JC French common mistakes
JC French · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Hearing a familiar word in the audio (e.g. 'gare', 'train', 'demain') and selecting the answer option that contains that word, rather than the option that matches what was actually said.
Under time pressure the ear latches onto a keyword and the brain completes the meaning from expectation; distractors in listening papers are deliberately built around these lexical hooks.
What to do instead
Before each listening item, underline the question word and the type of information needed (time, place, reason, person). After hearing the extract, eliminate any option justified only by a repeated word, and require a paraphrase link between audio and option. Practise with transcripts: cover the transcript, answer, then check which words were actually decisive.
Writing numbers, times, prices and dates in the wrong format or missing them entirely because the audio gives them in a form the candidate has not rehearsed (e.g. 'dix-sept heures quarante-cinq', 'quatre-vingt-dix', 'le deux mars').
French number and time expressions have irregular formations (soixante-dix, quatre-vingts, quatre-vingt-onze) and liaison/elision blur boundaries, so candidates either mishear or transcribe a plausible but wrong figure.
What to do instead
Build a drill set of 60-100 audio clips of times, prices, dates and phone numbers, including the 70s and 90s ranges and 'midi/minuit'. Transcribe them, then compare with the written form. In the exam, note the figure immediately in digits and check it against the grammar of the question (singular/plural, euro/centimes).
Assuming a negative or contrastive statement is affirmative, e.g. hearing 'je ne pense pas que ce soit ouvert' and recording that it is open, or missing 'sauf', 'au lieu de', 'ce n'est pas... mais...'.
The negative 'ne...pas' is often reduced to a swallowed 'pas' in fast speech, and candidates process the content word ('ouvert') while dropping the negation that reverses it.
What to do instead
Train on minimal pairs: same sentence with and without negation, and with 'mais/sauf/au lieu de'. In the exam, listen specifically for the second half of the negation and for contrast markers, and mark any answer that ignores them as suspect.
Reading the whole passage first at normal speed and then answering questions from memory, so answers are based on general impression rather than on the exact sentence that supports them.
This feels efficient but memory for detail decays quickly, and distractors are written to match the gist of the passage while contradicting one specific clause.
What to do instead
Read the questions first, then scan for the relevant paragraph, and for each answer underline the exact words in the text that justify it. If no single sentence supports an option, do not choose it. Do this under timed conditions so the scanning habit becomes automatic.
Treating a word that looks like English as if it has the English meaning (e.g. 'actuellement' = currently not actually, 'éventuellement' = possibly not eventually, 'assister à' = to attend not to assist, 'sensible' = sensitive not sensible).
False friends are high-frequency in exam texts and the English meaning usually produces a coherent-sounding but wrong answer, so nothing flags the error.
What to do instead
Keep a personal false-friend list of 40-60 items and test yourself in both directions (French to meaning, English meaning to French word). In reading tasks, when an option depends on a lookalike word, re-read the sentence substituting the correct French meaning and check whether it still fits.
Answering inference questions with personal opinion or real-world knowledge instead of what the text implies, and answering 'vrai/faux' items without justifying from the text.
The passage is often about a familiar topic (school, environment, tourism) and candidates import assumptions the author does not make; also, 'vrai' feels safer than 'faux' when the topic seems reasonable.
What to do instead
For every true/false or inference item, write the line number and the key phrase that decides it before ticking. If the justification requires knowledge not in the text, the answer is not supported. Practise with texts on familiar topics precisely because they are the ones that trigger this error.
Choosing the wrong tense or mood in gap-fill and transformation items, e.g. using the present after 'si' in a hypothetical, the indicative after 'bien que', or the passé composé where the imparfait is required for description.
Candidates match the tense to the English translation rather than to the French trigger (si + imparfait/conditionnel, conjunctions requiring the subjunctive, aspect distinctions between passé composé and imparfait).
What to do instead
Memorise a short trigger list: si + imparfait → conditionnel; pour que/bien que/avant que/il faut que → subjunctive; depuis/pendant + imparfait for ongoing background. Then do 30 transformation items where only the trigger word changes, and state the rule aloud for each answer.
Ignoring agreement and elision in written production and in structure items: 'les personne', 'ils ont allé', 'je ai', 'l'école' written as 'la école', or a past participle not agreeing with a preceding direct object.
Candidates focus on meaning and lexical choice and treat agreement as a final polish, which they then skip under time pressure; spoken French often hides these endings, so the ear gives no warning.
What to do instead
Adopt a fixed checking pass after writing: verb endings against subject, adjective against noun, participle against avoir + preceding object, and elision before vowels. Do ten minutes of targeted correction exercises on authentic short paragraphs with planted errors, marking each error type so patterns become visible.
Writing a structured task (message, article, formal letter) with the wrong register or missing required content points: using 'tu' in a letter to a business, 'salut' in a formal email, or omitting one of the bullet points given in the prompt.
Candidates draft from a memorised model answer and adapt it loosely, so register and task coverage are decided by the template rather than by the prompt's audience and purpose.
What to do instead
Before writing, spend two minutes annotating the prompt: audience, relationship, purpose, and a numbered list of required points. Choose the opening and closing formula from the relationship (Madame, Monsieur / Bonjour + prénom), then tick each required point in the plan and again in the draft. Keep two short model skeletons, one formal and one informal, and adapt rather than paste.
Describing cultural facts in vague generalities ('en France on aime beaucoup la cuisine') or inventing specifics (wrong region for a product, wrong institution name) instead of using accurate, concrete references.
Cultural knowledge is often revised as a list of topics rather than facts, and candidates pad word counts with safe generalisations that earn no credit for content.
What to do instead
Build a one-page fact sheet per theme (education system, media, regional products, festivals, institutions) with five precise items each: names, places, dates, and one example sentence you can reuse. In the writing task, include at least two verifiable specifics and check names and accents before finishing.