DELE A1 exam, to take it or not to take it? Regardless of the reason why you may want to take it, you should understand what it is all about.
Although you may find a lot of confusing information out there, we are glad to offer a clear explanation about what DELE exams and all you need to know about them.
The term DELE stands for “Diploma Español Lengua Extranjera” (Diploma in Spanish a as a foreign language). DELE Spanish diplomas allow its candidates to guarantee their degree of competence and mastery of the Spanish language.
All DELE exams are designed following the guidelines of the Common European Framework of Reference for languages (CEFR) and its Manual, like all of the Spanish courses we provide at The Spanish Academy to all our Spanish learners.
DELE diplomas follow all CEFR levels and will examine your Spanish proficiency at different levels, as shown in the table below:
Recognition of DELE diplomas
You may wonder why taking DELE exams, right? Well, besides your personal satisfaction, it will open the door to work opportunities, university studies if you decide to study in Spain, or even getting the Spanish residency (more details need to be know, and you can contact us if you feel like moving to Spain anytime soon).
DELE A1 exam
Although we could provide further information on all the different levels of DELE, we consider more relevant focusing on DELE A1. It is the entry level exam for most of our students, hence we want to make it easy for you to understand all you need to know.
Of course, do not hesitate to contact us for other information regarding other DELE exams. We are always ready to solve any of your questions and have the greatest Spanish teaching team to guide you.
Passing DELE A1 exam certifies the sufficient language proficiency to:
- Understanding and using daily Spanish expressions commonly used in any Spanish-speaking country in order to satisfy basic communication needs wherever you decide to travel and speak Spanish.
- Asking and giving basic personal information about yourself and your daily life.
- Interacting in an elementary way with other Spanish-speaking people, provided they speak using a basic level a Spanish in order to make themselves understood.
Structure of DELE A1 exam
As you can see, the DELE A1 exam has 4 different parts organised into two groups.
So the first group is composed of reading and writing skills. And the second group evaluates the listening comprehension and oral expression and interaction.
In order to pass the exam you need to score at least 60% in each of the parts shown in the table above. As you can imagine, you will need extra revision and support on the second group. But you shouldn’t worry, since we are always ready to teach you the best tricks to overcome these hard parts of your Spanish exam.
The maximum possible score is 100 points. A minimum score of 30 in each group is necessary to receive an overall “passing” grade.
Find below a more detailed structure of the content of each part of the exam.
Format changes of DELE A1 exam
Besides understanding the structure of the DELE A1 exam, you should note that there has been a few changes in this exam since April 2020. Find below the changes you should remember if you tried taking DELE A1 before April 2020.
Regarding the reading part:
- In task 1, you will now have 3 multiple choice options per item (instead of 4).
- In task 4, the answers are no longer open. Instead you will provide closed answers. It makes it easier, 🙂
Regarding the listening part:
- The duration of this part is now 25 minutes (instead of 20 minutes in previous editions).
- In task 1, you will now have 3 multiple choice options per item (instead of 4).
- In task 4, the answers are no longer open. Instead you will provide closed answers. Again, easier than before, 🙂
Regarding the oral part:
- Some changes in task 3. Feel free to contact us for further information.
- There is 3 tasks now! (instead of 4).
- New guidelines for qualifications. You shouldn’t bother much about it, as you will for sure rock the exam with our DELE preparation courses, 🙂
And also, in case you are considering taking any other DELE exam (DELE A2 or above), do not hesitate to contact us for the best advice about the format of the exam and the preparation.
Oh! And stay tuned with all our new Instagram posts as they will be useful not only for your DELE exam preparation, but to sound like a real native, 😉
And do not miss our previous blog posts, all Spanish related to help you boost your confidence in this beautiful language and learning more about all Spanish related stuff in Hong Kong.
