This exam tips covers Exam Tips & Common Errors within Dictation method: three plays, hold, write for GCSE French. Revise Dictation method: three plays, hold, write in Dictation Technique for GCSE French with 11 exam-style questions and 10 flashcards. This topic shows up very often in GCSE exams, so students should be able to explain it clearly, not just recognise the term. It is section 4 of 4 in this topic. Treat this as a marking guide for what examiners are looking for, not just a fact list.
💡 Exam Tips & Common Errors
- Use the 5 minutes at the end — most students stop after the second reading. Scan every word systematically using the 5-step method even in the check phase.
- Don't erase massively — cross out neatly with a single line. Markers can still credit a word that is crossed out incorrectly if the correct version is written next to it.
- Practise writing accents quickly by hand — ´ é, ` è, ^ ê, ¸ ç — many students are slow in exams because they are used to keyboard shortcuts.
- Liaison is your friend: if you hear a z sound between a determiner and a noun (e.g., lez-ami), you know it is les amis (plural). If no liaison, it may be le / la (singular).
- Practice regularly with short dictation texts — even 2–3 sentences per day builds the automaticity needed for exam conditions.
❌ Common error: il a manger un repas délicieux.
✓ Correct: il a mangé un repas délicieux.
Why it costs marks: In the perfect tense (avoir + past participle), the past participle of -er verbs ends in -é (with acute accent), not -er. The spoken forms are identical — [mɑ̃ʒe] — but in writing, the infinitive (manger) and the past participle (mangé) are different. Whenever you write a verb after j'ai / il a / nous avons, it must be the past participle form with -é, not the infinitive.
Practice questions for Dictation method: three plays, hold, write
How many times is the dictation passage played in the AQA 8652 exam?
What should you do during the FIRST play of the dictation?