HSC French Beginners study plan
HSC French Beginners · Give each week a clear focus.
8 weeks · About 6 hours per week
The Personal World & Writing in French
Build a personal vocabulary bank of 120 words covering family, friends, daily routine and school life, sorted into themed lists
Write 10 short sentences introducing yourself, your family and your routine using present tense of regular -er verbs
Drill subject pronouns and the present tense of être and avoir until you can conjugate both from memory in under 60 seconds
Record yourself reading your 10 sentences aloud and note three pronunciation problems to fix
Your checkpoint
A one-page handwritten self-introduction of 80-100 words in French, checked against your vocabulary bank, with a recorded reading of it
The Personal World & Writing in French
Master adjective agreement for gender and number across 40 common descriptive adjectives
Practise the near future (aller + infinitive) to describe weekend and holiday plans in 15 sentences
Write a 100-word paragraph about your hobbies and leisure preferences using opinion phrases such as j'aime, je préfère, je n'aime pas
Self-correct your paragraph for adjective and verb agreement, listing every error type you made
Your checkpoint
A corrected 100-word paragraph on hobbies and plans, with an error log showing the original and corrected version of at least five sentences
The French-Speaking Communities & The Personal World
Map the French-speaking world by region, naming five countries or territories outside France and one city in each
Learn 60 vocabulary items for travel, transport, food and shopping in a francophone context
Practise asking and answering questions with inversion and est-ce que about prices, timetables and directions
Write a 120-word diary entry describing a day spent in a francophone city
Your checkpoint
A labelled map or table of five francophone regions with a 120-word diary entry set in one of them
The French-Speaking Communities & Listening and Responding Skills
Study one francophone community in depth, covering daily life, food, festivals and one notable cultural practice
Build a 50-item listening vocabulary list for numbers, times, prices and dates, then test yourself until you score 90 percent
Complete 20 short listening exercises on everyday transactions and transcribe the key detail in each
Summarise in French, in five sentences, what you learned about your chosen francophone community
Your checkpoint
A five-sentence French summary of a francophone community plus a listening log of 20 exercises with the detail you extracted from each
Listening and Responding Skills & The Personal World
Listen to 15 short authentic recordings such as announcements, weather reports and voicemail messages, noting the main idea and one supporting detail each
Train note-taking under time pressure by listening once only and writing three key words per recording
Revise past tenses (passé composé with avoir and être) to talk about recent events in listening and speaking
Shadow-read a two-minute audio transcript aloud to improve rhythm, liaison and comprehension speed
Your checkpoint
A listening log of 15 recordings, each with main idea, one detail and a self-rating, plus a two-minute recording of your own spoken summary of three of them
Reading and Responding Skills & The French-Speaking Communities
Read 12 short authentic texts such as menus, notices, adverts and emails, identifying purpose, audience and key information
Practise skimming for gist in 90 seconds and scanning for specific details in 60 seconds across six texts
Learn 40 discourse connectors and text-organisation words to recognise structure in written French
Answer comprehension questions in French, in full sentences, for four of the texts
Your checkpoint
A reading portfolio of 12 texts with answers to gist, detail and purpose questions, including four full-sentence French responses
Writing in French & Reading and Responding Skills
Plan and draft a 150-word French text in a required format such as a letter, email or notice
Use a checklist to revise drafts for tense consistency, agreement, spelling and register
Complete two timed reading-and-writing tasks in 45 minutes each to build exam pacing
Rewrite your weakest draft after feedback and compare the two versions side by side
Your checkpoint
Two timed 150-word writing tasks in different formats, each with a first draft, a corrected final version and a completed self-check checklist
The Personal World & The French-Speaking Communities & Listening and Responding Skills & Reading and Responding Skills & Writing in French
Sit two full mock papers under exam conditions, covering listening, reading and writing
Review every error from the mocks and classify it as vocabulary, grammar, comprehension or time management
Re-drill the 100 items you got wrong or hesitated on, using spaced repetition across three sessions
Rehearse spoken responses to 10 personal-world and francophone-community prompts with 30 seconds of preparation each
Your checkpoint
Two completed mock papers with scores, a classified error list and a one-page revision sheet of your 100 priority items
Milestones
Week 2: Write 100 words on a familiar personal topic in 20 minutes with no more than five grammatical errors and no vocabulary gaps that block meaning
Week 4: Score at least 80 percent on a 30-item listening and vocabulary check covering numbers, times, prices and dates, and name five francophone communities with one accurate detail each
Week 6: Read an unseen 150-word French text and answer three comprehension questions in French, in full sentences, within 10 minutes
Week 8: Achieve at least 70 percent overall on a full mock paper with balanced section scores and finish each section within its time limit