It’s your child’s final year of high school, which means they’ll soon be taking the French uniform examination administered by the Ministère de l’Éducation du Québec. Here are some tips on helping them prepare.
You’re likely wondering just what the French uniform examination looks like. The exam is essentially a writing exercise that your child will have 3 hours and 15 minutes (not including the preparatory sessions) to complete. More specifically, they’ll be asked to write a 500-word open letter.
The exam assesses the competency Writes various types of texts within the Supports their ideas with evidence and arguments family of situations.
The French uniform examination assesses how well students are able to plan, write, revise, and evaluate a French text. The grading rubric is used to evaluate the following criteria:
- Adaptation to the communication situation
- Coherence of the text
- Use of appropriate vocabulary
- Sentence structure
- Proper lexical and grammatical spelling
- Etc.
This year, the ministry exam is worth 50% of the evaluated competency.
During the compulsory French examination, your child will be allowed to use the following materials:
- Notes sheet detached from the exam preparatory documents
- Standard or specialized unilingual French dictionary
- Grammar rule book or textbook
- Conjugation book
Your child will NOT be allowed to use the following materials:
- Exam preparatory documents
- Electronic dictionary
- Notes prepared at home
- Electronic or translation device
In class, your child will have two periods to prepare for their exam. It may be helpful to go over the tasks they need to do during this key step:
- Read the texts
- Take notes
- Discuss questions they have about the texts with their classmates
- Etc.
Your child can also prepare for the exam independently, outside of the time allotted in class. Consider encouraging them to do the following:
- Do additional readings related to the exam topic
- Take a position on the topic
- Develop their line of argument
- Prepare their notes sheet
- Etc.
Your child is free to organize their notes however they like, whether they prefer drawing tables and boxes or using keywords and abbreviations. What matters is that they’re able to quickly find the information they need:
- Relevant points that illustrate their ideas
- Grammar rules
- References
- Ideas
- Exact quotes
- Etc.
For even more information about how you can help your child with exam preparation, visit our topic page on the matter.
It goes without saying that you can’t write the exam with your child. However, you can be with them in spirit by offering helpful advice. Here are some tips you can give them:
- Use your time wisely
- Make connections between different parts of the text
- Narrow down your argument
- Think about how you want to organize your text
- Choose the right tone
- Make sure to use strong ideas, facts, and examples
- Check for grammar and spelling mistakes
- Put all quotes in quotation marks
- Etc.
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
| Grande révision (French only) | This is a live event taking place on YouTube and TikTok a few days before the ministry exam. Two hosts review the writing test from A to Z to help young people prepare for it. The replay of each 'Grande Révision' will be available on YouTube. |
| Study guide (French only) | This study guide presents a list of all the content covered in the French course. From this page, you can navigate to numerous concept sheets that will help your child review. |
| MiniRécups (French only) | Lasting a maximum of 30 minutes, these interactive videos allow students to review prerequisite concepts, validate their understanding, tackle challenges with exercises, and revise key topics. |
For more information about the exam, please visit the government's website.
Writing : The Alloprof Parents' team