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Home > French > Beginners Course > How to approach the exam > The Written Examination > Section 2: Reading

How to approach the Written Examination

Section II: Reading

1. Examination specifications
2. Preparing for the Reading Section
3. During the examination
4. Related Board of Studies Websites

1. Examination specifications

The current French Beginners syllabus was examined for the first time in 2008.

The Written Examination is held in the HSC Examination block each year in Term 4. The Board of Studies publishes an Examination Timetable in Term 2 each year listing details of written examination dates and times. The website is included at the end of this advice.

The second section of the Written Examination is Section II: Reading. It is designed to assess your knowledge and skills in responding to written texts. It relates to Objective 2 – Understanding Texts, and the following outcomes, where you:

Section II: Reading is worth 30 marks. You are advised to allow about one hour for this section.

Section II: Reading comprises four to five texts in French, which are related to the six topic areas prescribed in the syllabus (see below). The texts will be different in style and purpose, and of varying length and difficulty. The questions on the texts will be written in English for responses in English. The questions may include parts. The total length of all texts will be approximately 750 words.

There will be 10 minutes reading time before the Written Examination. Reading time is for reading, and NO writing or highlighting may be undertaken during reading time. The presiding officer will advise you when you may take up your pens.

You may use monolingual and/or bilingual print dictionaries during the Written Examination, including Section II: Reading. You may consult your dictionaries during reading time and during the examination.

2. Preparing for the Reading Section

The six prescribed topics are studied from two perspectives. These are:

• the personal world
• the French-speaking communities.

The six prescribed topics are:

• Family life, home and neighbourhood
• People, places and communities
• Education and work
• Friends, recreation and pastimes
• Holidays, travel and tourism
• Future plans and aspirations.

You are advised to read as many articles as possible relating to the topic areas studied in the Beginners Course. You will find articles appropriate to the Beginners level in publications such as:

• course books
• past HSC examination papers
• selected online material (ask your teacher for appropriate links)
• youth magazines, e.g. Okapi, Chez Nous, Ça va
• selected articles in magazines such as Les Clés de l’Actualité, Phosphore
• short stories from anthologies, which may be available from your school.

You should familiarise yourself with a wide range of vocabulary that is relevant to the prescribed topics. This will be fundamental when dealing with this section of the examination.

There is no substitute for developing a sound vocabulary base and learning to recognise as many key words as possible. It is advisable to keep a record of new vocabulary, on paper or electronically. You should add new words as you come across them, identifying words and expressions that are commonly used in the material you read during your course work.

The dictionary is a very useful tool if there is a key word you do not know. In this instance, you should underline or highlight the key word for checking. However, you should not be tempted to rely on the dictionary for too many common words. You will not have time while reading the text to look up a significant number of words. You should regularly practise using a dictionary as much as possible to develop the skill of quickly and accurately looking up words.

You should try to complete all the past Beginners HSC exam papers since 2000 (or 2 Unit Z prior to 2000). (However, note that there has been a change in the syllabus, and past Beginners HSC papers are quite different to the 2008 HSC examination format. Past papers can be accessed at http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/hsc_exams/ .)

Another valuable resource is the Notes from the Marking Centre. These are available for all HSC examination papers published since 1995 and provide advice for students and teachers given by Supervisors of Marking and HSC markers. For links to the Notes, past examination papers, HSC syllabuses and specimen papers, visit the website of the Board of Studies listed at the end of this advice.

3. During the examination

You will be required to answer questions in English on four or five texts. The texts are usually of increasing complexity and mark value, with the later questions sometimes requiring you to compare information, form a conclusion, give an opinion or infer meaning from the text, supporting your answer with evidence from the text.

Some answers will require more information than others and the number of marks allocated to each question is a guide to the depth of the answer required.

The following procedure may help you when approaching this section:

• Begin by reading the title of the text. This will give you a context and will often provide a clue to the content of the passage.
  
  
• Quickly read through the questions before reading the text. This may assist you in understanding the theme of the text and may also provide you with unfamiliar vocabulary.
  
  
• Before attempting the questions, read the text once to gain an overall understanding.
  
  
• The questions (particularly the earlier ones) often follow the order of the text. You may therefore find it useful to address the questions in groups of two. This will help you to avoid repeating information across questions. If you find yourself repeating the same information in another question, it is highly likely that you have overlooked or missed other important information.
  
  
• You should be guided by the number of marks allocated to each question. This will indicate how much depth is required in the response. However, it is incorrect to assume that one piece of information is always sufficient for the award of one mark. It is good practice to include all relevant information to answer the question, to ensure you can be awarded all the marks allocated to the question.
  
  
• Use your dictionary to look up unfamiliar key words where these are crucial to your understanding of the text. Avoid wasting time by trying to look up every word. Reading to understand the gist of a text is a skill which takes practice and often requires you to overlook words which may be unimportant to the overall meaning. You will have to use your judgement in deciding which words to look up and weigh this against the amount of time you have at your disposal.

• When answering questions requiring you to give an opinion, you should always support your answer by clearly linking your response to evidence from the text. You should link your response back to specific information, so that you can support your answer and relate your response, or any conclusions you have drawn, to the text itself. An answer which is comprised solely of vague assumptions or unsupported private opinions will not adequately answer the question.
  
  
• Some questions (particularly the later ones) may require an in-depth understanding of the text. This means that a global understanding as well as particular details could be required for the award of full marks. It is up to you to answer as clearly and as fully as you can.

The following tips may help you:

• Your answers can be written in point form, as long as the meaning is clear and all relevant details are provided.
  
  
• Do not paraphrase the question or answer in vague generalisations. Your answers must make sense in English and should contain as much relevant detail as possible.
  
  
• The number of lines provided for each response on the examination paper is a guide only, and is dependent on a number of factors, including the size of handwriting. You should always give the most appropriate response, even if this means writing beyond the lines provided.
  
  
• It is important to ensure that any additional information you give does not adversely impact on the correct answer, e.g. Je vais aller faire les magasins tôt ce matin pour acheter un cadeau pour mon père. C’est son anniversaire aujourd’hui. If the question was “Why did the girl go to the shops?” the answer “to buy a birthday present for her father” shows good global understanding. However, the answer “because she wanted to do some shopping” shows only partial understanding of the text.
  
  
• It is not acceptable to give alternative answers and expect the examiner to choose the correct response, e.g.” My father is a baker/pastrycook” (from the text “Mon père est pâtissier”).
  
  
• You must answer in English. If you do quote from the text in French, such as giving an example of the language features used, it is a good idea to provide a translation or a paraphrase in English, e.g. “You could tell the man was upset, because he was shouting and then said ‘J’en ai marre!” (“I’ve had enough! ”)
  
  
• It is not necessary to translate people's names, but words which have an English equivalent should always be translated, e.g. La Suède is Sweden, la Tour Eiffel is the Eiffel tower, la Manche is the English Channel etc.
  
  
• French compound nouns can often appear more difficult than they actually are, simply because of their length. If you break the words down into their parts, the overall meaning will often become clear, e.g. un arc-en-ciel is a rainbow (an arc in the sky), un coffre-fort is a safe (strong box), un porte-monnaie is a coin purse (a money carrier) etc.
  
  
• Pay special attention to verbs, as they indicate what is happening and how many people are involved. Remember that in French, verbs have special endings and congugate differently. Nous marchons, (several people, including the speaker), ils mangent (they eat), vous écrivez (you write: could be one person or several people, this will depend on how well the person knows the other/s).
  
  
• Be aware of verbs which have a separable prefix. A prefix can make a significant difference to the meaning of a verb, so if you are having difficulty understanding the meaning, see if you can understand the verb without the prefix. For example:
  
  

  voir: to see	revoir: to see or meet again
  prendre: to take	surprendre : to surprise
  monter: to climb	surmonter: to get over
  embarquer: to load	débarquer: to unload/to get off

  
  
• A number of French words have close similarities with English, e.g. un téléphone = a telephone, une banque = a bank, l’internet =Internet etc. Do not fall into the trap of thinking these words are too obvious and then try to find a different, more obscure meaning.
  
  
• On the other hand, some common words are ‘false friends’ (faux amis) because they are deceptively similar to English. You should be aware of these and make a list of them as you come across them in your reading. They include agréable: pleasant v/s agreeable: in agreement. Sympa is not sympathetic but nice, un appareil is a device or an appliance but apparel is clothing, attendre is to wait v/s attend is to go to (eg a meeting).
  
  
• Be careful not to overlook the “little words”, as they may be important in conveying the correct meaning, e.g. trois fois la semaine: three times a week, le dimanche: on Sunday as they set a definite limit, rather than being a general indication of time.

• If you do not know the answer to a question, make a sensible guess that will fit into the context of the text. Never leave an answer blank. There is a chance you may be right. If you leave your answer blank, you will certainly receive no marks.
  
  
• If you have mistakenly provided information under the wrong question, clearly circle the information and arrow it across to where it belongs. Do not waste time by re-writing the information.
  
  
• As detailed information is not usually required more than once, you may find it useful to highlight the sections of the text as you use them in your answers. This will identify the unused sections of the text and may help you to find the information required for the remaining questions.

4. The Board of Studies Website

At the Board of Studies website (http://boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/ ), you can access the following:
-French Beginners syllabus
-HSC (Year 12) Examination Timetable
-2008 HSC Specimen Examination Package
-Past examination papers
-Notes from the Examination Centre
-Equipment Checklist for Higher School Certificate Examinations and School Certificate Tests
-Rules and Procedures for Higher School Certificate Candidates