Edexcel vs AQA for Chinese
13
Looking to do Chinese GCSE. Just wondering if anybody who has done Chinese could offer some insight into how they found it, as I’m struggling to decide which exam board I should do.
As a follow up question: if I was to do AQA Chinese and Edexcel in Cantonese, would they count as 2 separate qualifications (GCSE Spoken Mandarin and GCSE Spoken Cantonese) or just the 1 under “GCSE Chinese”?
Thanks in advance!
As a follow up question: if I was to do AQA Chinese and Edexcel in Cantonese, would they count as 2 separate qualifications (GCSE Spoken Mandarin and GCSE Spoken Cantonese) or just the 1 under “GCSE Chinese”?
Thanks in advance!
Reply 1
12
Hi, I did edexcel GCSE and it was fairly easy (I'm a native speaker so take that with a grain of salt). If you did AQA Chinese and Edexcel Cantonese both would be awarded as Chinese - you still could but there doesn't seem to be a point as both are the same qualification.
Reply 2
I just took my Chinese exam with AQA and it was a great experience! It does require a lot of effort, but if you're willing to put in the time and dedication, you'll do really well. The more you put into it, the more you'll get out of it. Good luck!
Reply 3
Original post
by oljo888Looking to do Chinese GCSE. Just wondering if anybody who has done Chinese could offer some insight into how they found it, as I’m struggling to decide which exam board I should do.
As a follow up question: if I was to do AQA Chinese and Edexcel in Cantonese, would they count as 2 separate qualifications (GCSE Spoken Mandarin and GCSE Spoken Cantonese) or just the 1 under “GCSE Chinese”?
Thanks in advance!
As a follow up question: if I was to do AQA Chinese and Edexcel in Cantonese, would they count as 2 separate qualifications (GCSE Spoken Mandarin and GCSE Spoken Cantonese) or just the 1 under “GCSE Chinese”?
Thanks in advance!
I took Russian Edexcel(I'm a native speaker), French and Mandarin AQA. What I noticed with both Chinese and all the other subjects as well: Edexcel exams are harder but the grade boundaries are lower, AQA exams are easier, but the grade boundaries are higher. For a native speaker I would recommend taking Edexcel because there would be pretty much no difference, but for foreign languages I would recommend AQA because it will be less stressful. Hope it helps!
Reply 4
Original post
by oljo888Looking to do Chinese GCSE. Just wondering if anybody who has done Chinese could offer some insight into how they found it, as I’m struggling to decide which exam board I should do.
As a follow up question: if I was to do AQA Chinese and Edexcel in Cantonese, would they count as 2 separate qualifications (GCSE Spoken Mandarin and GCSE Spoken Cantonese) or just the 1 under “GCSE Chinese”?
Thanks in advance!
As a follow up question: if I was to do AQA Chinese and Edexcel in Cantonese, would they count as 2 separate qualifications (GCSE Spoken Mandarin and GCSE Spoken Cantonese) or just the 1 under “GCSE Chinese”?
Thanks in advance!
Hi! I did Edexcel Chinese GCSE last year. im pretty sure they are under the same qualification? the only difference was the listening part. I did the mandarin one for GCSE and is planning to take A-level Cantonese as an extra. For me I think it was quite easy, but that might just be because i am a native.
Reply 5
Original post
by AL0703Hi, I did edexcel GCSE and it was fairly easy (I'm a native speaker so take that with a grain of salt). If you did AQA Chinese and Edexcel Cantonese both would be awarded as Chinese - you still could but there doesn't seem to be a point as both are the same qualification.
hi i just did my gcse edexcel canto speaking and i wanna ask if you know how strict they are with the marking of speaking cuz i messed up really bad.. considering it's my mother language but i always speak more english than canto even at home
(edited 8 months ago)
Reply 6
Original post
by 1minaskynan1hi i just did my gcse edexcel canto speaking and i wanna ask if you know how strict they are with the marking of speaking cuz i messed up really bad.. considering it's my mother language but i always speak more english than canto even at home
As long as you have tried your best and had something to say for role play, describe the picture, and conversations part 1 & 2 then I think you'll be fine. My daughter is British born Chinese and she took the speaking exam 2 weeks ago too. She was most nervous about the speaking exam but she came out of it feeling confident, but that is because she has been practicing a lot! She is also like you, speaks to me in English more than Cantonese. So, don't worry too much, good luck for the final writing exam on 19 May. Be glad that it will be over soon. All the best!
Reply 7
Original post
by oljo888Looking to do Chinese GCSE. Just wondering if anybody who has done Chinese could offer some insight into how they found it, as I’m struggling to decide which exam board I should do.
As a follow up question: if I was to do AQA Chinese and Edexcel in Cantonese, would they count as 2 separate qualifications (GCSE Spoken Mandarin and GCSE Spoken Cantonese) or just the 1 under “GCSE Chinese”?
Thanks in advance!
As a follow up question: if I was to do AQA Chinese and Edexcel in Cantonese, would they count as 2 separate qualifications (GCSE Spoken Mandarin and GCSE Spoken Cantonese) or just the 1 under “GCSE Chinese”?
Thanks in advance!
Hi, I'm a native Canto speaker and I did GCSE Chinese and got an 8.
Idk what exam board I did though. But I found the exam pretty easyReading: Vocabulary isn't too difficult for the short reading bit you have to do. You would have to know a fair amount of Chinese vocab for the other sections tho. At the end of the paper, there will be a writing task that asks you to write 100-150 words (correct me if I'm wrong), but as long as you use some intermediate-ish vocab, you should be fine. I used some not-so-difficult vocab and got a pretty high mark on it, I think i lost a mark for writing the wrong character, but thats all I lost on it (i think)
Listening: The recording plays twice so you can re-listen for stuff you missed. You can write english in some parts. Fairly clear and easy
Speaking: Make sure you can yap
. The more you talk and expand on your points the better. Like pre-pick a picture with loads going on so you can yap. Do keep track of the time tho, don't yap too much.
Hope that helped a bit!Reply 8
oljo888
OP
13
Original post
by anxious¶noidHi, I'm a native Canto speaker and I did GCSE Chinese and got an 8. Idk what exam board I did though. But I found the exam pretty easy
Reading: Vocabulary isn't too difficult for the short reading bit you have to do. You would have to know a fair amount of Chinese vocab for the other sections tho. At the end of the paper, there will be a writing task that asks you to write 100-150 words (correct me if I'm wrong), but as long as you use some intermediate-ish vocab, you should be fine. I used some not-so-difficult vocab and got a pretty high mark on it, I think i lost a mark for writing the wrong character, but thats all I lost on it (i think)
Listening: The recording plays twice so you can re-listen for stuff you missed. You can write english in some parts. Fairly clear and easy
Speaking: Make sure you can yap. The more you talk and expand on your points the better. Like pre-pick a picture with loads going on so you can yap. Do keep track of the time tho, don't yap too much.
Hope that helped a bit!
Idk what exam board I did though. But I found the exam pretty easyReading: Vocabulary isn't too difficult for the short reading bit you have to do. You would have to know a fair amount of Chinese vocab for the other sections tho. At the end of the paper, there will be a writing task that asks you to write 100-150 words (correct me if I'm wrong), but as long as you use some intermediate-ish vocab, you should be fine. I used some not-so-difficult vocab and got a pretty high mark on it, I think i lost a mark for writing the wrong character, but thats all I lost on it (i think)
Listening: The recording plays twice so you can re-listen for stuff you missed. You can write english in some parts. Fairly clear and easy
Speaking: Make sure you can yap
. The more you talk and expand on your points the better. Like pre-pick a picture with loads going on so you can yap. Do keep track of the time tho, don't yap too much. Hope that helped a bit!thanks for the response. i assume you did your speaking in cantonese?
Reply 9
Original post
by oljo888thanks for the response. i assume you did your speaking in cantonese?
yes
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