A composition is a short piece of French on the task in the question. Stay on that task from the first sentence to the last.
The idea
Read the task twice. A description of your school is not a story about a holiday, and a holiday story is not a letter. The first sentence should already be about the task. Then add two or three points you can actually say in French: the place, what people do there, and one detail. Short correct sentences score more than a long paragraph full of English word order and guessed words.
Keep to the length if the question gives one. Use words you know. If you cannot say a clever idea, say a simpler true one. Check, before you finish, that the verbs agree with their subjects and that a feminine noun still has a feminine adjective. A composition you prepared last month does not answer a different question printed on this paper. The short tasks on the written paper come first. A long composition does not repair a blank short task.
The French tips guide sets the composition beside the short tasks on the written paper. BECE French tips
What earns the marks
Content, language, and whether you stayed on the task. Points that are not about the question earn nothing, however correct the French is. A plan of three short sentences is safer than one sentence that tries to say everything. Write in French from the first word. An English paragraph with a few French nouns in it is not a composition.
Practice questions
These are practice questions in the style of the paper, with a model answer and a mark scheme. They are not a promise of what your paper will ask.
1Question 1
8 marks
Décris ton école en cinq à huit lignes. Parle du lieu, d'une matière et d'un professeur. (8 marks)
Model answer
Mon école est à Accra, près du marché. Elle a une grande cour et beaucoup de salles.
J'aime les mathématiques. Mon professeur, Monsieur Mensah, explique les leçons avec des exemples. Il est patient avec la classe.
Après les cours, nous jouons dans la cour. J'aime mon école.
Mark scheme
The school and where it is, or what it looks like2 marks
One subject2 marks
One teacher, with something said about that person2 marks
French that a reader can follow, in more than one sentence2 marks
2Question 2
2 marks
Une composition sur « mes vacances à Cape Coast » commence par « Mon école a une grande cour ». Explique le problème. (2 marks)
Model answer
La première phrase ne parle pas des vacances. Elle parle de l'école, donc elle ne répond pas au sujet.
Mark scheme
The opening is not about the holiday1 mark
It does not answer the task that was set1 mark
3Question 3
2 marks
Donne deux conseils pour écrire une composition de français quand tu ne connais pas un mot difficile. (2 marks)
Model answer
Utilise un mot plus simple que tu connais. Écris des phrases courtes et correctes plutôt qu'une longue phrase fausse.
Mark scheme
Use a simpler word you know1 mark
Write short correct sentences, or stay on the task1 mark
Practise French with Kevin
More questions on this topic are inside glearn, marked as you answer, with the reason written out. The first ones need no account.
No. A composition you prepared for a different task does not answer the question on the paper. Learn how to open on the task, give two or three points, and finish.
What if the question gives a length?+
Stay near it. A very long answer that leaves the task, or a single sentence, both miss marks. Short correct sentences about the task are enough. All BECE French past questions