Exam Paper Overview (AQA GCSE French): Revision Note

• There are four French exams - Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing

• Each exam is worth 25% of your final grade

• You will be entered for Foundation or Higher tier, and all exams will be at the same tier

• Here is an overview of what you should expect from each exam

The listening exam

• The listening exam is worth 40 marks at Foundation tier and 50 marks at Higher tier

• It lasts 35 minutes at Foundation tier, and 45 minutes at Higher tier

• This includes five minutes' reading time at the start and two minutes' checking time at the end

• You can write at any time during the listening exam

• There are two sections in the listening exam - Section A (comprehension) and Section B (dictation)

The speaking exam

• The speaking exam is worth 50 marks at both tiers

• It lasts about 7-9 minutes at Foundation tier, and about 10-12 minutes at Higher tier

• It is conducted by your teacher and the recording is sent to an examiner to mark

• Before the exam starts, you will have 15 minutes' supervised preparation time

• You can write at any point during this preparation time

• You can write anything you like, and as much as you like

• There are three parts to the speaking exam - role-play, read aloud, and photo card

The reading exam

• The reading exam is worth 50 marks at both tiers

• It lasts 45 minutes at Foundation tier, and 1 hour at Higher tier

• There are two sections in the reading exam - Section A (comprehension) and Section B (translation into English)

The writing exam

• The writing exam is worth 50 marks at both tiers

• It lasts 1 hour 10 minutes at Foundation tier, and 1 hour 15 minutes at Higher tier

• There are two sections at Foundation tier - Section A (several shorted questions including write 50 words and translation into French), and Section B (write 90 words)

• There are three sections at Higher tier - Section A (translation into French), Section B (write 90 words) and Section C (write 150 words)

• The are five questions at Foundation tier and three questions at Higher tier

• You are not allowed to use dictionaries or take any notes into the writing exam