Listening and Reading Strategies
Listening and Reading Strategies
Both exams test comprehension across three tiers of difficulty — Foundation covers Grades 1–5 and Higher covers Grades 4–9. These strategies apply to both.
Before the Exam
- Read the questions first — in both listening and reading, preview the questions before engaging with the text. This tells you what to listen/look for.
- Underline key words in the questions: who, what, where, when, why, how many.
- Note the question type: multiple choice, true/false, gap fill, answer in English, answer in French.
Listening Strategies
During Playback
- First listen: get the gist — who is speaking, about what, what is the general mood?
- Second listen: focus on the specific detail the question asks for.
- Don't panic if you miss a word — the answer usually comes from the overall meaning, not one single word.
- Watch for distractors: the recording often mentions something and then corrects it ("I was going to go to the cinema, but in the end we went to the restaurant"). The answer is the final statement.
- Numbers, days, and times are common traps — practise these until automatic:
- 60 (soixante) vs 70 (soixante-dix) vs 80 (quatre-vingts) vs 90 (quatre-vingt-dix)
- Dates: le premier janvier (1st Jan), le deux février (2nd Feb)
Common Listening Traps
| Trap | Example |
|---|---|
| Negatives you miss | "Je ne vais plus au cinéma" (no longer, not "I go") |
| Correction mid-sentence | "mardi... non, mercredi" — answer is Wednesday |
| Similar-sounding words | poisson (fish) vs poison (poison); dessert vs désert |
| Informal speech | Dropped "ne" in negatives: "j'sais pas" = je ne sais pas |
Reading Strategies
Approach
1. Skim the whole text first for the general topic.
2. Scan for the specific information each question asks about.
3. Re-read the relevant section carefully.
Decoding Unknown Words
- Cognates: words that look like English — intéressant, important, différent, nécessaire, pollution.
- Near-cognates: slight differences — bibliothèque (library, not bookcase), actuellement (currently, not actually).
- False friends (faux amis):
| French | Looks like | Actually means |
|---|---|---|
| actuellement | actually | currently |
| assister à | assist | attend |
| attendre | attend | wait for |
| la librairie | library | bookshop |
| la journée | journey | day |
| sensible | sensible | sensitive |
| sympathique | sympathetic | nice/friendly |
| le collège | college | secondary school |
| passer un examen | pass an exam | take/sit an exam |
| rester | rest | stay |
| la monnaie | money | change/currency |
- Word families: if you know travailler (to work), you can guess travailleur (hardworking) and le travail (work).
- Prefixes and suffixes: in-/im- (not), re- (again), -ment (-ly), -tion (-tion), -eur/-euse (person who does).
Answering Techniques
- Answer in English: be precise — don't write vague answers. "She went to the cinema" is better than "she went out".
- Answer in French: you can often lift phrases from the text. Check your spelling.
- True/False/Not mentioned: if the text doesn't mention it at all, it's "not mentioned" — don't infer.
- Multiple choice: eliminate wrong answers — even if unsure, 1 in 3 or 1 in 4 odds are better than nothing.
Exam Tips
- Practise past papers regularly — timing and familiarity with question types matter enormously.
- In listening, write something for every question — even a guess based on a word you caught.
- In reading, time yourself: Foundation = 45 mins, Higher = 1 hour. Don't spend too long on early questions.
- Learn the question words in French so you understand what is being asked when questions are in French: Qui? Quoi/Que? Où? Quand? Comment? Pourquoi? Combien?