If you’re taking the test for a French class in school, ask your instructor the types of questions that will be on the test and the approximate number of questions you’ll have. You also want to find out if you’ll have the whole class period to take the test or only a portion of it. Language proficiency exams and placement tests tend to be more global, addressing your understanding of French in general rather than specific skills and grammar. A test for school, on the other hand, will more likely focus only on the things you’ve covered in class since your last test.
For example, if you have a language proficiency exam coming up in 3 months, you might set aside 30 minutes a day to study French for the first month, an hour a day for the second month, and then 30 minutes a day for the third month, up until the day before the test. If you’re studying for a test for school, you’ll have to balance your French studies with your other classes. However, if you don’t have any other tests coming up, try to focus the bulk of your study time on your French test. The more you focus solely on French, the more you’ll retain.
If you’re studying for 30 minutes a day, dedicate 10 to 15 minutes of your time to doing grammar drills or vocabulary flashcards. Divide your study sessions so that you’re only working on one skill each day. You risk confusing yourself if you try to work on multiple grammar skills at a time.
Compare your French translation to the original French text. Where your French differs from the original, dig into it and try to understand why. Based on this exercise, you can determine areas where you might need more practice. This exercise can also help you plan what parts of the language you’re going to focus on for your studies. For example, if you find that you had a hard time conjugating irregular verbs, you might focus on that during your studies the following week.
If you still want to do something French-related, watch a French movie or listen to French music. The night before the test, your primary focus should be relaxing and calming your mind.
Since you can listen to French music while you’re doing other things, you can also use this as a way to increase your study time. For example, you could listen to French music while you’re commuting to work or school. Singing along with a French song can also help your pronunciation, particularly since lyrics are repetitive and often slower than normal speech.
Many streaming services have popular programs over-dubbed in French. If you watch a show that you already like in English, you’ll understand more of the context if you watch it in French.
Becoming familiar with different accents is especially important if you’re taking an official French proficiency exam with a listening component. Frequently, the speakers come from different parts of the world and have different socio-economic backgrounds, which can also alter their accent. Videos and newscasts from Montréal can give you more familiarity with the French-Canadian accent. Movies such as Manon des Sources give you the opportunity to hear a Provençal accent from southern France. Search “French accents” on YouTube to find videos the distinguish the different accents in France and other French-speaking countries. Videos of French standup comedians are also good to watch if you want to test your understanding of the language. Standup comedians also have many different accents, as well as exaggerating or making fun of accents in some bits.
For this exercise, don’t worry so much about your spelling as getting down the words quickly. Don’t worry so much about articles and other smaller words that don’t really add anything to the meaning of what the person is saying. Take note of the parts that you misunderstood or wrote down the wrong words and figure out why you got them wrong. Perhaps the person speaking had an unfamiliar accent or was speaking too quickly. Listen to the speech again after a few days and see if you can pick up more of the words the second time through.
You don’t need to be able to create a perfect translation of what was said either. Try to think in French and understand what is said in French, rather than struggling to translate French into your native language.
An online dictionary with audio of the words can also help you with problematic words or sounds. A website such as Forvo (https://forvo. com/languages/fr/) can also give you examples of a word spoken in different French accents, since the audio files are contributed by volunteers from all over the world.
If you’re taking a test for a class at school, it may be harder to find practice tests you can use. However, some teachers make practice questions or copies of old tests available at the school library. Ask your teacher if this is something they do.
It’s possible that you’ll take the practice test and do relatively well the first time. When this happens, it can take some of the pressure off. However, don’t take this as a sign that you don’t have to study. There will always be areas where you can improve.
You may find that you have particular things that are giving you trouble. For example, you may consistently confuse the conjugation of an irregular verb. If you have a consistent error, use flashcards to correct your understanding. In your studies, don’t give yourself an opportunity to write the conjugation incorrectly, as this will only reinforce the mistake.
If you grouped your errors into categories, you can compare the number of wrong answers in each category to track your progress. Sometimes, focusing too much on one thing will cause you to get rusty in another area. Try not to be too hard on yourself about this. Simply adjust your study plan to go back and recover the skills you’ve lost.
