Exam Section II, Task 1

• The email reply involves reading, comprehending and writing

• It takes 15 minutes

• Doing this in time will require training

• In conclusion- the email reply requires you to read and comprehend a simulated email, and then write a response—all within a 15-minute time limit.

Strategies and Tips

• Show What You Know- if you have a good vocab, show it off, if you can construct complex sentences, do that.

• Quality Over Quantity- don’t make the reply too long

• Use a Formal Business-Style Tone:

  • Use formal salutations and closings;

    • closings

Reminder*- Take note of proper spacing when writing punctuations in French. When writing a sentence with a question mark or an exclamation point, there should be a space before and after it. For example: Bonjour ! Ça va ?*

• Detect the Questions That You’ll Need to Answer- the email you get will contain questions you need to respond to (maybe questions will be indirect and the request for information will not be followed by a question mark)

• Ask Questions Back to the Sender- What questions would follow naturally and pertain directly to the information you’ve been given in the email? You can ask for more information, for specifics, for clarification, etc.

• Read through the checklist on page 208 in the textbook and memorise it