On Monday May 16, the top placers for “Le Grand Concours” met during AIM to receive awards for their hard work and proficiency in the French language. A total of 16 students received this honor after taking the test for their level of the language in early February. Out of those 16, three had the honor of gaining medals for their high placement in the language.

“I feel like we’ve all been working really hard over the year to perfect our French skills, so it feels good to accomplish something that shows how hard we’ve worked,” freshman Krishaan Vadia, who placed first in the country for French II, said.

However, junior Bianca Montecampi, who knew French before taking the course, had a different approach towards the test.

“I didn’t really study that much, but I think I am pretty satisfied with how I did. I got a medal, so I guess it was okay,” Montecampi, who placed second in the country for AP French, said.

Part of the reason for some students’ success in Le Grand Concours was the rigorous work they put in during class to prepare for the test.

“Madame has been preparing us all year and giving us French readings every few class periods and previous Grand Concour tests, and that’s really helped us with our reading comprehension skills and vocabulary,” Vadia said.

Preparing for Le Grand Concours, which was taken online, was especially difficult for students in AP French, who had to prepare for and take two entirely completely tests in the matter of two months.

“The AP test was really different from Le Grand Concours. For one, Le Grand Concours had videos and stuff like that which you could play how ever many times you wanted, while the AP test was mostly on paper,” senior Andreus Mullendore said.

However, in the end, Le Grand Concours will only help students taking French to advance their careers and give them invaluable experience that could help in their future jobs.

“Le Grand Concours will help me in the future because it is a test that can show how well someone can exist in a French environment.  If [I am] in a Francophone country for work or pleasure reasons, it will be beneficial on having experience from [my] French classes and feedback from Le Grand Concours,” freshman Anubhav Majumdar said.