Balearic PAU French (UIB)

A written paper built around one or more short texts in French. Expect comprehension questions on those texts, grammar and vocabulary exercises such as gap-fill or sentence transformation, and a written expression task. There is no listening and no oral part, so you never have to speak or transcribe audio.

The UIB and the Balearic examination coordination publish the current duration, number of items and mark allocation for each sitting. Those figures change between years and are not fixed here. Check the official PAU documentation on the UIB website before you plan your timing strategy.

It targets the level expected at the end of secondary schooling, roughly B1 to B2 on the CEFR scale. The language itself is manageable; the difficulty lies in doing comprehension, grammar and a composition accurately within one sitting. Candidates who only revise grammar and never practise timed writing usually find it harder than expected.

Yes, the PAU has ordinary and extraordinary sittings, and candidates can also improve a subject mark in later calls within the rules in force. The specific conditions, limits and deadlines are set by the UIB and the Balearic education authority, so confirm the current resit rules on their official pages.

Do both from the start, but anchor grammar in writing. Learn a structure, then use it in two or three sentences of your own. Comprehension work feeds vocabulary into your compositions, so alternate reading, grammar drills and short timed paragraphs rather than finishing one block before starting the next.

Answering comprehension questions with copied text instead of reformulating, ignoring word limits, missing verb agreements and accents, and writing compositions with no clear structure or connectors. Another frequent loss is misreading the prompt, for example writing an opinion piece when a formal letter was asked for. Read each instruction twice before writing.

Treat them as timed rehearsals, not reading material. Do a full paper under exam conditions, then mark it against the official criteria and list every error by type: vocabulary, tense, agreement, spelling, task response. Rework the composition a second time. Two or three cycles of this teach you more than re-reading many papers passively.

The texts often touch on everyday life, society or culture in France and other French-speaking countries, so general background knowledge helps comprehension. You are not tested on cultural facts in isolation. Reading short articles about francophone current affairs is useful preparation for both the texts and composition topics.

The pass mark and the weighting of this subject within your overall admission score are set by the official regulations for each call. They are not fixed in advance here. Consult the UIB PAU pages for the current scoring rules and for how the foreign language counts towards your access grade.