Državna Matura French common mistakes
Državna Matura French · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
In compréhension écrite, the candidate answers a question by copying a whole sentence from the text that contains the keyword, without checking whether that sentence actually answers the question asked (e.g. a question about the cause gets the sentence stating the consequence).
Under time pressure, candidates scan for the keyword, find the sentence where it appears, and treat lexical overlap as proof of a correct answer. This is a habit built on vocabulary-matching drills rather than on analysing what the question is asking, and it is reinforced because the copied sentence often looks plausible.
What to do instead
Before scanning, rewrite the question in your own words and mark its type: cause, consequence, opinion, quantity, time, contrast. Then locate the keyword and read the two sentences before and after it. Test the candidate sentence by asking: if I delete this sentence, does the question become unanswerable? If not, it is not the answer. Train by covering the options and formulating your own answer first, then matching it to the closest option.
In compréhension écrite, the candidate selects the option that echoes the vocabulary or topic of the text but contradicts its logic (true/false questions answered from general knowledge or personal opinion rather than from the text).
Options are designed with surface-level lexical overlap with the passage, and candidates who read quickly recognise familiar words and stop evaluating. Personal knowledge about the topic (ecology, health, tourism) then fills the gap, producing an answer the text does not support.
What to do instead
For each option, go back to the text and underline the exact words that justify or refute it, and write V/F plus a two- or three-word justification in the margin. If you cannot point to a line, the option is not justified. Practise with texts on familiar topics precisely because they tempt you to rely on prior knowledge; the discipline is to answer only from the printed text.
In compréhension orale, the candidate tries to understand every word and freezes on the first unknown expression, losing the thread of the rest of the recording; answers are then based on one isolated word rather than the speaker's overall meaning.
School listening is often treated as dictation, so candidates believe full comprehension is required before answering. In authentic audio, unknown vocabulary, background noise and fast connected speech guarantee gaps, and a word-by-word strategy collapses at the first gap.
What to do instead
Practise gist-first listening: before the recording, read the questions and predict the topic and likely vocabulary. During the first listening, ignore gaps and track only the speaker's intention (agrees, refuses, warns, suggests). Write down the words you do catch and reconstruct the message from them and from intonation. Afterwards, listen again with the transcript to identify what you missed and why (liaison, elision, speed, unknown word).
In compréhension orale, the candidate answers before the relevant information is spoken, or fails to change an answer when the speaker corrects or reformulates it (e.g. 'en fait, non, plutôt le mardi').
Candidates hear a keyword early and commit to an option, then stop listening. French speech frequently contains self-correction, hesitation and reformulation, and distractors are deliberately placed before the correct information.
What to do instead
Treat the first mention as provisional and keep listening until the speaker finishes the turn. Train yourself to notice reformulation markers (en fait, enfin, plutôt, je me suis trompé, finalement, par contre) and to mark them as signals that the answer is changing. On the answer sheet, use pencil for provisional answers and confirm them at the end of each recording.
In maîtrise de la langue, the candidate over-applies the Passé composé with avoir to verbs that require être (or vice versa), and fails to make the past participle agree with a preceding direct object.
The rule is learned as a list of verbs rather than as a system, and the agreement rule with avoir is taught late and abstractly. Under exam pressure, candidates default to the most frequent pattern (avoir + invariable participle) and ignore the pronoun structure.
What to do instead
Learn verbs of motion and change of state as a closed set with their auxiliary (aller, venir, arriver, partir, entrer, sortir, monter, descendre, naître, mourir, rester, devenir, tomber, rentrer, retourner, passer) and drill them in the passé composé. For agreement, apply a mechanical check: does a direct object pronoun (le, la, les) or a preceding relative que sit before the verb? If yes, agree the participle. Write five original sentences per structure and verify each against a grammar reference.
In maîtrise de la langue, the candidate translates structures word-for-word from their first language, producing calques such as 'je suis d'accord avec que', 'dépend de si', or using the present tense where French requires the subjunctive after il faut que, bien que, avant que, pour que.
Grammatical structures are stored as translations of first-language equivalents, not as French patterns. The subjunctive in particular is often avoided entirely because it feels risky, so the indicative is used in contexts where the exam expects the subjunctive.
What to do instead
Build a personal list of the ten most frequent triggers for each structure (subjunctive triggers, prepositions before infinitives, verbs followed by de or à) and memorise complete model sentences rather than rules alone. When writing, mark every subordinate clause and check the mood required by its conjunction. In revision, transform indicative sentences into subjunctive ones aloud until the pattern is automatic.
In production écrite, the candidate writes a well-formed essay that ignores the task's constraints: wrong register (tu/vous), missing required elements (e.g. a formal letter without a formula of address and closing, a message that fails to ask the questions specified), or a word count far below or above the limit.
Candidates rehearse general essay structures and then pour content into them without re-reading the prompt. The instruction's functional requirements (write to persuade, complain, invite, ask for information) are treated as decoration rather than as the assessment criteria.
What to do instead
Spend three minutes before writing to underline every instruction in the prompt and turn it into a checklist: type of text, recipient and relationship, register, purpose, each required content point, word limit. Draft, then verify the checklist item by item before rewriting. Practise producing the same content as a formal letter, an informal message and a short article to internalise how register changes the fixed formulae.
In production écrite, the candidate writes long, ambitious sentences with relative clauses and subordinate structures that collapse into agreement, tense and syntax errors, and loses coherence because connecteurs logiques are absent or misused (using 'donc' for 'pourtant', 'en effet' as a simple addition).
Candidates believe complexity earns marks and try to display advanced grammar beyond their control. Meanwhile cohesion is taught as a list of connectors to insert, not as a system of logical relations, so the wrong relation is chosen.
What to do instead
Write shorter sentences you can control, and connect them explicitly with a connector whose logical function you can name (opposition: cependant, en revanche, pourtant; cause: car, en effet, puisque; consequence: donc, par conséquent; addition: de plus, en outre). Before submitting, read the text aloud to catch agreement and tense slips, and check every connector by asking what relation it expresses and whether the two clauses actually stand in that relation.
In production orale, the candidate prepares a memorised monologue and delivers it regardless of the examiner's question, then cannot sustain interaction: answers in single words, does not ask anything back, and does not repair communication when misunderstood.
Classroom practice often rewards recitation, and candidates have little experience of unscripted interaction. Fear of error leads to short answers, and the interaction component is neglected because it feels less controllable than prepared content.
What to do instead
Rehearse the topic as a set of bullet points and possible follow-up questions, not as a script. Practise with a partner who deliberately asks unexpected questions and interrupts. Learn a small set of interaction strategies: asking for clarification (vous voulez dire que...?), gaining time (c'est une bonne question, laissez-moi réfléchir), paraphrasing when a word is missing, and returning a question to the examiner. Record yourself and check that you speak in connected turns of several sentences, not isolated words.
In production orale, the candidate pronounces words in isolation correctly but ignores the prosody of connected speech, so liaisons obligatoires are missed, final consonants are pronounced where they should be silent, and nasal vowels are confused, making the speech hard to follow and lowering the pronunciation mark.
Pronunciation is studied as a list of individual sounds and silent letters, not as rhythm and linking. Reading aloud from written text reinforces letter-by-letter pronunciation, and candidates rarely hear their own output critically.
What to do instead
Work on short authentic audio clips: shadow the recording (speak simultaneously with the speaker), then record yourself and compare rhythm, liaison and nasal vowels. Focus on obligatory liaisons (les_amis, vous_avez, un_grand_homme) and on the difference between nasal vowels in brun/brin, banc/bon. Practise reading the same paragraph aloud three times, each time faster, to build the reflex of linking rather than spelling.