How does anyone do A Level French

I'm in Year 13 and I'm doing AQA French A Level, and I just don't understand how anyone, particularly with the listening reading writing paper, is able to get anywhere close to an A* without already being fluent. I've made flashcards for every topic, yet I'm still only about to manage around a B or C. I need AAA for my university, so any help or advice would be appreciated.

Hey! I'm in Year 13 doing AQA A-level French. I agree Paper 1 is really hard to get an A* in, but it is possible without being fluent. I would say exam practice and having a strategy for how to approach each type of question is key, and being really confident on vocabulary. I'm pretty sure somewhere on AQA's website they have lists of vocabulary for each topic, or there will be some on Quizlet. Apart from lots of practice and then in the exam leaving time to check through thoroughly (20 to 30 mins of checking is very nice if you can leave that much time), it's largely down to what comes up on the day- the sneaky grammar things are always cheeky 😅.
For the writing paper, just essay practice for every essay you can think of, and get your teacher to mark the essays for grammar specifically. Apparently any major error might lower your mark to like 12/20 for the language 😭 which is really mean so just make sure you leave time to check all your writing!
For speaking, again just absorbing as much French as possible - music, TV programmes, France Info (radio), reading France 24 en français, and talking to yourself in French (even if it's just uuuuh bah je sais pas 😆).
All the best with your A-level!! If you have any other questions feel free to ask!

Thank you for the response! I think my French LRW work is similar to what you said, I think I just get in my own head a lot 😅
What you’ve said about French writing is interesting, though. Thank god it’s only 20% of the paper!