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AQA GCSE French 8652 · England

AQA GCSE French photo card: practice and examples

Describe both photos clearly, develop your conversation answers and practise with the current exam format.

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Current answer

How the AQA French photo card works now

For AQA GCSE French 8652 in England, first assessed in 2026, describe both photos on your card, then take part in an unprepared conversation on the allocated theme. Make at least one clear point about each photo; you do not need to spend equal time on them. Prepare useful language for describing what you see, and practise answering questions with relevant detail, opinions and reasons.

Check 8652 on practice materials. Older 8658 resources belong to the legacy specification: its 15-mark photo-card task lasted two minutes at Foundation or three at Higher, with a separate general conversation. Those timings and the old question pattern do not describe the current task. See AQA’s current scheme of assessment and the legacy specification.

Foundation and Higher: speaking timings

AQA uses the same photos at both tiers. The following are its recommended timings for Part 3; the description is a short opening, not the whole task. Check the 8652 assessment overview.

There are 15 minutes of supervised preparation for all three speaking tasks together, at either tier.

Part of the taskFoundationHigher

Description of both photos

About 1 minute

About 1½ minutes

Unprepared conversation

3–4 minutes

4½–5½ minutes

Part 3 total

4–5 minutes

6–7 minutes

Whole speaking test

7–9 minutes

10–12 minutes

What the assessment rewards

Part 3 is worth 25 marks: five for the photo description and 20 for the conversation. The entire speaking test is worth 50 marks and 25% of the GCSE. The criteria below are summarised from AQA’s speaking mark schemes.

Description: communicate what is in the photos

The five description marks assess clear information about the photos. Cover both: describing only one normally costs one mark, except when the initial mark is already one. AQA allows a related personal response, but says not to put yourself into the photograph.

Conversation: respond and develop

Fifteen marks assess communication and another five assess knowledge and use of language. Give relevant information, develop your answers and use vocabulary and structures accurately. Higher-tier descriptors expect stronger development and range.

Use tenses for a purpose

The present tense is a useful starting point for visible actions; the discussion may call for past experiences or future plans. The speaking grid does not prescribe a fixed three-tense quota. Choose the tense that answers the question, then extend accurately.

Use the preparation time across all three tasks

The 15 minutes also cover the role-play and reading-aloud task. Do not spend it all writing a photo description. The following sequence is a practice method, informed by AQA’s student tips.

  • Identify each photo separately

    Write separate headings for Photo A and Photo B in your notes. For each, find people, place, actions and a detail you can say with familiar vocabulary. Beginning with « Sur la première photo… » or « Sur la deuxième photo… » makes the change clear.

  • Choose useful sentences rather than a long story

    Plan a point for both photos before adding detail to one. If you cannot name a particular object, describe another visible feature. Rehearse a clear verb such as jouent or parlent rather than collecting disconnected nouns.

  • Keep notes readable

    Under AQA’s 2026 conduct instructions, notes may be in any language and may include full sentences, with no quantity limit. Use separate paper; do not write on the cards. You keep your notes through all three sections and hand them in at the end. Dictionaries are not allowed in preparation or the test.

  • Leave room for the conversation

    You will not receive the actual conversation questions to prepare. Practise responding across the theme rather than writing one speech to recite. A reason, an example or a contrasting preference can develop a short answer.

French practice with English explanations

Build a clear description of both photos

Suggested wording

Photo A: « Sur la première photo, il y a trois amis dans un parc. Deux personnes jouent au foot. Une autre personne est assise sur un banc. Il fait beau et il y a des arbres derrière les amis. »

In the first photo, there are three friends in a park. Two people are playing football. Another person is sitting on a bench. The weather is fine and there are trees behind the friends.

Photo B: « Sur la deuxième photo, deux amis sont dans un café. Ils boivent du jus d’orange et ils parlent. Une personne porte un pull bleu. »

In the second photo, two friends are in a café. They are drinking orange juice and talking. One person is wearing a blue jumper.

Why this helps

Start with who and where, then add an action and a visible detail. Use verbs to describe the actions: jouent (play/are playing), boivent (drink/are drinking), parlent (talk/are talking) and porte (wears/is wearing). French uses the present tense for these actions; do not translate English ‘are playing’ word for word.

Notice une personne est assise: personne is grammatically feminine, so assise agrees with it. You can use une personne when you do not want to guess someone’s age or relationship. Say a detail you can express accurately before attempting a more difficult one.

Turn a list of words into connected French

Starting attempt

« Trois amis. Parc. Football. » The vocabulary identifies the scene, but it does not yet say what the people are doing.

Clearer response

« Il y a trois amis dans un parc. Deux personnes jouent au foot. » This turns the nouns into two complete messages: who is there and what is happening.

Add a detail you can justify

« À l’arrière-plan, il y a des arbres. » means ‘In the background, there are trees.’ This adds a visible feature. A sentence such as « Ils semblent contents » (‘They seem happy’) is useful when the expressions support it; semblent signals an impression.

Move from the photos to a conversation

Practise listening to the question before choosing the tense. Use these practice questions to rehearse different answers. Cover the answer, respond aloud, then compare the meaning and verb forms.

The conversation can cover any or all of the three topics in its theme. Our free-time example belongs to Popular culture, which also includes customs, festivals and celebrations, and celebrity culture. Practise those other topics too; the conversation is not confined to what is visible in the photos. See AQA’s themes.

Opinion: Qu’est-ce que tu aimes faire pendant ton temps libre ?

What do you like doing in your free time?

« J’aime jouer au foot avec mes amis parce que c’est amusant. Je préfère jouer dehors quand il fait beau. »

I like playing football with my friends because it is fun. I prefer playing outside when the weather is fine.

The reason explains the opinion; the second sentence adds a preference rather than repeating j’aime.

Past: Qu’est-ce que tu as fait le week-end dernier ?

What did you do last weekend?

« Samedi dernier, j’ai joué au foot dans le parc. Ensuite, j’ai retrouvé mes amis au café. C’était sympa. »

Last Saturday, I played football in the park. Afterwards, I met up with my friends at the café. It was nice.

J’ai joué and j’ai retrouvé report completed actions. C’était adds an assessment of the experience.

Future: Qu’est-ce que tu vas faire le week-end prochain ?

What are you going to do next weekend?

« Je vais aller au parc avec mes amis. S’il pleut, nous allons regarder un film chez moi. »

I am going to go to the park with my friends. If it rains, we are going to watch a film at my house.

Je vais aller and nous allons regarder use aller plus an infinitive to express plans. The weather condition adds relevant detail; s’il pleut uses the present tense after si.

Record, check and try a different answer

Use this short practice cycle with a partner or teacher.

  • Describe first, without reading the model

    Use the imagined pair or a current official card. Say something about each photo, then listen back. Can a listener identify the setting and actions from your French?

  • Correct one language mistake

    Check subject–verb agreement and the verb after each time phrase. For example, change « Hier, je joue au foot » to « Hier, j’ai joué au foot » to say “Yesterday, I played football”. Repeat the whole corrected sentence aloud.

  • Practise questions in a different order

    Ask your partner to choose a follow-up question rather than letting you recite three prepared answers. Answer its actual meaning first, then add a reason or relevant detail. If asked about next weekend, begin with a future plan rather than yesterday’s activities.

  • Change one part of the scene

    Imagine that the people in Photo B are eating instead of drinking. Try « Ils mangent des sandwichs » (“They are eating sandwiches”). This checks whether you can adapt the sentence instead of relying on one memorised description.

Practise with current AQA sample cards

Open AQA’s 8652 sample speaking teacher booklet (PDF). It includes the actual candidate photo cards: Foundation begins at printed page 76 and Higher at page 94. Work with your tier’s instructions. Cover the teacher material while practising the candidate task, then use it with a teacher or practice partner.

For the notes rules above, see AQA’s Summer 2026 conduct instructions (PDF). For a later exam series, confirm the current conduct instructions with your teacher or exam centre.

Support and clarity

Frequently asked questions

Straight answers to the questions people ask most often.

Can I ask for a question to be repeated?

Yes. AQA’s student tips explicitly allow you to ask the teacher to repeat a question in the Part 3 conversation, and to take a moment before answering. You could say « Vous pouvez répéter, s’il vous plaît ? » — “Can you repeat, please?” Listen for the question word and time phrase before starting.

What if I cannot remember a word in the photo?

Choose another detail you can express, or use a simpler accurate phrase. For example, « une personne » means “a person”; it can let you continue without guessing someone’s relationship to the others. In practice, note the missing word afterwards and check its pronunciation with your teacher.

Should I learn these answers by heart?

Use them to understand sentence patterns, then change the activity, place or time. A memorised answer about last weekend will not answer a question about future plans. The unprepared conversation needs responses to the questions you actually hear; the examples here are practice material, not predicted questions.

Sources and references

Sources and references

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