MockoTEF Reading Section E gives you several graphs or charts and a set of short French comment sentences. Each comment describes a trend, a comparison, or a specific figure. Your job is to match each comment to the correct graph. At B2 level the language of the comments is precise and sometimes uses qualifiers or hedging words that can make one graph a better match than another that looks almost identical.
What you’ll learn
- Extract the key claim from a short French comment about a graph.
- Identify the graph element (trend, peak, comparison, proportion) the comment refers to.
- Use numbers, labels, and qualifiers to distinguish between visually similar graphs.
- Avoid matching on superficial topic similarity when the specific claim points elsewhere.
How Section E works
Section E typically presents four to six simple graphs: line graphs, bar charts, pie charts, or tables. Each graph has a title and labelled axes or segments. Alongside the graphs you receive a series of short comment sentences, each describing something specific about one graph. You must identify which graph each comment describes.
- Comments describe trends: increases, decreases, stability, sudden changes.
- Comments describe comparisons: one category is larger/smaller than another.
- Comments describe proportions: a share or percentage of a total.
- Comments describe extremes: the highest or lowest point, the largest or smallest category.
What a comment looks like
- Short and precise: usually one to two sentences.
- Uses specific graph vocabulary: "a augmenté", "a chuté", "représente la majorité", "est resté stable", "a atteint son maximum".
- May include a number that you can verify directly on a graph axis.
Reading a comment: what to extract
Before you look at any graph, read the comment fully and extract three things: the subject (what is being measured), the claim (what it does or shows), and any qualifier (a number, a time period, a condition, a comparison term). These three elements are your search criteria.
- 1Read the comment once.
- 2Underline the subject (what or who is being measured).
- 3Identify the claim: is it a rise, a fall, a comparison, a proportion, or a peak?
- 4Note any qualifier: a specific year, a percentage, a comparative word like "plus que", "moins de", "environ".
- 5Now look at the graphs and find the one where all three elements are visible.
Entre 2010 et 2020, la part des énergies renouvelables dans la production totale d'électricité a presque doublé.
Between 2010 and 2020, the share of renewable energies in total electricity production almost doubled. Subject: renewable energies as a share of total electricity. Claim: it almost doubled. Qualifier: between 2010 and 2020. You need a graph that shows electricity production by source, covers the period 2010 to 2020, and shows the renewable share roughly multiplying by two.
Graph vocabulary in French
A working knowledge of French graph and statistics vocabulary is essential for this section. These are the words that appear in comments and in graph labels.
- Trends: "augmenter" / "croître" (to increase), "diminuer" / "baisser" / "chuter" (to decrease), "stagner" / "rester stable" (to remain stable), "fluctuer" (to fluctuate).
- Speed of change: "fortement" (sharply), "légèrement" (slightly), "progressivement" (gradually), "rapidement" (quickly), "brusquement" (abruptly).
- Comparisons: "supérieur à" (higher than), "inférieur à" (lower than), "deux fois plus" (twice as much), "environ" (approximately), "près de" (close to).
- Proportions: "représenter" (to represent/make up), "la majorité" (the majority), "un tiers" (one third), "la moitié" (half), "moins du quart" (less than a quarter).
- Extremes: "atteindre un pic" (to reach a peak), "toucher le fond" (to hit a low), "à son niveau le plus élevé" (at its highest level).
En 2022, les dépenses de santé représentaient environ un cinquième du budget total.
In 2022, health spending represented approximately one fifth of the total budget. You need a pie chart or table for 2022 where the health slice or row shows roughly 20 percent of the total. "Environ" (approximately) means the figure does not have to be exactly 20 percent: a graph showing 19 percent or 21 percent would still match.
Distinguishing between similar graphs
The hardest items in Section E are those where two graphs cover the same topic but show different trends or different time periods. The comment will be specifically accurate for only one of them. Small details in the comment make the difference.
Precision details that separate two similar graphs
- Time period: "de 2000 à 2010" is not the same as "depuis 2015". The time range eliminates one graph.
- Direction qualifier: "une légère baisse" (a slight decrease) is different from "une forte baisse" (a sharp decrease). Both may show a decrease, but the size matters.
- Absolute vs. relative: "a augmenté de 10 000" (increased by 10,000 units) is different from "a augmenté de 10%" (increased by 10 percent). Match the type of measure to the graph axis.
- Subject precision: "les jeunes de 18 à 25 ans" is not the same as "les moins de 30 ans". Check the age range on the graph.
How to practise this
French newspapers and magazines regularly publish graphs and statistical commentary. Le Monde, Le Figaro, and INSEE (the French national statistics institute) all provide authentic graph-and-comment material at the right level of complexity.
Practice routine
- Find a graph from an INSEE publication or a French news article. Read any comment that appears alongside it.
- List the three elements (subject, claim, qualifier) from the comment and verify each against the graph.
- Create your own one-sentence comment about a different feature of the same graph and check that it is accurate.
- Work through TEF or DELF B2 Section E-style exercises in preparation materials to build speed with timed practice.
Key takeaways
- Extract the subject, the claim, and any qualifier from the comment before looking at the graphs.
- Use French graph vocabulary (trends, comparisons, proportions, extremes) to connect comment language to graph features.
- When two graphs look similar, small details in the comment (time period, direction qualifier, absolute vs. relative measure) separate them.
- Qualifiers like "environ" and "légèrement" change the precision requirement: do not reject a graph because a number is slightly off.
- Practice with real French statistical graphs and their published commentary to build vocabulary and pattern recognition.
