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Urgent AQA A-Level French Speaking Exam!!!

My French speaking exam is on the 1st of May (not much time left!) and I was wondering if anyone had any tips in terms of what I should prepare. I study French and Spanish and have noticed that we receive a lot more guidance in Spanish in terms of what to include (i.e., complex grammatical structures, facts and statistics, idioms etc), which does make sense because I already speak French fluently - also Spanish is a different exam board (Edexcel). I just don't want to miss out on a good grade because I didn't include certain things the examiner was looking for. Also - the A-Level French students at my school have historically not got brilliant grades (especially in comparison to those who did Spanish) so I don't fully trust what the French teachers tell me and their advice has not been particularly helpful. Pls someone help because it's very soon!!!! Thank uuuu

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Reply 1

Original post by Ameliejasmine
My French speaking exam is on the 1st of May (not much time left!) and I was wondering if anyone had any tips in terms of what I should prepare. I study French and Spanish and have noticed that we receive a lot more guidance in Spanish in terms of what to include (i.e., complex grammatical structures, facts and statistics, idioms etc), which does make sense because I already speak French fluently - also Spanish is a different exam board (Edexcel). I just don't want to miss out on a good grade because I didn't include certain things the examiner was looking for. Also - the A-Level French students at my school have historically not got brilliant grades (especially in comparison to those who did Spanish) so I don't fully trust what the French teachers tell me and their advice has not been particularly helpful. Pls someone help because it's very soon!!!! Thank uuuu


Fellow French x Spanish student here, I’d say learn at least 3 key statistics for every module
Use frenchtop10 website for this it has loads
Try work in things like ‘il va sans dire que’ or ‘j’aurais pensé que’ to properly wow the examiner
And bring a bottle of water so you can stall and think if you get a nasty question!!
Bonne chance!

Reply 2

Original post by Ben Knighton
Fellow French x Spanish student here, I’d say learn at least 3 key statistics for every module
Use frenchtop10 website for this it has loads
Try work in things like ‘il va sans dire que’ or ‘j’aurais pensé que’ to properly wow the examiner
And bring a bottle of water so you can stall and think if you get a nasty question!!
Bonne chance!

Thank you!

Reply 3

Original post by Ameliejasmine
Thank you!


Are you wanting to study languages at uni

Reply 4

Original post by Ben Knighton
Are you wanting to study languages at uni

Yep - hopefully Spanish and ab initio Italian at Cambridge as long as all goes well for A-Levels

Reply 5

Original post by Ameliejasmine
Yep - hopefully Spanish and ab initio Italian at Cambridge as long as all goes well for A-Levels


Very impressive🔥

Reply 6

Original post by Ben Knighton
Fellow French x Spanish student here, I’d say learn at least 3 key statistics for every module
Use frenchtop10 website for this it has loads
Try work in things like ‘il va sans dire que’ or ‘j’aurais pensé que’ to properly wow the examiner
And bring a bottle of water so you can stall and think if you get a nasty question!!
Bonne chance!

Are you doing aqa spanish?

Reply 7

Original post by 83828727227
Are you doing aqa spanish?

No Edexcel

Reply 8

Original post by Ameliejasmine
My French speaking exam is on the 1st of May (not much time left!) and I was wondering if anyone had any tips in terms of what I should prepare. I study French and Spanish and have noticed that we receive a lot more guidance in Spanish in terms of what to include (i.e., complex grammatical structures, facts and statistics, idioms etc), which does make sense because I already speak French fluently - also Spanish is a different exam board (Edexcel). I just don't want to miss out on a good grade because I didn't include certain things the examiner was looking for. Also - the A-Level French students at my school have historically not got brilliant grades (especially in comparison to those who did Spanish) so I don't fully trust what the French teachers tell me and their advice has not been particularly helpful. Pls someone help because it's very soon!!!! Thank uuuu


- make a list/mindmap of Qs you think could come up in the IRP convo to practice
- practice with friends as much as possible
- in the 5 min prep, I recommend focusing on Q3 as its a bigger Q than the first 2 and to prep questions to ask the examiner
- practice summarising random texts/sentences in your own words so you don't waste valuable time in the exam
- try have 1 or 2 niche facts/stats that you didn't learn at school

I got an A in the speaking last year and this is what I did :smile:

Reply 9

Original post by Ameliejasmine
My French speaking exam is on the 1st of May (not much time left!) and I was wondering if anyone had any tips in terms of what I should prepare. I study French and Spanish and have noticed that we receive a lot more guidance in Spanish in terms of what to include (i.e., complex grammatical structures, facts and statistics, idioms etc), which does make sense because I already speak French fluently - also Spanish is a different exam board (Edexcel). I just don't want to miss out on a good grade because I didn't include certain things the examiner was looking for. Also - the A-Level French students at my school have historically not got brilliant grades (especially in comparison to those who did Spanish) so I don't fully trust what the French teachers tell me and their advice has not been particularly helpful. Pls someone help because it's very soon!!!! Thank uuuu

There's info on the exam board website - here's a mark scheme from a previous year: https://cdn.sanity.io/files/p28bar15/green/b66db28bdfe4a4d87e44203f12cbe86dbb78549f.pdf

Reply 10

my french oral is also on 1st may! good luck!

Reply 11

Original post by nechamar
my french oral is also on 1st may! good luck!

hey how did it go

Reply 12

Original post by sum778777
hey how did it go

yeh was great IRP went well, struggled a bit formulating things to say for photo card but was fine

Reply 13

Original post by nechamar
yeh was great IRP went well, struggled a bit formulating things to say for photo card but was fine

well done !

Reply 14

Original post by Ameliejasmine
My French speaking exam is on the 1st of May (not much time left!) and I was wondering if anyone had any tips in terms of what I should prepare. I study French and Spanish and have noticed that we receive a lot more guidance in Spanish in terms of what to include (i.e., complex grammatical structures, facts and statistics, idioms etc), which does make sense because I already speak French fluently - also Spanish is a different exam board (Edexcel). I just don't want to miss out on a good grade because I didn't include certain things the examiner was looking for. Also - the A-Level French students at my school have historically not got brilliant grades (especially in comparison to those who did Spanish) so I don't fully trust what the French teachers tell me and their advice has not been particularly helpful. Pls someone help because it's very soon!!!! Thank uuuu


How was it???

Reply 15

Guys mines tomorrow and ive never been so scared in my life

Reply 16

Original post by harriettetaylor
Guys mines tomorrow and ive never been so scared in my life


No literally same I’m so cooked man

Reply 17

Original post by Squidwardmayo
No literally same I’m so cooked man


like the anxiety is not leaving

Reply 18

Original post by harriettetaylor
like the anxiety is not leaving


Idek what more I can do I’ve done like 2 billion cards. Like I have attempted to learn stats but I feel like u never even have enough time to say them

Reply 19

Original post by Squidwardmayo
Idek what more I can do I’ve done like 2 billion cards. Like I have attempted to learn stats but I feel like u never even have enough time to say them


okay you do not sound cooked😭😭😭 i’m just so scared what my photo card is gonna be about bc I can’t do anything political bc i’m so bad at explaining myself

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