This article leans on the learning of Italian and French at secondary school in the Aosta Valley (Italy), an institutionally bilingual region, in order to demonstrate that the school leaving examination, particularly for French tests, involves a method of learning which digs a deep imbalance between the acquisition of oral and written expertise. While the oral achievement is evaluated by European levels, the written results are based on the academic norms concerning the language.The results of a survey, carried out on the learners’ perceptions of their own competencies, then, are exposed to demonstrate the consequences of this imbalance on bilingual competence.