Expression écrite (Writing): the guided composition
The writing task is a guided composition of roughly 100–150 words: a letter or email to a friend, an account of an event, a short opinion on a familiar issue (le téléphone à l'école, le sport, la vie en ville), or the completion of a dialogue. Marks are split between relevance to the task, organisation, grammar, vocabulary and spelling/accents - so a simple, correct text beats an ambitious, broken one.
Structure that earns marks
- Letter layout: place and date top right (Douala, le 12 juin), salutation (Mon cher Paul,), body in paragraphs, closing (Réponds vite. Amitiés / Bises, + your first name).
- Register: tu for a friend, vous for an adult or an institution (Monsieur le Directeur, … Je vous prie d'agréer…). Never mix the two.
- Paragraph plan: why you are writing → two developed points → a closing request, invitation or opinion.
- Connectors: d'abord, de plus, en revanche, par conséquent, enfin, pourtant - one per paragraph is enough.
- Tenses: présent for facts and opinions; passé composé for what happened; futur or conditionnel for plans.
Worked example
Prompt: Écris une lettre à ton ami pour l'inviter à passer les vacances chez toi et décris deux activités. Reasoning: the task has two commands (invite + two activities), so the letter needs an invitation sentence and two distinct activities with detail. Register: tu. Model sentence: « Comme tu n'es jamais venu à Kribi, je te propose de venir en août : nous irons à la plage et nous mangerons du poisson braisé chez ma tante. » This single sentence delivers the invitation (je te propose), a reason (comme…), a place, a future tense and two activities.
Traps that cost marks
Reproducing a memorised essay that does not answer the prompt - relevance is marked first; forgetting one of two required points; shifting from tu to vous mid-letter; missing accents that change meaning (a/à, ou/où, ça/ca, ou/où); writing 60 words for a 120-word task; English word order or anglicisms (je suis d'accord avec toi is correct, je suis agree is not); leaving no time to reread for agreements and plurals.