French AQA A2 Essay 2017

Hey, I was wondering how people plan essays / do well in essays for the French A2 for AQA. I really need help as my teacher does not care about how I do and therefore won't help me!! I'm doing La Haine and Un Sac de Billes. I think I would prefer to do the La Haine question though.

Here is something I posted a little while ago about writing essays on La Haine - hopefully this will help.

Firstly, make sure you know La Haine really, really well. Re-watch the film as part of your revision.

Then re-read all your notes and all your essays on La Haine as part of your revision.

Most essay titles for La Haine will come under one of three categories, so you could organise your ideas along these lines:

- Characterisation and relationships, including how people/relationships develop through the film
- Racism, social exclusion and other social issues (eg. family, la banlieue...)
- Film techniques

An important thing to remember is to make sure you respect the required essay length. If you write too little, your essay will not be detailed enough; if you write too much, the examiners will "lose" the last part of your essay. So practise writing essays that are of the correct length!

Make sure that you address the question and don't just tell the story. The examiners are after a) analysis and b) your personal response. They know the film, you don't need to tell them what happens.

Remember that planning your essay is vital preparation, and that your essay needs to have a concise introduction, then have a clear progression of ideas that culminate in your conclusion. One way of revising this is to do lots of essay plans for La Haine titles that you can find on the internet: write out your introductions and conclusions, as these tend to be the hardest parts, and do the body of your essay as a series of bullet points.

And, finally, make sure you know the relevant vocabulary and that you can conjugate the irregular verbs you are most likely to need (such as inclure, promouvoir, boire, s'attendre à...). Accuracy is also important in this essay, so don't neglect basics like verb/subject agreements, adjectival agreements, correct use of bien / bon, mieux / meilleur etc. Have a look through the essays you've already written and analyse where you make mistakes; then try and do something about it!

Thanks very much for your help! I really appreciate it. Do you have any good example essays? I have only done 2 essays this year and one of them I never received back and the other did not have much feedback at all! (Despite the mark not being too good)

No, sorry, I don't have any sample essays. If you like, you can send me your essays for me to look at and give you some more feedback on; that might help you focus.