Latin AS results, what did people get?

Has anybody else started the A2 literature yet? I'm halfway through the Virgil, and I've really enjoyed it so far. Definitely better than the Ovid last year.

no crap should I have started it!? I haven't done any work over the summer except to work on some FP1 just to keep it up to standard, ah man

An 80-something and a 90-something: can't remember which way around...

I just wanted to see what you guys thought of the A2 so far?

I've really enjoyed it so far. Virgil is finished, and I didn't find it too hard, relatively speaking. It was great to read a little bit of one of the most famous poems ever written! I've just started Tacitus, which is seriously tough - the sentences are so long! I did some unseen work before the Oxford CAT (Classics Admissions Test), but I'm mostly leaving it until closer to the exam; although I am continuing to learn more vocab, as they could throw anything at you in the A2 exam...

I've finished the Virgil too and I loved it! I really dislike Dido, but the language is beautiful and the description of 'Fama'...
I'm half way through the Sallust who wrote similarly to Tacitus and seems to have an aversion to verbs: but the plot of the story painted is quite interesting.

Ooh, how did the CAT go? I did the PAT on the 6th...
I've only just started doing unseens this half term and literally started properly learning vocab this week - it's a little bit annoying that there isn't a vocab list, in my opinion!

Definitely agree, Virgil's poetry is every bit as good as it's supposed to be.

Yes, I know what you mean - it often seems to me that Latin prose authors worked on the assumption that the longer the sentence, the better it must be! Tacitus is all about the misdemeanours of Nero, which is quite fun.

CAT went reasonably well, thank you. It didn't seem massively difficult, and I certainly understood the gist of both poetry and prose well enough. I know I made a couple of errors (a few vocabulary items I didn't know), so I don't think it was particularly amazing, but I hope it was good enough to get me an interview. 96% of applicants are interviewed for Classics anyway, so the odds are in my favour (The Hunger Games pun not originally intended!)

How was the PAT? I'm very impressed that you take Latin alongside science-maths subjects - I'm quite a traditional humanities/arts person, as I take English Lit and History alongside Latin at A2 (and also play violin and piano).

The lack of a vocab list certainly makes it hard to know what to learn, but I guess the idea of A2 is that you can read unadapted extracts (i.e. not altered to suit a defined vocab list)...

That's a perfect description of how a Roman history writer's mind seems to work. It's irritating when we're translating, but I suppose they didn't have us in mind when they were writing it :P

The Sallust is the Catiline conspiracy which is entertaining, compared with last year's 'In Verrem' but I'd have Virgil's Aeneid over it any day!

That sounds like good odds to me! I imagine everyone will have made some kind of error with vocab...

I've applied for physics and philosophy, and they interview 45% of the candidates. Cue panic! The PAT wasn't too bad, but I can't really tell if it was good enough for an interview; I guess time will tell.

I take English Lit, Physics, Maths and Further Maths at A2 alongside Latin (and also play the oboe, alongside various other 'hobbies').

I like the idea of being able to read real Latin and it is more rewarding when you know that you're translating exactly what was written, but a general idea that wasn't just "know all the words" would be very nice at the moment!

You're probably right in terms of the CAT - I just imagine lots of stereotypical terrifyingly-intelligent privately-schooled Oxford applicants who have been studying Latin since they were 5 years old...

Physics and Philosophy sounds like an amazing and really interesting course... and you sound like the sort of person who should get an interview! Your combination of subjects is pretty impressive; I'm not sure I could do five A2s (well, four-and-a-half I suppose with FM). I do English Lit, History and Latin, and I'm working towards Grade 8 violin and piano next summer, which is easily equivalent to another A2 - so I consider myself to be doing four. You still trump me though!

You're probably right in terms of the CAT - I just imagine lots of stereotypical terrifyingly-intelligent privately-schooled Oxford applicants who have been studying Latin since they were 5 years old...

Haha not a generalisation there at all

I did latin from GCSE and A-level (got an A overall for AS), at a state school, maybe I'll be one of the few non-toffs not applying then? ;P

I don't think CAT was as bad as I've seen it be in other papers, its mainly hope and pray on some of the vocab though :L

Haha, I know it's not really like that Just scared of my relative performance compared to everyone else in the CAT... And in case you hadn't guessed, I do go to a state school.

I got 100 in language and 80 in literature when I took my AS back in the day (two years ago now). State schooled as well, so you're not alone, poster above!

Any advice for getting a mark like that on the language paper? Language is my strong point but I got a lower mark in it than in literature