Having reflected on my experience studying both A-Level English Literature and Spanish respectively, I thought it would be time to have a look at French - and what a tumultuous, for the lack of a better word, journey it has been! Whether you are looking to study A-Level French next year and would like a little more insight, for there really isn't a lot out there online, or are simply nosy to find out more about my personal battle (and I use that word on purpose) with this very subject, I hope this post is useful and do be sure to leave me any thoughts in the comments below as per usual.
G x
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As with my recent post about my experience with A-Level English Literature, I thought it would be worthwhile prefacing the exam board and respective works that I studied as a point of reference. Unlike Spanish, I was on the Edexcel board for French and studied La Haine in addition to No et Moi for the second paper (more details on the structure of the course will be given later). If you would like some specific advice as to how to revise for this subject, you can click here for my Paper One/Three post and here for the Paper Two post.
WHY FRENCH?
Contrary to some of the other subjects that I decided to take, there's not much of a story behind why A-Level French was among said subjects. Aside from being my favourite subject - so much so, in fact, that I was already considering the possibility of doing a languages degree - it was also the subject that I was best at, evidenced by my GCSE results. At the end of the day, even if we were simply learning how to talk about our holidays, hobbies or school routines, I felt as if it was French that provided me with the most transferable skills that I could use in my day-to-day life and one which, as a result, I got immense gratification out of. Furthermore, class sizes were notoriously small at my school and the department at my school was doing well results-wise.
HOW THE COURSE IS STRUCTURED
While the below information is for the Edexcel course, A-Level Modern Languages specifications do not tend to vary as drastically as in other subjects - though I would recommend doing your own research if necessary.
The Edexcel A-Level French course is entirely exam based and is divided into three papers. The first paper accounts for 40% of your overall grade and it is where you are given reading and listening exercises to complete in addition to a translation from French into English. The paper is marked out of 80 and you are given 2 hours in which to complete it. The exercises will be based on the 12 themes that you study during the course, which include the following:
The Edexcel A-Level French course is entirely exam based and is divided into three papers. The first paper accounts for 40% of your overall grade and it is where you are given reading and listening exercises to complete in addition to a translation from French into English. The paper is marked out of 80 and you are given 2 hours in which to complete it. The exercises will be based on the 12 themes that you study during the course, which include the following:
AS
| A2
|
Something worthy of note is that the listening aspect of this paper is completely different to what you will have experience at GCSE, given that you are now in control of the clips you listen to - either uploaded onto a mini MP3 player or on a computer for you to use. Though brilliant all in all, it can be a double-edged sword; I always did the paper back-to-front as I found that, otherwise, I would simply spend too long on the listening part of the paper and not give myself enough time for the reading.
The second paper is the written paper, accounting for 30% of your final grade, in which you will be expected to write two essays for the film/book(s) that you have studied as well as complete a translation from English into French. You are not allowed to take the works into the exam with you. Initially, the very thought of having to do a single essay in French was daunting - particularly when you see the recommended word count, at 350 words per essay - but this is something which becomes second nature to you over the course of time due to how much your language skills improve! There are a total of 120 marks to grab in 2 hours and 45 minutes.
The third and final paper is the speaking paper which, again, accounts for 30% of your final grade. There are two key elements to this exam. To begin, you will be given the choice of two stimulus cards and will have to pick one based on the topic heading. From there on, there will be two choices of question, both with two prompts for you to start thinking about, and you will have to pick one as a topic of conversation. As was the case in the GCSE exam, you will be given 5 minutes preparation time in which you can begin thinking about what the two questions will be and how you can respond appropriately. Again, this is an aspect of the course that seems daunting, but the questions are relatively straightforward to guess and you can stir the conversation to suit your strengths and it should only last 6-7 minutes. The second part consists of your IRP, or Independent Research Project. This is a bit like a mini-EPQ; you have to research an aspect of French society so that you can have a 10-11 minute long discussion about it with your examiner. You will have a 2 minute presentation prior to this discussion, which is the only bit of the exam you memorise, where you have to set out your research and discuss 2 key sources you used. The rest, however, is spontaneous - though the way you phrase your answers is essential here, as you can lead your answers on into further questions that you can answer. As with the written paper, this element of the exam is not as daunting as it sounds with sufficient practice.
The second paper is the written paper, accounting for 30% of your final grade, in which you will be expected to write two essays for the film/book(s) that you have studied as well as complete a translation from English into French. You are not allowed to take the works into the exam with you. Initially, the very thought of having to do a single essay in French was daunting - particularly when you see the recommended word count, at 350 words per essay - but this is something which becomes second nature to you over the course of time due to how much your language skills improve! There are a total of 120 marks to grab in 2 hours and 45 minutes.
The third and final paper is the speaking paper which, again, accounts for 30% of your final grade. There are two key elements to this exam. To begin, you will be given the choice of two stimulus cards and will have to pick one based on the topic heading. From there on, there will be two choices of question, both with two prompts for you to start thinking about, and you will have to pick one as a topic of conversation. As was the case in the GCSE exam, you will be given 5 minutes preparation time in which you can begin thinking about what the two questions will be and how you can respond appropriately. Again, this is an aspect of the course that seems daunting, but the questions are relatively straightforward to guess and you can stir the conversation to suit your strengths and it should only last 6-7 minutes. The second part consists of your IRP, or Independent Research Project. This is a bit like a mini-EPQ; you have to research an aspect of French society so that you can have a 10-11 minute long discussion about it with your examiner. You will have a 2 minute presentation prior to this discussion, which is the only bit of the exam you memorise, where you have to set out your research and discuss 2 key sources you used. The rest, however, is spontaneous - though the way you phrase your answers is essential here, as you can lead your answers on into further questions that you can answer. As with the written paper, this element of the exam is not as daunting as it sounds with sufficient practice.
MY EXPERIENCE
Despite having an excellent GCSE French experience, my experience with A-Level French has admittedly been less than rosy - though I am sure that a lot of that stems from the individual provisions, or lack thereof, in my school rather than the subject on its own.
Interestingly, it was the subject that I felt the greatest jump from GCSE in terms of difficulty - which I find rather bizarre given that I started A-Level Spanish from scratch. This was perhaps because my teachers threw us straight into the deep-end by making us start with the book, No et Moi, rather than the film - although this is something which I ended up being very grateful for when it came to Year 13, an already overwhelming year on its own. Similarly, we were thrown into studying grammar in a depth that I was simply not accustomed to - again, something which I found overwhelming yet rewarding. That being said, I began to feel more comfortable as the months went by and found strategies to more effectively study the subject which certainly helped me.
Leading on from the above, I thought I would quickly touch on workload. Of course, this is going to depend on your school's individual scenario, but French was the subject in which I by far had the most amount of work. To be completely honest, it did become overwhelming, particularly in Year 13, as I had 3 other subjects I had to keep afloat and didn't feel as if my time warranted the progress I was making. Taking the above into account, though, I did begin to feel a lot more 'on top of things' and confident towards the end of both Year 12 and Year 13 when I noticed that I suddenly began to understand the things I had struggled with for so long. At the end of the day, any A-Level Language is a hell of a commitment as it is a subject that you have to continuously put 100% into to reap the benefits: there is simply no way in which you can cram-revise due to the nature of the course.
Speaking of the course, I thought I would touch upon the course content - something which will, again, vary from person to person depending on the works your school chooses. From a personal point of view, I felt that there was great disparity in terms of interest when it came to the AS topics and the A2 topics. Being somebody who is very interested in the politics and the 'now', if you will, there were times when I found the AS content rather dull and feeling rather similar to a repeat of GCSE with just a little bit added on. While the A2 content was a lot more interesting, the fact that we had to study World War II
in a relative amount of depth led to a plethora of its own difficulties; needless to say, having dropped History in Year 10, I never thought that I would have to memorise timelines or dates again - oh how wrong I was! On the topic of memorisation, I have to say that I felt as if there is an excruciating amount expected of A-Level students to learn - not only in terms of the works, but boiling down to things like knowing the number of newspapers sold in France in recent years. That being said, I feel as if I could say similar things of all the A-Levels I decided to take and it is possible to do as long as you take on a 'little and often' approach.
Something else that I found really impeded my A-Level French experience was the fact that I had not had the correct number of lessons for either Year 12 or Year 13. With the way that my school timetable works, A-Level students are supposed to have 8 lessons a fortnight and I had only had 6 lessons a fortnight for both years. While that may not sound like a lot, it equated to about 50 odd lessons being missed up to the point that we broke up and that is a lot of lost contact time. Some subjects, such as English Literature, would have been a lot easier to self-study but, due to the lack of resources and the need to learn the French perspective than just a handful of grammar rules, I really struggled to catch-up and it meant that lessons had to be quite fast-paced. Similarly, we also had a very small class and did not have access to a language assistant which I felt made my conversation skills more difficult to develop.
All things taken into account, however, I do not regret taking A-Level French and appreciate the opportunity that I have had to further my language skills. I feel as if your language skills improve on an unprecedented scale in the two years of the A-Level and it is interesting to be able to hold a conversation on less trivial matters, such as the rise of the Rassemblement National.
Interestingly, it was the subject that I felt the greatest jump from GCSE in terms of difficulty - which I find rather bizarre given that I started A-Level Spanish from scratch. This was perhaps because my teachers threw us straight into the deep-end by making us start with the book, No et Moi, rather than the film - although this is something which I ended up being very grateful for when it came to Year 13, an already overwhelming year on its own. Similarly, we were thrown into studying grammar in a depth that I was simply not accustomed to - again, something which I found overwhelming yet rewarding. That being said, I began to feel more comfortable as the months went by and found strategies to more effectively study the subject which certainly helped me.
Leading on from the above, I thought I would quickly touch on workload. Of course, this is going to depend on your school's individual scenario, but French was the subject in which I by far had the most amount of work. To be completely honest, it did become overwhelming, particularly in Year 13, as I had 3 other subjects I had to keep afloat and didn't feel as if my time warranted the progress I was making. Taking the above into account, though, I did begin to feel a lot more 'on top of things' and confident towards the end of both Year 12 and Year 13 when I noticed that I suddenly began to understand the things I had struggled with for so long. At the end of the day, any A-Level Language is a hell of a commitment as it is a subject that you have to continuously put 100% into to reap the benefits: there is simply no way in which you can cram-revise due to the nature of the course.
Speaking of the course, I thought I would touch upon the course content - something which will, again, vary from person to person depending on the works your school chooses. From a personal point of view, I felt that there was great disparity in terms of interest when it came to the AS topics and the A2 topics. Being somebody who is very interested in the politics and the 'now', if you will, there were times when I found the AS content rather dull and feeling rather similar to a repeat of GCSE with just a little bit added on. While the A2 content was a lot more interesting, the fact that we had to study World War II
in a relative amount of depth led to a plethora of its own difficulties; needless to say, having dropped History in Year 10, I never thought that I would have to memorise timelines or dates again - oh how wrong I was! On the topic of memorisation, I have to say that I felt as if there is an excruciating amount expected of A-Level students to learn - not only in terms of the works, but boiling down to things like knowing the number of newspapers sold in France in recent years. That being said, I feel as if I could say similar things of all the A-Levels I decided to take and it is possible to do as long as you take on a 'little and often' approach.
Something else that I found really impeded my A-Level French experience was the fact that I had not had the correct number of lessons for either Year 12 or Year 13. With the way that my school timetable works, A-Level students are supposed to have 8 lessons a fortnight and I had only had 6 lessons a fortnight for both years. While that may not sound like a lot, it equated to about 50 odd lessons being missed up to the point that we broke up and that is a lot of lost contact time. Some subjects, such as English Literature, would have been a lot easier to self-study but, due to the lack of resources and the need to learn the French perspective than just a handful of grammar rules, I really struggled to catch-up and it meant that lessons had to be quite fast-paced. Similarly, we also had a very small class and did not have access to a language assistant which I felt made my conversation skills more difficult to develop.
All things taken into account, however, I do not regret taking A-Level French and appreciate the opportunity that I have had to further my language skills. I feel as if your language skills improve on an unprecedented scale in the two years of the A-Level and it is interesting to be able to hold a conversation on less trivial matters, such as the rise of the Rassemblement National.
SHOULD I TAKE IT?
In spite of the difficulties I have personally had, I would recommend taking A-Level French - albeit I would suggest looking into, and asking older students about, the provisions that your school has in place for A-Level students. If you are somebody who is organised and can consistently put maximum effort into the subject, despite a setback or two, I believe that you can thrive in an A-Level environment. At the end of the day, unlike other A-Level subjects, French is a subject which will give you skills that you can apply directly to the real-world and skills that you will have for life. Language skills are not only great for your own personal travels, they are now actively sought after by many employers and universities recognise them as being among the hardest, or facilitating, subjects - hence why the entrance requirements for the vast majority of universities (to, of course, study languages), including Oxford, do not exceed AAA. If the following aspects of French society interest you, I would recommend looking at the specification, asking around at school and going for it - you likely won't regret it!