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GCSE Latin Tips

Hi guys, I'm going into Year 10 and I'm taking GCSE OCR Latin. I'm predicted a 9 and I am aiming to achieve that grade. Does anyone have any revision tips or specific methods you used to learn the content? Thanks a lot!

Reply 1

Chopinnocturne31

Learn your Vocab list! I don’t know if you will have it yet. You might be given it in year 11 but seriously, learn the whole list. It’s long but if you start doing it in sections from the day you get it, you will find the translations so much easier. My teachers made us learn the “a” words one week and then “b” words the next and so on, and each week they would have a vocab test (using different conjugations of the verbs too! They can be super hard sometimes 😂).

Also, make sure you know all your conjugations and tenses well from now. If you learn them as you go along, it will be much easier to learn new ones without getting confused!

Have you started literature yet?

Reply 2

ScienceSoph

Original post by Chopinnocturne31

thanks for the advice! we haven't started lit but we have started doing the vocab by alphabet like you mentioned!

Reply 3

Chopinnocturne31

Original post by ScienceSoph

thanks for the advice! we haven't started lit but we have started doing the vocab by alphabet like you mentioned!

Ok, thats great then! You're welcome :smile:

Reply 4

becausethenight

I agree that you basically just need to learn everything. Putting effort into learning your declensions, conjugations and syntax now (whatever way you find best - I liked writing them out, I had a friend who made up songs and recorded them) is worth it as then you have a really solid foundation for translations and literature.

Same goes for vocab - just learn it! My A level teacher was big on “short, focused bursts” (ie, spend five minutes a day doing vocab but concentrate) which was annoyingly good advice, and I also found it helpful to ask friends to quiz me (or use quizlet) :smile:

Reply 5

ScienceSoph

Original post by becausethenight

Thank you!!!

Reply 6

spqr101

Make sure to learn ALL principle parts for vocab in the RVL (restricted vocab list- you need to learn this English to Latin). In our school we've been given a a bit of vocab to learn each week. We then have a test on it and we get a mark out of twenty for our first principle parts- basically just identifying which word they mean- and then a 'level' (platinum, gold, silver, bronze) for how good your principle parts are. It's really useful because learning vocab in bite size chunks is really helpful.
A lot of people tend to rest a little with the DVL (defined vocab list- you need to learn this Latin to English), however it is still super important to learn principle parts here too because, at the end of the day, in a translation any principle part of the word can come up. Once we finished the RVL we also had tests on the DVL where we could basically be given any conjugation of any tense or any type of participle for each word, which again is helpful because that's what it's going to be like in an exam.

As far as grammar is concerned just make sure to cement those basic principles in your head with cases, tenses, moods and participles, because they are essentially the foundation of grammar. Syntax can be a headache because there are quite a few constructions, but just make sure to keep going over them.

I actually haven't done a GREAT deal of literature (since I've just finished year 10 and we do most of it next year), but one key thing is that you need to know what each individual Latin word means. My teacher told us this amazing story about him being in Y10, just learning the translation off by heart but not actually looking at the Latin, and absolutely flunking a test that he had on it, since he didn't actually know which part of the translation he was looking at! Learning the Latin and English side by side will both help you know the individual Latin words, but I think it also helps you to learn the translation quicker since the Latin aids you.