How do I revise for French?

I'm not sure how to revise for French, i'm in Year 10 and I'm struggling with it.
I want to get a Grade 6-7 in GCSE French, could someone give me some tips?

Reply 1

curtiswinter1

Original post by SBizzy

I'm not sure how to revise for French, i'm in Year 10 and I'm struggling with it.
I want to get a Grade 6-7 in GCSE French, could someone give me some tips?

I didn't do the new GCSE, nor did I do French. I got full marks in Spanish, so I hope some of the tips are transferrable.

In general, my biggest tip would be vocab. I remember spending hours learning literally all the vocab lists we were given, and it paid off; many people didn't know one particular word during the exam, but my prep allowed me to overcome this. If you learn as much vocab as you have been given, you will find the exams much easier as you have overcome one hurdle.

For listenings, I would recommend listening to music in the language; it can be engaging, and is a passive way of enhancing your skills in the language. Also, it can be extremely practical for dealing with the pace of exam listenings.

Another tip is your controlled assessment. Hammer at your controlled assessment. Learn it so that you get full marks, because it is invaluable for the actual exam as it alleviates some of your stress.

Finally, past papers and practice translations. If you practise enough, you will always understand what the exam is asking you, and you will develop a technique that is ideal for properly approaching questions. If you do these, be harsh, as an examiner is not lenient with the marks.

Of course, I'm not dictating this is the only thing you should do, or that you should do this at all, but it really helps boost your grade to the top band.

Reply 2

SBizzy

Original post by curtiswinter1

Do you know how to make a revision timetable? I'm not sure ow to make one.

Reply 3

The Introvert

I got an A* in French two years ago, and found that the best way to prepare was to try every listening and reading past papers I could get my hands on. Even if it is a paper from another exam board or from a previous specification, they all help you to get used to hearing different voices and learning vocab that hasn’t come up in your textbook. Just going through and completing just the multiple choice and true/false questions is a relatively relaxed way to build up your skills. Make sure you make a note of any new words either in a book or on your phone.

I also learn all my vocab by creating study sets on Quizlet. It’s a great site/app and still find that the ‘learn’ mode is the quickest way I can learn vocab in A Level French. That being said, I also have friends who prefer flashcards or writing in their vocab out so we all learn differently. Good luck on getting that Grade 7! 🇫🇷

P.s. Don’t leave learning vocab until the last minute. Make sure you spread it out over time so you can re-test yourself so it enters your long-term memory!

Reply 4

curtiswinter1

Original post by SBizzy

Do you know how to make a revision timetable? I'm not sure ow to make one.

If you're in Year 10, you don't need one yet, but only revise what you feel like you don't know, e.g weaknesses or major areas for improvement.
When you come to exams, I advise asking a teacher to make one for you, and just tell them to be strict with it, and only give massive gaps for events, such as clubs etc.

Reply 5

Toastiekid

Heyyyy I’m doing new GCSE French this year!
I’d learn the vocabulary using quizlet, memrize and Duolingo (I love Duolingo) and is practise listening by listening to French news broadcasts (there’s a good website called the news in slow French) or get a textbook with listening practise in. For writing practise the tenses and memorise them! Try to use irregular verbs and adverbs to show off and justify all your opinions :smile:

for reading you should be fine if you know the vocab and tenses, for speaking you need to practise speaking in French and forming the tenses on the spot. If you’re reading something online idk try and describe it in French (out loud or in your head) for the picture based part of the speaking exam. Finally if you have the chance visit the country! I’ve been to France for almost a month the past few years and it’s really helped my French speaking and general fluency.
Good luck with french，let me know if you need any help :biggrin:

Reply 6

JT_888

Original post by SBizzy

Do you know how to make a revision timetable? I'm not sure ow to make one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzcV4aOB8bE - Revision Timetable

As for French and any other language, learning the vocabulary as specified in the specification is key to getting those top grades. If you learn those vocabulary bit by bit and practice listening, reading, speaking and writing there's no reason why you'll fail. I'll tag @Sonechka here as she does French A Level and may have some other useful advice to give you. :smile:

Reply 7

SBizzy

Original post by CoffeeAndPolitics

Thanks.

Reply 8

Ameba

You can also watch French vloggers like Squeezie, Cyprien etc..

Their videos are usually subtitled.

Reply 9

username3113730

Use quizlet! It was literally my best friend during GCSEs haha. It’s a website where you enter all the set vocabulary you have to learn and you can learn it in all sorts of ways, much quickly than just reading over the vocab until it sinks in.

In your writings, use lots of vocabulary and make sure your grammar is accurate. If is isn’t, do some grammar exercises regularly and use quizlet to learn all the vocab.

Do past papers to get you familiar with the listenings and readings. You’ll get really used to the format of the exam and you’ll improve a lot. Learn the vocab you don’t know that you come across.

These are some of the things I did for GCSE, I did 4 languages including French and Spanish and got A*s in all of them :smile:

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 10

Quirky Object

Original post by SBizzy

I'm not sure how to revise for French, i'm in Year 10 and I'm struggling with it.
I want to get a Grade 6-7 in GCSE French, could someone give me some tips?

Moved to foreign languages study help :h:

I don't think I have much more to add; the main thing to do is be as exposed to French as you possibly can and make sure you know the basic grammar and vocab like the back of your hand. If you have any specific French questions, do post them on TSR!

Reply 11

Rhys_M

Sorry for late reply, but for those still Interested - i love GCSE French and have suggestions on how to learn it.

To learn grammar i use different methods:
1) i have the gcse french 9-1 grammar book (https://www.amazon.co.uk/New-French-Grammar-Handbook-Revision/dp/1782947957/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=Gcse+french+grammar&qid=1572009652&sr=8-3) which is a small book which explains simply all gcse grammar contents that you need to know.
2) I use websites like Collins and Lingolia for things like explaining tenses, getting verb tables, ect.
3) I watch Learn french with alexa , on youtube, who is honestly THE BEST french teacher ever- especially for grammar, she explains it SO well.

To learn vocab:
1) The AQA Website has a list of required vocab that you need to learn - I know OCR does too and I think Edexcel does too.
2) I cannot stress enough how good Quizlet is to learn vocab, there are many premade sets of flashcards for different GCSE topics, or you can make your own.,
3) Duolingo - as just something to do if you have a bit of free time, the repetitive style of the ‘game’ will get the vocab they give you stuck in your head (although it is irrelavant to GCSE, it helps your overall French)

For listening:
The only actual GCSE method I currently use is past papers, however there are only a few available, and i have nearly done them all :/
Apart from that, there are not really any other useful recourses, so all you can do is to watch Youtube vlogs or watch tv shows in French (if you can understand them, gcse will be easy).