I Passed the DELF B2 Exam!
A rambly reflection on my uneven exam results
I passed the exam!! 🥳
Passing was the one thing I wanted after months of struggling to find time to study. I’m so glad to have done it and to be able to check it off my language project board!
While I’m proud I took the exam (especially when I didn’t have to), I can’t stop thinking about how unbalanced my scores were.
This was my first-ever language proficiency exam, which means it was my first time having my skills formally evaluated in an exam environment. I went in with the mindset of having fun and letting whatever happened happen, and I left feeling good about the experience.
Seven weeks later, the results came in:
Listening: 11/25
Reading: 23/25
Writing: 9/25
Speaking: 13/25
To summarize my scores, I did great in reading, okay in speaking and didn’t do great in listening or writing.
What throws me off the most is the gap between reading and the rest. If I had scored a 17 instead of a 23, it wouldn’t look as dramatic, but 23 makes my other scores look so much lower. It feels like my skills were wildly uneven that day, even though I don’t usually feel that way in daily life.
Writing being my lowest score, wasn’t a surprise since I rarely write in French. I’ve been trying to fix that by journaling more, but I know it won’t be easy.
Listening, though, caught me off guard. In real life, I often understand spoken French better than I speak it. Native speakers can talk as fast as they like, and I can follow along. But the mock exam audio was never interesting or enjoyable. On exam day, the topics weren’t my strengths. I felt lost since the recordings were only played twice. The whole section was a Hail Mary.
Speaking ended up being my second-highest score, which shocked me. Going in, I thought it would be just as bad as my writing. I knew I could speak, but I hadn’t practiced debating or giving a monologue about an article. I walked out thinking it went better than expected, and I guess I was right.
As for reading, I put most of my prep time there, especially in the last month, using Le DELF B2 : 100 % réussite. Plus, I got lucky because the texts were on topics I already knew about (video gaming, esports vs traditional sports, university education, social media). I could’ve guessed the questions before seeing them. Had they been on topics I barely knew, I doubt my score would have been that high.
So, where does this leave me with my French? The scores aren’t a perfect reflection of my skills, but they do show me where I have work to do. I know I need to write more, expand my vocabulary in weaker topics, and keep building confidence in speaking. That’s why I started my speaking and writing project board back in January.
If anything, I think what the exam showed me is that the exam environment and real life are two different things. Skills don’t always translate perfectly from one to another.
The DELF Diaries may be over, but the journey isn’t. And with some big changes in my French life recently, I have a lot more to share in the months ahead!
Thanks for reading and being here. I wish you luck in your language learning journey!
💌 PS. I’m still taking questions for an upcoming Q&A. Submit your question here or in the comments.
📌 DELF Diary Entries:
You can read the full DELF prep journey using the links below. I’ll be sharing my final entry once I get my results!
wow fantastic!!! congrats !!!! Passing B2 is also my goal maybe next year, you give me a courage
Congratulations! That’s a huge accomplishment.
You would think that getting lots of practice with speaking in real life would help you with listening tests, but that’s not really always the case. I get a lot of listening practice in my daily life with various languages, but the degree of difficulty of the material isn’t very hard. That also applies to my speaking. The people I know don’t usually talk at C levels in the languages I study.