Written Production: Structuring Accurate French
What the examiner is testing
Written tasks ask you to write a short message or email (about 40–60 words) and a longer piece such as a letter, article or story (about 90–120 words). Marks come from three things: communication (did you do the task, cover every bullet point?), range (varied vocabulary, tenses, connectives), and accuracy (agreement, tenses, spelling).
Core concepts to master
- Task coverage: each bullet in the prompt needs a clear sentence. Missing one costs communication marks, which are worth more than accuracy.
- Tense control: present for routine, passé composé for completed events, imparfait for description and background, future/aller + infinitive for plans, conditionnel for politeness (je voudrais).
- Agreement: adjectives agree in gender and number (une lettre intéressante, des amis anglais); avoir past participles do not agree with the subject, être verbs do.
- Register and formula: open and close appropriately - Cher Paul, / Bises versus Madame, / Cordialement.
- Connectives for range: d'abord, ensuite, cependant, par ailleurs, enfin, c'est pourquoi.
Typical traps
- Writing too much and losing accuracy - a shorter, cleaner text scores higher.
- English word order: J'ai visité le musée hier not J'ai hier visité.
- Missing accents changing meaning: a/à, ou/où, sur/sûr, élève/élevé.
- Forgetting the audience: using tu in a formal letter.
Rule of thumb
Spend two minutes planning: list the bullets, note one verb tense and two connectives per bullet. Write, then reserve three minutes to check verbs first (ending and auxiliary), then agreements, then accents.
Worked example: Prompt bullet: say what you did last weekend and why you enjoyed it. Model: Samedi, je suis allé au marché avec ma sœur. Nous avons acheté des fruits, puis nous avons déjeuné chez ma grand-mère. J'ai beaucoup aimé ce week-end parce que l'ambiance était très chaleureuse. Note the être verb agreement (allé), avoir verbs without agreement, and the imperfect for description.