5 Tips to Help You Prepare for the French Oral Exam

Practice, practice, practice

The best preparation you can do is to practice speaking French as much as possible. Practice with your friends, record yourself on your phone or even watch French TV, (TV5 for example, or choose International - French films/TV on Netflix!).

The more you do, the easier your conversation will flow on the day of the exam and the more confident you'll feel. If you do little work or practice in the run-up, you're only going to be nervous and be more likely to make mistakes!

Lead the conversation

Rather than waiting for the examiner to ask question after question try and lead the conversation into areas you have a good knowledge of and are well prepared for.

Examiner: "What did you do last weekend?"

Student: "On Saturday morning I..., then in the evening I did... On Sunday I studied, studying takes up a lot of my free time at the moment..."

Mindmapping out possible links between conversation topics can be worthwhile.

Know your verbs

One of the key skills in an oral is to know your verbs. Be prepared to speak in the past, present and future tenses.

Listen to the question the examiner asks and in what tense and prepare to answer in the appropriate tense. If they ask, Si vous étiez riche, qu'est-ce que vous achèteriez? (If you were rich, what would you buy?), you must remember to answer in the conditional tense, like J'achèterais une voiture. (I would buy a car.)

Know what the examiner will ask

In the French oral, you have the choice to bring a document/project that you can discuss. The examiner is likely to say, Avez-vous apporté un document? (Have you brought a document?)

Also be prepared for him or her to ask the most common questions. Know how to talk about your family, friends, school, college plans, summer plans, hobbies, etc.

You can find help for this on our Community Page.

Check you know your question words

One thing students often forget is to study the vocabulary the examiner will use when asking you questions. Listen carefully to the tense that is used in the question as this will guide you in your response.

If you find yourself struggling at any point don't forget, you can say, désóle, je ne comprends pas la question! (Sorry, I don't understand the question!)

After this the examiner should rephrase the question for you in a way you can understand it.

Another helpful phrase is; pardon, est-ce que vous pouvez repéter la question, s'il vous plaît? (Can you repeat the question please?)

Bonus

If you want to hear more tips on getting a H1 in French and the French oral exam, have a listen to Eimear and Nessa talking about their experiences of getting a H1 in French in our Studyclix Podcast:

Finally!

Bonne chance, and don't be nervous, you'll be great!