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GCSE Greek

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I'm surprised more people aren't doing the Odyssey - are you guys given a choice at school or does your teacher choose for you?

Also, how long do you typically spend on GCSE course? Been doing it for about 2 years now from scratch, and wondering if I'm overestimating my chances of an A! Apart from one other person I'm studying with, I don't know of anyone else doing GCSE Ancient Greek, so I don't really have anything to compare against.

I have to admit, I'm really surprised at how many Greek students there are. How many of you go to public schools?

Reply 61

moocows911

We're doing odyssey :smile:

Normally we get 2 hours 20mins a week per subject for 2 yeras, but i'm doing this off timetable so i've only had 45mins a week for a year. But hey... nice to have a challenge i guess

and I'm at a grammar schoo. Not public/private/fee-paying but it is selective....

Reply 62

Psychstudent94

I am doing Odyssey and I am doing Greek! I have been doing it since a couple of months into year 10 from scratch and I do not go to a private or selective school! Surprisingly, I have been to private and grammar schools but neither offered Greek, and I am now at a comprehensive in London! I just really really want an A right now, because I worry it will stand out a lot if I get a B, but I would be happy with a b :smile:

Reply 63

Leigh303

Original post by Emmy94

teachers choose for us, doing odyssey (did herodotus for prose). at a private school, although to be fair am on every scholarship/bursary etc going :tongue:

we get 5 hours a fortnight, BUT split between both latin and greek.

Reply 64

Emmy94

Ah, cool! I'm Home-educated, so I pretty much got to choose what I wanted to do at a GCSE..... those I know at school only seem to be doing Latin at GCSE, so it's interesting to see how many Greek enthusiasts there are and how they work at school!

Yeah, I've had about 2hrs a week, which should feel rushed... but I've actually only started to really feel the pressure for the last couple of weeks!

I'd really like an A grade as well - I was hoping to study it at A level, but I'd have to do it outside of my other A levels at college because there doesn't seem to be anywhere local that provides it!

Reply 65

*Corinna*

Original post by kate.overall

do you literally know what each word means in the text!?? because I am taking the gcse exam (are you?) on monday and seriously I know the text pretty much, but not word for word and I certainly do not know what half the words mean :/ because our gcse greek isn't at that standard

no sorry, I have a degree in Classics, don't panic. :biggrin:

Reply 66

Psychstudent94

Original post by Xristina

no sorry, I have a degree in Classics, don't panic. :biggrin:

thank you for reassuring me!

Reply 67

GameGod

Original post by Emmy94

My class has spent less than a year (only since September) and are all already at a high enough level to get high As or low A*s in the Language Papers, although we get an option to choose whether we do it this year or not. We haven't started preparing any Literature.

I go to a private school.

Reply 68

*Corinna*

Original post by kate.overall

thank you for reassuring me!

haha! Good luck on your exam

Reply 69

Mektrik

Cramming vocab. No idea on any grammar but I managed an A* in Latin by the same technique.

Reply 70

bosch105

Original post by Mektrik

Cramming vocab. No idea on any grammar but I managed an A* in Latin by the same technique.

ditto - might go over some verb endings, irregular verbs and participles (...whatever they are...... :s-smilie:

)

Reply 71

Psychstudent94

Good luck everyone! I have it tomorrow as well! i've never really learnt any of the verb or grammar tables.. but you get the jist of it and can guess person and tense usually :smile:

Reply 72

gphallas

Original post by toff33popcorn

Unofficial Mark Scheme:

- Where did Echo live?
In the mountains/ Mountains

- Who else did she talk to?
The gods themselves

- What was Zeus' opinion of echo?
He thought she was useful

- Write down and translate the words that show Zeus wanted to deceive Hera
''TES GUNAIKOS OUK EIDUIA'' (The wife not knowing)

- What did Zeus ask Echo to do?
He asked her to engage in pointless conversation with Hera in order to delay Hera

- What was Echo's reaction?
She was willing

- What happened as a result of her reaction?
The nymph(s) it was possible that she/they escaped the notice of the suspicious/jealous goddess

- What implies that the plan worked for a while?
''TELOS''

- What happened when Hera found out?
She grew angry with Echo to such an extent that she cursed her

- What was Echo's punishment?
She was cursed and could never speak of her own accord but could only copy
the words she heard

Translation:
Many nymphs admired Narcissus, a very beautiful (certain) young man. But he was so arrogant that he sent them all away, announcing that he will love no-one. One day, with luck, Echo looked at Narcissus and at once loved him and as quickly as possible, pursued him, stretching out her hands. Narcissus said ''Don't touch me!''. Echo said ''touch me!'' Narcissus said ''you insult me, you say that I love you?'' ''I love you'' Echo replied crying. Therefore Narcissus fled away/ran away as quickly as possible.

- What was Echo's feelings?
She was stricken with grief

- What happened to her as a result?
She faded away but her voice survived in the caves and mountain(s)

- In the meantime, where was Narcissus wandering?
He was wandering through the woods and arrived at a pool

- What did proceed to do at the pool?
He sat down to drink water

- What happened to make him fall in love?
A certain beautiful face appeared

- What shows that this love was powerful
''DEINOTATA''

- What happened here at this point in the story?
(Tick the first box) Every time Narcissus reached out to embrace the image,
the image would disappear

- What made him shout out?
He noticed it was him, himself (that he loved)

- What was Narcissus' transformation?
He transformed into a delicate flower

- Why was this appropriate?
For Narcissus himself was beautiful

Derivations:
- autos: automatic, autonomy
meaning: self-government

- akousthenta: acoustic
meaning: to do with hearing

If I've any questions lemme know! :smile:

Overall, It was a decent paper. The easiest thing for me was the translation. How'd you guys find it?

On the whole correct I think... apart from i put that it was appropriate because the flower was named after him. I think i have lost a few marks on the translation myself though :/ only a few marks thoughh

Reply 73

ssc:

ahh yes, the 'appropriate' question was a little ambiguous, I felt. Mm the language paper was easier than expected, let's see how lang 2 is!

Reply 74

Mektrik

Original post by gphallas

How is it appropriate? You realise that flower was given his name after the story...
I put something about him being beautiful, and also that a flower is basically just a face; reflecting the way in which Narcissus is so obsessed with his face.

Reply 75

Psychstudent94

Original post by gphallas

there are 5 questions I completely got wrong, 11 definitely completely right ad 6 that are mostly completely write with minor errors.. and in the translation I made some minor errors. Do you think I can still get an A?

Reply 76

gphallas

Original post by kate.overall

it depends on what questions they are.. because if you got 5 of the three mark questions wrong.. then that is 30 percent gone, so it will be hard.. but you never know :smile:

we could all be wrong with those answers up there........

Reply 77

bosch105

I found it quite difficult, same problem as you. I knew the vocab but was pretty confused as to the meaning of the sentence... :s-smilie:

Reply 78

Emmy94

Original post by toff33popcorn

Just out of curiosity...is anyone gonna take greek to AS?

If I get the grade I need! :biggrin:

I found the Myth paper quite easy - apart from confusing 'luck' with 'wall'. So instead I translated something about Echo falling in love with Narcissus over a wall or something :colondollar:

! Whoops!

The History paper was REALLY hard though!! Our teacher kept telling us it would be the hardest of the four papers but I really struggled to make sense of my sentences, even though I knew most of the vocab. It also didn't help that there was music blaring next door at the examination centre!

It's such a shame that I think language paper 2 went so badly, especially as I felt the other three went well. :frown:

I hope my off day won't bring down my entire grade!!

Reply 79

LuxVeritatis

Original post by toff33popcorn

I think it was: On the island there was so great a fire that destroyed all the trees. The spartans were retreating to the shore to run away, but Cleon easily captured them and took them towards Athens as prisoners of war.

For this, I got:

On the island, there was so great a fire that it destroyed all of the trees. The Spartans were forced to retreat to the shore to run away, upon which Cleon having easily captured them took them to Athens as prisoners of war.