SAT 2 : French

I just took the SAT 2 in French (without listening) and decided to write a blog on it before I forgot... So here we go...

The test is composed of different types of questions, the first series tests primarily your vocabulary level, I'd say it was around 20-25 questions long. All varieties of vocab were tested from what emotion would correspond with the rest of the sentence (they are fill-in the blank, multiple-choice questions) to how to say customs police in French (les douanes).

Next on the test you read a paragraph in which there are blanks you have to fill in. This is just a bit trickier than the previous excersize because some of the questions have several responses that would make sense, but only one that works in the given situation. I would suggest reading the entire text before attacking these questions as well as thinking out your responses to make sure your not falling into a trick question's trap, also be careful on verb conjugation and tense in this and the previous section. I had three different texts in this section.

Afterwards, you are presented a few ads or brochures which you need to read, then respond to questions on these ads. For example, I had an ad for a getaway in the mountainside with a family and one of the question pertained to what was covered in the stay. Another example was a brochure for an african getaway, in the ad was written where you landed, what you could do, etc and the questions assure comprehension of the text. If you read the ad/brochure carefully and have a fairly extensive vocabulary this section should not be too troublesome.

Last but not least is the text anamysis section. I was given two texts of about 3 paragraphs in length to read and then answer questions on. The goal is to comprehend the text so to study this section I would suggest reading french books, articles, etc and when you come across words you don't know make them into flashcards (that is what I did when I arrived in France and had to learn the language and now, after two years speaking the language I am fluent, it really works great).

Apart from that all I can do is to wish you good luck and suggest that you start studying now and continue until the night before the test (generally it raises you score by 100 points). Then you get the reward of the break afterwards. ^^