ATAR Notes: Forum
VCE Stuff => VCE Languages Other Than English (LOTE) => VCE Subjects + Help => VCE French => Topic started by: bingoman on December 25, 2016, 07:30:33 pm
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Hi all,
My name is Anand Bharadwaj and I am a Year 10 student at Trinity Grammar School. This year, I was fortunate enough to receive a perfect study score of 50 in VCE Biology and French. If any of you are interested, I am happy to share any tips that helped me achieve a strong result in French and answer any questions you may have about my study methods, the resources I used, or anything else in general about my VCE journey.
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Hi all,
My name is Anand Bharadwaj and I am a Year 10 student at Trinity Grammar School. This year, I was fortunate enough to receive a perfect study score of 50 in VCE Biology and French. If any of you are interested, I am happy to share any tips that helped me achieve a strong result in French and answer any questions you may have about my study methods, the resources I used, or anything else in general about my VCE journey.
Hi Anand,
Congratulations on those remarkable study scores! :D
While I will be completing German 3/4 next year, I just wanted to ask you some questions in relation to language learning.
1) Did you study French every day in some form (ie. listen to a podcast, read a book or write)?
2) When alone (with no others to practice with), how did you improve your spoken French?
Thanks very much! :)
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Studying French daily definitely helped me improve my skills, and I used a wide variety of French books and movies to fine-tune my reading and listening abilities. I also often listened to the SBS news channel for French, which albeit challenging to understand at first, was also extremely useful in allowing me to improve my skills. The second question is an interesting one...I guess I spent the majority of my oral preparation time on actually writing out the content of my general conversation and detailed study and almost rehearsing it mentally and committing the key ideas to memory (spontaneity is key in the real exam, so I wouldn't recommend trying to memorise word for word, it's a waste of time and can easily be detected by the assessors). The big thing in the oral is to map out a path that you want the discussion to take (e.g. family -> relationships -> personal interests -> something specific about the interest -> work -> aspirations for the future) and moulding your responses to fit this path. I'm sure that a similar approach would work well for 3/4 German. Furthermore, I spent a lot of time working on my detailed study and tried to extend myself with a broad set of books, films and articles beyond the set three resources, which was something that permitted me to deepen my understanding and be prepared for virtually any possible question on my topic. Also, I would encourage you to seek out your teachers outside class time for additional oral practice - I found my French teachers extremely supportive and knowledgeable on all aspects of the exam, and they were vital in helping me understand the styles of questions to expect and in allowing me to understand how the assessors craft their questions and set up the discussion in an exam setting. Doing these types of practice exams will make the real oral seem much more manageable...I honestly ended up enjoying mine a lot and found it an opportunity to engage in a real discussion.
If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask me.
All the best for next year :)
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Thanks very much for the response! :)
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Hi excelsiorxlcr, I just submitted my statement of marks request, and it will probably arrive sometime next week, so I'll be happy to let you know my scores then (I'm interested to find out myself). As for learning vocab effectively, I would highly recommend the superb book Mot à Mot by Paul Humberstone. It has vocabulary arranged in structured categories, facilitating easy and productive learning. Furthermore, I was preparing for the SAT French exam midway through the year, so I ended up buying two reference books - the Barron's Revision Guide and the Princeton Review Revision Book, both of which contained a large volume of common vocabulary arranged by topic. In the SAT exam, you are not allowed a dictionary, so that really placed the onus on me to learn the requisite vocabulary to a high level of perfection. In the end, I ended up learning 30-40 new words each day, but of course the amount of vocab that I learnt varied on a daily basis. In the end, doing these one-percenters in learning vocab was paramount to my ultimate success, as the speed with which I could complete reading and listening exercises increased over time, allowing me to complete the exam with minimal dictionary use. On the contrary, having the dictionary was still useful, and I recommend checking it when somewhat doubtful...it's not worth it to lose careless marks when just 50 % certain about a particular word or phrase. Another excellent book that I used was called "Street French - A Guide to Idioms". This had some awesome idiomatic phrases that enriched the content of both my speech and writing, but once again, I would advise restraint...too many idioms, or misused idioms can make you sound either pretentious or incompetent. So in many ways, my practice was focused on achieving a good balance between these different aspects of my writing and speaking.
As for listening, the key is to make effective notes. This year's listening was of a high difficulty in my opinion, and with a lot of content to copy down, I really needed to make notes at high speed. I personally chose to make my notes in French the whole way through...this was much easier for my mind to process without delays in thinking. You should also develop your own abbreviations for high-frequency long words over the course of the year...this really speeds up transferring information as well. For reading, once again, I thought this year's exam was challenging, with a fair few curveballs. The first section is basically translation in my opinion. Just translate the content accurately, and base your answers on this. The second part was a bit more challenging this year...you needed to write a rebuttal to a particular set of arguments, and it required more thought. I recommend learning a wide range of connective phrases and general vocabulary - so that you can form a wide range of sentence structures to impress the assessors. Learning to summarise, reword and synthesise the main argument of content in French, and makeing sure your grammar and vocab are up to speed will allow you to achieve success on this section of the exam.
All the best with everything and let me know if you need any other advice.
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Wow your French teachers are awesome. My German teacher would have no idea about any of these exam strategies.
What is the best way to study for maths and content-heavy subjects?
How do you minimise exam errors in the most efficient way possible?
What English subject are you doing and how do you plan to approach it?
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Hey!!
Congrats on your amazing marks :) Best of luck for your subjects next year!!
My questions:
(I'm doing HSC though not VCE) what was your in depth study for the oral? Not sure if you have this in VCE.
"The big thing in the oral is to map out a path that you want the discussion to take (e.g. family -> relationships -> personal interests -> something specific about the interest -> work -> aspirations for the future) and moulding your responses to fit this path."
Did you map out this route in your head DURING the oral test? OR did you have it planned before. Could you give an answer to this also? And what if the oral examiner asked for relationships not family in the beginning. How would you mould it out then? Also what are the benefits of mapping the path out - after all, isn't it the examiner whose going to map it out by their QUESTIONS?
Thank you!
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Is this the Anand Bharadwaj, the scrabble god?
Edit: 50 Bio as well, Thushan?
@exit, his english score should be very high
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1) Did you study French every day in some form (ie. listen to a podcast, read a book or write)?
Studying French daily definitely helped me improve my skills, and I used a wide variety of French books and movies to fine-tune my reading and listening abilities. I also often listened to the SBS news channel for French, which albeit challenging to understand at first, was also extremely useful in allowing me to improve my skills.
2) When alone (with no others to practice with), how did you improve your spoken French?
The second question is an interesting one...I guess I spent the majority of my oral preparation time on actually writing out the content of my general conversation and detailed study and almost rehearsing it mentally and committing the key ideas to memory (spontaneity is key in the real exam, so I wouldn't recommend trying to memorise word for word, it's a waste of time and can easily be detected by the assessors). The big thing in the oral is to map out a path that you want the discussion to take (e.g. family -> relationships -> personal interests -> something specific about the interest -> work -> aspirations for the future) and moulding your responses to fit this path. I'm sure that a similar approach would work well for 3/4 German. Furthermore, I spent a lot of time working on my detailed study and tried to extend myself with a broad set of books, films and articles beyond the set three resources, which was something that permitted me to deepen my understanding and be prepared for virtually any possible question on my topic. Also, I would encourage you to seek out your teachers outside class time for additional oral practice - I found my French teachers extremely supportive and knowledgeable on all aspects of the exam, and they were vital in helping me understand the styles of questions to expect and in allowing me to understand how the assessors craft their questions and set up the discussion in an exam setting. Doing these types of practice exams will make the real oral seem much more manageable...I honestly ended up enjoying mine a lot and found it an opportunity to engage in a real discussion.
3) Also, how much vocab did you learn per day, and how did you go about learning vocab in the most efficient way possible? I have looked at the 3/4 exam reading texts and the vocab seems really random, so I am just worried about how I am going to be able to understand the texts without using the dictionary a lot.
As for learning vocab effectively, I would highly recommend the superb book Mot à Mot by Paul Humberstone. It has vocabulary arranged in structured categories, facilitating easy and productive learning. Furthermore, I was preparing for the SAT French exam midway through the year, so I ended up buying two reference books - the Barron's Revision Guide and the Princeton Review Revision Book, both of which contained a large volume of common vocabulary arranged by topic. In the SAT exam, you are not allowed a dictionary, so that really placed the onus on me to learn the requisite vocabulary to a high level of perfection. In the end, I ended up learning 30-40 new words each day, but of course the amount of vocab that I learnt varied on a daily basis. In the end, doing these one-percenters in learning vocab was paramount to my ultimate success, as the speed with which I could complete reading and listening exercises increased over time, allowing me to complete the exam with minimal dictionary use. On the contrary, having the dictionary was still useful, and I recommend checking it when somewhat doubtful...it's not worth it to lose careless marks when just 50 % certain about a particular word or phrase. Another excellent book that I used was called "Street French - A Guide to Idioms". This had some awesome idiomatic phrases that enriched the content of both my speech and writing, but once again, I would advise restraint...too many idioms, or misused idioms can make you sound either pretentious or incompetent. So in many ways, my practice was focused on achieving a good balance between these different aspects of my writing and speaking.
4) Also, do you have any top tips for reading and listening? And what language would you note take in for each section of the listening?
As for listening, the key is to make effective notes. This year's listening was of a high difficulty in my opinion, and with a lot of content to copy down, I really needed to make notes at high speed. I personally chose to make my notes in French the whole way through...this was much easier for my mind to process without delays in thinking. You should also develop your own abbreviations for high-frequency long words over the course of the year...this really speeds up transferring information as well. For reading, once again, I thought this year's exam was challenging, with a fair few curveballs. The first section is basically translation in my opinion. Just translate the content accurately, and base your answers on this. The second part was a bit more challenging this year...you needed to write a rebuttal to a particular set of arguments, and it required more thought. I recommend learning a wide range of connective phrases and general vocabulary - so that you can form a wide range of sentence structures to impress the assessors. Learning to summarise, reword and synthesise the main argument of content in French, and makeing sure your grammar and vocab are up to speed will allow you to achieve success on this section of the exam.
Heres a list of his questions and answers so far
Sort of an answer wiki
Feel free to copy+paste and then add on
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In response to excelsior's second question, I'll say a bit about my oral experience. From memory, the first question was: "Describe your family life." This question seemed similar to "Parlez-nous un peu de votre famille," but with a few different nuances, so I spoke a little about my family coming to Australia from India and the cultural changes that this entailed this seemed like a good way to integrate the notion of "family life." Equally, I talked about relationships with family (I had explored this in practising with sample questions like "Avec qui vous entendez-vous le mieux"), and about my personal values. Following this, I talked about the things I do with family and friends as social activities e.g. listening to music, watching movies, going to restaurants, and then finally, I tried to setup an ideal transition with the topic of "board games." While at first, they seemed a little surprised, I moved on to my personal journey as a top Scrabble player in Australia and the international scene, and shared a little about my experience at the World Championships. This then gave me ample opportunity to expand on how my passion for Scrabble has supplemented my interest in a range of other fields, such as maths, English, linguistics, computer programming, etc...Finally, I went on to discuss how I used my passion for Scrabble to support a charitable cause - by playing a series of opponents simultaneously, and receiving sponsorship based on the number of games that I won. I spoke a little on the nature of this cause - it's affiliated with UNICEF, and not only did that give me a chance to build my "story," but it also permitted me to use a lot of vocabulary on humanitarian aid - e.g. analphabet, sans-abri, primordial de renvoyer l'ascenseur à ceux qui sont moins privilégiés que moi et ma famille, etc...It was here that I received a real curve ball - the question: Do you plan to integrate your humanitarian interests with your passion for languages and cultures, in particular the connection you have to your Indian heritage? This was tricky...but I would say that the key to handling hard questions is to think on your feet. What I said was that while I haven't volunteered in India yet, I know that working to unite cultures is a key part of my vision, and in the future, I would perhaps like to advocate for the education of disadvantaged children and the empowerment of women in India, which are two causes that I am genuinely very passionate about.
A similar principle to answering questions applies to something like "What would you do if you were principal of your school." The key is to not panic and not hesitate. If you've got to the point that they are asking you challenging questions, you know that you've done well so far. Think about what you might want to improve within your school. Perhaps bringing year levels together, setting up support groups, encouraging greater participation in co-curricular activities. Anything would work...the key is to use the vocabulary that you have in a meaningful way to craft a creative answer. Even for mundane questions, try to appear spontaneous. Don't reply with monosyllabic answers, but still, remain natural. The key is to impress the assessor at this early stage, so what you should do is map an escape route. If say, the assessors ask you: "Do you have any pets?" and you don't have any, don't just say "non." Reply with something like "No, I find that it is a challenge to balance my studies and the tasks required for looking after a pet. I find that while having a pet would be wonderful, my interactions with friends and family more than make up for this." I can't emphasise enough that thinking creatively and clearly is the key. Treat the oral as a friendly discussion, and you'll find yourself giving innovative answers that will garner high marks, while at the same time enjoying yourself.
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A reply to Exit's question:
As for studying for maths subjects, I think the key is regular practice and learning from your mistakes. Both understanding and consistency are key. Learn to write thorough and accurate proofs for your assertions, but at the same time, learn to write in a concise and effective manner - there's no point writing essays, but you do need to write enough to earn the requisite marks. What I learnt over time was the importance of reading questions carefully, highlighting key terms, and thinking logically about the steps of a question in the goal of avoiding silly errors. While this is definitely not foolproof, at least you will be more aware of what you are writing in the exam room and will be able to identify any logical flaws or "careless slips." Nonetheless, I still maintain that "practice makes perfect," and that calmness and a clear head under pressure will hold you in good stead to answer the questions with maximum accuracy and speed.
I'm studying Literature next year, and I think it's a wonderful subject, that allows a great deal of creativity, spontaneity and an ability to really appreciate and imbibe the meaning of a work of literature. Literature doesn't allow you to prepare in advance much; instead, you've got to be able to craft cogent pieces from a series of extracts (although I think the tasks are changing next year), and I find the task enjoyable and challenging. I think the key will be to read the texts and a wide range of critical articles from academic journals and other sources, reflect critically on a range of viewpoints, and use these sources to form my own view of what the texts are suggesting and what they mean to me. From here, I'll definitely be doing my best to write detailed, thoughtful and original pieces and hope that this preparation will result in a strong result in the subject.
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To saloni 99.95: Thanks for your good wishes, I'm definitely excited for next year :)
There are lots of similarities between the HSC and VCE courses and I used HSC papers extensively to prepare for the end-of-year exam. My detailed study was a French political scandal called the Dreyfus Affair - it was the case of a Jewish officer in the French army being wrongly accused of treason against the Army, a truly fascinating study of anti-Semitism in France and the conflicts, racial prejudice and controversies that took place in a seemingly "serene" period of French history - la Belle Epoque (a period that honestly was anything but 'belle').
As for the notion of a 'path,' this was definitely not something that I just thought of on the spot, but something that I had thought about, evaluated and discussed with my teachers, friends and family before using in the exam. One thing that a lot of people don't mention about the oral is that it's in your control for a lot of the time. YOU need to manipulate the discussion, and mould it to suit an appropriate direction. YOUR answers dictate the flow of the discussion. Check out the answer I gave to excelsior for more information. If I gave an answer about the pets question about difficulty of managing VCE/HSC and caring for a pet, I've steered the discussion to the topic of VCE and the challenges of Year 12. I can now talk about the subjects that I have chosen (this is probably what they are going to ask you next, or if not, you can just mention it. Follow on from your previous point by saying, "puisque/car/à cause du fait que j'ai choisi un ensemble de matières difficiles, cette année a été un défi pour moi." These types of "escape routes" are your roads through the maze/path that I have described. The oral is ultimately a discussion, not an interview. Your responses will pave the way for the conversation itself. In those seven minutes, you need to seize control, and say what you want to say, to share your personal story and more importantly, share your knowledge and skill in French. If you feel that you're wasting time, get out of this point in the path. These "get out of jail cards" will quickly get you back on track, and you will be in good shape to do brilliantly in the remainder of the discussion. Of course, there will be hiccups along the way. No discussion can be "mapped out" beforehand fully. But if you visualise the links through your path, and use them to your advantage, I'm sure that you will be able to discuss what you are passionate about (and most confident about).
All the best for next year...I'm sure you'll do brilliantly :D
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Congrats! Would you say you are now fluent in French?
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Congrats on your amazing study score :)
How much time did you spend studying French? How many hours a day/week?
Thanks
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Thanks Orson :) I'd probably say that I'm close to fluent now, but of course there's still a lot to learn in the language.
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First off, congrats on your amazing score. You must have put in hell of a lot of studying and hard work to get that. ^^
If I may, do you have any tips for writing better in french? I read a lot of french books but I often find it very difficult to synthesize the way authors write, as such any french writing I do tends to sound really strange.
Also, this might be a weird question but how much french slang do you think examiners are fine with? For example from the dropping of the 'ne' to common but incorrect grammatical sentences such as 'tu fais quoi?'
Thanks for any help.
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Hi there Maddie and thanks for your kind words. For your first question, my number one tip would be to improve your writing in English first, paying particular attention to the content and logical structure of your writing. Structure is particularly important in the French exam; the assessors really want to a see a well-ordered piece of writing with meaningful and topic-focused paragraphs. After you have perfected this, the key is to learn a wide range of vocabulary and connective phrases to enrich the content of your writing. Check some of my earlier posts to see the books and other resources that helped me enhance the range and accuracy of the vocabulary that I used.
The second question is an interesting one, and one that I asked my teachers on numerous occasions before the exam. Personally, I dropped the "ne" throughout the exam; it was definitely easier to speak more fluently without it. However, you should make sure that the standard of your oral is at a reasonably high level before doing this, as you don't want it to seem that you don't know the correct grammatical phrasing of negation. You seem like a committed and strong student in French, so you should go with whatever you are most confident with. If speaking without the "ne" comes more easily, by all means go for it. The judicious use of other slang (e.g. idioms) can also make your oral seem more natural, but take care, and don't use words that you don't know the meaning of. Make sure, however, that you always address the examiners as "vous" as opposed to "tu": the exam is still a formal interview, and you don't want anything you say to be misconstrued as disrespect.
All the best, I'm sure you will achieve an excellent result next year.
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Thanks for your advice :) I was reading your other posts too and your advice is so helpful. And WOAH, international scrabble player?! You're such a high achiever - congrats on your accomplishments!!
I'm still choosing my in-depth study topic for Hindi. Most people do celebrities(inspirational political figures) or issues/cases (like how you did). I'd like to do something different, so far I've thought of:
- Positive thinking / the psychology behind it (Things like the effect of thoughts on your mind, feelings, behaviour, life, etc and how motivation occurs and why willpower > motivation etc). This I feel is a great topic because it's completely new but also gives me TIME to read inspirational, motivational books.
- The science behind yoga postures (so I talk about the in depth physiological effects of each posture and the effect it has). I prefer the above topic because this is very in-depth and there is vast amounts of knowledge to be learnt. I don't do BIO or PDHPE either.
What do you recommend? ^ And do you say we should map out a path in our oral for the in depth study as well as the general conversation?
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S'il vous plait, pourriez-vous être mon prof de français?
Hahaha, in all seriousness thank-you very much for your interesting advice. I find that writing is extremely important in second languages but often isn't addressed to the level that it needs to be. Your second advice pertaining to slang is also very reassuring.
Once again many thanks, best of luck for this year but I have no doubt you'll smash it ^^.
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Hi saloni99.95, all the best with Hindi this year and thanks for your kind words! Personally, I would choose the yoga postures topic, but perhaps you could combine it with your ideas on positive thinking, after all, yoga has been scientifically shown to enhance both physical and psychological wellbeing. You definitely seem to have some very creative and original ideas, so I'm sure you will do very well in the detailed study section.
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Apologies excelsior, I missed your last question. As for the questions about personal qualities, it is easiest to talk mostly about the positive aspects of your character: e.g. I am friendly, diligent, hardworking and risk-taking, but I would also encourage you to mention one thing in your personality that you might want to improve: e.g. I find that I get distracted when I am busy with so many things (essentially a negative-positive combination there). The question about expectations for your working life is probably a more complicated way of phrasing the following: what careers are you interested and what are the different aspects encompassed by these professions. Hope that helps.
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Hey I was wondering if you could post the results from your statement of marks?
Thanks!
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Hi Anand, congratulations on two amazing scores!! I was just wondering, what was the most effect method of study for you for French throughout the year
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Hello!
Congrats for your results…
I am really finding myself struggling with French listening…The stress in the exam and trouble comprehending however the main problem is that I feel like I do not know whether I am studying for french listening effectively.
I have listened to a lot of french news, songs, movies etc but still feel like that is not enough.
Is the solution to do practice papers over and over? I have heard many things from a lot of different people and would love to know the best tricks/tips from someone who did really well!!
Thanks a lot! :)
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Hi all, apologies for my inactivity on this thread, mainly due to how busy I was in the second half of 2017. I am happy to revive this thread for the next few weeks before the university term starts to answer any questions that anyone might have about French.
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Hi all, apologies for my inactivity on this thread, mainly due to how busy I was in the second half of 2017. I am happy to revive this thread for the next few weeks before the university term starts to answer any questions that anyone might have about French.
Hi Anand :)
Firstly, a big big congrats on your tremendous achievements ! It's amazing how you've achieved great perfection in every single subject of yours, which has contributed to the whooping ATAR!! You certainly have a fantastic and bright future coming your way!! :D
Could I just ask Anand, how did you approach reading comprehension in terms of extracting relevant info and then did you find synonyms for all the words? Obviously you're likely to get credited for your originality in writing, but can you still use words from the text? I seem to be all right with exams, might be because of a shorter text, ::) but sometimes I find it hard to structure my French response in an effective way which will ensure I cover all the important information from the text.
Could you suggest anything specific for this, or just practice?!!
Also, do you think studying a film, a documentary and an article about the film are acceptable for the three texts for Detailed Study? (our topic is French Cinema)
Thanks Anand! :)
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Hi there MissSmiley :) Thanks so much for your good wishes, I'm definitely thrilled with how everything went last year and am excited for what the future holds. In terms of how to approach the reading section, I highly recommend having a read of the passage first without looking at the questions. This can often help you to be more attentive about the content and not just focused on finding the required information to answer the questions. Following this, I would look through the questions and highlight the key words and phrases in the passages that will help you answer them. Make sure that you are aware of the number of points required for each question; I remember that occasionally, under the pressure of an exam-style situation, I would accidentally forget to write down a piece of information. Particularly in the first part of the reading section (respond in English), be aware that there are often holistic theme-based questions that will require to synthesise the passage(s) as a whole. In other words, be detail-oriented but also focused on the broader ideas inherent in the text.
As for responding in a French, I personally think the best way to show your command of the language is to use a variety of sophisticated sentence structures (for example changing verbs to nouns or active voice to passive voice, or converting sentences in the indicative given in the text to the conditional or the subjunctive). Using synonyms can also help, but my personal opinion is that there is no need to use more than a few of them. The assessor basically want to see that you can go beyond merely copying the text, and you can assure a strong mark for your writing skills in the reading section by enriching your writing sparingly and judiciously with some advanced vocabulary and grammatical structures. Often, overusing synonyms can lead to a loss of precision and clarity in your answers, which in turn can lead to you losing valuable content marks, so it's essential that you are able to convey the desired meaning in your response regardless of the exact approach that you take.
Just to add to this, I recently lead authored the newly released Cambridge Checkpoints book for French 3/4. If you want even more detailed advice on how to approach each of the sections of both the oral and written exams as well as access to my detailed written answers and annotated essays for all of the VCAA exams for the past ten years, I highly encourage you to consider this resource. It is available from both Cambridge itself, as well as all the other major textbook and general online retailers (Campion, JP Books, Amazon, etc.) The book also contains ample topic-based grammar and vocabulary revision, all of which will help you continue to refine your skills in the lead-up to the exams.
As a final note, it's great to see that you are already planning for the Detailed Study. Your choices for the resources are definitely appropriate, but I'd suggest narrowing down your theme a bit (French cinema sounds a bit too broad to me). Perhaps try focusing on a specific genre of film, a particular actor or a given period when French films were particularly innovative or creative, for example, the 60s. You can find more information about French films in the 60s in a reading text in the 2015 VCAA paper; the text certainly gives a lot of insight about this sub-topic. Again, if you want some more advice on how to approach the oral, feel free to ask me any other questions that you might have or consult Chapter 2 of my Checkpoints book, which is dedicated to providing detailed advice and some sample responses for both parts of the oral.
I hope this answer helps you in getting started for the year ahead. All the best for everything and keep up the hard work.
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Did you finish vce in year 11 Anand?
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I hope this answer helps you in getting started for the year ahead. All the best for everything and keep up the hard work.
Thank you so much for this highly detailed response I must say, Anand! ;D
I'm definitely looking forward to purchasing your Checkpoints! :)
And yes, French Cinema was just the 'umbrella' term, but personally I'm thinking to focus on the impact of crime in French cinema on social life in the 1950s-60s France. Would that be all right?
Thanks a lot Anand! You've given some great and valuable advice! :)
All the best to you too! :)
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Year 9 Methods - 46
Year 10 Specialist 48/ UMEP 5.0
Sorry but this just isn't believable to me...
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Hi snowisawesome, I did graduate last year in Year 11. I started my VCE journey in 2014 in Year 8 with Methods and had initially planned to stay all the way till Year 12, but after the high of last year, I thought it was a good time to finish up and start at Melbourne.
MissSmiley, that theme sounds fascinating. It definitely sounds like something quite original and rich, and I'm sure the examiners will be very interested in your topic. Good luck for the year ahead :)
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Hi snowisawesome, I did graduate last year in Year 11. I started my VCE journey in 2014 in Year 8 with Methods and had initially planned to stay all the way till Year 12, but after the high of last year, I thought it was a good time to finish up and start at Melbourne.
MissSmiley, that theme sounds fascinating. It definitely sounds like something quite original and rich, and I'm sure the examiners will be very interested in your topic. Good luck for the year ahead :)
What course you planning to do Anand?
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I'm doing the BSc with a Chancellor's Scholarship at Melbourne. I'm planning to major in data science and maths and stats.
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Year 9 Methods - 46
Year 10 Specialist 48/ UMEP 5.0
Sorry but this just isn't believable to me...
It's legit. Search him up on quppa's VCE Study Score Archive
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Year 9 Methods - 46
Year 10 Specialist 48/ UMEP 5.0
Sorry but this just isn't believable to me...
He's definitely legit, I went to primary school with him.
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Hi Anand. Are you familiar with the YouTube channel 'VCE French - Pierrick Hubert'? I'd like to get your opinion on it. :)
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Hi Holly, Pierrick's channel is an amazing resource and I highly recommend it to you. I used it extensively throughout the year in preparation for the exam. I found Pierrick's writing tutorials particularly helpful, in that he discusses each style of writing in great depth and provides sample essays for all of the various text types and themes. I've also had the pleasure of presenting alongside Pierrick at some AFTV events; he is a fantastic presenter and teacher.
All the best for the year ahead and don't hesitate to ask any other questions :)
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Hello!
I was just wondering:
- What should I focus on improving for French Units 1&2 given that I've only started learning French from Yr 9?
- How much do you reckon I should allocate towards French daily (week days and weekends) for Units 1/2 and Units 3/4 respectively?
- What do you think you did differently to everyone else who was doing French in order to get a 50.
- Do you have any advice for getting your intonation to sound natural because for me I find that I'm either too high-pitched which makes me sound like I'm asking a question or too monotone (in the context of speaking tasks)?
- What do you reckon is the best way to be prepared for Speaking SACs/ Oral Exams?
If you don't mind answering this: I was wondering what you're studying now, because you seem to have a very successful VCE!
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Hi,
Can you please create Bio thread as well, it will be of immense benefit for me and everyone on AN. What is your motivation that ensures you pursue your studies?
Thank you,
Smartworker
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Seconding this, would love to see an AMA bio thread from you!
In regards to languages, I was wondering how you found the passion and dedication to put so much time into French? What made you enjoy the language?
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Hello!
I was just wondering:
- What should I focus on improving for French Units 1&2 given that I've only started learning French from Yr 9?
I think the most important things to focus on are your basic oral and writing skills, particularly pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary. The rest will come with practice once you have mastered these key skills. To learn grammar and vocabulary, I would highly recommend working through grammar exercises in textbooks (e.g. Schaum's French Grammar). This can be something of a grind, but there really is no substitute for this. However, it is also very important to understand grammar and vocabulary in context, so take the opportunity to read as much as possible in French from a range of sources and understand how various grammatical structures and expressions are actually used in writing. Try to incorporate these structures in your own writing wherever possible. A point of warning though: I think it can be quite hard to jump into reading sophisticated content in French immediately, so start with relatively basic material (e.g. short chapter books and magazines) and work your way up from there. If you want more advice and suggestions for how to prepare for French over the next couple of years, I would certainly advise you to take a look at the French Checkpoints book that I wrote (https://www.cambridge.edu.au/education/titles/Cambridge-Checkpoints-VCE-French-Units-34-2020-23/#.XfytpEczY2w) for detailed guidance on how to structure your preparation for the exam, in addition to many exercises that will enable you to practice your oral and written language skills.
- How much do you reckon I should allocate towards French daily (week days and weekends) for Units 1/2 and Units 3/4 respectively?
This is a hard question and one that unfortunately doesn't have an obvious answer. I think in general, however, regular, diligent practice is needed to achieve top marks in a language subject like French, especially given that you only started your French journey in Year 9. There is no 'magic' amount of study time that will guarantee success in French, but I would recommend spending at least 30 minutes to an hour each day on French. Ultimately, you should do as much study as you think necessary to achieve proficiency in the various language skills tested in the subject.
- What do you think you did differently to everyone else who was doing French in order to get a 50.
I think what helped me most was a genuine passion for French language and culture, a strong grasp of the language in both spoken and written forms, as well as a thorough knowledge of grammar and vocabulary.
- Do you have any advice for getting your intonation to sound natural because for me I find that I'm either too high-pitched which makes me sound like I'm asking a question or too monotone (in the context of speaking tasks)?
French intonation is without doubt one of the most challenging aspects of the language. The best advice I can give for this is to ask your teacher for some one-on-one time to get feedback on your accent and speaking style. Try to listen to podcasts and watch French films to develop a more natural accent. It is equally useful to record yourself and listen back to the tape (perhaps together with your teacher). This can really help you to zone in on your areas of weakness and get feedback on any specific types of errors that you might be making.
- What do you reckon is the best way to be prepared for Speaking SACs/ Oral Exams?
This follows on a bit from the previous question. The keys are to find a balance between preparation and spontaneity - in essence, you need to have a general idea of what you are going to talk about, but also have the ability to improvise on the spot and answer questions in a creative, original way. Ultimately, engaging content, an effective speaking style, and an excellent command of French grammar and vocabulary are the key ingredients for success in oral exams. These skills cannot be developed overnight, so take every opportunity to practice with native speakers (especially your teacher) and constantly take on their feedback to improve. At my school, a few students including myself started a lunchtime French conversation club supervised by our French teacher, something that made my speaking skills improve by leaps and bounds.
If you don't mind answering this: I was wondering what you're studying now, because you seem to have a very successful VCE!
I am currently a Chancellor's Scholar at the University of Melbourne, about to start the final year of my Bachelor of Science majoring in maths and computer science. I am very interested in machine learning/artificial intelligence and am keen to pursue a career in these areas either in academia or industry.
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Hi,
Can you please create Bio thread as well, it will be of immense benefit for me and everyone on AN. What is your motivation that ensures you pursue your studies?
Thank you,
Smartworker
Hi there, while I'd love to create a Bio thread, I'm probably a bit too busy to respond to questions on two separate threads :( I'm also not fully abreast of the new Bio study design given I took the subject back in 2016, so wouldn't feel fully confident of giving up-to-date advice. I'm always happy to respond to individual questions by PM though if there is anything specific relating to Bio that you might want to get my thoughts on.
With regard to my motivation for studying, I think I just genuinely enjoy learning new things and seeking out challenges, and that keeps my motivation high to work hard and give my best in everything I do.
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Thanks so much for all of your advice!!!
Good luck with your studies :)
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Hi,
I am in year 10 and preparing for french for VCE.
I read some of your responses to the questions and you have talked about some of the books that you used which were very helpful. I was researching some of these books (Mot a Mot by Paul Humberstone, Street French - A Guide to Idioms, Schaum's french grammar) and I was wondering which exact model you used to get a very god ATAR (congrats on that).
For example, 'Mot a Mot' by Paul Humberstone. There are many variations of this such as Mot a Mot for AQA A level and Mot a Mot for advanced french vocabulary.
Thanks