Getting an A1 in a language? - What's required?

partyatmygaff

Now i'm actually midway through my fifth year summer exams and i've English and French remaining before i'm free I can start getting ready for sixth year.

Now I get Bs most of the time in my English essays and B2/B1s or A2s in my French essays.

I need to get both of these up to A1 standard by the LC and I really cannot see what's needed to get up to that level.

I'm familiar with PCLM in English and I do try my best to keep that in mind as I write but nevertheless I still have not managed to break the B -> A barrier.

I'm very worried about French as I rely almost entirely on generic phrases and manipulation of the phrases to suit the topic. My vocabulary is fairly good in french but my grammar and syntax can be a hit and miss (Although in fairness it is not that bad).

Considering I need an A1 in both subjects next year, how should I proceed?


As for Irish i've given up all hope Learning off entire essays and hoping to god that the reading comprehension isn't too difficult got me by fine in my summer exam.

fauxshow

For French, the key to getting an A1 lies with the oral (25%) and the reading comprehensions (30%). Practise as many reading comprehensions as you can, they're literally the only thing I did for the first term of 6th year and it seriously paid off, I got an A1 in mock because I got full marks in the reading comprehensions. Buy a book of reading comprehensions, there's loads out there and do them all, then ask your teacher for past mock paper reading comprehensions and do all of them during the second term and do all the past papers in the third term. If you can do the reading comprehensions it makes everything fall into place, and correct yourself with the marking schemes on examinations.ie to see how the system works.

Next of all the oral is important, if you learn your stuff for it and work on your pronunciation, show a range of vocab and tenses and try to throw in some pronouns and subjunctives you can get a good A1 and get 23% out of the 25%. Preparation is key, and if you've prepared you'll do well basically, they're quite straightforward and not as scary as people make them out to be! The oral is another section that doing well in will help you with your written and listening.

Being able to throw a few subjunctives into your written expression and pronouns, especially one or two ''en'' or ''y'' 's looks impressive, should push your opinin essays up to an A standard. Learning phrases etc off if fine, we all do it! The trick is to not just learn them, but to learn them and then APPLY them to a question by constantly practising the past papers written exercises. For me, I start by doing an opinion essay with my vocab in front of me, and then gradually wean myself off of it.

Lastly, most students neglect the listening, but it is work 20% and can make or break a grade. There's no trick to it except practise, the only half decent listening book out there is Ecoutez et Amerliorez vous, if you try and complete the whole book plus the past paper listening comps, correcting them with the marking schemes (which can be nasty, look at 2009 for example. But once you're aware of how they work you'll be fine) will bring you up to scratch on this section. The trick is to write down EVERY little scrap of information you hear.

Hope this is of use to you! French is actually a very straightforward subject with a doable paper once you practise practise practise and prepare yourself for all the sections. Doing all the past papers is the key to success, and I say this as somebody who was getting D's at the start of fifth year! Good luck!

partyatmygaff

fauxshow wrote: »

Being able to throw a few subjunctives into your written expression and pronouns, especially one or two ''en'' or ''y'' 's looks impressive, should push your opinin essays up to an A standard. Learning phrases etc off if fine, we all do it! The trick is to not just learn them, but to learn them and then APPLY them to a question by constantly practising the past papers written exercises. For me, I start by doing an opinion essay with my vocab in front of me, and then gradually wean myself off of it.

I amn't too familiar with them so would this as an example be the correct use?

Ma matière préférée est l'anglais. J'en suis fort.

Is that what you mean? From what I understand adding "en" means you are referring to what you had immediately said as in the sentence before the one in which "en" is present. Is that correct?

fauxshow

partyatmygaff wrote: »

I amn't too familiar with them so would this as an example be the correct use?

Ma matière préférée est l'anglais. J'en suis fort.

Is that what you mean? From what I understand adding "en" means you are referring to what you had immediately said as in the sentence before the one in which "en" is present. Is that correct?

No I'm afraid not! ''En'' is a pronoun for ''de ____.''
e.g. Il y a beaucoup de pommes.
becomes: Il y en a beaucoup.

I wouldn't get too stressed about it, it's just nice to get one or two in if you can. A handy way of using it in the oral or in the written expression (you can usually work it into a diary entry) is to say ''J'en ai marre!'' (I'm sick of it!)

Conor108

partyatmygaff wrote: »

I'm familiar with PCLM in English

Crow92

Purpose
Content
Language
Mechanics

P
C
L
M

Crow92

Crow92 wrote: »

Purpose
Content
Language
Mechanics

P
C
L
M

To add:

P-30%
C-30%
L-30%
M-10%

For the love of God make sure you know the English marking scheme inside out everyone!
Oh, and C is for Coherency of Delivery, not content.

Piste

I got an A1 in all my languages...I did work hard, but I think a lot of it was down to luck really. For English, be able to have a very structured essay, but be able to make it flow well. For example "the major themes of poet X's work are A,B,C and D....s/he expressed A by.....B is seen throughout...." you get the picture. Just don't make it look too structured. It helps if the end of the previous paragraph segues nicely into the next paragraph.

For the languages make sure all aspects are strong, Oral, Aural and Written. Learn stuff off. Impressive phrases, handy places to throw in the subjunctive. Learn lists of phrases and vocab that apply to various themes/issues (healthcare, education, environment, recession etc.) Try to get your grammar as spot on as possible. My French grammar was pretty good, so I didn't have to worry about it, but my German grammar was woeful, so I made up for it with handy phrases.

magicianz

Ohh so thats what you meant by pclm! I was wondering what the principle of conservation of linear momentum had to do with languages

mink_man

correct grammar and well constructed phrases...

partyatmygaff

magicianz wrote: »

Ohh so thats what you meant by pclm! I was wondering what the principle of conservation of linear momentum had to do with languages

You could say that you should always keep your English essays driving forwards I suppose

highlydebased

AFAIK PCLM is also only used in questions worth more than 40/50 marks. Anything below that is ad impressum.

partyatmygaff

Neon-Circles wrote: »

AFAIK PCLM is also only used in questions worth more than 40/50 marks. Anything below that is ad impressum.

I'm assuming that mean it's marked according to the examiner's impression

That's what I hate about the marking scheme, what might impress one mightn't impress the other.

spurious

Make sure you answer the question asked.

Piste

^ that's so, so improtant too. Highlight key parts of the question. For examplbe you might be asked "in X's poetry, s/he explores the themes of Y and Z in A and B way"

A lot of people will just see the themes and write about them without seeing that they're being asked to highlight how the the themes are treated and a specific way. Make sure you underline/highlight the different parts of the question you have to deal with to get maximum marks. If you don't answer part of the question there are only so many marks you can get regardless of how good your answer is.

adamshred

Piste wrote: »

^ that's so, so improtant too. Highlight key parts of the question. For examplbe you might be asked "in X's poetry, s/he explores the themes of Y and Z in A and B way"

A lot of people will just see the themes and write about them without seeing that they're being asked to highlight how the the themes are treated and a specific way. Make sure you underline/highlight the different parts of the question you have to deal with to get maximum marks. If you don't answer part of the question there are only so many marks you can get regardless of how good your answer is.

Totally agree here! Can't stress this enough highlight the question and answer the question that's asked it's that simple. If it's a reading comprehension, highlight the parts that are relevant to the question and then form your answer from the highlighted text.