The method

One book for each tâche of the written test.

What the examiner expects, a plan for each tâche, the linking words that build structure and the mistakes that cost points. With model answers marked from NCLC 7 to NCLC 10.

The chapters

  1. What the examiner expects

    The five criteria of the marking grid and how a copy gains or loses points.

    8 min read

  2. Tâche 1: the message

    60 to 120 words to write to someone: greet, inform, ask, close.

    10 min read

  3. Tâche 2: tell a story and give your opinion

    120 to 150 words for an article or testimony: a story in the past, then a reasoned opinion.

    12 min read

  4. Tâche 3: compare two points of view

    Summarise two documents in 40 to 60 words, then argue your opinion in 80 to 120 words.

    14 min read

  5. Linking words that build structure

    Adding, contrasting, illustrating, concluding: forty linking words sorted by use.

    7 min read

  6. The mistakes that cost points

    Agreements, prepositions, register: the ten mistakes the AI Coach flags most often.

    9 min read

Excerpt · Tâche 1: the message

A four-step plan

A suitable greeting, the reason for writing, the information or request, then a closing line. This plan fits every tâche 1 prompt.

Salut Karim, Je t’écris pour te donner des nouvelles : je viens d’emménager dans un appartement lumineux, près du parc Lafontaine. […] Est-ce que tu serais libre samedi prochain pour venir dîner ? À bientôt, Mo

Marked model answers

24 copies, for every tâche, with the mark obtained and what makes the difference.

Tâche 1NCLC 10

Excusez-vous de ne pas pouvoir venir à l’anniversaire d’un(e) collègue.

Chère Nadia, Merci beaucoup pour ton invitation, qui m’a fait très plaisir. Malheureusement, je ne pourrai pas être des vôtres samedi : ma sœur arrive de Dakar ce jour-là et je dois aller la chercher à l’aéroport en fin d’après-midi.

A precise reason, a concrete offer, a friendly yet careful register, varied linking words: everything the grid expects at the top.