facile question, merci!

92jjxx · 07-02-2009, 06:55 PM

should i take french sat subject test in dec if i've only taken 2 years of basic high school french and done well in them? and does anyone know of any good study guides or test prep for it?
btw i'll be in my 3rd year of french next year and am not a native speaker

joeshmoebx · 07-02-2009, 07:23 PM

You should wait until your 3rd year to take it.

tan2007 · 07-02-2009, 10:54 PM

Agreed. Second-year high school French (even if accelerated or honors) doesn't usually cover enough grammar, vocab., or basic all-around reading abilities for you to do well on the test. If you study pretty hard outside of class, then it's not up to us to forbid you from taking the test. However, any Language Subject (and AP, but that's a different subject :P) test is something entirely out of the realm of basic high school curriculum and requires a certain sense of ease and semi-fluency with the language.

I would advise you to study through the third year, take tons of notes (especially when your teacher is teaching you the subjunctive, object pronouns, or relative pronouns! :P), and continually improve your French skills in order to do well. Bonne chance!

92jjxx · 07-02-2009, 11:47 PM

thx but im gonna be senior next year and the latest i can take sat subjects is december
do u think i should just retake my math level 2, which i got 730 on, instead of french then?
and i no some physics but saw some of its practice tests and got disillusioned with it (too many boring calculus-like word problems)
i'll be taking bio m and chem too btw

92jjxx · 07-03-2009, 12:09 AM

bumppppp s'il vous plait

anonymityyy · 07-03-2009, 11:02 AM

The part of my brain that has been taken over by my French teacher says that the title should be "une question facile", but let's put that aside for now! =P

In all seriousness, I wouldn't. I was in AP French this year (5 on AP exam) and took the French SAT II and I thought it was quite hard. I wasn't feeling too great on test day, but I'm pretty sure I would have thought so anyway. Yes, I did pull off a 770 which I was very content with. Could I have taken it in French IV? Probably. But I really, really wouldn't advise taking it after two years.

tan2007 · 07-03-2009, 03:03 PM

Yeah, since you really don't have time to study for it and your French class is NOT going to teach you anything near what you'll see on the Subject Test, I *highly* suggest you stay away from it.

vanillasky123 · 07-03-2009, 05:07 PM

what if you're going into ap french and take it oct/nov after studying over the summer?

Bisou · 07-03-2009, 07:40 PM

I also took the French SAT II after a year of AP French (I'm a junior), and didn't do as well as I'd hoped. I also didn't really prepare for the subject test, so that was my biggest mistake, because the formats were different and I'd been super stressed with school and social...issues.
If you're going into AP French, you should be pretty competent. Study, take practice tests, and you should be fine. I found it easier than the AP but more difficult that I had expected.

anonymous550 · 07-03-2009, 11:57 PM

You should definitely wait. I haven't taken the test, but I have looked at practice tests, and it looks pretty difficult...you are expected to know a lot of vocabulary, and it just look difficult in general. I would wait until you take an advanced french class, and have taken more french. Maybe take a class in the summer as well. good luck