DELF A2 reading: eleven documents, twenty-three questions
The DELF A2 reading paper lasts thirty minutes and is marked out of 25 points. This page describes the multiple-choice format, the one this site prepares: four exercises, eleven short documents, twenty-three answers and nothing to write out. A second format, with some written answers, is still used in official sessions. Further down you will find what each question is worth and two questions from our free A2 sample paper, worked through.
Updated 10 October 2026
Four exercises in thirty minutes, from adverts to an article
| Exercise | Documents | Questions | Question format | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CE-Ex1 | 6 texts | 6 | Matching | 6 |
| CE-Ex2 | 1 text | 6 | Multiple choice, three options, Multiple choice with images | 6 |
| CE-Ex3 | 3 texts | 6 | Multiple choice, three options | 6 |
| CE-Ex4 | 1 mixed document | 5 | True or false, Multiple choice, three options | 7 |
| Total | 30 min | 23 | 25 |
Source · the official DELF A2 tout public format.
Matching, a letter, instructions, an informative text
Exercise 1 is a sorting task, not a text to study. You get six short documents of the same type: menus, timetables, leaflets, adverts, signs or catalogue extracts. Facing them are eight people, each with a first name and something they are looking for. Every document goes to one person, so two people end up with nothing. Their needs still borrow words or themes from the documents.
Exercise 2 is one short, simple letter of roughly a hundred and thirty words. It can be a personal letter, an announcement card, or a standard letter that asks, orders or confirms. Six questions follow, and some can offer pictures in place of written options. Exercise 3 cuts the reading up again: three texts that give instructions, such as rules, a user guide, a recipe or a personal message. They carry six questions between them.
Exercise 4 has the longest document on the paper, still under a hundred and fifty words. It is a brochure, an informative news item, an advert or a page from a tourist guide. One statement to judge true or false comes first, then four three-option questions.
Questions worth half a point, questions worth two
The four exercises weigh almost the same: three carry six points and the last carries seven. The answers inside them do not. In the official sample paper for this format, a question brings in anything from half a point to two points. Those weights are indicative: they are set paper by paper. The exercise totals and the paper total stay put.
In that sample paper the letter is flat: every answer is worth one point. The instruction texts are not: one of their questions weighs as much as four of the lightest answers. In the matching task, two documents count three times as much as two others. Which ones changes from paper to paper, so rush no match.
Exercise 4 is the heaviest block. In the same sample paper, each of its four multiple-choice questions outweighs its true-or-false statement. Reading also helps you over the section floor: the six answers on the letter, all correct, already exceed 5/25. Under that floor the exam is failed whatever the total, a rule the DELF A2 overview sets out beside the pass mark.
| Exercise | Points | What each question is worth |
|---|---|---|
| CE-Ex1 | 6 | 1.5 · 1.5 · 0.5 · 1 · 1 · 0.5 |
| CE-Ex2 | 6 | 1 · 1 · 1 · 1 · 1 · 1 |
| CE-Ex3 | 6 | 0.5 · 2 · 0.5 · 1 · 1 · 1 |
| CE-Ex4 | 7 | 1 · 1.5 · 1.5 · 1.5 · 1.5 |
| Total | 25 |
Pass mark: 50 out of 100 across the four papers.
Section floor: under 5 out of 25 in any one paper and the whole exam is failed.
Source · the official DELF A2 tout public format.
A community-centre notice and two questions, worked through
Atelier cuisine : apprenez à cuisiner comme un chef !
La Maison de quartier des Tilleuls organise un atelier de cuisine tous les mercredis, de 18 h à 20 h, du 5 mars au 25 juin. Au programme : des recettes simples et de saison, préparées avec des produits du marché. Chaque participant repart avec son plat et la fiche de la recette.
L’atelier est ouvert à tous à partir de 16 ans. Les débutants sont les bienvenus : notre cuisinier, M. Roux, explique chaque étape. Le nombre de places est limité à douze personnes.
1. L’atelier de cuisine a lieu…
- A tous les jours.
- B une fois par semaine.
- C deux fois par mois.
2. Pour participer, il faut…
- A être un bon cuisinier.
- B habiter le quartier.
- C avoir 16 ans ou plus.
Answer +
Trap: “les débutants sont les bienvenus” (beginners are welcome), so you do not need to be a good cook.
Notice and questions from our A2 sample paper. Both were written for this site.
Neither answer copies the notice word for word. The text says tous les mercredis, every Wednesday, and the right option says once a week. For the second question, the notice sets one condition, an age: sixteen or over. The sentence about beginners removes the good cook. Living in the neighbourhood tempts because quartier sits in the name of the place, yet the notice says ouvert à tous, open to all.
Be exact about what this example is: an informative text with three-option questions, the kind exercise 4 uses. The real exercise also starts with one true-or-false statement, and the paper opens with a matching task not shown here. The page prints two of the three paragraphs of the notice. Its times and dates are invented for the exercise.
Thirty minutes, eleven documents: a way to share them
Official timing
- CE-Ex16 points
- CE-Ex26 points
- CE-Ex36 points
- CE-Ex47 points
Source · the official DELF A2 tout public format.
A workable split
- CE-Ex16 min
- CE-Ex26 min
- CE-Ex36 min
- CE-Ex47 min
- Checking your answers5 min
One split that works. It is our arithmetic rather than an official figure, and the free lesson below proposes another.
Practising A2 reading on real-life formats
Each exercise has its own typical error, so practise them one at a time first. In the matching task, it is choosing on a shared word without checking the day, the price or the age. In the instruction texts, one small word turns a rule round: sauf (except), uniquement (only), avant (before).
Both formats are still used in official A2 sessions. The other one asks for a few short written answers, and for true-or-false items you justify from the text. On this site, every reading exercise is multiple choice and marked automatically. All of it is written for the site, to the official format: none comes from a past session.
- 1Begin with a measurement, not with revision: practise A2 reading with a timer, then note the exercise that took longest.
- 2For the matching task, read the eight people first and underline what each one wants. Then give each document to the one person it suits completely.
- 3Collect real papers in French: a menu, a timetable, a notice in a hallway. Ask one practical question about each and find the answer in under a minute.
- 4After each exercise, find the exact words that gave every answer you missed. Copy them beside the option you ticked: the gap between the two is the trap.
- 5When the four exercises hold up one by one, chain them: start a full A2 mock. Compare your minutes with the split suggested above, which is not an official one.
The free lesson: read like an examiner
Free lesson · study guide
Read like an examiner
Thirty minutes, four exercises, 25 points. The exact shape of the reading paper, and the order of moves that keeps you inside the time.
A2 reading paper: frequent questions
How many documents are there in the A2 reading paper?+
Eleven, across four exercises, in the multiple-choice format. Six very short ones open the paper. A letter comes next, then three instruction texts and one informative document. The longest stays under a hundred and fifty words. The first table on this page breaks them down.
What is the matching exercise?+
It is exercise 1. Six short documents of one type, adverts or timetables for instance, face eight people who each want something. You attach every document to the person it suits. Two people stay without one, and their needs sit close enough to the texts to make you hesitate.
Does the true or false statement have to be justified?+
Not in the multiple-choice format this page describes. Exercise 4 has a single statement, and you tick vrai or faux. The other format, still used in official sessions, asks you to justify your answer from the text. The instruction of the exercise says which is expected.
Is every answer worth the same?+
No. In the official sample paper for this format, an answer is worth between half a point and two points. Only the letter is flat, at one point an answer. These values are indicative and set paper by paper. The total of each exercise does not change.
How is A2 reading different from B1 reading?+
In the same multiple-choice format, the B1 paper lasts a quarter of an hour longer and has three exercises, not four. A yes-or-no grid opens the paper: four documents set against four criteria. Two press articles follow, each with true-or-false statements. The B1 reading page gives the detail.
Keep reading
The other A2 pages
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