Vocabulary!!

Vocabulary is the key to doing well in a listening and reading paper. For reading, the more words you know, the fewer words you will have to look up in the dictionary and the more time you will have to make sure you answer all the questions properly. In a listening, the more vocabulary you know, the less you will have to guess at answers.

There are sometimes little words you overlook which are really important when it coems to the marking scheme. For example, if you hear or read "il est assez grand" - and you write as your answer 'he is tall', the chances are you won't get the mark as the examiner is looking for you to understand the word 'assez' aswell. So don't forget to translate words like 'très' (very), 'assez' (quite) and 'trop' (too). The same goes for quantity words like 'beaucoup de' or 'plein de' (a lot of/ many), 'assez de' (enough of), 'pas assez de' (not enough of), 'trop de' (too much/ too many), 'peu de' (a little of, few), tant de (so much of/ so many of) and 'autant de' (as many of/ as much of). Missing out these words in your answers can throw away a lot of marks.

Make sure you know your numbers well, especially the more difficult numbers from 70-99. Also be sure that you can understand the time in French and you know the words for day (un jour), week (une semaine), month (un mois) and year (un an/ une année). Some of this feels like S1/2 stuff, but it also needs revision to make sure you don't throw away valuable marks. Don't forget the two meanings of 'il y a' - we all know it means 'there is' or 'there are' but don't forget its meaning when used with time - 'ago': il y a une semaine - a week ago, il y a cinq ans - five years ago, il y a six mois - six months ago, il y a peu de temps - a short time ago.