french 9-12 (VCE)

Hi PV, I did French Year 7-12, and I can say that you might need to work hard to catch up in. French is a very competitive subject that a lot of people work hard to do well in. French scales very well, however it can be common to get a 20-30 raw study score. I received a 27 study score for it, despite struggling with it later on. Bu 27 was my highest score, so I like to think I did very well at it

1. In your case, I'd recommend getting a French tutor outside of school, to help you catch up before VCE. Focus on grammar and vocabulary, especially tenses.
2. It's good that you are listening to music and reading French subtitles too, that can help with listening, reading and speaking skills. I would recommend watching news articles with French subtitles too, as it can help you with contemporary examples. Year 12 French usually has an important topic that you'll be questioned on in your oral exam, in 2020, it was Islamophobia in the country. Try French picture storybooks too, they can help.
3. VCE Languages work a bit differently to all the other subjects, but I'll try to explain it as best as I can.
   In each subject, there are three grades; Unit 3, Unit 4 and the exam, all roughly worth 35%. In VCE Languages, Drama and I think Music, the three grades are; Unit 3/4, oral exam and written exam. Your entire year of SACs and coursework is summed up by one grade. From memory, Unit 3/4 is 50% of your mark, the oral exam is 12.5% of the mark and the written exam is 37.5%. I can't remember too much about the assessments, because I did French in the COVID years, where the study design had to be altered. The oral exam is a 15 minute oral conversation between you and two assessors. 7 minutes are general conversation, such as what you expect to do after graduation, what your family is like, where you would want to travel to, etc. Then the next 8 minutes are about the social issue I mentioned before (mine was Islamophobia, it went horrible). The written exam is usually last on the exam timetable, there's a listening, reading and writing component, usually about something random (mine was rock-climbing, it was absolute bull).
4. It's really up to you, depending on how confident you feel once you get to the end of Year 10, then how you feel at the end of Year 11. It's a really fun subject to learn, and it also helped me out with my English skills too, in retrospect. If you know anyone who did VCE French, you could ask/practice with them

Hi, a little disclaimer - I'm doing French in my HSC in NSW, but my teacher is amazing and used to teach the VCE. She gives us a lot of VCE practice papers, rubrics and other resources. The actual stuff you get assessed on (grammar, vocab, etc) and how you get assessed on it i(types of questions) basically in the same in both states, according to her. So, for studying, you can use HSC resources as well, and there's a decent amount of online HSC resources you can use.
With regards to actually learning French, just keep practising grammar and vocab DAILY. It's good that you're consuming French regularly, but really try to make it a habit. Also, be a total teacher's pet - that way, there'll help you a lot more. E.g. my teacher does mock speaking exams with us fortnightly, and these really help in improving French.
Also, try to find someone who speaks French regularly (even texting in French with Chatgpt works, just say aloud everything) and try to speak with them as often as possible - waiters, random ppl at school, tourists, etc (you'll be surpirsed how many ppl speak French).

In short, just practice french every day (even 10 minutes a day is better than 50 hours the day before the exam) and you'll be fine. I obviously can't speak to the way the Atar is done in VIC, but you should be fine as long as you practice often - you'll be shocked how many ppl lie about how bad they're doing or how much they study.

Good luck!

perfectvelvet It's good to see that you are taking French seriously
Some of my friends went on foreign exchange between Year 11 and 12 to France, and it really sharpened their skills. They gained fluency, and also got a lot of informal language, which can be good for conversational skills. I can't remember what scores they got, but I know they got decently higher than me.
It's always extremely important to do a "fun subject", because it always helps you with your motivation and development. Why bother frying your brain and mental wellbeing doing content heavy subjects like science and humanities, only to completely crash once you get to the exams? I did French and Drama in Year 12, and I loved them both. If I didn't do subjects that I enjoyed, I wouldn't have bothered studying for anything, and my ATAR would have been much lower

perfectvelvet I'm not sure what else to suggest. Talking to French people online can be handy for you, and them for learning English. They don't quite expect native level of fluency, but they definitely want a conversation, with diverse vocabulary, grammar and ideas. Pronunciation is less important, but as long as you make an effort to roll your r's and figure out the tricky words, like "d'accueil" and "mille-feuille", the assessors will know you're doing well

perfectvelvet
A penpal would be good - that way you practice your French and can stay up to date with French culture. Be sure to ask them to use correct grammar/spelling/etc, as just like in English, French people will use slang that examiners won't like. I'd strongly encourage you to look into that.
Also, potentially enquire about a school trip (or a family holiday) in New Caledonia - it's only a 3 hour flight from Melbourne, great beaches, fully-French speaking and there's a centre (called CREIPAC) with excellent French-as-a-foreign-language teachers. Flights to New Caledonia can get as low as 400AUD roundtrip per person, if you book at the right time. Full immersion really is the best way to learn French.
Teachers don't expect perfect pronunciation, but they do appreciate effort to have the correct pronunciation - try to read texts aloud to your teacher or a native French speaker. They can help you improve your pronunciation. There are also some helpful Youtube videos that explain how to move your mouth to pronounce words properly.

Hi there, and sorry for the late response,
I am also currently undertaking the VCE French course, thus do not have any 40-45 raw tips to relay, however, similar to roly and FinFin, my biggest tip for you, would probably be to immerse yourself in the language, as much as possible.

You may be struggling at the moment with reading and writing, but with time, this will inevitably improve.
The real challenge, is developing the more practice skills (i.e. listening and speaking).

Rather than seeking out native speakers, couldn't you just ask your teacher to meet up, one lunchtime per week, for a 5-10 conversation, fully in French?

If you have any questions that I may be able to answer, please feel free to ask!

P.S. Don't stress too much about only starting in Year 9, because before that point, it is mostly just learning different colours and animals (which aren't entirely relevant for VCE)

P.P.S Although a 45 raw would be fantastic, it is a significant achievement for anyone, (let alone someone who began learning in Year 9), so don't get too caught up in the numbers, and just try your best