The basics are simple because I just learned it last semester. These include the four main irregular verbs as well as conjugation rules, some prepositions, articles, etc. It was somewhat hard to recall the information at the start, but once it was reintroduced to me, it was rare for me to draw a blank.
My strengths are my quick learning, pattern recognition, and creativity. Being creative is particularly important because, more often than not, I didn’t know the vocabulary for what I wanted to say.
My weaknesses were trying to form a sentence in a timely manner, easily forgetting common filler words, and the videos were had to watch. Given enough time, I can speak French, but it is awkward to take so long. As for the filler words, I call them that because they were French words I constantly saw but never knew the meaning of them or almost immediately forgot what they meant once I looked up the translation. The French videos with the question sheets almost always went over my head because the native speakers talked really fast, and my mind couldn’t process it all.
I succeeded in completing all of my work, attending all of the classes, studying daily, and improving my overall understanding of French. I am much quicker to respond fully when I have a conversation in French, and I can identify more filler words and can infer new French words.
My understanding of vocabulary hasn’t expanded that much because I tend to focus more on grammar rules than anything else. After all, I can always access a French dictionary. I’d say I’m pretty confident in knowing grammar rules (past tense, imperfect, future, etc.), but it’s less that I’m good at creating sentences with those elements than that I can read French with ease because I can recognize those elements.