French A-level (edexcel)- isit as hard as ppl make out??

OP

anyone done this course? :confused:

Reply 2

tash087

2

Yes, i've just finished the Edexcel French A-Level.

Reply 3

Jezrey

I personally really struggled with the french a-level course after having got A* at gcse. I got a d at as-level and had to work my socks off to get a b overall.

It was however, a really enjoyable course but i think the trap that most people can fall in to is thinking that languages do not require that much revision come exam time- they do!!!

Reply 4

cphilp41

Sorry to like completely contradict u, bt i thought french AS was really easy. I gt an A* in GCSE and then managed to gt about 30 marks over an A in AS without hardly any work at all. I didn't revise and neva made any conscious effort to learn vocab. It is harder than GCSE bt from the looks of it I wld say tht the step up to A2 is a lot bigger, where u study literature and maybe do sum interpreting in the oral exam.
Basically, if u managed an A* in GCSE with no problems ( i think i gt full marks in the oral :blushing:

), then A level is no problem at all. Otherwise, u will hav to put in quite a lot of effort to learn the grammar and vocab. (although there isnt really much more grammar to learn).

Hope that helps.

Reply 5

OP

were u on edexcel?

Reply 6

dappleddawndrawndauphin

3

cphilp41

Sorry to like completely contradict u, bt i thought french AS was really easy. I gt an A* in GCSE and then managed to gt about 30 marks over an A in AS without hardly any work at all. I didn't revise and neva made any conscious effort to learn vocab. It is harder than GCSE bt from the looks of it I wld say tht the step up to A2 is a lot bigger, where u study literature and maybe do sum interpreting in the oral exam.
Basically, if u managed an A* in GCSE with no problems ( i think i gt full marks in the oral :blushing:

), then A level is no problem at all. Otherwise, u will hav to put in quite a lot of effort to learn the grammar and vocab. (although there isnt really much more grammar to learn).

Hope that helps.

I got full marks in the reading, 88/90 in the oral, 88/90 in the writing and 87/90 in the listening at GCSE on OCR. This year I did very little revision as such (I revise during the year through writing essays and stuff - + I'm lazy :redface:

) for any of my subjects, got top As in 3 (although that's apparently fairly easy in law) and 1 mark off an A in French, found the language skills much more difficult than at GCSE and that now i no longer have a fantastic teacher who motivates me to work I can't hack it without putting some hard work in, it would seem :frown:

. You're obviously a talented linguist, but it's worth informing the original poster that according to studies by Durham Uni French and German have a greater difficulty gap between GCSE and AS than subjects like English, History and Pyschology.

That said, if you're really good don't be put off - if you put the work in it's definitely do-able, and if you're v. naturally talented and have a good teacher you can achieve an A without quite as much effort.

Reply 7

I got full marks in my GCSE French and just got 295/300 in Edexcel French AS. I didn't find it particularly difficult. We were made to do quite a few past papers which I think helped. I didn't make too much of a concious effort to learn the vocab but still seemed to know it?! I think a lot depends on how good you are at languages, or on the other side, how hard you are prepared to work. I found it a really good course but slightly boring at times because I was doing exactly the same topics for Spanish. However, i think at GCSE level I was actually at AS Level in terms of reading & writing and grammar because I'd always been ahead. A lot of people seemed to have really struggled, possibly because they can't cope with how quickly you learn things and you can't expect to be tested on vocab etc because at the end of the day it's your own decision how much you want to learn. It think it also depends how long you've been doing the language. I found Spanish more of a challenge because I'd only done it for 2 years, and one year we had a supply teacher!

Reply 8

Richy Rich$$

2

Yeah, i agree with what the other people have said. I did no revision really and still managed to get an A grade a year early and I found the pace way too slow. It does depend a lot on whether you have a natural lingustic appitude. French A level is such that people who have a natural ability don't really need to work, to do well, whereas, other people who struggle a lot with grammar etc really have to work hard to achieve a good grade. I think generally if you understand grammar reasonably well then you shouldnt have any problems.

Reply 9

OP

i got 358/360 at gcse. so it shouldnt be too difficult?

Reply 10

Richy Rich$$

Yeah, i agree with what the other people have said. I did no revision really and still managed to get an A grade a year early and I found the pace way too slow. It does depend a lot on whether you have a natural lingustic appitude. French A level is such that people who have a natural ability don't really need to work, to do well, whereas, other people who struggle a lot with grammar etc really have to work hard to achieve a good grade. I think generally if you understand grammar reasonably well then you shouldnt have any problems.

When the pace was slow did you get really bored? Just wondered if you did anything about it?!

Reply 11

Drake234

i got 358/360 at gcse. so it shouldnt be too difficult?

If you got that grade because you're naturally good at languages then no, it will be fine, you've got nothing to worry about. Even if you worked really really hard to get that grade, it shows you're willing to work hard and put the effort in which should mean you'll be fine at AS!

Reply 12

becke

My friend got an A* at GCSE and a C at Alevel, and she said it was very hard, i know alot of people who dropped it early on.

Reply 13

Richy Rich$$

2

leannemann

When the pace was slow did you get really bored? Just wondered if you did anything about it?!

Yeah I always got bored during class, even when i was moved up a year for French. I did talk to my teachers, but they werent much help. If classes are too slow, im afraid you just have to do extra, harder, work yourself independantly. That's what i did, and had therefore covered all the a level stuff by year 11. But you're in year 13 now aren't you? So the best thing would be to try doing some undergrad translation papers like this one- www.ex.ac.uk/french/exam_papers/2004_Final_Year/MLF%204001A.rtf ( I know, it looks really scary :eek:

) But then if you have nice teachers, give it to them to mark and ask whether they could go over it with you after school one night. Or if they're really nice, you could do deal with them whereby you do the undergrad papers or harder stuff, instead of their mundane homework.

Reply 14

nicko88

I got an A* at GCSE but then got a C at AS level with edexcel. Everyone in my yeargroup did pretty poorly with only a few gaining A's but this was due to an external examiner for the oral.....she basically messed it all up for almost everyone because instead of sticking to your chosen topic and areas she went off on one.Everyone got like 50/90 for their orals even one boy got 67/90 and he's basically fluent in french.Still, i'll report back after remarks :wink:

Reply 15

Richy Rich$$

Yeah I always got bored during class, even when i was moved up a year for French. I did talk to my teachers, but they werent much help.

I've sent you a PM :smile:

Reply 16