Épreuve
Fondations
Level
A1
The DELF A1 exam, mapped
Your first full tour of the A1 exam. The four papers, the timings, the points inside each exercise, and the two scores that decide pass or fail.
By the end of this lesson
- Name the four A1 papers, how long each one lasts and what each one is worth.
- Plan your exam day: about 1 h 20 in the room, then a short oral with one examiner.
- Take four scores and work out whether that candidate passed or failed.
- Recognise every answer format before you meet it, so nothing on the sheet is new.
Most people start their A1 revision with vocabulary lists. That's a fine habit, but it isn't where the first easy points are. The easiest points come from knowing the exam itself. You want to know which paper comes first, how long each one lasts, and where the heavy marks sit.
This lesson maps all of it. You get the four papers and their timings, then the two scores that decide pass or fail. After that come the documents A1 uses and every answer format you'll meet on the day.
The four papers and your exam day
A1 is four papers, one for each skill, and they always run in the same order. Listening is compréhension de l'oral. Reading is compréhension des écrits. Writing is production écrite. Speaking is production orale. Each paper carries 25 points, which makes 100 for the diploma.
| The paper | What you actually do | How long | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Compréhension de l'oral | Listen and tick boxes | about 20 min | 25 |
| Compréhension des écrits | Read and tick boxes | 30 min | 25 |
| Production écrite | Fill in a form, then write a short message | 30 min | 25 |
| Production orale | Talk with one examiner | 5 to 7 min, after 10 min of prep | 25 |
| Total | 100 |
The first three papers are taken together, in one room, with all the other candidates. They follow each other in that fixed order, and the whole block lasts about 1 h 20. You stay in your seat from the first recording to the last written word.
Your listening time isn't yours to spend. The recording decides the pace, and every document is played twice. You get a short pause to read the questions, then the first play. Then comes a pause, the second play, and a moment to finish your answers. Reading and writing work the other way round. Those sixty minutes belong to you, so keep a watch on the desk and look at it now and then.
Speaking is scheduled on its own, sometimes at another hour or on another day. You get 10 minutes of preparation first, and it pays to know what they cover. Those 10 minutes are for parts 2 and 3 only. Part 1 has no preparation, because it asks about your own life and needs no notes. After that you sit with the examiner for 5 to 7 minutes.
Now the detail that really changes your revision. Each paper holds a fixed number of exercises, and the points are not spread evenly across them.
| The paper | Exercises | Points, exercise by exercise |
|---|---|---|
| Compréhension de l'oral | 5 | 4 + 4 + 4 + 8 + 5 |
| Compréhension des écrits | 4 | 6 + 6 + 6 + 7 |
| Production écrite | 2 | 10 + 15 |
| Production orale | 3 parts, plus your French | 4 + 4 + 4 + 13 |
Two lines there deserve a second look. In listening, exercise 4 carries 8 points on its own, almost a third of the paper. It's a matching task rather than a questionnaire. In speaking, the three parts weigh the same at 4 points each. The remaining 13 points pay for your French itself: 5 for vocabulary, 4 for grammar, 4 for pronunciation. Those 13 are collected across all three parts. A short correct sentence therefore earns more than a long one that falls apart.
Bring two things to the exam centre. The convocation is the letter that tells you the date, the hour and the room. Your photo ID has to show the same name as that letter. Check both the evening before, not at the door.
Point d'étape 1/4
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Q1How many points is each of the four A1 papers worth?
Q2Which paper do you take alone with an examiner?
Q3How long is the listening paper, and how many exercises does it hold?
Q4The 10 minutes of speaking preparation cover which parts of the oral?
The two numbers that decide
Two numbers decide your result. Almost every candidate knows the first one, and the second one is where sessions are lost.
The first number is 50. Your four papers are added together, and 50 out of 100 gives you the diploma. Papers do compensate each other, so a 22 in reading can carry a 9 in writing.
The second number is 5. Any paper scored under 5 out of 25 fails you on its own, and no total repairs it. Here is what that looks like on a real result sheet. A candidate takes 20 in listening, 20 in reading, 10 in writing and 4 in speaking. That's 54 out of 100, four points clear of the bar, and it's still a fail. The 4 sits under the floor.
So your goal isn't one brilliant paper. It's four papers that all clear 5, with a total above 50. That should decide where your revision hours go. The paper you keep putting off is usually the one that can end your session. For most beginners, that paper is speaking.
One more thing about the diploma itself. Every DELF level is a separate diploma, so you can sit the A2 later even without an A1. The ladder runs A1, then A2, then B1, then B2, then DALF C1 and C2. A1 is the first rung, and it already tests all four skills. Once you pass, the result is yours for life and there is nothing to renew.
Point d'étape 2/4
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Q1What total do you need, out of 100, to get the diploma?
Q2A candidate scores 20 in listening, 20 in reading, 10 in writing and 4 in speaking. Does that candidate pass?
Q3Can a strong paper make up for a weak one?
Where the exam documents come from
Nothing in the A1 is written to catch you out. Every recording and every text comes from one of four areas of everyday life. The exam calls them the four situations de communication, the four settings of communication. You are never asked to name them on your answer sheet. Knowing them still tells you what to revise, and what you can safely leave out.
The first is vie privée, private life, and it sits closest to you. Think of a note left on the kitchen table, a postcard from a friend, a birthday invitation. A recipe and a weekend message belong here too.
The second is vie publique, public life, which is everything you do as a customer or a passenger. Here you meet shop announcements, menus, posters, opening hours, tickets and leaflets from the town hall.
Third comes éducation et formation, school and training, and it turns up often because so many A1 candidates are studying. A course brochure, a small ad on a noticeboard, a class timetable, a message from your teacher.
The fourth is vie professionnelle, working life, and it's the lightest of the four at A1. A short email from a manager, a work schedule, a message pinned up for the staff. Nothing technical appears, because A1 never asks you to describe a job in detail.
That order is deliberate. It runs from the area closest to your own life to the one furthest from it. That is roughly the order in which the documents get harder to follow.
When a document is hard to place, ask who wrote it and who reads it. A friend writing to you is private life. A company writing to a customer is public life. A school writing to a student is education. An employer writing to an employee is working life. A campsite confirming your booking is a company writing to a customer, so it belongs to public life.
Two useful things follow. Your revision vocabulary is the vocabulary of these four areas: days, times, prices, food, transport, housing, family, school. And no document will be technical or abstract, so if a text feels far outside daily life, you have probably misread it.
Point d'étape 3/4
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Q1Which line names the four areas of life that A1 documents come from?
Q2A campsite sends you an email confirming your booking. Which area does that document belong to?
Q3What quick test places a document in the right area?
How you give your answers
In listening and reading you never write a sentence of your own. You tick boxes and you write dialogue numbers under pictures, and there are four shapes to recognise.
The three-option QCM. One question, three answers labelled a, b and c, and exactly one of them is right. You tick a single box. Two ticks score zero, even when one of the two was the correct answer.
The picture QCM. The same rule, except the three options are drawings or photos instead of words. Reading uses it too, and one reading item shows a small map with three routes already drawn on it. You choose the right route. You never draw one yourself.
Matching. Listening exercise 4 gives you four short dialogues and six pictures. You write each dialogue's number under its picture, so two pictures are left over. Each correct pair is worth 2 points, which is how a single exercise reaches 8.
Oui or non under a picture. Listening exercise 5 plays one recording and shows you five pictures. Under each picture you tick the word oui or the word non, and each tick is worth 1 point.
Writing brings two formats of its own. The first is a form about yourself, with nine or ten fields, and each correct field earns 1 point of the 10. There is no word count to reach, because a field wants a word, a number or a date. Copy what you are given letter by letter, since a misspelt name loses the point.
Modèle · cinq consignes telles qu'elles arrivent
Le train part à quelle heure ? a) 8 h 15 b) 8 h 50 c) 9 h 15
QCM à trois options. Three answers, one box. The three times are close on purpose, so the second play is where you confirm the one you chose.
Qu'est-ce que Paul achète ? Cochez la bonne image : a, b ou c.
QCM avec images. Same rule with pictures instead of words. Look at the three pictures before the recording starts, because they tell you what to listen for.
Écrivez le numéro de chaque dialogue sous la bonne image. Attention, il y a six images pour quatre dialogues.
Appariement. Matching, and 2 points a pair. Two pictures stay unused by design, so an empty picture is never a sign that you got something wrong.
Sous chaque image, cochez « oui » ou « non ».
Oui ou non. Five pictures, 1 point each. You decide whether the picture's information is in the recording, and a blank costs exactly as much as a wrong tick.
Nom : ... Prénom : ... Date de naissance : ... Nationalité : ...
Formulaire. One point per correct field. Copy the spelling exactly, because the marker checks what is on the line, not what you meant.
The second writing task is a piece of everyday correspondence, worth 15 points. It's a postcard, an email or a short note, and the instruction lists the jobs you have to perform.
Consigne type · production écriteA1 · exercice 2 · 15 points
Vous êtes en vacances à Nice. Vous écrivez une carte postale à votre amie Camille. Vous dites où vous êtes, avec qui vous êtes et ce que vous faites. Vous proposez de la voir à votre retour. (40 mots minimum)
ENYou are on holiday in Nice. You write a postcard to your friend Camille. You say where you are, who you are with and what you are doing. You suggest seeing her when you get back. (40 words minimum)
Count the jobs in that instruction: say where you are, say who you are with, say what you do, suggest meeting. Four jobs, and each one is checked separately. The sheet prints the words 40 mots minimum, so treat 40 as a floor and aim for 40 to 60 words. Under 40 you lose marks for an unfinished task. Far above 60 you eat minutes the form still needs, and you hand the marker extra mistakes.
One habit serves you in listening and reading. Item values are printed next to the questions, and at A1 they run from 1 to 2 points. Read that number before you answer, because a 2-point item deserves your second listen and your slowest reading.
A last word if you practise with an older book. You may meet a short open answer called a QROC, where you write a word or two on a line. You may also see a listening paper with four exercises instead of five. Both belong to the previous format. The shapes above are the ones your session will use.
Point d'étape 4/4
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Q1In an A1 multiple-choice item, how many options are there and how many are correct?
Q2Listening exercise 4 gives you four dialogues and six pictures. Two pictures stay unused. What does that mean?
Q3The correspondence task prints the words 40 mots minimum. What length should you aim for?
Q4Do the listening and reading papers ask you to write short open answers of your own?
Key takeaways
- Four papers, 25 points each, 100 in total. You pass at 50.
- Under 5 out of 25 on one paper fails you, whatever the other three scores are.
- The three written papers run together for about 1 h 20. Speaking is scheduled on its own.
- Listening holds five exercises, reading four, writing two, speaking three parts.
- In listening and reading you tick boxes and write numbers. You never write a sentence of your own.