Task 2 when you have no such experience

Task 2 often asks you to tell an experience, and sometimes the topic is something you have never done. That is not a problem. France Éducation international (FEI) assesses your written French, and nothing in its description of the task asks for the story to be true. We conclude that an invented experience is fine as long as it stays plausible and answers the consigne.

What matters is what FEI describes for this task. An article, letter or note for several readers, reporting an experience or telling a story, with comments, opinions or arguments for a goal, in 120 to 150 words. The full method is in the task 2 guide.

Five questions to build the story

Answer these questions on your scrap paper in a few words, then write straight into the answer space.

1. When and where? A date or season, a precise place.
2. Who with? One or two people are enough.
3. What happened? Two or three actions, in order.
4. Which moment mattered? A surprise, a problem or a feeling.
5. What do you think of it now? Whatever the consigne asks, for example recommend, criticise or complain.

Questions 1 to 4 give you the story, in the past. Question 5 gives you the comment part, in the present, and that is the part that meets the goal of the consigne.

Do you need a conclusion?

You need an ending that meets the goal of the consigne. FEI talks about comments, opinions or arguments, not a conclusion in the school sense. If the consigne asks you to recommend, the ending recommends. If it asks you to complain, the ending complains. A general line such as “en conclusion, c’était une belle expérience” does neither.

Je is normal in a story about an experience, and the opinion does not have to be positive. Follow what the consigne asks.

A full example

The topic is ours. Consigne. Vous écrivez pour le blogue d’un club de plein air. Racontez votre premier séjour en camping au Canada et dites si vous recommandez cette activité aux nouveaux arrivants. (120 mots minimum, 150 mots maximum)

In English, you write for an outdoor club’s blog. Tell the story of your first camping trip in Canada and say whether you recommend it to newcomers.

The candidate has never been camping. Here is the five-line plan on scrap paper.

Question	Answer on scrap paper
When and where?	l’été dernier, parc de la Mauricie
Who with?	des collègues
What happened?	marche jusqu’au lac, tente sous la pluie
Which moment mattered?	un orignal au bord de l’eau
What do you think now?	je recommande, avec trois conseils

And the text.

Ma première nuit sous la tente

L’été dernier, des collègues m’ont proposé de passer un week-end au parc national de la Mauricie. Je n’avais jamais dormi dehors et j’avais un peu peur des ours. Le samedi, nous avons marché trois heures jusqu’à un lac, puis nous avons monté la tente sous la pluie. Le soir, pendant que nous préparions le repas, un orignal est apparu de l’autre côté de l’eau. Personne n’a osé parler. Le lendemain matin, mes chaussures étaient encore trempées, mais j’étais fier de moi.

Je ne suis pas devenu un grand campeur, mais je recommande cette expérience aux nouveaux arrivants. Elle coûte peu, on rencontre des gens et on découvre un pays immense. Commencez par un terrain de camping aménagé, louez le matériel et partez avec quelqu’un qui connaît la région.

Word count. 134 including the title, inside 120 to 150.

What the example shows

• Precise, ordinary details. A park, three hours of walking, rain, soaked shoes. Nothing extraordinary, so nothing implausible.
• Three past tenses. The plus-que-parfait for what came before (je n’avais jamais dormi), the imparfait for setting and feelings (pendant que nous préparions), the passé composé for actions (un orignal est apparu).
• An ending that meets the goal. The consigne asks for a recommendation, and the second paragraph recommends, with reasons and advice in the imperative.
• A short title. It suits a blog post. When a title or subject line helps is on titles, subject lines and abbreviations.

What not to invent

Do not invent against the consigne. If it gives a place, a length of time or an audience, keep them. Avoid extraordinary stories too, such as a mountain rescue. They use up words on explanations and take you away from the vocabulary you control.

To practise, write one of our task 2 topics in 15 minutes with the task 2 timer, then have it corrected on NCLC Prep.