June 2026
The 2025 VCE French Exam Report made one thing clear about Section 2 Part B: this question was not just a writing task.
It was a reading and responding task.
Students had to read a stimulus text, understand the information it provided, reorganise that information, and use it appropriately in French for the required audience, purpose, text type and style.
In 2025, students read a poster about becoming a délégué(e) de classe, or class representative. They then had to write the script of a short persuasive speech to classmates, persuading them to vote for them. The speech also needed to include examples from the student’s experiences to show that they had the necessary qualities described in the poster.
This was demanding because it required several skills at once.
Understand the poster.
Select relevant information.
Use the categories from the poster.
Give examples.
Write in French.
Write persuasively.
Sound like a speech.
Address classmates directly.
The report noted that this question was not answered very well. That is exactly why it is so useful for future students.
The task was based on the poster
The poster on page 10 of the exam was not background decoration.
It was the basis of the response.
It set out the role of a class representative through several categories:
Intérêts
Rôle
Compétences
Responsabilités
It also asked whether the student had suggestions for the following year and how they planned to promote the school.
A strong response needed to use this material. Students were not expected to invent a completely new leadership profile. They were expected to show that they understood the qualities and responsibilities in the poster and could apply them to themselves.
This is one of the most important lessons from the report.
Section 2 Part B is not free writing.
It is stimulus-based writing.
Students had to reorganise information
The report described the task as a reading comprehension involving the reorganisation of information and ideas from the stimulus text.
This is a precise description.
Students did not need to copy the poster. They needed to turn the poster’s categories into a persuasive speech.
For example, the poster asks:
Avez-vous des activités extrascolaires ?
A student could transform this into:
Grâce à mes activités extrascolaires, j’ai appris à travailler avec les autres et à organiser mon temps.
The poster asks whether the student can respect confidentiality.
A student could transform this into:
Mes camarades savent qu’ils peuvent me parler en confiance, car je respecte toujours la confidentialité.
The information has been reorganised.
It is no longer a question on a poster. It has become evidence in a persuasive speech.
That is what the task required.
Mentioning categories was not enough
The report noted that some students mentioned some or all of the categories but failed to provide an example for each category.
This is a major point.
The prompt specifically asked students to give examples of their experiences to show that they had the necessary qualities described in the poster.
It was not enough to say:
Je suis responsable. Je suis organisé(e). Je suis capable de parler aux gens.
Those qualities needed support.
A stronger response might say:
L’année dernière, j’ai organisé une collecte de livres pour notre classe, donc je sais planifier une réunion, écouter les idées des autres et présenter un projet clairement.
This sentence does more. It connects a quality to an experience.
That is what persuasion requires.
The speech needed an appropriate opening
The report stated that some students did not follow the characteristics of a persuasive speech, including an appropriate introduction.
A speech to classmates should begin by addressing the audience.
For example:
Bonjour à tous,
Chers camarades,
Merci de me donner l’occasion de vous parler aujourd’hui.
This opening matters because it establishes the text type and audience.
A response that begins immediately with information from the poster may be content-relevant, but it may not feel like a speech. The student needed to create the situation: they are speaking to classmates and asking for their vote.
A simple but effective opening could be:
Bonjour à tous. Aujourd’hui, je voudrais vous expliquer pourquoi je serais un bon délégué de classe et pourquoi vous pouvez me faire confiance.
This makes the purpose clear.
The conclusion needed to persuade
A persuasive speech also needed an appropriate conclusion.
The report noted that some students failed to provide an appropriate conclusion, which limited their responses.
A conclusion should not simply stop after listing qualities. It should return to the purpose: persuading classmates to vote.
For example:
Alors, si vous voulez un délégué qui vous écoute, qui respecte vos idées et qui travaille sérieusement pour améliorer notre classe, votez pour moi. Merci beaucoup.
This conclusion is simple, but effective. It summarises the candidate’s appeal and directly asks for the vote.
That is appropriate for the task.
The purpose of the speech was not just to describe the role.
It was to win the support of classmates.
The audience shaped the language
The audience was the student’s classmates.
This meant the language needed to be accessible, direct and persuasive. It could be friendly, confident and respectful. It did not need to sound like a formal government speech or a personal diary entry.
Students should have used language that directly involved the audience:
Je vous écouterai.
Vos idées sont importantes.
Ensemble, nous pouvons améliorer la vie quotidienne à l’école.
Je veux représenter notre classe avec sérieux.
This kind of language fits the audience.
It also helps the response sound persuasive, rather than descriptive.
The speech needed to speak to people, not merely about the position.
The role of class representative had to be understood
The poster explained that in each class, two students are elected at the beginning of the school year to represent their classmates.
This means the role was not simply about being popular or confident.
It involved responsibility.
According to the poster, a class representative could support classmates in disciplinary discussions with the principal, help classmates with academic difficulties, participate in class councils with teachers, organise class meetings, and present class ideas or issues to the school leadership.
A strong response needed to show understanding of this role.
For example:
Comme délégué, je ne serai pas seulement votre porte-parole. Je serai aussi une personne qui peut vous soutenir si vous avez un problème scolaire ou disciplinaire.
This shows that the student has understood the representative function.
The role is service, not status.
The poster’s categories created a strong structure
The categories in the poster could have helped students organise the speech.
A strong response might move through:
Interest in school life
Ability to support classmates
Communication and confidentiality skills
Responsibility in meetings
Suggestions for next year
Final request for the vote
This structure would be logical because it follows the stimulus while still shaping it into a speech.
For example:
First, the student explains their interest in extracurricular activities and improving daily school life.
Then, they explain how they can support classmates.
Then, they discuss communication skills and confidentiality.
Then, they discuss responsibilities such as attending meetings and presenting student ideas.
Finally, they offer suggestions and ask for votes.
This kind of structure makes the response easier to follow.
It also ensures that the student uses the poster comprehensively.
Examples needed to match the qualities
The prompt asked students to give examples of their experiences to show that they had the necessary qualities.
This meant the examples had to match the quality being claimed.
If the student claimed they could talk to all kinds of people, an example might involve welcoming new students, participating in a club, volunteering, or helping a classmate.
If the student claimed they could respect confidentiality, an example might involve a friend trusting them with a problem.
If the student claimed they could cooperate with a fellow representative, an example might involve group work, team sport, music ensemble, club leadership or a group project.
If the student claimed they could organise meetings, an example might involve organising a school event or class discussion.
The example should prove the point.
A random anecdote does not help unless it shows the quality.
Students needed to avoid writing about an unrelated leadership role
The report noted that some students wrote about what they did in their current role as school captain or sports captain.
This was a problem because it moved away from the stimulus.
A student could certainly use a leadership experience as an example, but the response still needed to remain anchored to the role of délégué(e) de classe and the qualities in the poster.
For example, this would work:
Comme capitaine de sport, j’ai appris à coopérer avec d’autres élèves et à écouter les membres de mon équipe. Ces compétences m’aideront à travailler avec mon collègue délégué.
This links the experience to the poster.
But a response that simply describes being sports captain without connecting it to class representation does not answer the task properly.
The experience must serve the prompt.
Persuasive speech did not mean exaggerated language
Because the task was persuasive, some students may have felt they needed to overstate their qualities.
That was not necessary.
A strong persuasive speech in French can be clear and controlled.
It can use phrases such as:
Je suis convaincu(e) que…
Je pense pouvoir…
Je m’engage à…
Je ferai de mon mieux pour…
Vous pouvez compter sur moi.
These expressions are persuasive without becoming unrealistic.
Students should avoid making promises that sound too vague or grand, such as completely transforming the school without explaining how.
The most persuasive response is often specific.
French expression needed to be accurate and appropriate
Section 2 Part B responses were assessed holistically, but language accuracy was still an important expected quality.
Students needed to communicate clearly in French.
Useful language for this task included:
Je voudrais devenir délégué(e) de classe.
Je suis capable de respecter la confidentialité.
Je peux coopérer avec mon/ma collègue délégué(e).
Je participerai aux conseils de classe.
J’organiserai des réunions avec les élèves.
Je présenterai vos idées à la direction.
Je soutiendrai mes camarades en difficulté.
These sentences are not overly complex, but they are task-appropriate.
The grammar also matters. Future tense, conditional, present tense and persuasive structures can all be useful, but they need to be controlled.
A clear, accurate sentence is better than an ambitious sentence that loses meaning.
The response needed to remain around 150 words
Question 4 required approximately 150 words in French.
The report noted that it was possible to achieve a high score without exceeding the specified word or character limit, which was shorter than the limit for Section 3.
This is important.
Students did not need a long introduction. In fact, the report advised students to avoid long introductions.
In a 150-word response, every sentence needs a purpose.
A strong response might include:
- greeting
- reason for speaking
- two or three qualities from the poster
- examples of experience
- one or two responsibilities the student will fulfil
- one suggestion for improving school life
- request for votes
That is enough.
A long introduction wastes space that should be used for stimulus-based content.
Section 2 Part B tested comprehension and production together
This question was difficult because it required both reading comprehension and French production.
Students had to understand the poster and then produce their own French response.
This means they could not simply copy sentences from the poster, but they also could not ignore it. They needed to transform the information.
For example, the poster says:
Aider ses camarades de classe en difficulté scolaire.
A student might write:
Si un camarade a des difficultés scolaires, je pourrai l’aider à trouver du soutien ou à parler avec un professeur.
This uses the idea from the poster but adapts it into a persuasive statement.
That is the skill Section 2 Part B rewards.
Why students lost marks in this question
According to the report, students lost marks when they:
- did not follow the characteristics of a persuasive speech
- did not include an appropriate introduction or conclusion
- wrote creatively rather than responding to the stimulus
- wrote about unrelated current leadership roles
- mentioned categories without examples
- failed to use enough information from the poster
- wrote long introductions
- did not reorganise information clearly
- lacked language accuracy
These errors show that the issue was not only French vocabulary.
It was task control.
The strongest students understood the poster, the role, the audience and the required speech form.
What future French students should learn from 2025
The 2025 VCE French exam shows that Section 2 Part B requires careful stimulus-based writing.
Students should practise:
- reading the stimulus for categories and key information
- turning poster prompts into speech content
- writing persuasive openings and conclusions
- addressing classmates directly
- giving examples to support qualities
- linking personal experience to the role described
- avoiding unrelated pre-prepared leadership material
- using the correct text type
- keeping introductions short
- writing concise French under a shorter word limit
- using accurate verbs and task-specific vocabulary
These skills help students move from comprehension to communication.
Section 2 Part B is not just about writing French.
It is about using French to respond precisely to the stimulus.
How ATAR STAR approaches Section 2 Part B in VCE French
At ATAR STAR, Section 2 Part B is taught as stimulus transformation.
Students learn to read the source text carefully, identify the required information, reorganise it for the audience and purpose, and write in the correct text type. They practise using examples, maintaining language accuracy and avoiding generic pre-prepared responses.
The 2025 Examination Report confirms why this matters. High-scoring students did not simply write fluent French.
They used the stimulus intelligently.