Language Learning

How To Prepare For Your A-Level Exams in Modern Language

Time management is essential when preparing for your A-level in modern language. You may have to spend some time over your weekends to make sure you’re as ready as you can be.

Some of you may find moving from GCSEs to A-Levels a big step, whilst others don’t find the change concerning. One thing’s for certain, you’ll have to get used to a different style of work and structure in your education.

The best way to prepare yourself is to get a good grasp of the skills you already used for GCSE’s. Thorough revision will make you more confident when you start the course. It will also prepare you for a more independent approach to learning.

In this Article we’ll discuss how to prepare and manage your time in order to get ready for your A-Level in modern language.

Check the specification for your modern language A-Levels
Check Out Some A-Level Past Papers
Add some different activities to your revision
Hire an experienced tutor
Create a revision timetable (That you’ll actually stick to)
Do all of your assigned Pre A-Level work

Check the specification for your modern language A-Levels

A nice, easy, no-stress approach to prepare for your language A-Levels is to look at specifications. It will make you feel more assured about the course you’re taking. A specification is a list of the content you’ll be doing in your course. It’s a guideline that outlines all the topics and areas you’ll need to cover for your exam.

To find the specification for your modern language A-Level, it’s really not too complicated. All you’ve got to do is look up the exam board that your college will be using and find the A-Level specifications on their website.

You’ll want to look at specifications to see what you’ll actually be up to during your time in college. It can help you to prepare for your courses as soon as possible so you can gain an idea of the type of content that will be asked of you.

Check Out Some A-Level Past Papers

Past papers are a great way to revise for your exams. A-Level past papers give you an insight into what the content will be like. Similar to reading a specification, past papers can start to give you an idea of the type of questions that may come up in your exams. They give you the chance to see how topics in the specification are shown through the questions in the paper.

This will give you a head start, and an edge over other students. You’ll be more proficient at understanding and applying what you learn. You’ll have forthcoming knowledge from A-Level past papers.

By looking at an A-Level past paper for your chosen modern language course, you can see just how it compares to what you’ve already done. You can then start to calculate just how much work you’ve got to do to reach the A-Level standard.

Add some different activities to your revision

When you’re practising for your modern language A-level, it’s easy to get carried away. By studying your previous notes. Using the booklets you’ve received from your college. Or information found on the specification. You don’t have to stick with the traditional ways, as there are alternative methods to help your revision. Do your best to keep your study interesting, it helps you stay motivated.

Watch TV

You can watch the latest news or even the weather forecast on television in the same language as your A-Level. You could watch a TV show or movie that’s in the specific language that you are studying. Try to catch on to words that you understand.

Otherwise, you can go to the modern foreign languages part of the BBC website. Once you’re there you’ll find Speaking and Listening tabs that contain loads of great videos to watch that are only a few minutes long, making it a great way to practice your listening skills.

Listen to Audio

There are countless language radio stations that you could listen to when out and about that your A-Level is based on. This is a great way to study whilst doing your own things. You could listen to native music that has lyrics and start to understand what they are saying and what they mean.

Newspapers and Magazines

Another different style of revision you can do is to read a foreign language newspaper, for instance ‘Paris Match’ if you’re doing A-Level French. You don’t have to read the paper cover to cover, just scan the headlines and pick out one article that grabs your attention and break it down to see what you can understand from it and write down any words that you feel you could use in your exam.

Websites

Try switching your browser into the foreign language that you’re studying. In this way, you’ll read in that language every time you log on and it will become part of your everyday activity. Plus, nowadays you can find magazines and newspapers online.

Also, you can follow accounts on your social media that are based on the foreign language that you are studying as this will help you come across it each time you happen to be flicking through your social media.

Hire an experienced tutor

You can find qualified tutors in many modern foreign languages at Learn&Co that can support your A-Level journey along the entire process. The tutors will provide you with a personalised education that is tailored to suit your abilities, learning style, and personality.

One of the biggest benefits of having a private language tutor is that you can work at a pace that’s right for you. Plus, you’ll have every opportunity to take topics a little slower and ask all the questions you need to.

Often at college you’re only taught what’s on the curriculum. However a fantastic benefit of having a private tutor is that they’ll teach you more than what is on the curriculum. They’ll teach you study skills, time management, organisation and how to prioritise, which can also be transferred into your everyday life.

Having a private tutor is great as it’s flexible, which works particularly well if you have a busy schedule. You can also decide how often you want your tutoring sessions to be and change them in due course. For example, you may usually have one session a week but perhaps you need two a week before a busy exam period.

Create a revision timetable (That you’ll actually stick to)

One of the best ways to start preparing for your modern language A-Levels is to create a revision timetable. Doing independent study in a controlled schedule format will really benefit your education and give you a better chance of success when it comes to your final exams. Creating your revision timetable helps you identify what areas of revision you still need to cover before your exam day.

However, be careful not to over pack your day with too much revision as your memory can only take in so much per day. The best way to go about this is by keeping the study times in your day short with regular breaks. Taking a break every once in a while, will allow your brain to soak up the information you’ve learnt. If you don’t absorb your revision, it’s effectively useless.

Do all of your assigned Pre A-Level work

Usually, you’ll get some summer work from your college that they expect you to do over the summer holidays. Actually completing this work can really help you prepare yourself for your A-Levels. Your college will give you this summer work to help prepare you for your A-Level language course. This is so you can get ready to get straight into the content, as there’s a lot of it.

By not completing this work, you set yourself up for failure. You’ll be nowhere near the level you need to be at to start A-Level work, and you’ll be in the wrong mindset too. Most of the assigned work that college will give you is stuff you should already know at GCSE level. They won’t give you stuff you haven’t learnt, and so it should all be fairly easy.

Even if you don’t have any assigned work, it wouldn’t hurt to find some and do it anyway. Just look up summer work for A-Level preparation, and you’ll find some content perfect for you to do.

This method of preparation works best if you combine it with other methods mentioned above. Try this in combination with checking out A-Level past papers, because then you can compare the differences between them.

Conclusion

It is vital that you work actively on your language skills. That’s why we’ve compiled the above list to help you prioritise and think about some of the things you could spend your time on to help you revise. Studying an A-Level language course is never going to be an easy task, but that’s why one of the best ways to make it easier is by hiring a tutor from Learn&Co that can support you throughout the process and help you with useful resources that will save you the time from having to look for resources that you may not understand.