AQA AS Unit 1 French exam 21st May 2013

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Unoffical markscheme anyone? And for qn on the listening, did you have to say 'failure' at school? Could it be anything else?

It said 'l'échec scolaire' so for 3/3 you probably would have needed that :smile:

Reply 381

Rooroo96

Original post by Goosegogs

It said 'l'échec scolaire' so for 3/3 you probably would have needed that :smile:

Ahhhh

okay thanks, damn i usually get full marks in listening and it pulls my other sections up, i wasnt quite sure what that word meant :'(

Reply 382

Goosegogs

Original post by Rooroo96

Ahhhh

okay thanks, damn i usually get full marks in listening and it pulls my other sections up, i wasnt quite sure what that word meant :'(

Aww don't worry, can't believe I put grandant rather than grandissant :frown:

Praying for low grade boundaries/UMS :smile:

Reply 383

Rooroo96

Does someone remember all the qns? Is this it? So it was: LISTENING: reasons for drinking alchohol, relationship status of celebs, senegalese director, the pros and cons of mobile phones, READING: cafe breaks, speed dating, uniform, grammar, ESSAYS: holidays, tv and cinema? Have i forgotten anything? Im almost certain theres one more qn i forgot as there were 12 qns including all three essays right?

Reply 384

Goosegogs

Original post by Rooroo96

The one about adverts on tv/internet, for the reading paper?

Reply 385

Rooroo96

Original post by Goosegogs

The one about adverts on tv/internet, for the reading paper?

Ahhhh yup you're right! Thankyou, that was the last one :biggrin:

those were all the questions :smile:

Reply 386

milworthy

does anyone have a copy of the exam paper to upload?

Reply 387

elliebray

Original post by Goosegogs

I thought so, what did you put for the one on the top of the page on the right, i put N but i don't know :/ it didnt seem to be explicitly about uniform

I think I put N, if that one was about suppression of individuality - I think it said something like 'anything that makes school more removed from the outside world, I'm against' :smile:

Reply 388

Goosegogs

Original post by elliebray

I think I put N, if that one was about suppression of individuality - I think it said something like 'anything that makes school more removed from the outside world, I'm against' :smile:

Thank god, thought the question was worded a bit weirdly - were we supposed to say what their opinion was?

Reply 389

elliebray

Original post by Goosegogs

Thank god, thought the question was worded a bit weirdly - were we supposed to say what their opinion was?

yep

that one wasn't as obvious as the rest, I found.

Reply 390

Annaaa123

Original post by jelmes96

Same, but I felt that I spoke very basic French because of exam pressure. Oh well, it's sufficient. Like i said, I used the idea of tourism THANKS to holidays (because that is generally a positive and a negative for holidays)

Same with me, I basically used the most simple phrases possible because I knew I'd get them right :smile:

Reply 391

Smarticus

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/41702

Reply 392

cuddlecatsalways

I did this exam and actually found it to be one of the easiest ones I've ever done! (Although I'm an A2 student and it was my third time re-taking) I normally get borderline B/C in past papers but really think I could have got an A in this paper, hopefully :smile:

Everyone seems to have chosen the Holidays or TV essay question but I chose the film one on what makes a good film as I've studied Francois Truffaut for my cultural topic who is a film director so that was really lucky I guess! Although I was wondering, I ran out of time in the exam when writing the essay and wrote about 4 sides then looked up at the clock and realised I had 1 minute left so started writing crazily and could see people sat nearby watching me haha, but yeah I didn't have time to write a conclusion that was all, so i just wrote quickly 'Sorry mr/mrs examiner, I didn't have time to write a conclusion!!!' and I'd heard that if this happens they can refer to your essay planning sheet and credit you still or whatever? So i asked the examiners afterwards and they didn't actually know? Does anybody know if they will? or if the conclusion is even that important/how many marks i'm likely to lose? Really annoying me because I thought the rest of the exam went really well! made the same mistake as everyone else and put 'grandant' in the grammar gapfill though, so annoying!

Reply 393

Goosegogs

Original post by Rooroo96

Do you remember the questions for the senegalese director?

Reply 394

randomstudent137

anyone have an unofficial mark scheme???

Reply 395

BuddingAchiever

goddam french irregular verbs... why on earth would the present participle be grandissant.... and make everyone's lives easier... in my head i'd like to think that it's grandant but the french world would disapprove :s-smilie:

Reply 396

caisku

Original post by Morgenmuffel96

But surely it's referring to the families which are single parent families rather than single parent millions?

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i guess in english that makes logical sense but the question said "6.6 familles (can't remember what they said), 1.2 millions sont___"

so surely although yes they were talking about the family in the first part of the sentence, the latter didn't mention the word family but it did mention millions? egh idk good luck btw for results day :smile:

Reply 397

catherine95

Original post by cuddlecatsalways

don't want to panic you but I've been told not writing a conclusion caps your answer at a C no matter how good it is.. I could be wrong but this is what I was told by my teacher!

Reply 398

Wilzo16

Original post by catherine95

don't want to panic you but I've been told not writing a conclusion caps your answer at a C no matter how good it is.. I could be wrong but this is what I was told by my teacher!

I was told this once by a teacher :frown:

its kinda annoying cause i didnt get time to write a conclusion too. However I do think this has to be a myth. I think that not including a conclusion wouldn't necessarily limit the essay to a C grade. Lets have a look at how they mark these essays.

• Content (A02 - 20 marks available)
• Quality of Written Communication (A03 - 15 marks available)

-> TOTAL: 35 marks

Content (A02 - 20 marks available)
An essay in the top band (17-20 marks) for "content" will (according to AQA's official mark schemes) have "a good number of valid points which have been expanded", a "good structure", and will contain "little, if any irrelevance repetition or lack of clarity".

By contrast the "satisfactory" band for "content (9-12 marks) is defined as being "generally" relevant but often "superficial" in places. These responses "fail to develop" their points which is made worse by an "erratic" structure and a lack of clarity - the mark scheme describes how these responses often "have a number of sentences that are unclear".

Furthermore, AQA have now begun to instruct their examiners when to "cap" the amount of marks given in the content band. For instance, if a question requires one to give two sides of an argument - then only explaining one side will cap your marks for A02 (content).

In the june 2012 paper ( for question 1 - "Pourquoi est-ce que le shopping est si populaire? A votre avis, est-ce que le shopping joue un rôle positif dans la vie des jeunes?") the mark scheme stated that" Both parts of the question should be attempted. If either part is omitted, the maximum mark for Content will be 12."

Therefore I believe that if the essay begins with a clear introduction, follows a logical structure, deals with ALL elements of the question (i.e in this case - mentioning both positive and negative sides) and develops a wide range of RELEVANT points which are written in clear readable french then I do not think missing out a conclusion would hold it back too much. I think it wouldnt achieve 20/20 for A02 because it is by omitting a conclusion that one spoils the structure of an essay but I think that it could still easily achieve 17/18 marks for content just by being relevant, developed and accurate. In essence, the "content" band is really assessing how much the response has "addressed" the question. At the end of the day, its priority is not the extent to which it has followed the generic essay structure ( intro, main body, conclusion - though it does assess this in part) but rather how "thorough" the essay is. A very good essay will leave the examiner feeling like the question has been answered fully with a "depth of treatment" (AQA's term).

The focus of the content band could be summed up by this question: "How clear, relevant, wide- ranging and well-illustrated is the content of this essay in relation to its title?"

Quality of Language (A03 - 15 marks available)

• Range of vocabulary (5 marks) - assesses how "appropriate" and "wide-ranging" the vocab is - really testing how much you know your topic-vocab
• Range of structures (5 marks) - asseses the "variety" of grammatical structures used - i.e using "si clauses", the "subjunctive mood" and possibly usage of pronouns etc
• Accuracy (5 marks) - asseses grammatical correctness

I do not think missing a conclusion would harm the A03 marks too much as the "quality of language" is not something that is exclusive to the concluding paragraph of the response but is rather something that is assessed throughout all parts of the essay.

Therefore, I am very much of the opinion that our french teachers sometimes lie to us about how these essays are marked. One french teacher informed my class that we could get no higher than a "D" grade in our oral and written exams if we did not include "statistics" and " personal examples".Truth be told, advice like this has not really helped average students like me and I think it leads to much confusion amongst others. At the end of the day, the focus should be on the french and not the structure or inclusion of "statistics" etc! In my opinion there is no formula to an AS-level French essay. You cannot label an essay a C grade just because it has not expressed a certain amount of points, followed a rigid structure or not included statistics/examples. These are still quite important but should not determine success or make or break your grade in an exam that is, above all, designed to test your french. The difference of two grades, therefore, does not rest on the concluding paragraph and if you have developed all your points neatly then there is no cause for concern. Whilst I agree that the conclusion is still a crucial aspect of any essay- its importance is argubly diminished in the french AS-level essays as the examiners mark your work based on relevance, clarity and detail - with a smaller section devoted to consideration of "logical" and "well-organised" structure. If anything determines your grade in this essay - it will be how fully you've addressed the aspects of the question + the range of different points you've made and how relevant they are. Relevance, range and clarity are the overriding factors here.

I see no reason why a candidate that has written an essay without a proper conclusion yet is wide-ranging (in terms of vocab and content) well-developed and accurate in its main body could still get 30-32/35 overall according to the mark schemes.