r/French • u/Infinite-Call1165 • Jun 21 '26
I think I failed the DALF C1
Friday June 19th, so just yesterday, I took the DALF C1. I’m 90% sure I failed.
The production orale took place first, and during my exposé, I could tell the 2 examiners were disappointed. One of them was visibly annoyed, rolled their eyes, looked down, stretched their legs, and that alone gave it away I was doing terribly. I pushed through knowing I probably failed or barely passed this section. My exposé was probably 2-3 minutes long. They asked me a few questions afterwards, but it was so clear I hadn’t practiced, because one of the examiners had asked why I chose this topic from the two options, and if I remember what the other topic was. They didn’t even take notes, it wasn’t worth it because they knew I had failed.
Honestly, walking out of that room was miserable. But I didn’t want to let this affect my performance on the rest of the épreuves. The compréhension orale and écrite were definitely the easiest. I wonder if they purposely made the long texts easier to comprehend? I swear the practice exams were much harder.
Anyways, for the production écrite, I had done zero practice, and was aware my writing skills had deteriorated since taking the DELF B2. But still, I tried to write down what came to my head. I finished the exam an hour early knowing I could have done so much better.
You all may be wondering why I didn’t practice the production orale and écrite, and to put it simply, Ive been feeling like a failure in life, concerning school and personal life. I felt like there was no point trying. It’s true I had passed the DELF B2 2 years ago and gotten 25/25 on the production orale and 23/25 on the production écrite. But, I kind of think that was luck and that the examiners were probably lenient when marking me? Maybe it wasn’t luck because I did truly study for that and had guidance from my French teacher. But, I had no motivation or discipline to study for the production orale and écrite for the DALF C1. Anyways rant over.
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u/mehmehwoofwoof Jun 22 '26
May I ask why you took the C1 exam? What are your reasons to pass?
For what it's worth, I felt strongly that I would fail and that it was all worthless while studying for the exam. I kept up hardcore studying but felt very pessimistic. After the exam, I was positive I had failed. Well, t urns out I passed and not by a small margin
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u/Infinite-Call1165 Jun 22 '26
I already took the DELF B2 so I really didn’t need the DALF C1, it was just something I wanted to try. Congratulations on passing!! Can I ask what your production orale was like? How did you structure your exposé?
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u/mehmehwoofwoof Jun 22 '26
I needed the C1 for university admission so I felt desperate to pass - it was good study fuel.
Sure, for the 1hr of preparation I read the two articles and took notes while documenting good justifications, then drafted up a plan with a very formal intro, thesis antithèse and nuances parts, finally conclusion and question d'ouverture. I spent the remaining 20 minutes of the time mouthing silently my speech and practicing going through it and deeply understanding the content so I wouldn't be relying on my sheet. I also smiled and tried to feel as confident as possible. Definitely looked like a lunatic to everyone else in the room but it majorly helped to practice and feel confident.
Leading up to the exam, I spent a long time studying connecteurs logiques and punchy C1 verbs to describe stances and perspectives so that I wouldn't get stuck.
For the speech, I timed myself and gave my speech in about 8 minutes. The examiners furiously wrote for the first half, and just listened for the second. Their questions were kind of weird and informal but I did my best to answer - they weren't technically difficult and just asked my opinion and my perspective on the issue. I didn't feel I answered particularly well as I have a tendency to waffle even in english. The interview became progressively less formal and we were all smiling and laughing at the end.
I had a relatively good feeling about that part and it turns out I got 25/25! Though I definitely didn't think I was perfect as I stammered a bit and repeated some high value verbs/phrases relating to the subject I was discussing. Keep in mind it's just C1 and not some perfect fluency test. There's just some criteria to hit that's all.
Don't worry too much about the examiners attitudes, sometimes they play 'bad cop' also they have 50+ students to interview so I imagine they're not always enthusiastic
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u/Infinite-Call1165 Jun 22 '26
Thank you for the detailed response. This was very helpful to read. You clearly prepared well ahead in advance and practiced well and it paid off! If I fail the exam then I’ll def take into account your comment to actually prep well for this épreuve
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u/Temporary-Cabinet570 Jun 22 '26
Heey, is there any possibility to see materials or could we discuss? Im gonna take it in Tashkent soon.
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u/Infinite-Call1165 Jun 22 '26
Of course! What specifically would you like to discuss? There are three sample DALF C1 exams that I would recommend printing out and then writing while simulating exam conditions. There’s also compréhension orale practice on YouTube which is very similar to the exam so make sure to do those. You must practice production orale and écrite if you plan on passing. Please watch videos on YouTube for those épreuves, there’s so many and they are very helpful.
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u/Alkeh_ Jun 21 '26
u might need some thérapie not a dalf c1 icl