10 tips to improve your French oral exam grade

It’s important to be creative in your oral preparation, to expand on the truth and tell a story.  Pretend you are auditioning for a play and write your answers as a short monologue.

Consider the standard question “Where are you going on holiday?”

A typical answer would use the same verb and tense as in the question

“I am going to Spain” 

Here are 10 ways you can improve this answer for a better grade in your oral exam or speaking test.

1. Use the future tense

"I will go to Spain."

2. Add some people and use the ‘nous’ conjugation of the verb

"I am going on holiday with my parents, we will go to Spain."

3. Give your opinion

Using the future conditional tense to say where you would prefer to go

"I am going to Spain but I would prefer to be going to Greece."

4. Say where you went last year 

Use the past tense (le passé composé)

"Last year I went to Spain but this year I will go to Greece."

5. Tell us where you usually go 

Using ‘d’habitude + present tense’

"Usually I go to Spain but this year I will go to Greece."

6. Or where you used to go when you were young 

Using the imperfect tense (l’imparfait)

"When I was young I used to go to Spain but this year I will go to Greece."

Literal Tip:When I was young I was going to Spain

7. Use an alternative verb to that used in the question

"I will spend the holidays in Spain."

8. Y – the adverbial pronoun

"I go there."

Lightning Lesson: ‘There’ must refer back to a place already mentioned, this avoids repetition, but remember the placement of ‘y’ is important. Adverbial pronouns belong in between the pronoun (I/you/he/she/we) and the verb. The literal translation is ‘I there go’.

9. Demonstrate a wide vocabulary by including words like

"instead of, however, never the less, therefore"

10. Now put all of these tips together to build an A* answer 

"When I was young I used to Spain on holiday with my family, and we went there last year.  However this summer I will spend the holidays with my friends instead of my parents. We are going camping but I would prefer to be going to Spain."

Actionable 

Post your answer in the comments box below.