The DALF C1 Exam

What to expect

The DALF C1 represents the level at which you have total autonomy and have a wide experience of using French, having studied the language for 500-800 hours. It's the standard required for entry to certains grandes écoles, such as l'Institut des sciences politiques de Paris or l'École Polytechnique.

DALF C1 Test Sections	Duration	Mark out of
Listening Comprehension questionnaires following recordings: - a long (approximately eight minutes) interview, lesson, conference… (played twice) - several short radio broadcasts (newsflashes, surveys, adverts etc) (played once) Maximum duration of combined short recordings: 10 mins	Approximately 40 minutes	25
Reading Comprehension questionnaires dealing with a text of ideas (literary or journalistic), 1,500 to 2,000 words long.	50 minutes	25
Writing Two-part test: - Summarise several written documents totalling approximately 1,000 words - Write an essay with supporting arguments on the contents of the documents Candidate can choose between two fields: humanities and social studies, science	2 h 30	25
Speaking A presentation based on a series of written documents, followed by a discussion with the examiners. Candidates can choose between two fields: humanities and social studies, science	30 minutes preparation: 1 h	25

Exam duration : 4 hours

* Total mark out of 100
* Overall pass mark: 50/100
* Pass mark per test: 5/25

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Listen to sample recordings for DALF C1 listening section to get an idea of the difficulty of each level and the sort of situations presented.

You can download a sample paper for DALF C1 here, and be sure to read over our detailed DALF C1 tips.

In this section

How to get ready for the DALF C1 exam