My thoughts on the DELE C1 exam: Integrated skills. Listening comprehension and written expression and interaction

The third prueba tests on proficiency in written Spanish. This was actually my worst section (possibly due to lack of practice). I got a 15/25, or 60%, which is the minimum passing score for the DELE C1 exam. Overall, I believe this was most likely due to my lack of practice. I didn't practice writing any formal essays in the months preceding my exam (thinking that my writing was my strongest skill in Spanish), but I was definitely wrong. The DELE knows that people generally read and write better than they can speak and listen. As a result, they make the writing test more complex than the other sections. Don't get me wrong, the task and the writing prompts themselves are fairly simple. However, the grading rubric is pretty harsh. It's not enough to just write an essay that's coherent and correct. At the C1 level, you need to demonstrate sophistication in your writing style, using adequately complex vocabulary and sentence structures where they fit. I would say that the writing section in Spanish is probably similar to taking the SAT Writing section in the United States.

After the jump, I'll detail the couple of sections that I was given in this prueba.

My thoughts on the DELE C1 exam: Listening comprehension

The second prueba that I had in my exam was Comprensión auditiva y uso de la lengua, or listening comprehension and use of language. This consists of 4 tareas, or tasks with 30 questions total that you have to complete in 50 minutes. Below I've put down my thoughts on each of these tasks.

The big picture of this test is that the questions tend to be relatively complex, maybe about an NPR or news opinion-style interview. They speak at a normal conversation pace, but the audio quality can be questionable sometimes. I actually think that this is intentional, to see if your listening skills deteriorate if the recordings aren't given to you in perfect, sterilized Spanish. The conversation sections oftentimes have background noise that can disrupt your understanding (such as people talking, phones ringing, cars driving by, etc.). Sometimes the background noise will be so loud that you miss a word or two, and you need to use context to fill in what they probably said. Luckily, you listen to each recording twice. Some prep books tell you to just absorb the material the first time around and take notes the second time. But I think you should take notes the first time! And then use the second playback to fix your notes or add anything you missed.

After the jump, I've detailed my thoughts on the four tareas from this section.

My thoughts on the DELE C1 exam: Reading comprehension

Now that I've come down from the high that was passing the DELE C1 exam, I wanted to give my thoughts on the exam format, my performance, and how prospective test takers should approach the test.

The test is designed to test your skills across a variety of settings, both formal and informal. According to the Instituto Cervantes, passing the C1 level certifies that you are able to:

• Understand a wide variety of long, quite demanding texts, as well as recognize implicit meanings in them.
• Express themselves fluently and spontaneously, without any obvious effort to find the right words.
• Use the language flexibly and effectively for social, academic, and professional purposes.
• And be able to produce clear, well-structured, detailed texts on topics having a certain level of complexity, with correct use of mechanisms for organizing and articulating a cohesive text.

As such, the C1 level of this exam (and I can't speak for other levels) is divided into 4 sections, or pruebas. Each prueba contains 2-5 tasks, or tareas.

Because I have quite a bit to say, I'm going to split this up into 4 posts, each dedicated to a single prueba.

Prueba 1: Reading comprehension and use of language. 

Here, you have 90 minutes to answer 40 questions. As the DELE objectives mention, the texts are actually quite demanding (and boring, I'll add!). And, unlike in the B2 level, the questions associated with them are much more specific and detailed.