French A2 – DELF Exam Pattern

Moving on to the next level of your French learning journey, A2 is your next step towards mastering the language. Just like A1, you would be assessed on four competences, i.e. listening, reading, speaking and writing. According to these competencies, the DELF exams are divided into four modules, viz.

1. Compréhension orale
2. Compréhension écrite
3. Production écrite
4. Production orale

Each module tallies up to 25 marks, hence making the total 100.

French Level A2 – DELF exam modules

Compréhension orale (Listening):

Total marks: 25

Duration: 25 minutes

According to the new pattern, your sheet would have four comprehension questionnaires which will be MCQs, match the pairs, fill-ups or true/false.

Questions 1 and 2 involve MCQs and a few fill-ups. Please note that, since A2 is a level up, you would have to decipher a tad bit of complicated numbers in these first two exercises especially. 

Question 3 has statements and you must choose between vrai (true), faux (false) and on ne sais pas (not specified). This part can be tricky as we are used to choosing between true and false. 

Question 4 however involves matching the pairs of the situation to the corresponding person. For example, if person A says «merci», it will be paired with the sentence «remercier quelqu’un».

You would be listening to very short recordings on everyday life situations for each set of questions twice. There would be a pause of 30 seconds before the first play and between the two plays so that you can read the questions well and later have enough time to answer. It is important for you to read carefully in these 30 seconds. Therefore, you must be habituated to reading effectively. The entire listening comprehension should approximately take 25 minutes. The recordings must be heard carefully to mark the correct option or fill the blank with the right answer.

Compréhension écrite (Reading):

Total marks: 25

Duration: 30 minutes

This is one of the easiest modules, which is supposed to take 30 minutes. Here, you would have four questions, there would be a postcard or a message to read and answer the questions asked, or there are usually small advertisements or television program schedules and questions based upon it. All the questions just like listening are based on everyday life situations, like postcards, messages, e-mails from a friend or family, advertisements of apartments for lease, booking a hotel, etc. You would be well-versed with the necessary vocabulary if you make an effort every day.

All exercises involve the above types of documents to read with questions based on the theme of the text, or short answers about some information. It is important to note that there are vrai/faux i.e. true/false questions in this too. You would see a blank for justification. Here you must copy the sentence that justifies your answer, whether it is true or false. The catch is that, even if either one (i.e. the choice between true or false, or the justification) is wrong your entire answer is considered wrong. All the exercises have vrai/faux except question 1, wherein you would have around 5-7 sign boards or advertisements and 5-7 sentences given below that would correspond to each one of them. For example if there is a sign of telephone there would be a sentence that says «On peut téléphoner ici».

Production écrite (Writing):

Total marks: 25

Duration: 45 minutes

This module would always have come in two parts:  A. Writing on a forum about some experience, and B. Writing emails, messages, or even a response to an invitation. The word limit is always mentioned therefore you would know how much to write. In this case it would be a minimum of 60 words for each. Writing at least 60 words is a must, but do not write more than 80-100 if at all you are exceeding the limit. Something important there is grammar and spellings! While writing the sentences, keep the grammar in check and also make sure to proofread your work. This truly helps find the teeny-tiny errors that we easily overlook while writing.

Production orale (speaking):

Total marks: 25

Duration: Preparation: 10 minutes; Test: 6-8 minutes

This module is divided into three parts: The first part, you would be asked a few general questions about you, your family, your hobbies, etc. This is spontaneous and takes about a minute or two. In the second part, you would have two cards and you would ask to choose any one for your monologue. The topics are based on some pretty common things like what is your hobby and the reason you chose it, or your profession, or general questions that involve you giving your opinion. This part is only supposed to be 2-3 minutes, including a question that your examiner may ask you.

In the third part, you also would be choosing from another set of cards. There would be a daily situation written on each of them and you are required to converse with the examiner, making points to resolve or plan whatever the situation demands. This would last 3-5 minutes. The objective of this is to verify your ability to converse normally in day to day situations, ask a question in the right context and even understand the response given by your examiner and react accordingly. Don’t forget that the salutations and your diction matters. Together with parts two and three of the speaking test, you get 10 minutes to prepare. Then… Vous vous lancez!

Speaking tests makes people anxious and it is human if you start panicking, try to calm down and take your time to be comfortable enough, take time to reformulate the sentences if you feel you are going wrong. Reformulating sentences is not seen negatively, feel free to do so if you need it.

For getting a better idea about the topics that may appear in your question paper, check out the sample papers. Here’s the link to the sample papers!

All the very best! Bon courage!