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Home > French > Beginners Course > How to approach the exam > The Written Examination > Section 3: Writing in French

How to approach the Written Examination

Section III: Writing in French

1. Examination specifications
2. Preparing for Writing 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 third section of the Written Examination is Section III: Writing in French. It is designed to assess your ability to produce written text in French for a specific audience, purpose and context. It relates to Objective 1: Interacting and Objective 3: Producing Texts, and the following outcomes, where you:

Section III: Writing in French is in two parts and is worth a total of 20 marks. You are advised to allow about 50 minutes for this section.

You will be required to produce texts for Part A and Part B which have been taken from the text types prescribed in the syllabus. These are:

• article (e.g. for a school magazine)
• diary/journal entry
• email
• informal letter
• message
• note
• postcard
• script of a talk (to an audience)

The questions for both Part A and Part B will be related to the six topics prescribed in the syllabus.

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 III: Writing in French. You may consult your dictionaries during reading time and during the examination.

Part A (10 marks)

Part A will consist of two writing tasks. You will need to write a total of approximately 125 words:

Questions will be written in English, but may also involve stimulus material written in French (e.g. a postcard with a French greeting).

Part B (10 marks)

Part B will consist of one extended writing task of approximately 125 words.

You will have a choice of two questions. These two questions will:

• be phrased in both French AND in English
• require one extended response in French
• be drawn from different topics
• require you to write the same text type (e.g. a letter).

2. Preparing for the Writing 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.

The following advice may assist you in your preparation for this section of the examination:

• Practise allocating time to each of the tasks. This will ensure you allow yourself adequate time to respond appropriately within the given time frame.
  
  
• Practise planning and writing appropriate texts, e.g. of 50 words, 75 words and 125 words, and familiarise yourself with the skills required to communicate effectively in each text type. This will also assist you in recognising what a set number of words looks like in your own handwriting.
  
  
• Practise writing responses drawn from all the topic areas listed in the syllabus, so that you have a comprehensive bank of vocabulary at your disposal. Some text types lend themselves to shorter responses of 50 and 75 words, e.g. a note, message, short email or postcard. Others lend themselves to longer, extended responses of 125 words, e.g. an article, diary entry, email, informal letter, the script of a talk. You should, however, be practised in writing both short and long responses for all text types.
  
  
• Correspond with a French penfriend, either by mail or on the internet. This will assist you in developing your writing skills in an authentic context. However, it is very important that you practise writing in the modern standard version of French. Even when writing shorter texts, it is important to note that it is best not to use abbreviated forms or non-standard versions of the language in the examination situation.
  
  
• Pay attention to verbs. Verbs are the cornerstone of most sentences and it is important to take care with endings, conjugations, past participles, the past tense, etc. You will create a more positive impression in your written texts if your verbs are consistently correct. e.g. Je suis lycéen… il habite en ville… nous irons jouer au basket …, tu as fini tes devoirs? Il rentrera jeudi soir… vous avez visité Paris? Je me suis réveillé(e) …
  
  
• Learn from your mistakes. Always carefully review corrected work handed back by your teacher, noting mistakes and corrections and asking for clarification when necessary.
  
  
• Avoid the temptation to learn prepared answers off by heart and expect them to fit any question. It is highly unlikely that a prepared answer will be relevant, and responses that are not written specifically for the examination question will be immediately obvious to the examiners. Remember that relevance to all aspects of the question is vital in your response.
  
  
• Practise using a dictionary effectively. This requires a particular skill. For example, the English word “can” may refer to a noun, (e.g. a can of lemonade – une canette de limonade) or to a verb (e.g.Can I come tomorrow? – Puis-je venir demain?). Cross-checking a word can be a good idea if you are uncertain whether you have chosen the correct alternative.
  
  
• Practise writing on every second line. This will help you to review and edit your work legibly.

3. During the examination

You should:

• clearly indicate on your answer paper which question you are attempting.
  
  
• read the questions carefully – they will be given in both French and English. If the question includes a stimulus in French (e.g. a caption on a postcard), this will not be translated, and you should be certain you understand what it means, to ensure your response is relevant.
  
  
• write at least the minimum number of prescribed words. Remember you may write more than the suggested number of words, although this will not be essential for gaining full marks if your response is of a high quality. An accurate, interesting, well-crafted response, written in the specified number of words, will make a more positive impression than one which is significantly longer, but is disjointed and full of mistakes.
  
  
• allocate an appropriate amount of time to each writing task to ensure you are not hurrying to complete the third task, which is an extended response and worth the most marks. The suggested time taken to complete this section is 50 minutes, so you might decide to spend about 10 minutes for the first task in Part A (worth 4 marks), 15 minutes for the second task in Part A (worth 6 marks), and about 25 minutes to complete the task in Part B (worth 10 marks). However, from practice you will know which allocation of time is best for you.
  
  
• take time to plan your answers, even if it means simply noting down a few key words or phrases before you begin writing. A plan is often a good idea for the extended response (Part B), as you will be judged on your ability to organise information and ideas coherently.
  
  
• use a variety of structures and tenses where possible, for example the past tense and subordinate clauses (e.g. those beginning with quand and parce que).
  
  
• decide whether a tu or vous form of address is appropriate and keep to this. This will depend on whom you are addressing (tu – someone you know well; vous – more than one person; vous – the formal mode of address). Once you have decided what to use, do not switch between these when addressing the same person/people.
  
  
• avoid using your own name, suburb, school, etc., even though you may be writing from a personal viewpoint. This will ensure the anonymity of your response.
  
  
• avoid repeating phrases and vocabulary across the texts you write. You only have a limited opportunity to show the examiners what you know, and a more positive impression will be made if the vocabulary, expressions and structures you use are not repeated in each text.
  
  
• aim to make your answers as interesting as you can, ensuring that the development of your ideas is logical. Try to avoid jumping from one idea to the next in a disjointed fashion.
  
  
• write a relevant response and avoid the temptation to rely on slabs of pre-learned material. Your written text will not flow logically if you insert blocks of material learned by heart from somewhere else. Remember that your text must be relevant and must clearly address every aspect of the question.
  
  
• avoid experimenting with the language. In an examination you should always write what you know to be correct. Do not invent your own phrases and expressions or take a guess at what you think may be correct, simply because you are determined to make a particular point. If you are uncertain, you should write something different instead. A good student can always find ways of adapting what they know to suit the question.
  
  
• avoid any temptation to lift passages from Section II: Reading of the examination, as this is plagiarism and will be easily identified by the examiners.
  
  
• keep in mind that, for your responses to Part A, the examiners will be considering how well you:
  • communicate ideas and information effectively
  • write a text that is appropriate to its audience, purpose and context
  • apply knowledge of vocabulary, language structures and features.
    
    
  This means that you should write a text that:
  • is appropriate to the audience (e.g. are you writing to a friend? Or are you writing a note for your teacher? etc.)
  • addresses the question and is relevant
  • demonstrates a range of vocabulary and language structures etc.
    
    
  In Part B, where you will be required to write an extended response, you need to consider all the points given above, as well as how well you:
  • organise information and ideas coherently
    
    
• remember that it is advisable to write on alternative lines. This will assist you in presenting your response as legibly as possible, even if you have had to edit or amend it. However, writing on alternative lines is not a stipulation, and you should not waste time re-writing your text if you have forgotten to do so.
  
  
• allow enough time to review your work. Be sure that verbs have correct endings, French word order and not English word order has been used, nouns have capital letters, days of the week and the months (jeudi, janvier) do not have capital letters, spelling is accurate, the choice of tense is correct, etc.

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