSE Latin?

I am doing the OCR GCSE Latin course, and I find it's my weakest subject- I am currently working at an A, but I would prefer an A*.
Could any of you wonderfully intelligent people just give me a few tips on how you learn your vocabulary, grammar, prose etc.
Also, on the prose and verse papers, what % of the questions are on style, and which % on translation? What sort of questions are on these paper?

Thanks
Reply 1
I find the best way to learn text is to record it. Its worked for me so far.
Reply 2
I just put the vocab into tables, and then learnt it as iw ent along it just becmae ingrained
Reply 3
*I envy you clever Latin people so much*
Reply 4
I had a A* equivalent in a GCSE equivalent, and have given private lessons in Latin for 5 years now, so see if that helps:

Grammar: Repetitio est mater studiorum. You HAVE to know all forms by heart in order to deal with texts, and you have to come a point some time when you don't have to think about the Grammar any more. So keep repeating them. Try for example to draw one large grid in which you write all tempi for one word, (e.g. one for amare, one for videre, one for audire etc), then one for all the casus etc. It's a lot of work, but it works, really. Also, you can still look at them later for refreshing.
Prose: As was said before, reading the texts aloud is always a good advice. Also, read secondary materials. Have a look at English translations and try to understand how they were translated, the process etc.
Vocabulary: as in any other language, file cards are always a good idea. Or you draw some mind-map for one topic, for example Mythology or Sports or whatever, and sort the vocabulary in. Or write little stories (in English) and insert the Latin words you need to know.
Reply 5
Wish I could have learnt latin.
Reply 6
I got an A with that exam board. All I can say is say goodbye to the remnants of your social life, and prepare to spend an hour daily writing and rewriting out vocab and grammar. You can still get an A* if you dont know all the harder grammar flawlessly, but you must must must must know vocab for the translation. The prose is easy to learn, at least easy to learn well enough for the exam. The virgil will sap your soul, as he seems to make up latin as he writes, but with hours of tedious writing out you can get that sorted.

It is far easier than OCR Ancient Greek, as Homer really did make up the entire language as he went. You dont want to know what I got in that...
Reply 7
I did gcse OCR latin last year and got an A* in it. My advice would be as someone else has already said record yourself to learn the set texts, that worked great for me, and learn all the vocab. Have you heard of the VTP4 program? its a vocab tester that works wonders for helping you to memorise everything. Grammar on the other hand, i never really learnt, i would say its no where near as important as the set texts and vocab, oftentimes you can just blag the exact meaning of a sentence anyway if you know all the words. :smile:.

Edit: For the set texts, i wouldnt bother trying to learn every single word in the translation, just the learn to recognise each line, and the general gist of the lines.
(edited 13 years ago)
Original post by JenJen_1234
I am doing the OCR GCSE Latin course, and I find it's my weakest subject- I am currently working at an A, but I would prefer an A*.
Could any of you wonderfully intelligent people just give me a few tips on how you learn your vocabulary, grammar, prose etc.
Also, on the prose and verse papers, what % of the questions are on style, and which % on translation? What sort of questions are on these paper?

Thanks


Well, from personal experience, i was a fairly average student, yet i managed to get an a* through learning the set text off by heart. It's a really easy way to give yourself a cushion on the other papers as it takes minimal latin skill to gain high marks. :cool:
Reply 9
I got an A* (and am now doing it for AS) and my advice is virtually the same as all the above. Just learn the set text of by heart (very tedious, but worth it) and also the notes that go with it if you feel you need to.
Also, for vocab which I really cannot remember I usually make up little phrases to help :P E.g. 'sanguis' = 'you wouldn't want a sanguis sandwich' and 'oro' = 'you beg for oreos'. I realise how ridiculous this idea could seem :/
I got an A* but for AQA. To learn the vocab I used the taboo tactic-constant, constant repition. The same for set texts.
Reply 11
Original post by saintjimmyz
I got an A with that exam board. All I can say is say goodbye to the remnants of your social life, and prepare to spend an hour daily writing and rewriting out vocab and grammar. You can still get an A* if you dont know all the harder grammar flawlessly, but you must must must must know vocab for the translation. The prose is easy to learn, at least easy to learn well enough for the exam. The virgil will sap your soul, as he seems to make up latin as he writes, but with hours of tedious writing out you can get that sorted.

It is far easier than OCR Ancient Greek, as Homer really did make up the entire language as he went. You dont want to know what I got in that...


I feel for you, i am doing gcse latin and ancient greek at the moment and am finding that in order to get decent grades i am having to work extremely hard, which i don't really need to do so much in other subjects. And Homer - i know! He actually made it all up i swear! :smile:

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