Pop Quiz! Test Your Knowledge with 10 Intermediate French Quiz Resources:
Didn’t you just hate tests when you were in school?
I mean, ugh. The trick questions, the sneaky multiple choice questions with multiple almost correct answers…the way you were forced to memorize too much content until you knew it all cold.
And the grades! Those annoying grades that told you exactly how you were doing (sometimes not too well) and what areas you needed to work on (sometimes all of them).
Wait…that actually sounds really helpful right about now. Being a self-directed French learner can be overwhelming—without grades, deadlines and constant feedback to keep you in line, it can be hard to stay consistently motivated.
Plus, thanks to the Internet there are actually too many French resources available to you, making it difficult to find the best study methods and tools for your personal French language goals.
If you want to succeed at learning French, then taking online tests and quizzes is a great way to help you reach your ultimate goal (which is fluency, I would hope). Keep reading for my top 10 list of the best intermediate level quizzes and all the tips you’ll need to make the most out of these free resources.
5 Pro Tips for Taking French Quizzes
1. Make note of any questions that you got wrong. Add difficult vocabulary to your study routine and make note of any difficult grammar rules that you need to learn or practice. Now you have your next study session planned!
2. Opt for open-ended questions. Multiple choice and fill-in-the-blank tests are easy to score, but these can often reveal clues to the right answer. Try to find open-ended questions. These force you to come up with the right answer yourself. If you do end up doing a multiple choice test, you can just cover up the answers for an added challenge.
3. Take the same test twice. After you’ve studied the concepts you got wrong, go back and take the same test again. The goal is to improve your results, which is a tangible way to measure your language learning progress. You can even give yourself a little reward!
4. Race against the clock. Choosing a timed test is the best way to strengthen your fluency. You want to get to the point where you can instantly and intuitively respond with the correct answers. If the test you’re doing doesn’t have a timer feature, just break out your stopwatch, smartphone or egg timer.
5. It’s okay to guess! I mean, don’t just close your eyes and click on an answer. Rather, look at all the information you have and make your best educated guess. Context is one of the tools we use to learn and understand French, so taking your best guess actually mimics a real-life scenario.
Okay, I’m ready! Where can I find intermediate level French quizzes online?
Pop Quiz! Test Your Knowledge with 10 Intermediate French Quiz Resources
Bonjour de France
Bonjour de France is brimming with quizzes and exercises for French learners of any level. It has a clean design and clear website navigation that lets you filter by level and theme, so it’s easy to find a quiz to suit your needs.
There are a variety of exercises to test your reading comprehension, listening skills, vocabulary and grammar. You can also find downloadable exercises that you can print and save for a rainy day.
The intermediate content is rich so, at least while you’re practicing your subjunctive (again!), you get to learn interesting idiomatic phrases and engage with topics relating to French history and culture.
Flashcard / Spaced Repetition Programs
The best test may actually be one that you make yourself. With flashcard programs, you have the benefit of choosing the words and phrases you want to study, and this can really speed up your language learning.
What’s more, many of these programs use a sophisticated spaced repetition algorithm that presents the content to you in precisely timed intervals. This ensures that you’re spending enough time on the difficult words and less time on the words you’ve already mastered.
Check out some of the most popular programs like Anki, Supermemo and Memrise. These programs allow you to create your own flashcards or download pre-made decks from other users. With these, you’ll be getting immediate feedback on your right and wrong answers, just like when you take any other kind of quiz.
French.about.com
Do you know when to use c’est vs. when to use il / elle est?
Are you still trying to master the difference between encore and toujours?
These are some of the concepts covered in the intermediate French quizzes at French.about.com.
This website has over 250 quizzes to help you get to the next level of your language learning. Many of the quizzes are customizable, allowing you to choose how many questions you want to answer. If you really want to hunker down and test your skills, you can choose a test with up to 200 multiple choice questions. The answer key to every quiz links back to the relevant lessons so you can easily brush up on your skills.
French.about.com also offers proficiency tests that can help you gauge your current language level, so be sure to take one of these if you’re still doubting where you fall on the spectrum of French skill levels.
Duolingo
Stretch your French muscles with the popular language learning website (and app) Duolingo. This program has over 80 lessons on their smartly-structured language tree—you can’t climb your tree to the next exercise until you complete the lesson on the branch before it.
Duolingo keeps track of when you need to strengthen a skill and this is where the quizzes come into play. Duolingo gives you two options for testing—timed or untimed. Choosing the timed test will really push you to think quickly and test your fluency.
Pro tip: For intermediate learners just starting their tree, you can skip the more basic lessons by “testing out.” You’ll have three attempts to demonstrate your language prowess.
French-exam.com
If you’re preparing for a proficiency test, French-exam.com has a lot of great resources and exercises for you. You’ll find out what you can expect on the DELF B1 or the DELF B2 exam and even practice with a few sample tests. This is definitely a good place for serious test prep.
schoLINGUA
Now that you have an intermediate level of French, it’s time to fine-tune your verb usage. No more relying on passé composé to describe your childhood—that’s imparfait’s job!
SchoLINGUA is a very powerful verb trainer that allows you to choose exactly which verbs and tenses you want to practice. You can also choose from three different training modes: intensive (completing the full conjugation of the verb and tense you chose), random or a concentration-style match game.
Francolab
Francolab is a project by TV5 Québec Canada, designed to help French teachers and students alike. The content is rich and will be of particular interest to those looking to learn more about Quebec and Canadian culture.
The website is a collection of mini-series and documentaries with corresponding activities to test your comprehension. Along with each video you’ll get a convenient PDF quiz and an answer key—but the answers are kept separate so you aren’t tempted to peek! The material is categorized by learning level so you can easily find something that suits your needs.
Phonétique
Have you ever thought your French friend was speaking about her mother (sa mère) when she was actually speaking about the mayor (le maire)? Wait, what? Your mother wants to raise property taxes? Not only are these situations awkward, they can be extremely frustrating and can quickly lead you astray in a French conversation.
This website helps you train your ears to hear the differences between those tricky nasal sounds. The interface is a bit out-dated, but there are hundreds of quizzes designed to test you on the subtleties of French speech.
Online Placement Tests
Many schools, government departments and online learning websites offer free placement tests. These proficiency tests are often quite in-depth and require you to test your reading, writing and comprehension skills. Here’s one great example from the University of Wisconsin. The tests can take over an hour, but will provide you with a highly accurate estimation of your actual language level.
Lyrics Training
Music is a fun method for improving your language skills. Music can help with memorization and pronunciation and act as a gateway to a foreign culture. As with all other methods, it’s most beneficial when you can really put yourself to the test.
Enter Lyrics Training—the language learning karaoke machine! With a wide selection of popular music videos, Lyrics Training offers a fill-in-the-blank option so you can test your listening skills. There are 4 difficulty levels, ranging from beginner (missing 10% of the words) to expert (missing 100% of the words).
Now that you’ve got this list of French quizzes, the moment has finally arrived to go put your French skills to the test.
I bet you’ll do even better than you expect!
And, hey, even if you don’t, it’s all about the learning experience.
This is part of the beauty of self-teaching French—if you bomb a quiz or two, nobody ever has to know!
