Scan, then read the whole sentence
The keyword you scan for is rarely the whole answer. Scan for a word linked to the question — a name, a topic word, a near-synonym — then read the whole sentence around it; the clause before or after often carries the detail actually asked for. Check for a negation or redirection — a familiar word can sit in a sentence that says the opposite or attributes the detail to someone else. Write only the relevant detail, in the correct person, not the whole sentence.
Transform first person to third in Q4/Q6
Q4 and Q6 sit on a first-person text, but the answer must report what il/elle did, not "je". Elements move together: j'ai eu → il/elle a eu; je suis allé(e) → il/elle est allé(e); mon/ma/mes → son/sa/ses; m'a donné → lui a donné. Change the verb, any possessive, and any object/reflexive pronoun together — changing only the verb and leaving ma mère loses the mark, and the verb still needs a supplied subject. The full table is in the study note.
Drawn from real examiner reports.
Leaving the answer in the first person
The single most repeated Reading failure. Misses: ma mère → sa mère left unchanged (s22 21 Q4h); the wrong tense on a manipulated verb (s22 22 Q6f); m'a donné → lui a donné, managed only by the strongest (w23 22 Q6h). Rule: ask "whose voice is this — the writer's, or mine reporting on them?" Every verb, possessive and pronoun then goes third person.
Reading Q4/Q6 — ma mère->sa mère (s22 21 Q4h; w22 21 Q4), wrong tense left on a manipulated verb (s22 22 Q6f), m'a donné->lui a donné (w23 22 Q6h).
Leaving a bare infinitive with no subject
After changing person, a manipulated verb needs a supplied subject + conjugated verb — candidates who gave an infinitive or dropped the subject lost the mark (Q6g/Q6h). Hardest case: après avoir eu had to become a finite past tense (il/elle a eu), which few managed. Rule: ✗ réussir ses examens → ✓ il/elle a réussi ses examens.
s22 21 Q6a; w23 21 Q6e; w23 22 Key messages — omitted subject/infinitive after person change; après avoir eu manipulation (s22 22 Q6h).
Over-lifting instead of precise lifting
Two lifting failures recur. Paraphrasing instead of lifting precisely introduces vocabulary and grammar errors not in the source, losing marks (s23 21). Over-lifting a whole sentence drags in irrelevant, unasked-for material (most sittings). Rule: lift the minimum words precisely — don't reword, don't copy the whole sentence.
s23 21 general comments; also w22 21, s22 21/23 — paraphrasing and over-lifting both invalidate otherwise-correct answers.
Vague answers that miss the exact fact
An answer can be present in the text yet too vague to isolate the required fact, and it fails. Examples: cette année when a specific date was wanted (s22 21 Q6b); il y avait plein de séances utiles instead of naming the two sessions asked for (s22 21 Q6c). Rule: pin down the exact detail — a name, a number, the two items — not a phrase that gestures at it.
s22 21 Q6b (cette année) & Q6c (séances utiles, not naming the two sessions) — vague answers that fail to isolate the required fact.
Choosing an option for a familiar word
Reading options work like Listening distractors: a familiar word, but wrong. Wrong person — true of a friend, not the person asked (s22 11 Q33). Missed negation — read as positive (s22 11 Q23). Single-word fixation — "expensive" for a necklace, missing pas trop cher (s22 23 Q3c). Rule: check who the option describes and whether ne...pas flips it.
Distractor-echo (s22 Listening 11 Q33; w22 11 Q26), missed negation (s22 11 Q23), single-word fixation on Reading Q3 (s22 23 Q3c — pas trop cher).
Answering from the wrong part of the text
Questions follow the order of the text, so an early question is unlikely to be answered from the final paragraph, and vice versa. Scanning the whole text for a keyword can lift the right word from the wrong place and answer a different question. Rule: expect each answer roughly where it falls given the previous ones; if one comes from far away, re-check the paragraph.
w23 22; w23 23 — questions follow the order of the text; answering an early question from a late paragraph is flagged.
Finding the keyword = having the answer
Reading is comprehension and transformation, not word-spotting. False: "I found the word, so I copy the sentence around it." The keyword only shows WHERE to look — still read the whole sentence, check it isn't negated or about a different person, and transform it fully to third person with a supplied subject. A recognised word in an option guarantees nothing.
Reading opening Key Messages + cross-referenced Listening distractor-echo — both named dominant failures across s22/w22/s23/w23.
The Q4/Q6 transform-and-check routine
Routine for every Q4/Q6 answer: locate via text order; lift the minimum (no paraphrase, no whole sentence); transform person (verb, mon→son, me→lui) with a supplied subject; check it is specific; check for a negative.
Q5 matching: read every constraint first
Q5 matches people to more descriptions than people — not a gist question. The wrong answer matches one attribute but is disqualified by a detail elsewhere (e.g. a hotel that fits but excludes dogs). Rule: read every constraint, not just the first fit.
Answer only what is asked, in French
Recurring Key Message: don't add information not asked for; the response must answer the question asked, not just contain it inside extra lifted material. Give the detail and stop, and answer in French where required. Extra material risks a contradiction.
This topic is pure technique, not new vocabulary: how to turn "I found the right bit of the text" into a mark on Paper 2. The digest's own recurring phrasing for the dominant, every-sitting failure is: candidates lift the right sentence but leave it in the wrong person, or lift too much (or too little, or too vague) around it.
The five-step routine for every gap-answer question (Q4, Q6):
| Step | What to do |
|---|---|
| 1. Locate | Use the question order — questions follow the order of the text |
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