Writing: splitting 60 minutes across three tasks

Three tasks, three required lengths

Task 1 is a message of 60 to 120 words, addressed to one or several recipients, to describe, recount or explain. Task 2 asks for 120 to 150 words: an article, a letter or a note reporting an experience, with your opinion. Task 3, 120 to 180 words, compares two viewpoints presented in two documents, then gives your own.

These limits are not suggestions. According to France Éducation international, a paper can be assessed as “A1 not reached” if a task is not completed, if the required word count is not respected, if the response is off topic or if it copies sentences from the prompt.

A time budget that protects task 3

Here is a split that works for most candidates. Adjust it during your simulations, then keep it unchanged on test day.

• Task 1: 10 minutes, including 2 to identify the recipient and the goal
• Task 2: 20 minutes, including 4 for the outline
• Task 3: 25 minutes, including 6 to read both documents and choose your position
• Proofreading: 5 minutes, on agreements and verb forms

The three-line outline

Before writing a task, jot down three lines on scrap paper: what you announce, what you develop, how you conclude. Scrap paper is not assessed, but it saves you from the extra sentence that pushes you over the limit.

Rephrase instead of copying

In task 3 it is tempting to reuse sentences from the documents. That mistake can be costly: rephrase every idea in your own words, then link them with varied connectors.

Practise with prompts from recent sessions, within 60 minutes, and compare your response with the feedback: repeating the time budget, more than vocabulary, is what lifts the score.