DELF A1 exam: the four papers, practice tests and a mock

A first French exam: what the DELF A1 day involves

A DELF A1 exam day has two parts. First comes the collective block: you sit listening, then reading, then writing, in one room with the other candidates. It lasts an hour and twenty minutes in all. The oral is separate. The free lesson that maps the A1 exam says what to bring.

This page describes the multiple-choice format of the listening and reading papers, the one this site prepares. Older papers and books still show short written answers. In the format described here, you write no sentence of your own in those two papers. So the DELF A1 syllabus is short to state: everyday French, tested on very short documents.

Listening is five short exercises, and every recording is played twice. You hear messages, an announcement, and four mini-dialogues to match with pictures. Reading rests on eight very short documents, with three-option questions. Writing is two exercises: a form to fill in, then a message of 40 words minimum. Speaking has three parts. The examiner asks simple questions about you. Then you ask the questions yourself, starting from words printed on cards. Last, you play a scene in which you buy something or ask for a service. Ten minutes of preparation come before the oral, and they serve the second and third parts only.

Further down, each paper links to its own page of practice tests, built to the exam format. The site marks your listening and reading answers automatically. For writing and speaking, an AI grader applies the official grids and returns a score with written feedback. Start a full A1 mock to sit the four papers in order, against the clock. In the mock the oral is spoken: an examiner voice asks the questions, and you answer aloud into your microphone. The DELF mock exam page presents the mock exam. Mock exams are paid. The sample paper and the demo are free. Every document and every question here was written for this site, following the official format. Nothing is a past paper.

The A1 papers at a glance: time, exercises, points

Fifty points to pass, five to stay in the exam

The four papers carry the same weight, and their marks are simply added up. You need half of the total. A paper that goes well therefore makes up for a weaker one.

The second rule allows no such trade. Under 5/25 in one paper, the exam is failed, even with a total that would pass. For a beginner, that makes the weakest paper the one that decides, not the best one. In the writing paper, the form alone is worth ten of the twenty-five points, so a form filled in correctly already stands above the floor. The risk sits in the message. The official grid gives zero on every criterion to a message under half the expected length. Even then, the points of the form are kept.

Find your weakest paper before you plan your revision. A single timed mock exam gives you four marks, and the lowest one tells you where to begin. Try the free demo first if you want to see how the marking works: there is one per account. A writing or speaking score on this site is an estimate from an AI grader applying the official grids. It does not replace an examiner’s mark. Only the writing grader has been checked against scripts marked by examiners, so a speaking score is the number to trust least.

Who sits A1, and what the diploma does not open

A1 is a first certification. It gives a beginner a measured level, checked in all four skills. It suits a learner who has studied with no outside measure and wants to meet an exam while little depends on the result. The DELF belongs to France Éducation international, and the diploma does not expire.

A1 meets no French residence or nationality requirement. The first administrative threshold is A2: since 1 January 2026, it is the level required for a first multi-year residence permit. B1 is the level for a first carte de résident, and B2 the level for naturalisation. If your goal is administrative, aim at the DELF A2.

This page covers the tout public version of the exam. Children and teenagers have their own versions: DELF Prim and DELF junior both exist at A1, with material suited to their age.

A1 or A2: which exam to book first

DELF levels are independent diplomas. Nothing obliges you to hold A1 before sitting A2. Book A2 directly if you already exchange simple information without help. Book A1 if you have never been assessed in French and want a first exam where little is at stake. The scoring is identical at both levels.

A1 gives you thirty minutes for a form and one message of 40 words minimum. A2 gives you forty-five minutes for two texts of at least sixty words each. In listening, the number of recordings goes from eight to fourteen, spread over four exercises where A1 has five.

Reading keeps its thirty minutes and its four exercises. But A2 opens with a matching task, documents to assign to people, and ends on a longer text with a statement to judge true or false. A1 stays with three-option questions. The oral has three parts at both levels, with ten minutes of preparation for the second and the third. At A1, the second part has you asking questions from words on cards. At A2 it is a short monologue, and the closing role play runs longer. Still unsure? Take the free level test before you pay a registration fee.

A1 practice tests for each of the four papers

• CO · Listening
• CE · Reading
• PE · Writing
• PO · Speaking

A free A1 sample paper: a message, a postcard, form vocabulary

DELF A1 questions from first-time candidates