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A level Mandarin

What's The gap here like between GCSE and A level?

I got an A* in GCSE, so wondering if it's possible? I am good at writing, and recognising characters and vocabulary and therefore suppose writing is my weakest area, but all I do is learn it before the exam and rattle it off.
Sorry you've not had any responses about this. :frown: Are you sure you’ve posted in the right place? Posting in the specific Study Help forum should help get responses. :redface:

I'm going to quote in Tank Girl now so she can move your thread to the right place if it's needed. :h: :yy:

Spoiler

It's well tough. For me that was. I gave up even though I'm ethnically Chinese :redface:
Basically A Level Mandarin is well close to the standard of language used daily in China, maybe even exceeds the standard of Chinese spoken in Singapore (my home country). So you'll need to improve your vocabulary and speak the language with confidence in order to succeed.
(edited 8 years ago)
Original post by Xphoenix
What's The gap here like between GCSE and A level?

I got an A* in GCSE, so wondering if it's possible? I am good at writing, and recognising characters and vocabulary and therefore suppose writing is my weakest area, but all I do is learn it before the exam and rattle it off.


Hey, I've also finished GCSE mandarin this year and will be onto A-level mandarin in the six form i'm going to. I'm also interested to see what the gap will be O.O
Have you decided to study it and if so where ? :redface:
Original post by Xphoenix
What's The gap here like between GCSE and A level?

I got an A* in GCSE, so wondering if it's possible? I am good at writing, and recognising characters and vocabulary and therefore suppose writing is my weakest area, but all I do is learn it before the exam and rattle it off.


Chinese in A Level requires you to write A LOT! because in Paper 4 it will requires you read super long stories (some is even a script and it has like around 100 or less A4 pages) and write about how the writer thinks when he/she wrote the story in 600-800 words. In paper 3 you need to write composition consists of 250-400 words. So if you are weaker in writing, I suggest you to maybe just take AS Level Chinese? because you only need to take Paper 2 (Comprehension) and Paper 3 in AS Level.
Original post by sherleentanissa
Chinese in A Level requires you to write A LOT! because in Paper 4 it will requires you read super long stories (some is even a script and it has like around 100 or less A4 pages) and write about how the writer thinks when he/she wrote the story in 600-800 words. In paper 3 you need to write composition consists of 250-400 words. So if you are weaker in writing, I suggest you to maybe just take AS Level Chinese? because you only need to take Paper 2 (Comprehension) and Paper 3 in AS Level.


I'm assuming you have to write this on the spot, or are you allowed to prepare ?
Original post by DaiBokenZERO
I'm assuming you have to write this on the spot, or are you allowed to prepare ?


of course your teacher will teach you the background information to all the stories, all the characters description and the settings for the paper 4. They will also let you know the topics for the paper 3, but then they cannot predict exactly how you will be asked because they can ask you variety of things just from a story. In paper 4 you need to answer 3 questions, each from different stories and each questions have to be answered in 600-800 words.
Original post by sherleentanissa
of course your teacher will teach you the background information to all the stories, all the characters description and the settings for the paper 4. They will also let you know the topics for the paper 3, but then they cannot predict exactly how you will be asked because they can ask you variety of things just from a story. In paper 4 you need to answer 3 questions, each from different stories and each questions have to be answered in 600-800 words.


Thanks for the info. Seems really challenging but thats what makes mandarin fun :smile:
I'm fluent and I didn't consider taking it for a minute. I've seen people from China struggle through and end up with Bs and Cs. Myself, I got an A* at GCSE and 100% and when I tried a practice paper, I ended up with an E. You'll have to work incredibly hard if you want to do well. That said, Mandarin at fluency is a great skill to have in the future especially if you want to do business related stuff because employers look upon it very favourably. Good luck if you end up trying :smile:

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