Tasks can vary in terms of difficulty and implementation conditions, and these in turn may affect the nature of the language produced by the learner. There have been a large number of studies which have investigated the effects of these task properties and implementation conditions on the language the learner produces. To date, results have been mixed and much more detailed research is needed before we can conclude about the potential effects of task type on L2 performance. Of particular interest in this study is the need to investigate the effect of high-stakes environments (i.e. testing situations) on task performance, to determine which linguistic phenomena contribute to perceptions of levels of performance. In the research reported here, we compare the performance of two VCE students of French on the conversation section (section 1) of the oral examination. The nature of the language produced by both learners was analysed in terms of accuracy, complexity and fluency. Overall, findings suggest that fluency was favored by both learners although different strategies were used to achieve it. Pedagogical implications of these findings are discussed.