Latin as 2015

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Remember to focus on perfecting the Section A, since it's worth 70 marks.

Well, of course you should try to make it perfect. The time they allocate though is still a lot more than necessary. I'm not allowed to leave the room earlier, so I'll just have to figure something out :P

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Reply 21

Azarashi

Original post by *Stefan*

Maybe for you, but for others, I'm sure there are some who won't have enough time.

Reply 22

notathuggee

Original post by quentinhamilton

I'm not ready for this :frown:

just remember foedus, foederis, n. means treaty, agreement

Reply 23

_Fergo

Original post by Azarashi

Maybe for you, but for others, I'm sure there are some who won't have enough time.

Maybe, which is why made the answer personal. I (capital) think it's excessive, because I've never spent more than 40 mins, inclusive of revising what I have written. Not saying others do not need the extra time.

Original post by notathuggee

You can say that they allocated excess time when you get 100%
Until then, :cool:

No need to get aggressive. Getting 100% is definitely not because of the time. Not even close actually.

They may give you 5 hours and still not get full marks. Why? Because that depends on whether you have fully mastered the language or not, which in turn depends on knowledge of grammar and vocabulary.

(The "you" is generic)

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Reply 24

Azarashi

Original post by notathuggee

manus means band as well as hand
an acies, aciei, f. is a line, battle line, army
bos Iuppiter and vis and domus are irregular

Yah those irregulars... I have revised them but still hope they won't come up in the English to Latin ('_' )

Reply 25

Mannz

What the hell... I struggle to get it all done within the hour and a half...

Reply 26

_Fergo

Well, to return to the topic, this is my general advice:

1. When you can't get out the meaning of a sentence, take a breath, and break it down to its principal parts: a. Verb b. Subject(s) c. Object(s). Translate these on their own. Then get the secondary parts (absolute ablative, adverbs etc) and translate them on their own. Then retry the sentence.

2. When translating an absolute ablative, ALWAYS look at the main verb! They are usually lenient on this, but ensure that you can actually link the two together.

3. Noli (imperative) means "do not do that". Any other translation is incorrect.

4. If a participle confuses you, analyse it before attempting the translation. Find its tense, subject and object (if any), as well as the verb it depends on, and ensure that your translation agrees with these.

5. Double-check tenses and verb endings!

6. If there's something you can't translate, still attempt the construction. For example, if you saw "ob dolorem", even if you didn't know what dolor means, try translating the construction (ie on account of).

7. Verbs with multiple meanings, like confero, are tricky. Use the meaning that best suits the context. Other meanings can be considered as incorrect, even if they are mentioned in the vocab list.

8. Don't forget to colour the subjunctives (ie, a jussive subjunctive means "let us..." )!

9. It's always better to say the name a pronoun refers to than to just translate the pronoun. Latin differentiates between the two, but English cannot. For example, don't repeat "he said to him that he will do this if he doesn't accept the treaty". The subjects and objects get mixed up here.

Feel free to ask if you need any help whatsoever!

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(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 27

Mannz

Original post by notathuggee

Remember to focus on perfecting the Section A, since it's worth 70 marks.

Can I ask, how do you approach translation? Is it mainly vocab knowledge or tenses and endings etc?

Reply 28

username1468462

So, fellow Latinists, what would be your number one piece of advice for everyone?

I say this not really being able to think of one myself at the moment! :smile:

Reply 29

username1468462

Original post by Mannz

Can I ask, how do you approach translation? Is it mainly vocab knowledge or tenses and endings etc?

Definitely vocab knowledge + tenses, less of the endings (I know what the subject/object is and stuff but I could be a lot better)

But I've found that you can pick up the grammar from the context; that way will never get you 100% - especially for Cicero - but it gets the job done to a very decent standard (well it has for me in the past - will I be saying this tomorrow?!) :colondollar:

Reply 30

Mannz

Original post by z1ggystardust

See i've been bogged down trying to learn endings and constructions, like ablative absolute etc, but my vocab knowledge is terrible. I'm pretty good with tenses. I don't expect to get 100%, hoping for 80% :/
Terrified for tomorrow!

Reply 31

username1468462

Original post by Mannz

Me too - 80% is my realistic aim - well really I just want to get 160 UMS overall to get an A so whatever marks will get me that are what I want!

Reply 32

Azarashi

Original post by z1ggystardust

So, fellow Latinists, what would be your number one piece of advice for everyone?

I say this not really being able to think of one myself at the moment! :smile:

Hmm.... everyone will probably have heard this a million times but... DO.NOT.LEAVE.GAPS.
A very small chance is better than 0 after all. Use the context, use whatever fits when you don't know what the word means, I guess.

Reply 33

Mannz

Original post by z1ggystardust

Me too - 80% is my realistic aim - well really I just want to get 160 UMS overall to get an A so whatever marks will get me that are what I want!

Me too, I really want to study Classics at uni, but I'm scared I'm not good enough. Thank you for your help btw, think I'm gonna try and blitz through as much vocab as possible today then do a paper in the morning!

Reply 34

username1468462

Original post by Mannz

Just keep at it - I'm sure you'll be absolutely fine!

The other thing that keeps me calm (ish) is the thought that just one year ago I found GCSE passages hard - now I can (sort of) do Cicero. So if I was to retake the language paper again next year, by that logic I'd hopefully be much better with another year of practice! :biggrin: