French AQA A2

The trouble with languages lies in the very process itself of language learning. In subjects like Physics or English Literature, you can revise, say, Heat, or "Hamlet" which won't affect Mechanics or your analysis of "The Great Gatsby". With languages, everything you learn helps build up your knowledge - all the grammar, all the vocab, all the speaking/listening skills, etc. It all interacts with each other. This is why last-minute learning (or cramming) is not really very useful - you need to work on the building process over weeks and months.

That being said, there is of course a lot you can do to revise before your French exams - as long as it is revision and not last-minute learning!

- Organise your topic-based vocab and learn it. You'll need all that specialist vocabulary at your fingertips. There are various websites out there like Quizlet and Memrise which can be useful for learning vocab.

- Go through your essays and texts and make sure you understand the main ideas and opinions, as well as the arguments to support those opinions.

- Grammar - you need to be able to do all your tenses without thinking about them, conjugations have to be 100% correct if you want a decent grade. These are easy to revise, as are basics such as personal pronouns (me, te, le/la/lui etc but also yand en), relative pronouns (qui, que, dont, ce que, ce qui, use of preposition + lequel), use of du/de la/des and de on its own. Practise stuff like agreement of adjectives, agreement of past participles - make sure you understand the rules. Get a good grammar book to help you: I always recommend this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/French-Gram.../dp/095706120X which I use with my own students.

- Read, read and read. And then read some more. Not just about your topics, but anything. Any contact you have with French will help you build up your vocabulary and understanding of structures.

- Listen to some French - about 20 minutes to half an hour - every day if you can manage that. Le Journal en français facile on the RFI website is really useful as there is a transcript in case you get stuck.

- Try to speak some French every day. If you can, have lunch with your classmates and agree to speak French then - even just ten minutes a day will build up fluency and confidence. The nearer you get to your exams, the longer you can make your now really useful lunch break!