HSC French: Reading & Writing Tips Straight from the Markers
Most exam advice is generic — "read carefully," "manage your time," the kind of thing that sounds true but doesn't actually change what you do on the day. So instead, this post pulls directly from what NESA's own markers have said, year after year, about what separates strong responses from weak ones in the Reading and Writing sections. If you want to know exactly what moves the needle, this is it.
Reading: what markers consistently say separates good responses from great ones
Read the whole text before you start answering. This appears in marker feedback again and again. Students who jump straight into Question 1 after reading only the first paragraph consistently miss context that would have helped them answer more precisely. Read the full text — and all the questions — before writing a single word.
Watch out for false cognates. This is one of the most repeated warnings in NESA's own feedback. Words that look like English but mean something different trip up students every single year — assister à (to attend, not to assist), formidable(fantastic, not intimidating), even a word as simple as billet (ticket) has been mistranslated as "beer" by a student guessing from sound rather than checking. If a word looks suspiciously like an English word, don't assume — check it, or at least flag it as uncertain in your notes.
Answer in your own words — don't just transcribe. Markers explicitly note when students copy chunks of the French text directly into their English answer instead of genuinely paraphrasing it. Demonstrating understanding means showing you've processed the meaning, not that you can locate the right sentence and copy it out.
Use the Candidates' Notes column properly. It's there for a reason: jot down unfamiliar words as you go, come back to them with your dictionary later, and don't let one unclear word derail your whole answer through a guess. Guessing based on how a word sounds is exactly how "ticket" becomes "beer."
Address every part of the question — literally every part. If a question asks "why" and "how," answer both, explicitly. Markers frequently note that weaker responses address only half a multi-part question, even when the student clearly understood the text.
Support your answers with actual evidence from the text. A correct answer without a specific example or reference back to the text scores lower than a correct answer that shows exactly where in the text that understanding came from.
Writing in French: what actually earns higher bands
Identify the text type and register before you start. Every writing question expects a specific format — a letter, a diary entry, an email — and a specific register (tu vs. vous, formal vs. casual). Getting this wrong at the outset undermines an otherwise strong response, because part of what's being assessed is your ability to adapt language appropriately to audience and purpose.
Plan before you write. Take a moment to note: who am I writing to, why are they writing to me, what specific information has been given, and how many points do I need to cover? A planned response with clear structure consistently outperforms one written stream-of-consciousness, even when the vocabulary is similar.
Mix your tenses deliberately. Markers specifically praise responses that combine tenses accurately within the same piece — for example, using passé composé and imparfait correctly together, rather than defaulting to the present tense throughout because it feels safer. Confident tense variation is one of the clearest signals of a stronger writer.
Use linking words to make your writing flow. Words like premièrement, quant à, à propos de, and par conséquent aren't just decorative — they're explicitly called out in marker feedback as a marker of writing that "flows naturally," as opposed to a string of disconnected sentences.
Elaborate, don't just state. Markers reward responses that develop each point with justification, opinion, or example — not just a bare statement of fact. If you're giving advice in a writing task, using a si clause ("Si tu...") to build out a fuller idea shows more sophistication than a flat instruction.
Avoid anglicisms. This is called out directly in NESA feedback as an area for improvement — English sentence patterns and word choices creeping into French writing. Watch particularly for word order around adjectives and adverbs, which often follow a different pattern in French than English.
Re-read and edit if you have time. It sounds obvious, but it's repeated in nearly every year of marker feedback for a reason: small, avoidable errors slip through in a first draft that a thirty-second re-read would catch.
The pattern underneath all of this
Look closely at these points and a theme emerges: markers aren't primarily rewarding perfect grammar — they're rewarding precision, structure, and evidence of genuine understanding. A response with a small grammatical slip but clear structure, full engagement with the question, and well-chosen vocabulary will consistently outperform a grammatically tidy response that's vague, incomplete, or missing textual support.
Want feedback on your own responses before the exam? I'm Mathilde, a native French tutor based in Sydney, working with HSC students on exactly this kind of exam-specific strategy. If you'd like a second pair of eyes on your reading technique or writing structure, book a free 30-minute trial lesson and let's sharpen it together.
