French Revision help pls :c

I'm really bad at AQA French Listening and Reading exams. I just flop and get realllllllly low. I absolutely fluked the mocks and got an A in the listening and a B in the reading but otherwise it's D's and U's lmao. I just can't understand what they're saying. (Still predicted for an A ayyyy).

It's weird because I've got 3 As and an A* in my coursework, but those are just memory tests really.

(I'm going to re-do both of my writing coursework so once everything is in check I should have Unit 3 and Unit 4 both A*s bc I got full marks in one of the speaking tests lmao)

So, assuming I don't re-do some of my coursework, what would be the minimum grade I could get on the reading and listening to still average out to an A?

If i do re-do my coursework, what's the minimum for an A* overall?

Okay, so now I need help with the actual listening and reading exams. Ways to improve? Ideally to get an A* but I'd take an A at this point.

Literally anything would be gr8
luv u <3

Reply 1

DrAdrenaline

Original post by zanner

Memorising all of the required vocabulary helps a lot! Heres a good website I found for that: http://www.memrise.com/course/52220/aqa-gcse-french-vocabulary/

Reply 2

Odium

Original post by swopnil

Memorising all of the required vocabulary helps a lot! Heres a good website I found for that: http://www.memrise.com/course/52220/aqa-gcse-french-vocabulary/

thank youuu this looks like it'll help a lot

Reply 3

DrAdrenaline

Original post by zanner

thank youuu this looks like it'll help a lot

You are welcome! :smile:

Reply 4

glowanti

Basically, if you get full marks on your coursework (which is really accessible and you can do) you'll be able to get a C in GCSE French without taking the listening or reading exam.

So, say you got an A* in your coursework, it would average out that if you got an A in both the listening and reading paper, as they are worth 40%, you should come out with an A*

if you got two B's (probably would have to be higher B's rather than boundary of a C) you could probably get an A.

I do however have some advice to help you improve your grades:
For listening, use the 5 minutes set at the start to annotate AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE in the paper. This means if you don't have time to concentrate on what is being said because they're moving on to the next question, you can look down at your notes and make a choice from there. Also, consider whether there is two translations (e.g shopping could be aller au magasins or faire du shopping) so you will be able to identify either.

For reading, remember when it comes to sentence-answered questions, you must translate as CLOSELY to the text as possible. Because I have a good understanding I tend to summarize the sentence in my own words and that's why I miss a few from full marks because the mark scheme wants you to literally translate it as it is.

If you're unsure on a word, try and identify it in English - a lot of French words (mainly nouns) are pretty close to an English synonym or the English word itself, so it makes it really easier to read the text.

Understandably, as a child you didn't learn English as a language in class - you learnt it from your surroundings and being constantly surrounded by the language. So, you should do the same for French. To surround myself with the language I do the following;
Watch 'Petit Potam' on YouTube (this is basically a kids cartoon about a little hippo in French, it's slightly boring but the language in it is more child friendly and therefore easier to understand, I usually play this in the background to get familiar with subconsciously hearing the French accent, or watch it while getting ready)

Change your phone settings to French. You would think you wouldn't have a clue what is going on, but considering you already know how to navigate your phone without reading the English, it helps you understand the French.

Listening to French songs and learning them. My personal favorites (and a great party trick) are Liberee Delivree (Let It Go in French) and L'amour brille sous les etoiles (Can you Feel the Love Tonight? from The Lion King in French) which actually helped me in the exam as I noticed some words from the song that I wouldn't have otherwise known.

Watching English movies with the French language (but English subs) also really helps.

I'm pretty passionate about French as you can tell, so if you need any help on anything etc feel free to message me :smile:

Hope this helped

Reply 5

justpondering

Vocab, vocab, vocab!! It's really frustrating not knowing an answer because of one word, but revising your vocab like crazy really helps with those little marks!

As for listening, you need to adjust your ears to the sound of French. Having French radio on in the background really helps to train your ears to the sounds, so you can pick out words instead of just a mix of sounds.

DO EVERY SINGLE PAST PAPER. They help so much! The same types of questions (multiple choice, long answers etc.) are used year in, year out, and by doing the past papers you can find out your strengths and weaknesses and work on them. The past papers also give you a really good feel for what the real exam will be like.

Good luck :biggrin: