Épreuve
Production écrite
Level
A2
Time
45 min
Marks
/25
Decode the prompt before you write
Three minutes on the prompt protect the other forty-two. Here's the shape of the A2 writing paper and the seven things every prompt has decided.
By the end of this lesson
- Name the shape of the A2 writing paper: 45 minutes, 25 points, two texts worth 12.5 each.
- Pull seven decisions out of any prompt: format, length, reader, register, speech acts, vocabulary and tenses.
- Count your words the way the exam counts them, and land safely between 60 and 80.
- Store two or three ways to say each job, so one phrase never has to carry the whole text.
Forty-five minutes, two short texts, one prompt. Most candidates read that prompt once, spot the topic and start writing. They lose points before anyone judges their French, because they answered a task nobody set.
Reading the prompt properly costs you about three minutes. This lesson gives you the shape of the paper and the seven things every prompt has already decided for you. Then you'll see how the exam counts your words, and why one phrase per job isn't enough.
Two short texts in forty-five minutes
You get 45 minutes for the whole writing paper, and it's marked out of 25. There are two exercises and they're marked separately, 12.5 points each, on the same five-criterion grid. So a beautiful first text can't rescue a second one you never wrote.
Exercise 1 asks you to recount an experience or describe an event. It also asks what you thought of it. Both jobs are scored, so your impressions aren't optional. The text type changes from paper to paper. You might be asked for a forum post or a short piece for a magazine. It can also be a page from your diary, an email or a letter.
Exercise 2 hands you a short document and asks you to answer it. That document is usually a very short email, a postcard or a message. It can also be a faire-part, the card that announces a wedding or a birth. Your reply has to do things: thank, accept or decline, invite, apologise, ask a question, congratulate.
Each text needs 60 words as a minimum. Aim for 60 to 80, because that band is long enough to cover everything and short enough to reread. Plan your minutes before you start. About 22 minutes on the first task and 20 on the second works well. Both are worth the same, but telling a story takes longer than answering a message.
Point d'étape 1/4
0 / 3
Q1How long does the A2 writing paper last, and how many points is it worth?
Q2How is the paper built?
Q3What does Exercise 1 ask you to do?
Seven things the prompt has already decided
Before you write a single sentence, read the consigne, the instruction line, with a pencil in your hand. Seven decisions are sitting in there. Each one you miss is a point you can't win back later with good grammar.
Sujet type · exercice 2A2 · 60 mots minimum
Vous recevez cette carte postale de votre ami Théo : « Je suis chez mes parents, au bord de la mer, tout le mois de juillet. Viens passer le week-end du 14 avec nous ! On ira à la plage. » Vous lui répondez. Vous le remerciez, vous refusez son invitation, vous vous excusez et vous demandez des nouvelles de ses parents. (60 mots minimum)
ENYou get this postcard from your friend Théo. 'I'm staying at my parents' house by the sea for the whole of July. Come and spend the weekend of the 14th with us! We'll go to the beach.' Write back to Théo. Thank him, turn down his invitation, apologise and ask how his parents are. (60 words minimum)
The actes de parole in that list are the speech acts, meaning the jobs your text has to perform. Here they are, next to the six other decisions the prompt made for you.
| What you underline | In this prompt | What it decides |
|---|---|---|
| Text format | A written reply to a friend | A message or short email, with a greeting and a closing formula |
| Length | 60 words minimum | You aim for 60 to 80 and check the total at the end |
| Reader | Théo, a friend | tu, his first name in the greeting, a warm closing |
| Register | Familiar but still written | Everyday words are fine, full sentences are not optional |
| Speech acts | Thank, decline, apologise, ask | Four jobs, so at least four sentences |
| Vocabulary field | A seaside holiday you have to miss | la mer, les vacances, le week-end, désolé |
| Tenses | Present and futur proche | je vais travailler ce week-end, because the weekend hasn't come yet |
The reader is the decision people rush most. If the prompt names a friend, tu is right and vous sounds cold. If it says you have never met the person, use vous and drop salut, coucou and bises. That choice is scored on its own line, under adéquation sociolinguistique, the register criterion. It sits on both exercises, so it's worth 2.5 points each time.
The speech acts are where points quietly disappear. Number them in the margin as you read: 1 thank, 2 decline, 3 apologise, 4 ask. Then tick each number off in your draft. A text can be warm, correct and neatly spelled, and still lose points on réalisation de la tâche for a job it never did.
Point d'étape 2/4
0 / 3
Q1What should you look for in the prompt before you draft anything?
Q2The prompt says you are writing to someone you have never met. Which pronoun do you use?
Q3The consigne names four speech acts, but your reply performs only three. What happens?
How the exam counts your words
The exam counts a word as any group of characters sitting between two spaces. That rule is friendlier than it sounds. In il pleut depuis ce matin you have written five words. In peux-tu m'appeler ce soir you have written four, because peux-tu counts once and m'appeler counts once. Hyphens and apostrophes never split a word in two.
Sixty words is a floor on both tasks, not a target. Land under it and you lose on réalisation de la tâche, the criterion that checks you did what was asked.
Then comes the rule nobody warns you about. A text of 29 words or fewer, under half the minimum, scores zero on the whole exercise. That's 12.5 points gone whatever your French looks like, which is why the floor is never negotiable.
Going past 80 isn't forbidden, but it rarely pays. Length on its own earns you nothing, while every extra sentence is one more chance to make a mistake. You also owe those minutes to the other task.
Here's a trick that saves you counting twice. At home, write three lines in your normal handwriting and count the words in them. Divide by three and you know what one line holds, usually seven or eight words. On exam day you count lines instead, then check the total once before you hand in.
Point d'étape 3/4
0 / 3
Q1Under the exam rule, how many words are there in the sentence Peux-tu m'appeler ce soir?
Q2What length should you aim for on each of the two texts?
Q3Your text comes to 45 words. Which criterion loses points first?
Say each job two or three ways
Lexique, your range of vocabulary, is one of the five criteria and worth 2.5 points on each task. A text that says c'est bien four times reads thin, even when every sentence is correct. So build a small bank of phrasings, function by function.
Pick the functions the exam keeps asking for. Invite, accept, decline, thank, ask for news, ask for a practical detail. Add the one that says why something pleased you or didn't. Two or three phrasings each is plenty, and a single page holds the lot.
Modèle · une banque de formules6 fonctions
Ça te dirait de venir samedi soir ?
Inviter, registre familier. The friendly version, and it asks for an answer instead of announcing a fact. Reach for it whenever the prompt names a friend.
Est-ce que vous seriez libre samedi soir ?
Inviter, registre vous. The same job for someone you have never met. The conditional form seriez sounds polite and costs you nothing to memorise.
Merci beaucoup pour ton message, ça m'a fait très plaisir.
Remercier. Thanks, plus the reason why. That second half is what lifts the line above a plain thank-you.
Quel dommage ! Je travaille samedi soir, je ne pourrai donc pas venir.
Refuser avec regret. Regret, reason, refusal, in one line. A refusal with no reason reads abrupt and gives the examiner less to mark.
Est-ce que je peux apporter quelque chose ?
Proposer son aide. A question does two jobs at once. You offer something and you invite a reply, which is exactly what the reply task rewards.
J'ai adoré cette soirée parce que j'ai rencontré tes voisins.
Dire pourquoi. The reason is the half that pays. It shows vocabulary and it turns a bare opinion into a described experience.
Learn them in pairs: one tu version, one vous version. The register switch then costs you no thinking time on the day. Five minutes a day for a week gives you the whole bank.
One habit doubles the value of every impression you write. Say why. C'était génial on its own tells the examiner almost nothing. C'était génial parce que la vue était magnifique shows vocabulary and grammar in the same sentence.
Point d'étape 4/4
0 / 3
Q1Why learn two or three ways to say the same thing?
Q2Which of these lines invites someone?
Q3You have to write that an evening pleased you. Which version earns more?
Key takeaways
- 45 minutes, 25 points, two texts. Both are marked out of 12.5 on the same five-criterion grid.
- Exercise 1 recounts an experience and gives your impressions. Exercise 2 replies to a short document.
- Both tasks want 60 words minimum. Aim for 60 to 80, because that band says everything and stays checkable.
- The reader named in the prompt decides between tu and vous, and that choice is one of the five criteria.
- A word is a group of characters between two spaces. So the form peux-tu counts as one word.