After a stressful exam

"Après un examen stressant"
French C1 writing exercise

Aurélie and Mathieu discuss the Baccalauréat French written exam they've just taken.

Pay attention to the hints!

Some vocabulary you may want to look up before or during this exercise: "to feel like [you do...]", "to do okay (on an exam)", "to have no idea", "to be happy that + [Subjonctif]", "to be over (an event)", "don't get me started (exp.)", "to have butterflies in one's stomach (stress)", "the whole time", "all the more so because ...", "to almost [do]", "to make a fool of [oneself]", "to mean [something] by that", "to realise that [something...]", "to completely misunderstand an exam question", "to freak out (fam.)", "how long to have left", "to waste [time]", "a wrong line of reasoning", "to lose one's mind (fear/stress)", "to manage to [do]", "to take a deep breath (exp.)", "to start over", "to run out of a room screaming".

Written by Qualified French Expert Aurélie Drouard HKH, Licence d'anglais LLCE
Last updated: 2026-05-21

I’ll give you some sentences to translate into French

  • I’ll show you where you make mistakes
  • I’ll keep track of what you need to practise
  • Change my choices if you want
Start the exercise
How the test works
You’ll practise: Le Passé Composé (Indicatif), Verbe irrégulier, Adverbe

Here's a preview of the text for the writing challenge, when you're ready click the start button above:

- So Mathieu, do you feel like you did ok? - I have absolutely no idea! I'm just happy that it's over! - Don't get me started! I had butterflies in my stomach the whole time. That was the most stressful test I've ever taken, all the more so because I almost made a complete fool of myself. - What do you mean by that? - It was only after I'd written a whole page that I realised that I had completely misunderstood the exam question! - Oh no! You must have freaked out! How long did you have left by then? - I'd just wasted a quarter of my time on a wrong line of reasoning, and yes, even though I thought for a minute (that) I was going to lose my mind, I managed to take a deep breath and start over. - Well done! I don't know how you did that. (Me), I would have just run out of the classroom screaming!

Thinking...