What's Changing in 2025

There has been a shift in how DELF/DALF exams are structured.

• From 2020 to 2024, the French Ministry introduced revised formats for DELF levels A1 to B2. These now focus on multiple-choice only in the listening and reading sections.
• In 2025, most testing centers are expected to use the new format across all DELF levels.
• DALF C1 and C2 are not changing for now. These exams still test deep comprehension, synthesis, and argumentative writing with open-ended responses.

DALF C1 Study Tips

Listening (compréhension orale)
Practice active listening with long-format audio like interviews, reports, and debates. France Inter is totally free and covers a wide array of topics across the Francophone sphere. Active listening is a must. Tuning out or scrolling tik tok while "listening" does nothing for you. 30 minutes a day every day.

Reading (compréhension écrite)
These are dense texts on literally the worst topics imaginable. It's truly luck of the draw on whether or not they interest you. Topics range from grammar school pedagogy in late 1800s France to philosophical pondering on human biology. The key here is to not get bogged down in individual words. Scan the questions first to see where you need to focus in the passage, then quickly scan the text so you get an idea of the general arguments being made. On your second, deep pass start to answer the questions.

Go hard on the practice tests here, there's no easy way around this.

Writing (production écrite)
There is a synthesis and an argumentative essay. It's 1 hour 40 minutes total and it's a bit of a grind. Both sections have rubrics that, should you follow them, give you a much better shot at succeeding.

Come up with random prompts yourself to practice, here are some ideas to get the juices flowing:

• Vous représentez une organisation étudiante préoccupée par la hausse des frais de scolarité. Rédigez une lettre ouverte au Ministre de l'Éducation dans laquelle vous exprimez votre position et proposez des alternatives.
• Une ville envisage d'interdire les voitures dans son centre-ville. Rédigez une tribune dans laquelle vous exprimez votre opinion, en argumentant votre point de vue.
• Une entreprise impose désormais à ses employés de travailler à distance à temps plein. Donnez votre avis sur cette mesure et proposez une solution équilibrée.
• Votre établissement scolaire débat de l'autorisation des outils d'intelligence artificielle, comme ChatGPT, pendant la préparation à l'écrit. Rédigez une lettre structurée dans laquelle vous défendez votre position.

Grade your own writing using AI tools and the official scoring grid, focusing on structure, coherence, and advanced vocabulary. Rubrics: lottalingo.com/resources. However, take AI feedback with a grain of salt for this; they get a lot of things wrong.

Speaking (production orale)

On the day of the exam you'll be in a room with dozens of other exam takers. When your time slot starts, you go and choose a 1 prompt from a selection of 5 or 6. Go with what interests you most as you'll have to yap about it for a while. I went with the health and fitness topic. You get ~1 hr to prepare. When time is up, you'll get sent to a different room with 2 examiners. You decide how to structure the 30 minutes. My recommendation is to prepare a 15 minute speech and leave the 2nd 15 for chat.

This section is where AI tools will fail you completely. Do NOT lean on them for prep. Find a language partner or a patient friend. Practice recording yourself and speaking in the mirror. Booking a session with an expert examiner is worth it, you can find some top-shelf ones at lottalingo.com/experts.

Review, Review, and Review

Depending on your timeline, you should be taking a practice exam once every 2 weeks at minimum. Create a google doc and religiously note every mistake you make. Go back and review before you take your next practice test.

Good luck!