Prepare for DELF B1… Are you ready?

December 15, 2021
, A2, B1, DELF

Salut salut ! In today’s article, I would like us to focus on how to prepare for DELF B1 exam in French.

Prepare for DELF B1 – Écouter

Prepare for DELF B1

The French DELF B1 test is based on the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages). There are 6 levels in total:

A1: Beginner
A2: Elementary
B1: Intermediate
B2: Upper-intermediate
C1: Advanced
C2: Proficiency

Why take the DELF B1?

Having a DELF B1 certification is extremely valuable for many reasons. If you already live in a French speaking country, or work within a French company, it will help you understand and communicate better with the people around you.

If you are looking to apply for a French residency card (Carte de Résident), if you already have a B1 certification, you will not need to worry about passing any kind of test, as an A2 level in French is required for a 10 years residency card.

Also, having a B1 level in French will open many doors, career or study opportunities.

According the the Common European Framework, B1 learners will be able to understand and exchange in a discussion related to familiar things (work, school, leisure…). It also means the learner is autonomous if they have to travel in a country or region where French is spoken. They should also be capable of recounting an event, presenting an idea or developing explanations for a project. Level B1 is the first level of independent user.

How to prepare for DELF B1 : The examination

A good way to prepare for DELF B1 is to see what the examination consists of.

Just like every DELF exam, there are 4 parts:

Oral comprehension (Listening)
Reading comprehension (Reading)
Written production (Writing)
Oral production (Speaking)

Each of these elements is scored out of 25 points, so the four of them represent a total of 100 points. To pass the exam, you must score a total of at least 50/100. However, if one of the four marks is less than 5/25, then it is eliminatory.

Note: the composition of certain tests, may change from time to time, so be sure to regularly check updates.

The details

Components of each test	Duration	Score
Listening Comprehension questionnaires dealing with several short recordings about everyday life (played twice). Maximum duration of recordings: 6 mins	approx. 25 mins	/ 25
Reading Answering comprehension questionnaires on several written documents: – identify useful information for a given task – analyze the content of a document of general interest.	45 mins	/ 25
Writing Expression of a personal attitude on a general theme (essay, letter, article…).	45 mins	/ 25
Speaking Test in three parts: – guided conversation (2 to 3 minutes) – interactive exercise (3 to 4 minutes) – expression of a point of view based on a document (5 to 7 minutes). You will have 10 minutes to prepare for parts 2 and 3.	15 mins preparation: 10 mn	/ 25

Total length of group tests: 1 hour 55 minutes
* Total mark out of 100
* Overall pass mark of the DELF A2: 50 / 100
* Minimum mark required per test: 5 / 25

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The different kinds of DELF B1

If you want to prepare for DELF B1, you also need to know that there are different kinds of DELF B1 tests for all types of learners:

DELF Tous Publics: for adults
DELF Junior: for school-going adolescents aged 12 to 17
DELF Scolaire: for school-going adolescents (teenagers) aged 12 to 17
DELF Pro: for people who want to work in France or in a French-speaking country.

Test example

DELF B1 Tous publics

Tips for success

Here are the skills that you will need to master if you would like to prepare for DELF B1.

Grammar

The agreement of the past participle with the subject (être) and with the COD (avoir) in passé composé

The past perfect tense – Le plus-que-parfait

Indirect speech (present and past tense) – Le discours indirect

Sequence of tenses – La concordance des temps

The subjunctive: possibility & obligation – Le subjonctif

The passive and the active voice

The gerund: expressing manner, simultaneity and condition – Le gérondif

Double pronouns: me, te, se, nous, vous, se / le, la / lui, leur, les / y / en

Possessive pronouns: le mien, le tien, la tienne, le sien…

Demonstrative pronouns: celui, celui-ci, celui-là, ceux-ci…

Prepositions and adverbs of time: avant, depuis…

Prepositions and adverbs of place

Logical connectors for the chronology of a speech: d’abord, ensuit, enfin…

Logical connectors for the consequence : puisque, cependant, donc…

The conjunction “POUR QUE” + subjunctive

Vocabulary

Daily life: transportation, travel, leisure, …

Physical description

Clothing

The feelings

Events: meeting someone, unplanned events…

Working environment: company, jobs, coworkers…

Media: newspapers, simple articles related to daily life.

Communication skills

Describe a person, a place, an object, a fact…

Locate in time

Locate in space

Express feelings and opinion (positive or negative)

Talk about the past

Talk about the future

How to give arguments (proving a point)

Of course, I encourage you to bookmark this page, as the DELF exams are subject to change.

If you would like to see how to prepare for DELF, please check out this page right here.

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Comments

1 thought on “Prepare for DELF B1… Are you ready?”

jm November 1, 2022 at 15:20
Reply
Hi ok this how to prepare fo the test, then what? any fake test we can try to see how good we are for the real test?
thanks

Prepare for DELF B1… Are you ready?

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