DELF B1 writing: one text of 160 words, five criteria
DELF B1 production écrite is one task: a single text of 160 words or more, written in forty-five minutes. It asks for your opinion on an everyday question and the reasons behind it. Five criteria of equal weight mark it, and on each the rung labelled B1 is not the top one. This page covers the grid, the length rule that can cost you the whole exam, and an annotated model essay.
Updated 1 October 2026
One task, forty-five minutes, 160 words minimum
| Task | Minimum length | Time | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Argued essay | 160 words | 45 min | 25 |
| Total | 25 |
Source · the official DELF B1 tout public format.
An opinion, justified: what the task asks for
The instruction line sets a scene and hands you a reader. In our sample paper, a town wants to ban cars from its centre at weekends, and the municipal newspaper invites residents to react. The official candidate manual lists the forms the task can take: a letter, an email, a newspaper article, or an essay for a forum. In the official sample paper, it is a reply to a friend’s email.
The grid says what it wants in its B1 descriptor for réalisation de la tâche: a connected, uncomplicated text that broadly meets the task. The opinion is expressed, then justified by a few examples. One rung higher, the examples turn concrete and a simple line of argument appears. Neither rung asks for a clever opinion, only one the reader can find.
The scene also fixes who reads you, and adéquation sociolinguistique marks whether your register suits that reader. Genre counts on the task side too. Hold the theme but miss the genre, and two criteria stay below the B1 rung: réalisation de la tâche, and cohérence et cohésion. Write off the theme that was set, and the top rung closes on réalisation de la tâche and on lexique.
Five criteria, five points each
| Criterion | Maximum |
|---|---|
| Réalisation de la tâcheTask fulfilment | 5 |
| Cohérence et cohésionCoherence and cohesion | 5 |
| Adéquation sociolinguistiqueSociolinguistic appropriateness | 5 |
| Lexique (y compris orthographe lexicale)Vocabulary (including lexical spelling) | 5 |
| MorphosyntaxeMorphosyntax (grammar) | 5 |
| Total | 25 |
Every criterion is scored from 0 to 5, in steps of 1.
The official tick values are 0, 1, 3 and 5. The values 2 and 4 are our own interpolations, not official rungs.
Under half the required length, at 79 words or fewer, every criterion scores 0.
Source · the current harmonised DELF B1 marking grid.
What a short text costs you, and what it does not
Length is the rule on this paper most likely to cost you everything. At seventy-nine words or fewer, under half the required length, the text is judged too thin to assess. All five criteria drop to zero, however good the sentences are. The paper is a single task, so that zero is the whole paper. It sits under the 5/25 floor, and the exam is failed whatever the other three papers brought in.
Between that threshold and the full length, the bill is far lighter. Our grader charges the missing words to réalisation de la tâche and nowhere else. Coherence, register, vocabulary and grammar are then read on what you actually wrote, as if the length were in order. A text of a hundred and thirty words that is clear, organised and accurate can still reach the B1 rung on those four.
The way we apply the grid also leaves several things alone. Errors are not counted: a slip in agreement, gender or elision costs nothing while the reader follows you without effort. What costs marks is an error that blocks understanding, or one that shows the indicative tenses are not under control. There is no spelling criterion: a misspelt word is read under lexique, a wrong ending under morphosyntaxe, never both. A mastered subjunctive, literary turns and very formal connectors are not systematically expected.
A model essay on a car-free town centre, annotated
The instruction line
Votre ville souhaite interdire les voitures dans le centre le week-end. Le journal municipal invite les habitants à donner leur avis. Vous écrivez un texte construit et cohérent sur ce sujet. (160 mots minimum)
Model answer
Depuis plusieurs années, notre centre-ville est saturé de voitures chaque samedi. C’est pourquoi le projet de la mairie me semble une excellente initiative, même s’il faudra accompagner certains habitants.
introduction framing the problem and announcing a nuanced opinion
En revanche, il ne faut pas oublier les personnes âgées ni les habitants qui travaillent le week-end. Pour eux, la mairie devrait prévoir des navettes gratuites et des parkings à l’entrée de la ville, comme cela existe déjà ailleurs en Europe.
concession + proposed solution
En conclusion, je suis favorable à ce projet, à condition que chacun puisse continuer à se déplacer facilement. Une ville sans voitures le week-end serait plus calme, plus propre et, finalement, plus vivante.
conclusion + nuanced opinion
Marks awarded
- Task fulfilment5 / 5
- Coherence and cohesion5 / 5
- Sociolinguistic appropriateness5 / 5
- Vocabulary (including lexical spelling)5 / 5
- Morphosyntax (grammar)4 / 5
- Total24 / 25
The marks above are our own annotated grid. Our AI grader, run on the same text, returned 25 out of 25. Neither is an examiner result.
Task and model answer from our B1 sample paper. Both were written for this site.
The page prints the first paragraph of the model, the fourth and the last. The first names the problem in one sentence and gives the opinion in the next, with a reservation attached. The fourth is the concession. En revanche turns to the residents the measure would hurt, and the following sentence says what the town hall should do for them. The conclusion restates the position and attaches a condition to it.
Do not read the total as an examiner’s mark. Our annotated grid holds back one point on morphosyntaxe, because the essay leans almost wholly on the conditional and on simple relative clauses. Our AI grader held nothing back on the same text. Note too that en revanche is more formal than B1 requires: a plain mais would carry the same concession. The full paper and its answer key give the two paragraphs left out here.
Practising the essay against the clock
Forty-five minutes is short for a text you have to plan, write and reread. So practise at full length, with a timer running. An untimed essay hides two numbers: how long your plan takes, and how many words you have when time runs low. The length rule punishes the second.
Keep one routine for every practice essay. Find the reader, the genre and the required content in the instruction line, then note your opinion and two reasons. Write a timed B1 essay and read the feedback one criterion at a time. The score is an AI estimate, not an examiner’s mark.
- 1Underline the reader and the kind of text in the instruction line. They settle your opening line, your register and your sign-off.
- 2Put your opinion in one sentence at the very top of your draft. If it will not come, it is too early to write.
- 3Rest each reason on an example from daily life: a place, a person, a habit.
- 4Join your paragraphs with linking words you are sure of. At B1, a small set of connectors used well is enough: the grid asks for adequate connectors before varied ones.
- 5Count your words before the last five minutes, then reread for agreements. Once the essay holds, sit a full B1 mock to see it beside the other three papers.
Official timing
- PE-Ex145 min · 25 points
Source · the official DELF B1 tout public format.
A workable split
- Planning the answer11 min
- Writing29 min
- Checking your answers5 min
A workable split. This is our arithmetic, not an official figure.
The free lesson on your forty-five-minute writing mission
Free lesson · study guide
Your 45-minute writing mission
One task, 45 minutes, 25 points. What the prompt fixes, how to spend the time, and the five criteria your examiner scores.
Questions about the B1 essay
How long does the B1 essay have to be?+
The instruction line asks for 160 words at least. Leave a small margin, so a miscount cannot drop you below the line. No criterion rewards length for its own sake: past the minimum, one more sentence helps only if it brings a reason or an example.
My text is too short: what do I lose?+
It depends on the gap. At seventy-nine words or fewer, every criterion scores zero and the paper falls under the 5/25 floor. Above that, our grader charges the missing words to réalisation de la tâche alone. When time is running out, cross that threshold in complete sentences first, then conclude.
Do spelling mistakes lose points at B1?+
Not on a line of their own: the grid has no spelling criterion. The B1 descriptor for lexique even allows for spelling errors when you express a more complex thought. What it asks for is everyday vocabulary used correctly. One rung higher, spelling must be accurate enough to be followed easily.
Which kinds of text can the task ask for?+
A letter, an email, a newspaper article, or an essay for a forum: that is the list in the official candidate manual. Each has its own reader, and so its own opening and register. The official sample paper asks for a reply to a friend’s email. The model on this page answers a call from a municipal newspaper. Check the genre before you plan: it decides who you are writing to.
Is the subjunctive expected in a B1 essay?+
Not systematically. The B1 rung of morphosyntaxe asks for simple structures under control, and relative accuracy in common complex ones. The model here uses one subjunctive, after à condition que: a fixed construction you can learn as a block. At B2 it is different: B2 writing expects it.
Keep reading
The other B1 pages
Ready to find your B1 level?
Take a full mock or practice one section at a time. See your predicted score before exam day.