Andalusia PAU French common mistakes
Andalusia PAU French · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Reading the French text once, quickly, and then answering comprehension questions from memory or from a single matching keyword, without locating the exact sentence in the text that supports the answer.
Time pressure in a 90-minute exam and the false fluency that comes from French being visually close to Spanish make candidates feel they have understood, while they are actually reconstructing meaning from cognates and expectation. Keyword spotting feels efficient because the topic is familiar.
What to do instead
For every question, underline the line of the text that justifies the choice and write the line number beside the option before marking it. If you cannot point to a supporting sentence, the option is a distractor. Practise with a two-pass method: first pass for global meaning (2-3 minutes), second pass question by question with the text physically in front of you.
Choosing a true/false or multiple-choice option because it is factually true in the real world or matches the candidate's own opinion, rather than because the text states it.
The distractors in this type of exam are often plausible general knowledge about France or francophone culture. Candidates who know something about the topic unconsciously validate the option against their own knowledge instead of the passage.
What to do instead
Label each option mentally as 'text says' / 'text does not say' / 'text says the opposite'. Reject any option whose justification lives in your head rather than in the paragraph. When reviewing practice papers, write down why each wrong option is wrong, not just why the right one is right.
Confusing false friends between French and Spanish (e.g. 'actuellement' read as 'actualmente', 'éventuellement' as 'eventualmente', 'assister à' as 'asistir a', 'demander' as 'demandar', 'blesser' as 'besar', 'librairie' as 'librería') and answering on that basis.
Spanish and French share Latin roots, so the brain auto-completes the meaning from the Spanish cognate. These mismatches are systematic and invisible to the reader, who does not notice the misreading.
What to do instead
Keep a personal list of the 40-60 French/Spanish false friends that appear most in press and narrative texts, and review it weekly. In the exam, when a sentence's meaning seems slightly odd or contradicts the surrounding paragraph, suspect a false friend and re-read that word in context.
Inferring too much: selecting an answer that requires a chain of reasoning the text never supports, or missing the author's stance (irony, reservation, criticism) and taking a statement at face value.
Exams often include one question about the author's intention or tone. Candidates look for explicit statements and ignore hedges, quotation marks, concessive connectors ('certes... mais', 'bien que', 'or') and evaluative vocabulary that carry the stance.
What to do instead
Before answering tone/intention questions, circle every connector and evaluative adjective in the relevant paragraph. Ask: does the author endorse, qualify or criticise? Practise by summarising a short article's stance in one sentence of your own.
Answering grammar items by ear or by translating from Spanish word for word, instead of applying the rule (e.g. 'je pense que' + indicative vs 'bien que' + subjunctive; 'depuis' + present vs 'il y a' + passé composé; 'si' + imperfect → conditional).
The structures that differ most from Spanish are exactly the ones tested: subjunctive after conjunctions, agreement of the past participle with preceding direct object, 'on' agreement, negation of infinitives. Intuition built on Spanish gives the wrong answer confidently.
What to do instead
Build a one-page rule sheet per high-frequency structure and drill it with 10 sentences each, saying the rule aloud as you answer. In the exam, identify the trigger word first (conjunction, adverb, pronoun) and then apply the rule mechanically rather than by feel.
Ignoring agreement and spelling detail in written answers: past participle without agreement, adjective agreement missed, missing accents that change the word ('a/à', 'ou/où', 'des/dès', 'tache/tâche'), and confused homophones ('son/sont', 'ce/se', 'sa/ça', 'leur/leurs').
These errors do not block comprehension, so they survive into the final draft. Under time pressure the eye reads what it expects, and Spanish spelling habits (fewer accents, different homophones) reinforce the slip.
What to do instead
Reserve the last 3-4 minutes of the writing task for a targeted proofread in this order: verbs (tense, subject agreement, participle agreement), then nouns-adjectives, then accents and homophones. Keep a checklist card and apply it to every practice essay so the sequence becomes automatic.
Filling in cloze or lexical items with a Spanish-shaped word or a synonym that is grammatically possible but collocationally wrong (e.g. 'faire une photo' for 'prendre une photo', 'commettre une erreur' vs 'faire une erreur', wrong preposition after 'penser à/de', 'dépendre de').
Vocabulary is often learned as isolated word lists with translation, so gender, preposition and fixed collocation are never stored. The candidate then produces a word that 'means' the right thing but does not fit the slot.
What to do instead
Learn new items in chunks with article and preposition ('une photo, prendre une photo; dépendre de; s'intéresser à'). When a cloze item offers several plausible words, test the preposition and the register, not just the meaning.
Writing the composition as a translated Spanish essay: long complex sentences, idioms calqued from Spanish, and structures the candidate cannot control, producing cascading errors and unclear meaning.
Candidates equate sophistication with marks and try to display structures beyond their active command. Translation from Spanish also drags in syntax that French does not allow (e.g. overuse of subject pronouns, 'tener que' rendered literally, gerund constructions).
What to do instead
Write shorter sentences you can fully control and connect them with a small set of reliable connectors ('d'abord', 'en outre', 'cependant', 'par conséquent', 'enfin'). Aim for accuracy and clear structure over ambition; a well-formed simple sentence scores better than a broken complex one.
Not answering the actual task: ignoring the required format (letter, article, opinion piece, e-mail), the register (tu/vous), the word count, or one of the bullet points in the prompt.
Candidates read the topic, start writing immediately from a memorised essay template, and only afterwards notice the format or the second requirement. The template feels safe and consumes the planning time.
What to do instead
Spend 3-4 minutes planning: underline every requirement in the prompt, decide the format and the addressee (which fixes tu/vous and the opening and closing formulae), and jot one idea per requirement plus one example. Check the bullet points off one by one before finishing, and count words.
No linking or paragraphing: the composition is one block of text with repeated basic connectors ('et', 'mais', 'aussi') and no clear introduction, development and conclusion, so the examiner cannot follow the argument.
Planning time is spent on vocabulary rather than structure, and candidates write in the order ideas arrive. Cohesion is the criterion candidates revise least because it is not a 'grammar point'.
What to do instead
Use a fixed skeleton: introduction stating the topic and your position, two body paragraphs each with one idea plus one example, conclusion restating the position. Memorise 8-10 connectors and their function (addition, contrast, cause, consequence, example, conclusion) and place at least one in each paragraph.