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If you’re applying to study French at Oxford, you’re probably aware that the application process for this differs to that of most other universities, as it requires some additional steps. One of these is the Modern Languages Admissions Test (MLAT). There’s lots of general information on Oxford’s website about this, but there isn’t really anything language specific, and you may be wondering how to go about it. We’ve got you covered!
Practice Papers
Your best bet is to work through the past papers and mark schemes available on the website. Once you’ve done a few, you’ll notice that the same kind of things come up each year and so you’ll have an idea of what to revise. Now, there’s a slight problem – there’s a new format for the test, and all the past papers and mark schemes are for the old format. Nevertheless, these papers are extremely useful for your preparation as they test you on a lot of the same things. Here is a breakdown of the two different formats:
Old format
Question 1: fill the sentence with one single word (20 marks, 2 per sentence)
Question 2: give the appropriate form of the verb (20 marks, 2 per sentence)
Question 3: translate into French (30 marks, 6 per sentence)
Question 4: translate into English (30 marks, 6 per sentence)
Duration: 30 minutes
New format
Question 1: choose the correct option to complete the sentence (40 marks, 2 per sentence)
Question 2: translate into English (60 marks, 6 per sentence)
Duration: 30 minutes
They’re really not so different. You’ve got 30 minutes to complete 30 sentences: 20 gap-fills, 10 translations. Let’s have a look at the two question types and how to tackle them.
Question 1: Gap-Fill Sentences
Aside from the added element of multiple choice, question 1 of the new format is essentially a combination of questions 1 and 2 of the old format, and so we can break it down into two main areas of focus accordingly. The first focus, according to the old question 1, is ‘single words’. These refer to determiners, pronouns, prepositions, and all those other pesky little words that make you question why you’re even applying to study French. The second focus, according to the old question, is ‘the appropriate form of the verb’, referring to conjugations.
Determiners, Pronouns, Prepositions
Verbs that take prepositions:
- Verbs followed by à (aider à, hésiter à, réussir à, s’attendre à, s’intéresser à)
- Verbs followed by de (arrêter de, choisir de, essayer de, oublier de, se souvenir de)
Past MLAT question: Il s’intéresse à l’astronomie depuis des années.
- Verbs that could be followed by either à or de:
jouer + à for sports
jouer + de for musical instruments
Past MLAT question: Il joue du violon pour la chorale de l’école.
Relative pronouns:
- que – direct object
- qui – subject
- lequel – object of a preposition
- où – place or time
- dont – possessive, or object of ‘de’
Past MLAT question: Les livres dont je t’ai parlé cet été étaient particulièrement captivants.
Prepositions for time phrases:
- à – time at which an event occurs
- dans – amount of time before an action begins
- en – time taken for an action, or month/season/year
- pendant/durant – entire duration of a past/future action
- depuis – duration of an ongoing action
- pour – duration of event in future only
Past MLAT question: Il pleut pendant deux semaines dans cette ville de campagne.
Prepositions for using modes of transport:
- en – modes of transport you can enter (car, bus, train, plain, taxi, boat)
- à – modes of transport you can’t enter (bike, horse, on foot)
Past MLAT question: Je suis allé travailler en train.
Useful websites:
- Lawless French – provides explanations, examples, and exercises (if you sign up)
- languages online – provides exercises without the need to sign up
Conjugations
Some of the more difficult verb forms which are likely to appear in this part of the test include:
Irregular verb conjugations
avoir, être, faire, aller, pouvoir, savoir, dire, voir, and devoir are among the most vital of these.
Subjunctives:
You’ll need to know the subjunctive form of regular verbs, as well as irregular ones such as those listed above. You must also remember the kinds of clauses that require the use of the subjunctive.
These could express:
- necessity – il faut que…
- uncertainty – je ne pense pas que…
- desire – il veut que…
- emotion – elles sont heureuses que…
Other phrases that take the subjunctive:
- afin que/ pour que
- avant que
- bien que
Past MLAT question: Il est nécessaire que nous sachions la raison de son départ.
Agreement of the past participle:
- Verbs that take être, including reflexives
- When preceded by a direct object
Past MLAT question: Les chats du voisin se sont échappés hier matin.
Imperatives:
- tu form of -er verbs – these drop the final -s
- irregular imperatives – être, avoir, savoir, vouloir in their tu, nous, vous forms
Past MLAT question: Ouvre la fenêtre s’il te plaît car il fait beaucoup trop chaud.
Si clauses:
Likely: si + present antecedent, future consequent
Si tu étudies, tu réussiras.
If you study, you will succeed.
Unlikely: si + imperfect antecedent, conditional consequent
Si j’étais riche, je vivrais dans un château.
If I were rich, I would live in a castle.
Impossible: si + pluperfect antecedent, conditional perfect, consequent
Si j’avais apporté un parapluie, il n’aurait pas plu.
If I had brought an umbrella, it wouldn’t have rained.
Past MLAT question: Si j’avais de l’argent, je m’achèterais un nouvel ordinateur.
Tense differences:
depuis – when referring to an ongoing action that started in the past, English uses the past tense, while French uses the present.
I have been studying French for seven years.
J’étudie le français depuis sept ans.
quand – when referring to a future event, English uses the present tense, whereas French uses the future.
When you are old, you will be rich.
Quand tu seras vieux, tu seras riche.
Past MLAT question: Il ira en France, quand il aura la possibilité de le faire.
Of course, this is not an extensive list, and there will be things that come up that have not been included. However, this should be enough to give you an idea of the kind of things to watch out for. Everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses, so have a look at some papers on your own and come up with a checklist of things to revise that is best suited to you. When in the exam, make sure to answer every question. If you don’t know, just guess. You won’t lose any marks for an incorrect answer.
Question 2: Translation
There’s no need to translate into French now, but you might still benefit from practising past questions. Any revision you do for the gap fill section will be useful for translations too. But now that we’re dealing with full sentences, it’s harder to narrow down what to look for. As each sentence is worth six marks, they will be testing you on multiple things at once, making it easy to make careless errors and overlook words. In order to avoid this, break down the sentence into its individual words and phrases. Look at the following sentence and its translation:
Les lettres qu’ils s’étaient écrites m’avaient tant ému que j’avais du mal à en parler.
The letters that they had written moved me so much that I was struggling to speak.
This translation is a complete sentence that makes grammatical sense and so it may appear to be correct at a first glance, but upon closer inspection, you’ll find three mistakes:
- a translation of the reflexive pronoun s’, denoting reciprocity, has been omitted
- m’avaient tant ému is translated as a perfect tense verb instead of pluperfect
- a translation of the pronoun en, referring to les lettres has been omitted
A correct translation of this sentence would be:
The letters that they had written to each other had moved me so much that I was struggling to speak about them.
Another potential problem is that you might be met with some unfamiliar vocabulary. In this scenario, don’t leave anything blank or incomplete. Start off with what you know, and then guess the rest from context. This part of the test will be marked by a human examiner, so there will be lots of acceptable alternative answers to each question and you can still produce a high-scoring answer even if you make mistakes.
Online Format
Bear in mind that the test is now conducted online rather than on paper. There is a practice test for the new online format, however you can’t get your results, nor is there a mark scheme. It is still worth doing this practice test so that you can familiarise yourself with the platform. If you play around with its features, you’ll find that you can flag questions as you go along and use the navigator to jump back and forth between any questions. You will be given a chance to review your answers before submission. Get into the habit of checking your answers, however tedious that may be. It’s also good to see how you handle your timing. There’s a countdown in the corner of the screen, and you’ll be notified when there are five minutes remaining.
Remember, you are not expected to learn the entirety of the French language for this. From 2022-24, an average of 94% of applicants were interviewed following their tests, so, as long as you try your best, you’re in for a pretty good shot. Bon courage!
