It's hard to believe that, with everything going on these days, we'll still have to sit GCSEs. Think about it, though: isn't there always plenty going on?
Out with the mates or keenly anticipating the latest game release, shopping for new clothes and all the mundane things - from brushing teeth to getting sleep, that makes up our lives. That make our lives simultaneously boring and, yet, so rich.
So things are a bit tough right now. But then, in the run-up to exam season, things would be tough for any GCSE candidate. The trick is to not buckle under that hardship and the best way to hold up is to be as prepared as possible.
It might be nice to have a magic bullet or maybe a potion to make everything go well but what's the fun in that? How will you derive your sense of accomplishment if you don't roll up your sleeves and get to work?
GCSE revision is no holiday in the park, we know, but if you plan it well and tackle it diligently, you'll soon find yourself on the other side of your ordeal, wondering why you ever fretted.
Oh! It's because aspects of your GCSE French have you worried!
Let your Superprof dole out a few tips to help you get your GCSE French revision on track.
| Tips to Help You Revise for Your GCSE French |
|---|
| 1. Determine what you have to revise |
| 2. Which aspects do you need more practice in? |
| 3. Set up a revision schedule, allowing more time for those aspects you need the most help on |
| 4. Gather your revision resources - past papers and marking schemes. Examiners' Reports, dictionaries, a list of helpful websites. |
| 5. Find innovative ways to master and use French vocabulary and Grammar |
| 6. Establish study groups - maybe one for speaking practice, one for reading and so on. |
| 7. Don't hesitate to ask for help - from your classmates, teachers and your French language tutor |
And now, let's go over specific aspects of your exam together.
GCSE French Vocabulary Lists
Some teachers hand out the entire GCSE French vocabulary list at the beginning of Year 10 and others dole out list fragments piecemeal. Both methods offer advantages.
If you received your entire vocabulary list at the beginning of Key Stage 4, you have the whole two years to master it. That's a generous allotment of study time but it only works if you make use of the resource you're given. However, some students contend that this system makes it easier to procrastinate; to put off making that bounty of time work for them.
Vocabulary lists are an effective of preparing for your GCSE exams, make sure to have your tutor quiz you on them in your french lessons!
By contrast, other teachers prefer to give out a few pages at a time, ensuring those French words are mastered before handing out a few more. With this approach, the onus is on the teacher; you can only work with what you're given right? Some students aver that this vocabulary trickle keeps them from establishing a study routine suitable to them while others maintain it's the best way to keep learning new words in French.
Whichever method your school and French teacher choose to present this list - whole or in part, know that you will have to master roughly 2000 French words to earn good marks on your GCSE French exam. Unless you will sit the Foundation-level GCSE French exam, in which case, your word count will be about 500 less.
By 'master' we mean that not only do you know what they mean but also their alternate forms - adjective/adverb, plurals, gendering and so on, and how to use them.
How can you make the most of your vocabulary list as a resource for GCSE French revision? We've outlined several ways in our companion article.
GCSE French Verb Tenses
If you're anything like other French learners I've known, at some point in your French language studies, you've exclaimed "Why do French verb tenses have to be so complicated?" Note that your frustration with French verbs overlooks how confusing verbs are in English. They can be irregular too, you know!
To get the hang of French verbs, the first thing you need to know is that they mostly fall within three groups: those that end in -er, those that end in -ir and the last group, which all have -re endings. Here are a few verbs for each group:
- -er: donner, aider, commencer, demander, ajouter, reponder, qualifier
- -ir: dormir, souvenir, finir, nourrir, choisir, remplir, courrir
- -re: vendre, attendre, entendre, répondre, perdre, connaitre, rendre
To conjugate any of these verbs, you only need to cut off its end and add the pronoun-specific ending.
All of the regular verbs that end in -er have these endings: -e, -es, -e, -ons, -ez, -ent. For instance: je donne, tu donnes, il/elle donne; nous donnent, vous donnez, ils/elles donnent. Care to try your hand a conjugating a Group 1 verb in the present tense?
Regular verbs that end in -ir have these endings: -s, -s, -t, -ssons, -ssez, -ssent. Let's use finir as our example: je finis, tu finis, il/elle finit; nous finnissons, vous finnissez; ils/elles finissent.
And now, for regular verbs that end in -re: -s, -s, -d, -ons, -ez, -ent; with vendre as an example: je vends, tu vends, il/elle vend; nous vendons, vous vendez, ils/elles vendent.
All of this is great news for conjugating in the present tense; what about all of the others? And is there a formula for irregular verbs?
Unfortunately, irregular verbs have to be memorized individually; there is no rule of thumb for them. As for verb conjugation in other tenses, we've written a whole other article about that.
Reading Practice for GCSE French
Being a native French speaker, I have to admit that I admire the way the GCSE French reading portion of the exam is presented. It challenges learners with all of the common phraseology and grammatical constructions typically used in everyday French.
One standout example is the use of double negatives. In English, such a construction would result in a positive statement: "I didn't not say that you could go out." but, in French, it is used to underscore a salient point. For instance, "Je n'ais jamais rien dit de sortir!". Note the 'never/nothing' combination, with an extra negation (n') thrown in for good measure.
You can of course incorporate all of the reading practice you like into your French lessons!
As you practise reading in French, you have to know about these grammatical constructions that are so different from the ones you're used to. To gain maximum exposure to them...
Classic literature is great - Notre Dame de Paris and the like but, to gain the exposure you need, you might pick something more contemporary to read. Can you get your hands on young adult fiction in French?
Better yet, if you could get your hands on the kind of books that have French on one page with English on the facing page, that could truly help you see the difference between French and English sentence structure and vernacular.
As for my one complaint about your GCSE French reading exam? You'll have to refer to our full-length article to know what it is, and to get more tips to ace this part of your exam.
Find more French classes London here on Superprof.
GCSE French Speaking Questions
Won't it be great to have a nice one-on-one conversation with your teacher? You may take that question as irony, especially considering the conversations you'll have are targeted and what you'll talk about is already planned.
Your GCSE French oral exam is meant to give you a platform to show off your French language skills, but it's set up rather cleverly.
First, you'll engage in roleplay; one mapped out and one freestyle, wherein you get to choose which way the conversation will go. And then, you'll have conversations with your teacher/examiner. They'll give you a prompt; a topic that you must share your opinions on.
According to AQA's Examiners' Reports, most students have no problem with this portion of their exam. What costs them points is failing to ask their teacher any questions.
Remember that you're supposed to have a conversation; your teacher isn't interviewing you. To drive the back-and-forth rhythm of conversation, you too must ask questions, even ones as simple as "Que pensez-vous de mes idées?" or "Avez-vous aussi vécu une telle expérience?"
Don't feel that you have to limit your questions to the conversation portion of your oral exam; feel free to launch a few as you roleplay: "Vous me prenez pour morveux?" or "N'avez-vous pas encore assez de la torture des étudiants?"
To get good at this type of freewheeling conversation in French ahead of your exam, you should talk with native French speakers as much as possible. Your Superprof French tutor would be delighted to help you hone your language skills but, until then, you can read more about your GCSE French speaking questions.
What About the GCSE French 150-Word Question?
By all accounts, this is the part of GCSE French that every student dreads. Maybe it's that number - 150 seems quite a few words to have to write.
Would you be surprised to know that, from the last three paragraphs in the previous segment to here totals 150 words?
Maybe the anxiety stems from having to write about a topic as yet unknown... No, that can't be it, either. AQA already uploaded a sample paper for the 2021-2022 exam; all you have to do is download it to see what kind of topics they put forth.
Perhaps it's that that part of the exam is unstructured. Well, the instructions are very clear: you're given a choice of three topics; you only need to write about one. Furthermore, each topic comes with two aspects and the instructions are clear: you're to address them both.
So what causes all this worry, then? It can't be a fear that your language skills are subpar; you've been studying so diligently.
Here's a thought: maybe, upon being confronted with all that blank space, you just don't know where to start. As a writer, I sympathise with you, all while encouraging you to not let that stand in your way of delivering an outstanding sample of French writing.
There are many ways you can prepare yourself to meet the 150-word question head-on and walk away, confident that you delivered your best effort. You only need to read further into the subject.
Bonne chance pour ton examen!
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