How to get a high 7 in IB French B

Getting a 7 in IB French is tricky especially as this is a skills based subject that requires you to develop your ability over time compared to content based subjects where you need to memorise lots. So how can I create a structured study plan to get a 7?

What are you assessed on and what skills do you require to do well in each section:

1. Writing: Vocabulary, Grammar, Text types, Idioms

2. Speaking: Vocabulary, Grammar

3. Reading: Vocabulary

4. Listening: Vocabulary

So, looking at this we have the content we need to learn in order to develop these skills. And the most important is vocabulary.

There are three types of vocabulary that we need to develop:

1. General vocabulary that is commonly used

2. More advanced vocabulary that you can use in writing and speaking to really get that high 7

3. Topic based vocabulary for speaking and writing

There are two main ways of developing vocabulary:

• going on memrise/quizlet/duolingo and learning as many words as possible

• reading as much as possible.

• Thus, the ideal way of developing vocabulary is by combining these methods:

1. Every day read a newspaper article from a reputable source (e.g. France 24, Le Monde, Le Figaro)

2. Then, once you’ve read that newspaper, create flashcards with a minimum of 20 new words/phrases that:

   1. If you saw/heard in a reading or listening task you would not know the meaning of

   2. In an oral or writing task you would not be able to come up with yourself

Overtime, if you consistently do this with a minimum of 20 words daily you can learn so many new words and phrases over time.

Also, any advanced vocabulary/phrases you come across add these to a separate document and build up a list overtime. Additionally, choose articles based on topics you are studying at school (e.g. Environment) and add theme-specific words to a separate document.

Important note: when learning words make sure you also learn how to spell them - paying attention to genders and accents.

Tips with staying consistent with this:

• Don’t overdo it on day 1: I tried once during the holidays to learn 1000 new words in one day. I still do not remember a single one of those words.

• Instead of cramming vocabulary, it is far more effective to spread it out.

Grammar

• Learning grammar is also very important. We can separate this into 2 types of grammar:

• Basic grammar in order to avoid simple grammar mistakes

• More complex and advanced grammar to use in orals/writing tasks e.g. si clauses, subjunctive phrases

Learning basic grammar can get you to a 6. Complex grammar is what separates the high 7 achieving students.

Text Types:

• Make an extensive document with all of the text types and identify what each text type requires, its register (formal or informal) and write a few other phrases that suit this text type well.

• Then, memorise all of it.

Idioms:

• While building your vocabulary bank, keep an eye out for good idioms and make an idiom bank.

• In particular, find idioms that you can use in both a formal and informal setting and that are very versatile.

• You do not need many idioms just having a bank of 3-10 high quality idioms that you can use comfortably.

• Ensure that in every writing task you use at least 1.

• Personally, my favourite idiom that I used in almost every single writing task was:

à l'allure où vont les choses = at the rate things are going.

These previous steps will help you build the foundation to do well. However, the most important thing is to practise, get feedback and then improve.