VCE Stuff > VCE French
50 in French - ask me anything
MissSmiley:
--- Quote from: bingoman2000 on January 12, 2018, 02:57:27 pm ---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 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! :)
bingoman2000:
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.
snowisawesome:
Did you finish vce in year 11 Anand?
MissSmiley:
--- Quote from: bingoman2000 on January 12, 2018, 08:30:45 pm ---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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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! :)
TheSapaInca:
Year 9 Methods - 46
Year 10 Specialist 48/ UMEP 5.0
Sorry but this just isn't believable to me...
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