Speaking Tâche 3 carries the most weight of the three tasks: the examiner reads out a debate topic — remote work, social media, city life — you get no preparation time, and as soon as you've heard it you give your opinion, with examples and reasons, for 4 min 30. The examiner may follow up, or deliberately take the other side.
So there are three places to get stuck: not catching the topic, having nothing to say, and running out before the time is up. The two rows of entries above the Tâche 3 topics in HiTCF follow that order: First — catch what he's asking → Then — have something to say.
How the task works
- The examiner says: « Je vais vous proposer un sujet… pendant 4 minutes 30 secondes. Voici le sujet : » and reads the topic.
- The topic is read to you, not shown. You start speaking straight away, with no scratch paper.
- 4 min 30 is time you need to fill — roughly 480 words.
To see what it looks like first, open the “Tâche 3 · Debate” tab of the exam walkthrough page: it explains the task and has two complete samples (remote work at B2, social media and democratic debate at C1), with examiner and candidate audio. For what the examiners score, see the official criteria.
Where to find Tâche 3 topics
Open Tests, switch to Speaking and pick “Tâche 3 · Opinion”.
- Topics are grouped by month. The higher the number of months a topic has been collected in, the more often that debate comes back; switch the sort to “Most recurrent” to start with those.
- Filters narrows by year, type and status; the theme chips show one kind of debate at a time.
- Topics you have practised show your best level.
Step 1: catch the topic
Tâche 3 topics are heard, not read, so the first hurdle is understanding what the examiner is asking the first time. The “First — catch what he's asking” row has four entries:
- The examiner's stock lines: the fixed phrasings the examiner uses when reading topics. Get your ear used to them first.
- Prompt words: the words that come up most in debate topics.
- Prompt listening: every Tâche 3 topic, already grouped by debate. Click “Start” and the examiner's recording loops: listen blind, write it down if you like, and reveal the text only if you're stuck. When you've got it, click “Got it” to move on, or “Practise this question” to practise it right away.
- By default you hear one phrasing per debate; turn on “Walk every phrasing” to hear every version of the same debate.
- Topics are sorted into done, shaky and to-do based on how you did, and the words you missed are collected for you.
- “Play in Walkman” lets you keep listening on the go.
- Ready-made exam phrases: see Step 3.
Step 2: have something to say
The “Then — have something to say” row has two entries:
My speaking skeleton
A structure that takes care of your opening, transitions and closing: about 190 words, roughly 100 seconds spoken, with your arguments filling the rest of the time. The skeleton's lines are picked for your account, and you can swap any of them for a phrasing that suits you. Every line has audio, a shadowing score and write-from-memory, and you can drill the whole skeleton.
More detail in the structure skeleton guide.
Topic arguments
Argument cards for and against, organised by debate. The skeleton is the frame; the arguments are what goes inside. Keep the cards you agree with, add or remove lines, and the lines you keep go into write-from-memory practice.
Step 3: Ready-made exam phrases
Open Ready-made exam phrases for lines you can use at any moment of the exam, in eight groups: didn't catch it, check understanding, your opening line, buy a little time, both sides have a point, announce your plan, can't find the word, and closing.
- “Run through”: hear a line, shadow it for a score, move on — with optional autoplay.
- Every line has audio, a shadowing score, write-from-memory and a sentence breakdown.
- “My own lines”: click “Add a line” to add French phrases you like to use; a translation and audio are added and you practise them with the rest.
Step 4: build your own model answer
Click a topic in Tests and choose Start Practice to open the practice page.
What's on the practice page
On the left is the prompt:
- “The examiner's exact words” and the examiner reading the topic. As in the exam, the topic text is hidden at first: “Replay topic” to hear it again, “Show topic text” if you really can't catch it, or “Intensive” to loop it.
- Below are “Ideas & arguments” (for, against and theme vocabulary) and “Similar topics”, for practising other phrasings of the same debate.
In the middle are two tabs, Practice and Sample, with the Answer guide next to them. The drawer on the right holds Vocab, Notes, Phrases (common French expressions and your saved chunks), Angles and Result.
Sample
With no model answer yet, Sample asks you to pick a way to start:
- Line by line: write one sentence at a time, in your own language or in French. Click “Translate & add” for your own language, or “Polish & add” for French. After three lines you can click “Done · Polish”.
- Import script: paste a French script you already have and click “Import & split”; or click “Use my skeleton” to drop your skeleton in and fill it.
- AI draft: write a draft in any language and click “Polish draft”; it's polished into a model answer at your target level.
Once it's ready:
- Build: every line has audio, intensive listening, write-from-memory, a shadowing score and a breakdown; you can rewrite, delete and reorder lines, and copy the whole French text.
- Full passage: “Listen to full draft”, then speak it for 4 min 30.
- From memory: write it line by line, or the “Whole monologue”; lines you got wrong are pulled out to drill again.
Step 5: speak without notes — “Practice”
When you know your answer, go back to Practice. There are two modes:
Full answer
Click “Start · 04:30” and speak for the full 4 min 30 without notes; it stops on time, and you can record again. If you can't speak out loud, click “Type instead” — same clock, but pronunciation isn't scored.
Your score appears under Result on the right:
- a total out of 20, an estimated CEFR level and NCLC;
- scores for pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar and task completion;
- an overall comment, grammar corrections, vocabulary suggestions, and “Ways to go further” — directions you could have developed (not scored).
Sentence by sentence
Say (or type) one sentence at a time and see that sentence's correction right away, then read the corrected version for a score. Your sentences join up into a passage, building up to 4 min 30.
Step 6: one timed run
Click the same topic in Tests and choose Start Exam. This time the AI examiner runs it:
- Read the examiner's words and click “Begin”.
- The examiner reads the topic; the clock starts once it's done. The topic stays on screen as a voice message you can replay.
- Tap the microphone to speak and tap again to send. The AI examiner listens for a few turns, then asks two or three follow-up questions, playing devil's advocate if needed.
- The clock pauses while the examiner speaks and resumes on your turn. It ends automatically at 4 min 30, or you can click “Finish Exam” early.
The results page shows a total out of 20, CEFR level and NCLC, plus scores for pronunciation, fluency, grammar, vocabulary, task completion and sociolinguistic adequacy, with an overall comment, grammar corrections and vocabulary suggestions.
The full mock exam
To sit Tâche 1, 2 and 3 back to back, go to Mock Exams in Tests and click Random Mock Exam. The speaking part is the full 12-minute exam sequence; in Tâche 3 the examiner again reads the topic and you fill 4 min 30.
Prefer another AI? That works too
On the practice page, the prompt header has a Copy for AI practice button that copies the topic with instructions. Paste it into the AI chat tool you use, give your 4 min 30 answer, and ask for feedback.
Free vs membership
- Free: this month's Tâche 3 topics — read them, hear them read aloud, copy for AI; the Prompt listening catalogue and progress; four of the eight groups of Ready-made exam phrases in full, and the first two lines of the other four; the first two sections of the speaking skeleton; one argument card per side; the two samples on the walkthrough page.
- Membership: all earlier months, Prompt listening audio and dictation, recording practice and scores, Sample, the timed exam, adding your own phrases and swapping skeleton lines, and the full mock exam.
- During a free trial: most of the above, with daily limits on some features; the full mock exam needs a paid membership.
A suggested routine
- Do a few topics in Prompt listening every day until you understand them first time.
- Learn My speaking skeleton, and pick two or three arguments for each common debate from Topic arguments.
- For the most recurrent topics, build your own answer in Sample, then shadow it and write it from memory.
- Use Full answer to fill 4 min 30 without notes, and use “Ways to go further” to add content.
- Before the exam, do a few runs with Start Exam against the AI examiner to practise handling follow-ups.
Open the Tâche 3 topics and start with Prompt listening.
The other two tasks: Speaking Tâche 1 guide · Speaking Tâche 2 guide.