General Tips Thread for SAT French Subject Test

Test Preparation SAT Subject Test Preparation
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<p>Hey there,</p>

<p>I just finished the SAT French Subject Test a few weeks ago and got an 800, and was looking for good karma I mean to help people, so I decided to compilate everything that I could think of for an overall guide for those daring enough to take it. If you want to add anything/critique anything, you're welcome to. I hope this helps :)</p>

<p>There are a few things you need to definitely look out for on the SAT French Subject Test, mostly because it <em>can</em> be difficult if you're not well-versed in these areas:</p>

<p>EDIT: Please note that I took the French with Listening Test. I don't know if the Reading varies much (or if it's easier? I'd hope not), so if anyone with experience with that wanted to chip in, that'd be great :D</p>

<p>1) Grammar. It's the most straightforward part of the test because if you don't know when or where to use subjunctive, then that's it. There's no trick to the grammar questions, but I'd advise that you study verb tenses and specific words that trigger each for the test. There won't be any kind of passe simple to conjugate, so don't worry about that, but if you don't know your object and adverbial pronouns (me, te, le, lui, nous, vous, leur, y, and en) then things will get difficult. I don't mean to worry you, sorry, but there's a lot to know for this section so start studying up on french.about.com!</p>

<p>2) Vocabulary. This is the one thing that trips everyone up. Yes, there was vocab. on there that I had never seen before in my 4 years of experience with French and I've read quite a bit (Candide, Huis Clos, L'etranger) words like "le tilleul" (type of tree, I think?) and "l'ombrage" (shade) and... "le commercant" (sales representative). </p>

<p>The trick isn't to memorize the French dictionary, it's to get accustomed to reading French for its gist and guess words' meanings off of their context. This requires a good deal of text comprehension, something you can't cram. I do suggest, however, going out and getting the SparkNotes French Vocabulary Flashcards because it has around 1000 basic vocab. words that you should know. If you want to be able to guess a word off of its context, you need to know the words around the context. For example if someone gave you the sentence:</p>

<p>I would like _______ to make an omelette.</p>

<p>You could probably guess the blank from the context, right? Now, what if you didn't know the word for omelette and the sentence looked like this:</p>

<p>I would like ________ to make a _________.</p>

<p>Then things would be much more difficult, no? So, moral of this longwinded story: brush up on your basic vocabulary skills to at least stand a chance against the more advanced vocab. on the test. Also, french.about.com has a nice feature called "Mot du jour," which teaches you a new word every day. I didn't use this, but I've seen the words put on there and they're pretty complex. If you get used to seeing complicated words in French, you'll be less likely to stiffen up on the test.</p>

<p>Learn</a> French at About - Learn, Speak, Teach French</p>

<p>P.S. Do NOT buy the SparkNotes French Grammar cards. They are horrible.</p>

<p>3) Comprehension. Like I've already mentioned, the reading passages will mostly demand a surface level comprehension along with a few subtle details. I'll give you an example from the October test: there was a passage about a family who, for their vacation, went down to a countryside house, fixed it up, and then spend their summer relaxing there. One of the first questions that come to mind was something like, "Where did the family go for their vacation?" Seems really easy, right? This question might have been missed by a few people because none of the answer choices had the exact word from the passage, but rather just one answer with a synonym for countryside, which was the correct answer. So this may have been more of a vocab. question, but it was still along the lines of surface-level comprehension.</p>

<p>As an example for the subtle detail question, the passage explained that after having cleaned up, the family would have their first meal under the trees. A question then went onto read something like, "Where did the family eat?" Seems REALLY easy, I know, but the answer choices are difficult. Ultimately I ended up narrowing it down to something about an umbrella and something about "tilleul", and seeing as the passage said nothing about umbrellas and how "tilleul" looked awfully like a name for a tree, I went with that answer. I'm pretty sure I was right.</p>

<p>(more continued on next post...)</p>

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<p>So, moral of the story: read to understand, read to see subtle details, and like the SAT Critical Reading section, be sure to cross out answers that are just plain wrong. If you're stuck between a word you don't know and a word you know but doesn't seem to fit, it would be my advice to go with the word you don't know. However, this may or may not work seeing as how I kind of knew "tilleul" looked like something a Frenchman would use as a word for a tree but that's only because I've had so much experience with vocabulary because I study French so much outside of class. ANYWAY, huge digression, but still. Know how to read for comprehension without wasting time on too many small details and learn how to infer about passages with this surface-level comprehension.</p>

<p>There's also the famous section with advertisements. These can be tricky because they ask for meticulous details but the good thing is that they usually only include up to 5 questions. My test had two, one about a restaurant (which is pretty common) and one about a fashion merchandise-thing. These demand a high level of vocabulary and comprehension, so my biggest advice is not to stress about these and to just tackle what you can do. It's lame advice, I'm sorry, but there's just no trick to some parts of Foreign Language tests because you can't cram a whole language into your mind a few weeks before. If you dedicate yourself to it or have dedicated yourself to it, you should be fine, but just know that this part is challenging for most people. Do what you can because ultimately anything you get right adds to your score; it doesn't matter how hard a question is because every one is worth only 1 point. Again, just answer those you can and attempt these harder ones only if you have a vague idea of what the answer is (just like me and the "tilleul" question).</p>

<p>If you have time to study (over a month or so), and want to dedicate yourself a little further, I recommend the book Better Reading French (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Better-Reading...7941079&sr=8-1%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.amazon.com/Better-Reading...7941079&sr=8-1&lt;/a&gt;), because I studied this book over last summer and now, looking back at it, a lot of the passages it provides resemble the Subject Test. Sorry if it sounds like I'm pushing products, but this book definitely helped me with my French reading abilities so I'll throw it out there and hope it helps yours.</p>

<p>And if you're taking the Listening test next November (lol you're a forward thinker)</p>

<p>4) Listening. Again, one of those things you can't cram. I would suggest daily practice of listening to French news (Actualités</a> - France 2 : info en direct, jt, politique, économie, société... - France 2) and French music (hmmm... I suggest Anais, April March, and the Putumayo French CDs). The more used to it you are, the easier the listening section will be. If you get good enough to understand the news, then any conversation about losing sleep or technology will be easy on the test.</p>

<p>EDIT: Here's another helpful link- BBC</a> - Languages - Watch French TV Online</p>

<p>SO, I hope I've exhausted everything and answered your question thoroughly... I'll probably post this as an official French Subject Test Guide on the board. I hope you don't mind (I'll just post the advice parts)...!</p>

<p>Bonne chance avec l'examen parce que c'est tellement difficile mdr~~~</p>

<p>tan2007</p>

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<p>Thank you so much for this list! :D I'm taking the test this Saturday, and I'm a bit scared. Mais apr</p>

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<p>Wow, you're a lifesaver. Thanks for the great advice -- I think this will be beneficial for AP French prep, too.</p>

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<p>Tnx for the list! I'm sure it's going to be helpful for the November listening test. Question: would it be a good idea to take it in November of my junior year? I'm pretty good in french, but we've only just started the "red" book if anyone knows what I'm talking about, and we'll finish by the end of the school year, so I'm only going to learn up to the end of French III by the time I take the test. Do you think this extra prepping will be enough?</p>

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<p>Wow, thanks so much :)</p>

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<p>Definitely, if you put in some elbow grease. I got my score back for the French w/o Listening today, and I can testify that w/Listening is much more generous. So, I do highly suggest that you buckle down for it and take it in November. If you do well, it'll definitely be impressive to adcoms.</p>

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<p>Thanks for this.</p>

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<p>Wooah! ce fil (le mot est correcte?) est magnifique! je te remerci mille fois. XD</p>

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<p>Merci beaucoup! C'est tres tres utile. :)</p>

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<p>Hey,
Tan2007 I think that your advice is great as I have also taken the French SAT I feel that you have covered the greater portion of what is necessary to know in order to do well. I took the French SAT without listening and to be quite honest I found that unless you read and write quite often then you will not do well. Vocabulary, grammar, and comprehension are the sections as Tan has stated. My advice on attaining the vocab is to learn 5 new random words a day. </p>

<p>Oh Tan2007 by the way le tilleule is a type of tree, it’s a lime blossom tree, lol.</p>

<p>J’esp</p>

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<p>Agreed! Nice strategy.</p>

<p>I think that you can find awesome (random, lol) words at french.about.com with the Word of the Day function. It’s awesome vocabulary that’s a little more difficult but they’re succinct and easy to memorize :)</p>

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<p>Heh, I’d appreciate it it if you could answer my rather atypical question:</p>

<p>I’ve never studied French before. Can I learn it quickly enough to take the test this December or next January, and get a good score (600 or higher?)</p>

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<p>Uhm… if you’re taking an accelerated class, sure. It depends on how fast of a language learner you are and your experience with other languages. If you already know any of the other Romance languages (Spanish or Italian, basically) or even Latin then it’d be easier. Well, if not… good luck.</p>

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<p>can you please recommend a study guide for the French subject test?</p>

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<p>hmm. i am debating whether or not to take the french subject test.</p>

<p>i have friends in france with whom i speak to regularly…but their speech is very familiar and colloquial…in short, they’re not much help.</p>

<p>je vais lire des romans francais et regarder un gars, une fille(une emission) pour reviser…</p>

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<p>merci beaucoup pour tout :slight_smile: I agree with the last poster, do you know any good study guides? also, which books do you suggest to read to prepare for it? u said Candide, Huis Clos, L’etranger. any others? also, did you take this before or after AP French? merci encore!</p>

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<p>Thank you sosososo much for this, I was planning on taking this sometime. By the way, if I can understand my french teacher, but have a hard time understanding people who mumble and really talk fast, should I avoid the listening test? My reading comprehension isn’t too strong either…</p>

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<p>do u guys think i should take french sat in fall if i only took 2 years of hs french? and is there advantage in taking the one with listening?
im not native speaker of it but did very well in both french classes</p>

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<p>Is the math 2 really that much harder?? I got a 640 on Math SAT 1, I don’t know if I should take the math 2. Maybe I should just be happy with the 640 on math 1…any thoughts??</p>