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Does/ Has anybody studied Latin GCSE?

username1539513

I would like to pick it up as an extra GCSE alongside German, geography and history but how hard is it? What are the resources availability like for it?

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Reply 1

Kholmes1

I did it. Can't be any help though. Got an E. :s-smilie:

Reply 2

username1539513

Original post by Kholmes1

I did it. Can't be any help though. Got an E. :s-smilie:

Any bit of advice helps don't worry :smile:

What did you cover?

Reply 3

Kholmes1

I did it in year 10.

There was 4 papers. Two language ones, a sources one and a literature one.
Some how I did better in the two language ones. I didn't do History at GCSE while everyone else in the class apart from me and one other person did. So the teacher didn't really go over that one as much.

Also everyone in the class apart from like 3 people did foundation.

Honestly I can't really remember that much just the odd couple of words here and then. (Forced to do a language)

Out of curiousity are you self teaching it or doing it at school?

Reply 4

AdjectiveNoun

I studied Latin as a hobby throughout high school and enjoyed it immensely until I took a GCSE short course in year ten.
Maybe I was a lazy student, or my teacher was awful, but yeah, staying behind at school until five twice a week felt dreadful.

It's certainly not an easy language (like Esperanto, for example), and to be honest, I question the need for it as an extra GCSE when you could just learn it in your spare time in a casual and more fun way. Pick up a Latin text and some supplementary textbooks, work your way through it until you're proficient. Then you can claim it as an accomplishment in your CV/University application.

Advice? Find a proficient public speaker who can speak Latin to some degree. You don't need the pronunciation, but hearing it out loud helps to bring the language to life.

Reply 5

username1539513

Original post by Kholmes1

I'll be distance learning I think; not because of any forcible reason just because I'm curious about learning it

Reply 6

1+1=Window

I am currently studying Latin for GCSE HT, and it is an average subject. It seems difficult but as long as you keep on top of things (learn your vocab + declensions + endings), it's fine. I'm doing the exam(s) next year, so I don't know how hard it is, but if you receive or get the vocab list for all the words in the test, start learning them block by block immediately (our teacher said it really helps, and it means you can focus most of your time on translations and other things nearer to the exam).

Reply 7

Danilo2001

What do you mean, extra GCSE? Are you doing it after school?

Reply 8

TheConfusedMedic

I don't do it but most people I know find it really difficult :/

Reply 9

veni_vidi_vasi

You shouldn't have a problem with the language papers - as long as you are able to translate (which, as said, you should be able to do if you know your vocab and declension endings). The problem - for me at least - was with the other papers. You have to do two more papers, but the teacher can choose from three topics - sources (as mentioned above), verse and prose.

For me, verse was an excerpt from the Aeneid, and prose consisted of two excerpts from Cicero and Livy respectively. Both were interesting, but what our teacher advised was to learn the whole thing. It must have been around 1000 words in total. Of course, memorisation is no problem... unless you get brain-block in the exam. (For the record, we were advised to learn the passages due to some hefty five/eight/ten mark questions).

There is no denying that Latin is an interesting subject, but if you've already got ten GCSEs, what's the point of doing one more? Universities tend to look at your top nine.

Reply 10

username1539513

Original post by Danilo2001

What do you mean, extra GCSE? Are you doing it after school?

Yes, I already have ten but I'm thinking of taking up German to get into UCL and the other three purely out of interest; most of my A's already obtained were in wordy subjects so I think I can do well in them

Reply 11

username1539513

Original post by veni_vidi_vasi

Partly out of interest tbh; I can't find anywhere that does ancient greek or Hebrew anywhere and I think Latin is a really cool dead language

Reply 12

veni_vidi_vasi

It is fun - there's no denying that! At my school (are you doing your GCSE in school/college, by the way?), we used the Cambridge Latin Course textbooks. The plot is really interesting (until Book 3, then it gets a bit preposterous) and helps you to get in the swing of using Latin - before you head onto the big authors (Virgil, Pliny, Cicero, Martial etc.). That book would probably be a good way to see if you enjoy the Latin.

And there is a site for it -
http://cambridgescp.com/Upage.php?p=clc^oa_book1^stage1 This actually gives you all the texts that are used in the book. However, the declension/conjugation exercises are there, so for a real flavour you may need the book. However, if you have a go you should be able to pick it up pretty easily.

Enjoy!

Reply 13

username1967813

I did it, and I really enjoyed it (I wanted to do it for A Level but it didn't fit in with the timetable)

There is a lot of vocab and grammar to learn, but it follows patterns so it's easy to remember and compartmentalise. You may also have to study Latin literature, but if you learn it by rote (which seems daunting, but just learn it in chunks and keep reading it over and over and it will stick) and practice essay questions and recognise what exams ask you, you'll be fine.

Reply 14

karinaabrown

Hi I did Latin (OCR) gcse last year and got an A* however it was one of the GCSEs I worked hardest for. I did 2 language and 2 literature papers. The language papers a ok, as long as you know all your vocab and grammar, especially the harder parts (ablative absolutes etc) to get the top grades. Literature can be a lot of work if you don't stagger it. My teacher got us to learn all (5) set texts. What I found hardest was the exam technique of how to answer the questions and finding ways to learn to spot all the rhetorical devices. I would say without a teacher the language part would be ok to teach yourself from online resources but I don't think I could have done literature without a good teacher.

Reply 15

leprechaun_100

Hi! I did Latin GCSE and I got a B, which is one of my worse GCSEs tbh
I found the set text super easy and I really enjoyed it because it was like Eglish Lit, which I lovw, but because I hated the vocab and grammar, I didn't do very well in the language paper, which oushed my A grade down to a B. So just make sure you love all of it and be prepared for the sea of grammar that will come your way :smile:

Good Luck! x

Reply 16

shawn_o1

It's a "classics" subject which doesn't really have much value for anyone not aspiring to become a historian.

Reply 17

leprechaun_100

I disagree with @shawn_o1
It may not have been my best GCSE, but universities and employers get really impressed with Latin, as so few people take it :smile:

Reply 18

username1539513

Original post by shawn_o1

It's a "classics" subject which doesn't really have much value for anyone not aspiring to become a historian.

Have you ever considered education just for the sake of knowledge?

Reply 19

Aear

I'm studying Latin for GCSE currently and it is my favourite subject, and we just did a mock on the Aeneid and I got 98% (losing one mark!); I find it very easy, but for others it is a challenge. If you do really want to study it, get some sort of tutor or teacher because I don't think you can really self teach it, especially with little to no prior knowledge.

I'd, of course, be happy to help you learn, PM me if you want any help whatsoever, but I can't teach you the whole subject alone because it is so vast and complicated: there being 20 tenses, 6 infinitives, 4 participles, 36 endings for adjective, and a whole other range of large numbers with other grammatical terms. It's a huge subject and especially the literature aspect cannot truly, in my opinion, be learnt without a vast interest and self-motivation.

If you really want to get it, buy some books on grammar (the GCSE one by John Taylor is good) as well as the Oxford Latin Course which I did, useful for building ability, this being part one: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Oxford-Latin-Course-Part-Students/dp/0199122261/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1457208870&sr=8-1&keywords=oxford+latin+course , though the series teaches you lots of vocab that isn't on the GCSE, so, if you do start Latin, then start learning vocab as soon as possible.

Send me as many messages as you want about the subject if you really want to learn, I'll answer whatever you ask.