WACE French Second Language ATAR cheat sheet

The WACE French Second Language written exam is weighted 70% of the ATAR mark; the oral examination contributes the remaining 30%, so written accuracy and range carry the larger share.

Typical written paper components: listening comprehension, reading comprehension, and two writing tasks (a short functional text and an extended text of roughly 200–250 words in French).

Writing tasks are marked on three criteria: comprehension of the task, range (variety of vocabulary and sentence structures), and accuracy (grammar, spelling, accents).

Past participle agreement: with avoir, the participle agrees only with a preceding direct object (les lettres qu'il a écrites); with être verbs and pronominal verbs, it agrees with the subject (elle s'est levée).

Subjunctive triggers to memorise: il faut que, bien que, quoique, avant que, pour que, à condition que, and expressions of doubt or emotion (je doute que, je suis content que).

Reported speech tense shifts: présent becomes imparfait; passé composé becomes plus-que-parfait; futur becomes conditionnel; imperatives map to infinitive constructions with de (il m'a dit de partir).

Register rule: use vous for formal or unfamiliar addressees and tu only for peers, family, or children; the written paper rewards consistent formal register in letters, articles, and emails.

Negation pairs: ne…pas (standard), ne…jamais, ne…rien, ne…personne, ne…que (only), ne…ni…ni; in informal spoken-style text, ne is often dropped, but formal writing retains it.

Connectives that lift range scores: cependant, néanmoins, par conséquent, en revanche, d'une part…d'autre part, bien que + subjunctive, afin que + subjunctive.

The oral examination is a conversation of roughly 10–15 minutes conducted almost entirely in French, usually in two parts: a general conversation and a discussion based on a stimulus or topic.

Marking criteria typically cover communication and interaction (initiating, responding, sustaining), range of language, accuracy, and pronunciation and intonation.

Topic areas drawn from the syllabus include personal identity, family and friends, daily life and school, leisure and holidays, health, travel, and plans for the future.

Question formation: inversion (Comment t'appelles-tu ?), est-ce que (Est-ce que tu aimes…?), and intonation. Use inversion or est-ce que in formal register.

To buy thinking time without silence, use fillers such as alors, en fait, voyons, disons que, and c'est-à-dire, then continue the sentence.

Ask for clarification with: Pouvez-vous répéter, s'il vous plaît ? / Qu'est-ce que vous voulez dire par là ? / Comment dit-on … en français ?

Sound liaison and nasal vowels (on, an, in, un) are assessed; distinguish tu (ty) from tout (all), and dessus (on top) from dessous (under).

When discussing opinions, structure answers as opinion + reason + example: À mon avis… parce que… par exemple…; hedge with je trouve que, il me semble que, à ce qu'il paraît.

If you do not understand a question, paraphrase it back (Vous me demandez si…?) rather than answering in English; English responses score zero for communication.