passe compose vs imparfait

Question

Apparently a lot of people are having problems with these two tenses in this exercise.  Even experts (C1) differ in opinion.  Maybe there is no absolutely correct usage.

Accepted Answer

I assure C1 does not equal expert ! I attached this link to your associated question. No, it is not absolute, but native French speakers can use the 2 tenses to convey exactly what they want to say : https://www.frenchtoday.com/blog/french-verb-conjugation/passe-compose-versus-imparfait/

Answer

It's very much like using simple past and continuous past for English speakers. There's no absolute rule when to use which. It  depends on what you want to express: I went to school versus I was going to school. Same difference.