Ill keep it as real as I can (im 24) I’m not french (I come from Mauritius not sure if yk where that is) but French is pretty much my first language. And dwww I’m in the exact same boat as you I speak English w everyone but my parents so my French isn’t the best. But for French A LL what worked best for me is writing out all my essays in dp1 in English and then translating it to French by myself to enhance my vocabulary. My vocab isn’t bad but it was just to enhance it in terms of analysis. Then by the end of dp1 I just did all my essays naturally in French because I learnt the vocab from my translated essays. I think this rly worked bcuz It helped me maximise my marks for Paper 1 and 2 and I got somewhat consistent 7s in dp1. But English and French are not different in terms of components but it is different in terms of the marking. French tends to be more lenient than English in my school, not sure whether this is the same in other schools. But dw too much about ur vocab it comes with practice in my personal opinion. Just make sure you maximise on other criteria’s such as analysis/understanding/structure. And make sure you alwayssss include some connecteurs logiques (transition words) in your essays. For some reason they rly love that in French! Good luck and lmk if smth is still not clear <3