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DELF B1

 

The following is an overview of the DELF B1 Exam Format. The DELF B1 Syllabus is located on another page.

Introductions to the DELF B1 Exam Format

DELF B1- Threshold Level. Usually reached after 160 hours of french language study.

The DELF B1 exam consists of 4 sections evaluating the 4 language skills, namely: Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing. The Listening, Reading and Writing, is covered under one paper. The speaking is usually not done at the same time as the other sections of the exam. The total duration of the test is 1 hour and forty minutes . The overall pass mark is 50/100. The pass mark  for each section is 5/25.

 DELF B1 Listening comprehension

This section of the exam is 25 minutes in duration and is worth 25 marks.  It consist of three or four very short recordings, played twice, on everyday life. The maximum duration of each recording is 5 minutes.

DELF B1 Reading Comprehension

This section of the exam is 30 minutes in duration and is worth 25 marks. It covers  four or five written documents on everyday life.

 DELF B1 Writing Production

This section of the exam is 45 minutes in duration and is worth 25 marks. This covers writing a letter  or message to a friend or  family member.There are two parts to this section : writing about a personal experience or an event or a message expressing regret, giving information, congratulating someone, thanking someone etc.

 DELF B1 Speaking

This section of the exam is about 25  minutes in duration,however, the actual time spend speaking is 15 minutes.The remaining time is allocated to preparation, which you will be given before your speaking time. About 10 minutes before  your actually speaking time, you will be given the associated topic that you will talk about. The section and is divided into three parts and is worth 25 marks.Part one is a guided conversation, while part two and three deals with information exchange and a role play respectively.

While this section is similar to the speaking section of DELF A1 exam, you will be required to provided longer sentences and more information.