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Achievable goals in french ab initio


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Hey everyone, 

So I just did my IO and I am pretty sure I did horrible. I am probably like 16/25. Now I really really want a 7 in French ab initio but I do not know how achievable it is with such a bad IO. I have 18/20 for the written task. 

I figured that I have to achieve around full marks 25/25 for paper 2 and like 36/42 for paper 1.Or get like 40/42 and 23/25. I have to do extremely well in both my papers.

Is this even possible and how could I reach it? Please help!! 

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I'd say just doing a lot of practice generally and you'll be able to do well in those papers. Focus, stay calm, and make sure your body and mind are at their best states when taking those exams.

And like you said, 16/25 isn't the end of the world. Ask your teacher for guidance as to how to write as near perfect a Paper 2 as possible, as well as note down any mistakes you can avoid in future Paper 1s. 

From personal experience in Indonesian B (which has very similar Paper 1 & Paper 2 formats), Paper 1 is easier to perform well in than Paper 2. 

Edited by IB`ez
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Thanks a lot! I have a question though... how could you prepare well for paper 1 considering we don't know what could potentially come up?

 

On 6/17/2016 at 3:26 PM, IB`ez said:

I'd say just doing a lot of practice generally and you'll be able to do well in those papers. Focus, stay calm, and make sure your body and mind are at their best states when taking those exams.

And like you said, 16/25 isn't the end of the world. Ask your teacher for guidance as to how to write as near perfect a Paper 2 as possible, as well as note down any mistakes you can avoid in future Paper 1s. 

From personal experience in Indonesian B (which has very similar Paper 1 & Paper 2 formats), Paper 1 is easier to perform well in than Paper 2. 

 

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1 hour ago, gamesofib said:

Thanks a lot! I have a question though... how could you prepare well for paper 1 considering we don't know what could potentially come up?

 

 

Usually I make notes on what is the best way to quote stuff from the texts, practice underlining/highlighting key stuff, cross out improbable answers in the multiple choice sections and it would also be good to expand your vocabulary. 

That said, a really good way of practice for me is to make a diary in the language and write an entry every day. Doesn't really have to mean much so long as it makes sense and is grammatically correct with little to no spelling errors, usually a paragraph of 4-6 lines everyday. It works even better if you can get a professional like your teacher or someone really proficient in the language to occasionally check it and help smooth out mistakes. Considering you still have a little over 4 months before your exams, I think it's still a viable way of practice.

Additionally, you could also change your language settings on your computer/phone to French to get even more used to the language! 

Alright now there's a couple of things that may not be so hopeful; it could make things better or worse.

For one, your 16/25 for the IOP may not necessarily be the final grade you'll get; a moderator could moderate it higher or lower depending on how your teacher grades everyone overall (I'm not too sure of how this works, but there will be a moderator who either increases/decreases/does nothing to the grades your teacher predicts you for internal assessments). 

Secondly, what you'll get would also depend on the grade boundaries for that year. In May 2015, the grade boundary for a 7 in French Ab Initio is 84-100%. It's a tough boundary though there are other Language Acquisition subjects that have it worse (Indonesian B HL is 89-100%, in which case a 16/25 in the IOP really would mean the end)

Here's some rough calculations for what you might need to get a 7 in French Ab Initio with the weighing for each assessment, assuming your 16/25 for IOP:

For reference: IOP (30%) + Paper 1 (25%) + Paper 2 (25%) + Written Assignment (20%), and grade boundary for a 7 is 84-100%

(16/25)*30% + (36/40)*25% + (23/25)*25% + (18/20)*20% = 82.7%, which would get rounded off to 83% = 6

(16/25)*30% + (37/40)*25% + (23/25)*25% + (18/20)*20% = 83.325%, which would get rounded off to 83% = 6

(16/25)*30% + (36/40)*25% + (23/25)*25% + (19/20)*20% = 83.7%, which would get rounded off to 84% = 7

(16/25)*30% + (36/40)*25% + (24/25)*25% + (18/20)*20% = 83.7%, which would get rounded off to 84% = 7

Thus I'd say your best bet to get a 7 is to really focus on your Written Assignment and make sure that you get at least a 18/20 for it (just saw from your first post that you have 18/20 for it; that's crazy good, but see if you can still make more improvements to it and then get your teacher to give an unofficial prediction to see if it could potentially score a 19 or 20) whilst maintaining a 90~% average for Paper 1 & Paper 2 each. It's far from easy, but still doable with a lot of time, patience, effort, and some luck that your IOP & Written Assignment would get moderated higher and/or lower grade boundaries for that exam session! (Y) 

 

Edited by IB`ez
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