Exam conditions

The exam simulator: the clock, the constraints, the hand-in

Practice is forgiving and the exam is not. The simulator takes away everything you will not have on the day — the spellcheck, the pause, the second look — and runs the two expression sittings exactly as they run.

Start the speaking simulator Start the writing simulator 3 free writing + 3 free speaking corrections

Writing, all three tâches: 60 min
Speaking, all three tâches: 12 min
Tâches per sitting: 3
Spellcheck and paste: 0

What the simulator takes away

Almost every candidate writes better in practice than in the exam, and the reason is rarely the French. It is that practice has an undo, a spellchecker, a pause to look something up, and no consequence for spending fifty of the sixty minutes on the first tâche.

The simulator removes all four. You get the tâches in exam order, one shared 60-minute countdown for the written paper and an automatic hand-in at zero. The spoken sitting runs the same way: the preparation clock starts, then the recording starts, and neither waits for you.

Written: three tâches, one 60-minute countdown, automatic hand-in.
Spoken: two minutes with no preparation, then 2 + 3:30, then 2:30 with none either.
Corrected afterwards exactly like a practice attempt — level, score band, every error explained.

Two sittings, two clocks

The written paper shares one hour across three tâches; the spoken paper times each tâche separately, preparation included.

60:00

Writing

One timer, three tâches

12:00

Speaking

Timed tâche by tâche

The writing timer is shared, not per tâche — spend forty minutes on tâche 1 and the other two have twenty between them.
At zero the paper is handed in as it stands. The exam has no grace period and neither does this.
Spellcheck and paste are disabled, because the exam gives you neither.

What prepfrancais gives you

Practice material tells you what the exam asks. This tells you what your own answer would have scored.

A mark, not an impression

Every attempt comes back with a CEFR level and the score band it sits in, with the same caps the exam applies for length and off-topic answers.

Every error explained

Prepositions, conjugation, agreement, spelling, anglicisms and the C1 turns of phrase you are missing — each highlighted in place with the correction and the reason for it.

Your own mistakes, drilled

Corrections join a personal history and come back as spaced-repetition cards at 1, 3, 7 and 14 days, built from what you actually got wrong.

How the practice works

Four steps, from your first attempt to a mistake you no longer make.

1
Pick a tâche
One of the six official tâches, a theme, or a consigne you were given somewhere else and pasted in.
2
Work under exam conditions
The word ranges, the preparation times and the hand-in are the exam's, not approximations of them.
3
Get the correction
A CEFR level, the score band, and every error highlighted where you made it with the reason for it.
4
Drill what you got wrong
Your errors become cards and quizzes, spaced over the next fortnight so they are still there when you sit the exam.

Getting the most from a simulated sitting

Four things to decide before you press start, so the sitting tests what you want it to test.

Start the speaking simulator

1
Budget the hour before you begin: roughly 15, 20 and 25 minutes. Write the split down and hold to it even when tâche 1 is going well.
2
Do tâche 3 second if argumentation is your weakness. The order is yours; only the timer is fixed.
3
Leave the last five minutes for rereading. Agreement and past participles are the easy marks, and they are only visible on a reread.
4
Sit it at the same time of day as your real exam. A nine o'clock paper is a different exercise from a nine o'clock evening one.

Frequently asked questions

It matches the constraints that change how you work: the number of tâches, their order, the word ranges, the shared hour, the preparation and speaking times and the hand-in at zero. It is a preparation tool, not the official exam, and its scores are estimates.

No, and that is the point. A simulator you can pause tells you what you can write with unlimited time, which you already know.

The paper is submitted as it stands and sent for correction, half-written tâche included — which is exactly what the exam would do with it.

Yes. The spoken sitting records you and transcribes what you said, so it needs microphone permission in your browser. Any built-in laptop or phone microphone is enough.