French listening: you usually hear it twice

Two plays, two jobs

1. Before — read the questions in the pause. They tell you what to listen for.
2. First play — listen for the whole thing. Note only what you are sure of.
3. Between — fill in what you can and mark what is missing.
4. Second play — target the gaps.

Candidates who answer frantically during the first play usually get the opening right and lose the rest. The structure above is worth drilling precisely because it feels wrong at first.

Spoken French is not textbook French

• Dropped ne — *je sais pas*, not *je ne sais pas*. The negative is carried by *pas* alone.
• Liaison runs words together, so *les amis* sounds like one word.
• Elision and contraction — *t'as*, *y a*, *chuis*.
• Fillers — *ben, alors, du coup, en fait, quoi* — which carry little meaning and a lot of airtime.

The gap between classroom French and spoken French is where most marks go. French radio and podcasts do more for this paper than any exercise book.

Every Compréhension de l'oral question type