Paper 4: form, short tasks, extended piece
Paper 4 Writing has three parts. Q1 — a short-answer form/gap-fill (single words, no articles). Q2 — about five short tasks, each in a signalled tense, testing precise, concise communication. Q3 — the extended piece (120-150 words): a choice of (a) or (b) (email, or a longer article/letter/blog), 5 bullet points, marked on Task Completion, Range and Accuracy. Each bullet signals its own tense/person, so Q3 is this topic's focus.
Q3: Task Completion, Range, Accuracy
Q3 is marked on three separate criteria, each a distinct skill. Task Completion: answering every bullet in the tense/person it signals. Range: variety of tenses, connectives and structures — swap parce que for donc, cependant or a relative clause. Accuracy: spelling, gender, article, adjective agreement/placement, elision, verb form. Covering every bullet accurately but staying in the present with only parce que still caps mid-band for Range.
Drawn from real examiner reports.
Plural noun given a singular verb
A plural noun given a singular verb is a repeated Writing accuracy fault: les transports est or les avantages est for sont. The reverse occurs too (le règlement sont juste), and collective nouns trip candidates (treating le personnel as plural). Fix: check every verb agrees in number with its subject — plural noun -> sont, singular -> est.
(w22 42; w23 42 & 43)
Answering a bullet in the wrong tense
Candidates ignore the tense the bullet signals and answer in another — often the present where a past, future or conditional was needed, capping Task Completion whatever the content. A "would you like" bullet needs the conditional (j'achèterais), not the future je vais acheter. Fix: match the cue; content never rescues a wrong tense.
(w22 41 Task 5; all sittings 41/42/43)
Relying only on parce que / car
Most candidates justify every opinion with parce que/car and use only simple structures — a mid band for Range, no higher. To climb you need a wider toolkit: donc (so), cependant (however), puisque (since); relatives qui/que/où; object pronouns le/la/les; infinitives (avant de partir). Fix: vary the connective each bullet.
(s22, w22, s23, w23 — all Writing components)
Miscopying the rubric, not switching to je
Two precision traps recur every sitting. (1) Miscopying rubric vocabulary — e.g. l'environment for l'environnement. (2) Not switching the rubric's vous to je: written with vous ("votre journée..."), yet candidates leave -ez or votre in their prose. Fix: copy rubric words exactly (accents included) and turn vous/votre into je/mon-ma-mes.
(s22 41/43; w22 41; s23 41/42; w23 41/42/43)
Adjective agreement and placement
Two adjective faults. Agreement: dropping the feminine ending — masculine préférée or importante where photo is feminine. Placement: most adjectives follow the noun (une voiture rouge, not une rouge voiture); adverbs get mis-placed too (j'ai aimé aussi). Fix: agree adjectives in gender and number, and place ordinary ones after the noun.
(w22 42; s23 42; w23 41)
Article and elision slips (au / du)
Small article and elision slips cost Accuracy marks. Article: à + le becomes au (au zoo, never à le zoo), de + le becomes du; after a negative, du/de la/des become de (ne...pas de pain). Elision: drop the vowel before a vowel — l'école, j'ai, qu'il. Fix: proofread for contracted articles and elisions specifically.
(s22 41; s23 41)
Writing more is not the safe strategy
Two beliefs mislead: that more words or staying in the present maximise marks. More words fails Task Completion and Accuracy — 2023 reports warn over-length pieces "lack focus and show more inaccuracies". Staying in the present caps Task Completion, since each bullet signals a required tense that must be matched. Plan concisely and match each bullet's tense.
(s23; w23)
Plan each bullet's tense before writing
Read all 5 bullets first and underline each one's tense/person cue — a past or future marker, "would", an opinion prompt. Then plan a sentence or two per bullet, fixing the tense before you write a word, rather than writing first and hoping the tense sorts itself out.
Vary tenses and connectives for Range
Range is a deliberate choice, not a by-product of length. Get a past, a present and a future or conditional into your 120-150 words, even where a bullet doesn't demand it. Use parce que once, then swap in donc, cependant or a relative clause next.
Proofread twice: sense, then accuracy
Proofread twice, for different things. First for content — does every bullet answer the question in the right tense? Then only for the Accuracy checklist: spelling, gender, article, adjective agreement, elision, verb form. Two focused passes beat one re-read for sense.
Stay focused and write legibly
The word count is guidance, not a target. Reports from 2023 warn pieces over ~200 words lose focus and gain errors, so padding and cutting both cost marks. Write legibly, and never overwrite a pencil draft in ink — the scanner captures both layers and can make it illegible.
Paper 4 Writing tests how accurately and fluently you can produce French, not just recognise it. The extended task (Q3) rewards planning as much as vocabulary.
Paper 4 has three parts, building in length and demand:
| Question | Task | What it rewards |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 | Short-answer form/gap-fill (single words) | Accurate spelling |
| Q2 | ~5 short tasks, each in a signalled tense | Precise, concise communication of one fact/opinion each |
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