A level Arabic?

Hey all,
I'm currently doing 3 A levels (English Lit, French and History) and realized that it would be a great idea to do A level Arabic, considering I'm a fluent Arabic speaker (I got an A at IGCSE Arabic). Although this may be in a sense 'cheating' at the end of the day I would have 4 full A levels, no matter what anybody says.

Problem is-A level Arabic isn't taught at my school, and the possibility of sitting the examination only came up by chance in a discussion with my school examiner. Although ideally this exam is going to be quite easy, I'm sure there's a technique to it, and I couldn't exactly understand what was required from the syllabus I got online. Oh, and my examination board's Edexcel.

Thanks for any advice/feedback...

Hi, I'm doing A-level Arabic, Russian and English. The Arabic exams are in Modern Standard Arabic, which is considerably different to spoken Arabic, and more complex. Which Arabic dialect are you fluent in? How is your MSA Arabic?

Hey!

I'm fluent in the Egyptian and Lebanese dialects, and my MSA (classical) is of a good standard. I assume the listening part is in MSA, right?

You've definitely got a good background then! Yep, everything in the exam will be in MSA...You'll do literature, it's challenging for me, but you should find it easier considering your level of experience with the language... We're doing "The Theif and the Dogs" by Naguib Mahfouz...the exams are entirely in Arabic, and will question the plot and characters of the book which we will then elaborate on.......I know there is a selection of literature to choose from, so the best idea is to contact edexcel to find out exactly what papers are available......technique wise, i'd say if do english-lit you already have a good idea about how to structure your answers...best of luck!

hey.
im doing A-level arabic too, i did a-level arabic in yr 11 as i did my GCSE in yr10 and achieved A* i decided it was reallyy really easyy and wanted to try doing A-level. i was in the same situation as you are in i was in an english school and they said i could do it but it was REALLY REALLY hard i did it with edexcel as well,
no1. i didnt know any key words or phrases they would be looking for
no2. i didnt know any of the texts they gave us options of taking
no3. i hadnt researched the topics
no4. i would have done much better if i had spoken to someone who had already taken a-level arabic.
i got a B for As and a C for A2 overall it came to a C.
but i decided since im doing only three subjects (maths, physics and art) i want to retake arabic and try to get something in the a-a* range since its my own language being half iraqi and half syrian.
i just thought i might warn you lol and that maybe earthly would tell me more about the topics, stories and poems i could look at since she gets taught it.

hello, i want to do Arabic A level as (i`m fluent in it) i`m doing the AS on the 19th of May, and the A2 in June.
i was wondering about the books , was the exam hard? for you who done it before.
and do i have to read all these books to answer the assay question? because the past paper that i have, ar en`t about the lit. Arabic just i have to choose 2 topics. so it doesn`t have to be lit.
can u please help? i`ll be greatful. x

Are you fluent in both a dialect (if so which dialect) and MSA? I started it from scratch (using the al-kitaab series) in sept 09 and am finding it very challenging. 'The thief and the dogs' is the only actual book i have to use for the exam, all the other exams are just translational tests. When did you start learning Arabic? Is it you first language?

yeah Arabic is sort of mt first language:P but do i have to real that book to answer the essay question or do i choose other subjest to write about ie ( culture, history) must the two topics bo from different groups?
thanks x

hey, im also sitting the arabic A2 on tuesday and am realllyyyyy confused about section two...i first of all thought we had 3 hours to answer all eight questions and i was panicking about not having enough time..i think i just realised i only have to answer two out of the eight is that true? i didnt bother reading 'The Theif and the dogs', i just watched the film :P..i got an A on my AS so i think i should be fine..i just wanted to check i understood what we had to do for section two was write..thanks all

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I done the A2 yesterday.. how did you lot find it? (incase you done it aswel)

I didn't like it :/
maybe because it was the first time i write 2 Arabic essays in 2 years, I found it quite challenging.
The comprehension part was not too bad, a bit weird though :/
Translation was good
Essays - first one was good
second one not so good, I didn't know what to write about, was stuck on words and forgot how to write in fus7a :s

How did you find it?

Well all I know about arabic is fus7a so it was okay for me i guess. I really enjoyed the first part of the Al Liss wal Kilab question as i has studied the book and yeah the comprehension was kind of weird.

I didn't like it :/
maybe because it was the first time i write 2 Arabic essays in 2 years, I found it quite challenging.
The comprehension part was not too bad, a bit weird though :/
Translation was good
Essays - first one was good
second one not so good, I didn't know what to write about, was stuck on words and forgot how to write in fus7a :s

How did you find it?

Well all I know about arabic is fus7a so it was okay for me i guess. I really enjoyed the first part of the Al Liss wal Kilab question as i has studied the book and yeah the comprehension was kind of weird.