OCR GCSE latin

This isnt exactly a common subject anymore, but i was wondering if anyone had any tips or websites or if they knew of any revision guides for the subject?

Reply 1

Lidka

I did GCSE Latin last year with AQA - I presume that you're using the Cambridge Latin course? Those books are the best to work with, and I reccommend the Cambridge Latin Grammar volume even if you aren't using the course - it has everything you'll ever want (and don't want) to know about every tense and case.

As for links: http://ancienthistory.about.com/cs/latin/ is all I could find off the top of my head, but to be honest, I reckon you're better off learning out of a text book than off a website. For GCSE learning more than you need to know is pretty pointless.

As a general tip, learn your set texts (I presume you'll have set texts - poetry and the like - like I did) REALLY well. So well you could translate them in your sleep. That helps an awful lot when it comes to the exam, it'll buck your confidence up no end.

Reply 2

Covenant

with the set texts, do you know of any sites or books that have notes on the original texts? for example, lets say "poetry and friendship" poem by (i think) catullus or echo and narcissus by ovid.

Reply 3

Madelyn

I also did AQA, but I'm guessing OCR can't be too different...what texts are you doing? Do you have a list of vocab you have to learn? Don't worry too much about grammar, if you learn your literature really well and know most of the vocab then it doesn't really matter if you can't recite noun tables.

Reply 4

Covenant

Sagae Thesselae (not sure who by), Echo and Narcissus by Ovid, Poetry and Friendship + Catullus invites a friend to dinner, The City Hour by Hour, The Good Life, The Pleasures of Country Life and A Country Spring. I can remember translations for the poems pretty easily but the longer stuff (ie Sagae Thesselae and Echo & Narcissus) is proving difficult. Then again i did pretty well on the verse and prose parts of my mock. I lost most marks on background and language. Any advice for background revision, by the way?

Reply 5

chandni

GCSE Latin I think I did AQA I don't actually remmember but it was like really hard and I got a C. My teacher emphsised learning the noun endings in all the vaious cases singular and plural... It was difficulat to memorise but really useful in the translation element of the paper. With the texts if you first get the word order then translate it thats also a bit easier.

Reply 6

Madelyn

ok, background - for AQA this wasn't worth a huge amount and was largely common sense/general knowledge. Just learn some key dates/people/quotes.
language - your strength in literature means that even if you don't do so well in lang (like most people), the lit should balance it out a bit. Other than that, learn as much vocab as you can (try doing it with your friends, maybe coming up with ways to remember meanings, testing each other...). Like I said, grammar doesn't matter that much, especially not at this stage, but if you can at least vaguely recognise some noun endings that might help. Learn tenses/voices as much as you can - things as simple as, say, recognising the passive voice can save you a lot of marks.

Reply 7

Lidka

Covenant

with the set texts, do you know of any sites or books that have notes on the original texts? for example, lets say "poetry and friendship" poem by (i think) catullus or echo and narcissus by ovid.

The Cambridge Latin Anthology should have what you're looking for - there'll be translations of the poems, and notes on historical background, mythology, etc. I also suggest making your own notes on them, from what you learn from your teacher. Good luck! It's really not that hard, honest - I got an A with barely a week's revision. :smile:

Reply 8

Covenant

i have the first language paper tomorrow, but in the process of doing mock work on it ive realised i tend to finish within half an hour and cant find anything to do for the remaining 3/4 of an hour. Anyone have any advice on pacing? I tend to get high fourties and want to raise that to * level, but find it difficult to do anything of any consequence in the last part of the exam. Many others i know find the same. Thanks in advance.

Reply 9

Red Arrow

Obviously this is too late to help you with that paper but as there's still the second paper next Friday, this might be worthwhile.
I find that using highlighters helps, it takes longer but makes you really look at the sentences and think about each word.

Green - indicative verbs
Yellow - subjunctive verbs and the reason why they are subjunctive (such as 'ut' or 'quo')
Orange - infinitives
Blue - Gerunds, gerundives, participles (all the almost verb things)
Multicolour - infinitives

I only use this technique for exams (it's too slow for normal homeworks) but it makes me think about the grammar instead of just thinking 'oh, something to do with fight' . In your head try to look at each verb and say 'is it active or passive, who is doing it, what is the object of it'. Also, divide the sentences up at commas and semi-colons so that you can translate it bit by bit. Don't rush in and start with the first word, look to see who/what the subject is.

On a final thing, read the title and introduction carefully, you have enough time to do this and it often tells you a lot about what's going on.