What the DELF contains

The different DELF formats (DELF for the general public, DELF pro, etc.) all assess your mastery of the following four skills: written and oral expression, written and oral comprehension. However, the length of the tests and the content vary depending on the DELF format ( What is the DELF? ) chosen and its difficulty (A1, B1, etc.).

DELF preparation

The tests are presented in the following order :

• Listening comprehension: answer a questionnaire based on audio documents. Depending on the level chosen, the content may vary.
  - Level A1-A2, it is often a document talking about everyday life situations.
  - Level B1-B2, these are radio extracts, a speech, a presentation... Between 20 and 30 minutes depending on the difficulty
• Written comprehension: response to questionnaires on 2-3 texts.
  - Level A1-A2: everyday life situations.
  - Level B1-B2, argumentative texts and informative texts relating to France or the French-speaking world. Between 30 minutes and 1 hour depending on the difficulty
• Written expression: test in 2-3 parts depending on the level chosen.
  - Level A: write simple sentences, describe an event or experience…
  - Level BC: reasoned position on a general theme.
  Between 30 minutes and 1 hour depending on the difficulty
• Oral expression: It is carried out in front of an examiner. Three parts:
  - guided interview: you talk about yourself, your family, your interests and you will have a few questions on these topics. 1mn30
  - exercise on a subject: you draw a subject at random (“have you ever traveled? Where would you like to go?” for example). 2 minutes of passage + a few questions from the examiner.
  - interactive exercise: you are given a situation (“at the baker’s”, “on the phone”…) and you must show that you would know how to manage in this situation. 3-4 mins

These are the typical DELF tests for the general public . The DELF Pro tests are similar, but the content of the exercises focuses on professional subjects (situations in a company, in an office, etc.).

The DALF tests

They are, however, a little different. Level C1 offers very distinct exercises, level C2 combines comprehension and expression (oral and written) .

• Listening comprehension (and oral expression for C2):
  - Level C1: questionnaires based on a long document (interview, conference, etc.) lasting 8 minutes, two listening sessions, then on several documents (advertisements, news flashes, etc.). 40 minutes
  - Level C2: questionnaire on an audio document then debate with a jury on the central theme of the document. 1 hour
• Written comprehension (and expression for C2):
  - Level C1: comprehension questionnaire on a literary or journalistic text. 50 mins
  - Level C2: production of a structured text from a document file. 3.5 hours
• Written expression C1 : synthesis of a body of documents (theme on literature or science) then essay based on the content of these documents. 2h30
• Oral expression C1 : presentation based on several written documents followed by a discussion with a jury. 1 hour

The difficulty and theme of the exercises therefore change depending on the DELF level you choose. It is essential that you know roughly what your level is before undertaking this test. ( Choose which test to take from DELF, TEF or TCF )