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Portuguese AS

Hey, I decided to take portuguese AS, but the problem is that I got a C in speaking GCSE, and a B overall. I lived there for 7 years (I was 7), so would you recommend me to take it?


Also, do you know if there is a speaking involved in OCR portuguese AS ?

I'm taking spanish AS so I don't know whether that would confuse me...
Original post by PerplexedBird
Hey, I decided to take portuguese AS, but the problem is that I got a C in speaking GCSE, and a B overall. I lived there for 7 years (I was 7), so would you recommend me to take it?


Also, do you know if there is a speaking involved in OCR portuguese AS ?

I'm taking spanish AS so I don't know whether that would confuse me...

Heya, I'm going to put this in the languages forum for you as you should get more responses there.:smile:

You should also check out the forum to see if there's any other threads there which might be helpful to you! http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=98
There is no oral exam at A-level for Portuguese. Just 1 exam at AS (Listening, Reading and Writing all comprised into one paper) and then the same again at A2.
http://www.ocr.org.uk/qualifications/as-a-level-gce-portuguese-h196-h596/

It has been mentioned that the exam rotates between different dialects of Portuguese.

There are several Brazilians and Portuguese people taking A-level Spanish at my college.
(edited 9 years ago)
Original post by PerplexedBird
Hey, I decided to take portuguese AS, but the problem is that I got a C in speaking GCSE, and a B overall. I lived there for 7 years (I was 7), so would you recommend me to take it?


Also, do you know if there is a speaking involved in OCR portuguese AS ?

I'm taking spanish AS so I don't know whether that would confuse me...


It depends on what you're aiming for in the AS. As tootoo said there's no oral, but just one paper. Portuguese/Brazilian dialects are used and there's nothing stopping them from throwing in a few African dialects too. If you're comfortable hearing all of them then go ahead. AS is quite a big step up from GCSE, so you would need to be prepared to put in a lot of effort. Also, a lot of native/bilingual Portuguese speakers (like me haha) take the AS, so grade boundaries are often quite high.
Original post by TheTechN1304
It depends on what you're aiming for in the AS. As tootoo said there's no oral, but just one paper. Portuguese/Brazilian dialects are used and there's nothing stopping them from throwing in a few African dialects too. If you're comfortable hearing all of them then go ahead. AS is quite a big step up from GCSE, so you would need to be prepared to put in a lot of effort. Also, a lot of native/bilingual Portuguese speakers (like me haha) take the AS, so grade boundaries are often quite high.


The OCR Portuguese grade boundaries have nothing on the Dutch and Turkish ones though, those are cruel :lol:
http://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/176543-unit-level-raw-mark-and-ums-grade-boundaries-june-2014.pdf
Original post by thatitootoo
The OCR Portuguese grade boundaries have nothing on the Dutch and Turkish ones though, those are cruel :lol:
http://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/176543-unit-level-raw-mark-and-ums-grade-boundaries-june-2014.pdf


130?! :O
Original post by TheTechN1304
130?! :O


:yep: I got 140/160 raw marks in the AS last year! 😝
Reply 7
Original post by TheTechN1304
130?! :O


This is sorta relevant to this post but anyways. I saw you that said you took Portuguese a level. Was this the ocr exam board?? If so could you tell me what text books/resources you used?? I've been looking online for hours now and I can't find much but I would love to take this next year (as a private candidate) but it just means I would be teaching myself essentially and I would like some resources to go along side that D: thank you!!
Original post by rgomes
This is sorta relevant to this post but anyways. I saw you that said you took Portuguese a level. Was this the ocr exam board?? If so could you tell me what text books/resources you used?? I've been looking online for hours now and I can't find much but I would love to take this next year (as a private candidate) but it just means I would be teaching myself essentially and I would like some resources to go along side that D: thank you!!

When native speakers study their own language at A-Level they often tend not to use any resources.

I'd love to be able to speak Portuguese, though. I would have loved to have studied it at AS too.
Reply 9
hey,
I'm doing portuguese AS and A2 this year. I'm a brazilian native speaker however I havent lived there for 14 years but my grammar is still quite alright.

Has anyone here done those exams before? They look pretty hard harshly graded Im worried I will end up with an E :frown:

What topics should I revise for them and is there any resources I could use?
Any advice would be great!
Thanks for all the feedback! =) I'm not sure what/how to revise for it though.... Comes a question about 'o ambiente' And I'm like: :s-smilie:.....

*Prays for help*
Reply 11
Hey, I am doing the potuguese AS and A2 this year, i am portuguese but have lived here for 9 years, therefore i'm not excellent in portuguese anymore. I did get an A* at GCSE but worried you have to know about history, and politics and maybe do a presentation, which i know nothing about. Does anyone know about the layout, or useful links perhaps?

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