DELE group

[reineke]

People's experiences

http://www.sunshineandsiestas.com/2011/ ... -you-dont/

Do’s and Don’ts: How to Prepare for the DELE Spanish Exam

http://www.sunshineandsiestas.com/2011/ ... -the-dele/

https://farawayirishman.wordpress.com/2 ... e-dele-c2/

http://www.aaronroth.net/2013/11/25/del ... am-friday/

http://www.chapala.com/webboard/index.p ... -the-dele/

http://www.exoglot.com/2013/dele_c1_san ... sions.html

http://www.polyglotnerd.com/blog/tag/dele-exam/

[Cavesa]

One more: https://www.reddit.com/r/languagelearni ... resources/

Thanks for all these, Reineke!
...............
Based on all this, I think my strategy is pretty clear. On the Cervantes website test, I got level C1.4, which means C1 should be the appropriate exam level, even though it will require a lot of work.

I will work on my general Spanish skills till April or so. That means courses, lots of grammar work, vocab, all that. Writing and speaking too, when possible, but I need to get all the gaps in my knowledge filled, before I build on that. Input: yes, sure, but it cannot take majority of my Spanish learning time by far.

In April, I will get the preparatory books. I will buy one (probably Cronometro), and borrow others from the Cervantes library in Prague. And I'll do all the preparatory writing tasks and speaking assignments I can find, and I'll work on improving those skills. I should be ready by November. July would be better (as that would mean I could have more time to fully focus on German), but I cannot fully prepare with all the university exams going on till the end of June.

I highly doubt I'll pay any teacher. Sure, one or two hours of speaking on italki may be useful before the exam. But I don't know. It is not just the issue of my overall distrust towards teachers and lots of experience with them. And this time, the available books should suffice, as the Spaniards are not as formal writing crazy as the French Money is the issue too. My "spare" money is going to be spent mostly on my education during the next year or so. I'll need to buy quite a lot of resources to prepare for the French medicine exam (I really wish I had studied the whole degree here), the DELE and the Goethe exam are not that cheap either (and don't forget about coffee). Buying high quality courses and preparatory books is a good investment, as I'll be using them a lot, I'll need to make notes in them, I want the up to date editions. The library books are a bit limiting, but will still be needed as I can't buy everything. I can look at a book, leaf through it, read recommendations, and I'll know whether it is worth my money or not. But a teacher is a highly risky investment and I cannot afford to waste hundreds of euros.

I believe I am totally capable of preparing myself to pass the exam, if only I put the time into it. I do not expect myself to pass with extremelly awesome notes, I don't need those. Perfectionism is needed elsewhere now.

[reineke]

TESTED ANSWERS to DELE EXAM FAQs

Practical stuff.

http://www.delehelp.org/tested-answers- ... exam-faqs/

[Cavesa]

TESTED ANSWERS to DELE EXAM FAQs

Practical stuff.

http://www.delehelp.org/tested-answers- ... exam-faqs/

Thanks for a wonderful link!

this part caught my attention, as it has been quite a topic of discussion on this forum, and it is something I am working on right now.

An ample linguistic scope (i.e., lexis) is also critically important – if you don’t know the right word or phrase, you won’t be fluent, nor correct or coherent, apart from obviously scoring poorly on the “linguistic scope” criteria as such. Vocabulary is thus the one issue that impacts each of the four scoring criteria, which makes it a key area for your attention.

In real life as well, if you make a grammatical mistake, your reader or listener usually can compensate mentally for your error and still follow your meaning (such as with wrong gender agreement, for example). If, however, you don’t know the right word or cannot intelligibly pronounce it, your interlocutor cannot really mentally compensate. he or she will likely end up at a loss to understand you, and thus the conveyance of meaning will have collapsed – which in the DELE exam will of course be seriously penalised.

Btw, has anyone been considering the SIELE?

[the1whoknocks]

Btw, has anyone been considering the SIELE?

Not until now.

My first impression is that it's the DELE's more techolocally savy, flexible cousin. It seems to boast the same level of accreditation as the DELE but allows for parts of the the exam to be taken electronically. Also seems to be an emphasis on getting the results of the test faster and more flexible scheduling options.

I didn't know about the SIELE before but I am going to look more into it. What are your thoughts on the exam?

[Cavesa]

I looked at the info about SIELE, such as the youtube videos. The whole exam is computer based. But, despite that, it is being organized in fewer centers than the traditional DELE. It seems to be a bit more expensive, which combined with the travel expenses (I'd need to go to any of the neighbouring countries, and I'd need to pay a room, as spending 6-8 hours in a bus right before the exam doesn't sound like a good idea) makes it less appealing. It is valid just two years, which I wouldn't mind now, as that is a fair price for no risk to not get anything at all in case of messing up. It is possible to take just some parts, but the combinations are fixed and an option speaking+writing is not offerred. And very advanced learners going for C2 are out of luck. That is not my case.

An advantage and disadvantage at once is the absolute lack of preparatory courses, but that won't last long. Sure, we feel the need to prepare for the test format and are a bit left in the dark (but the general info about the nature of writing or speaking tasks is actually not that bad). But remembering some people I've met at the exam centers (complainers: "but the second task was not similar enough to the tasks in my preparatory book! How dare they not teach us this beforehand!"), I actually think it might be a good idea not to create any preparatory business around this. It might make the exam much more reliable. But that is impossible, the private schools are surely adapting already. And if they are adapting and creating preparation classes and resources, the mainstream publishers and Cervantes itself are unlikely to stay away from the goldmine.

The format looks quite pleasant, especially for people who prefer typing to handwriting (like me). The oral exam is computer based too, which is an interesting concept. It may be easier for very shy people but, at the same time, it looks like a weird idea to test talking to a computer while we are talking to living people in real life. I would probably find it more difficult to talk to a screen than to people. The writing tasks seem to be quite short, with the longest requiring just 250-300 words. And the exam should definitely include more variants of Spanish in the harder tasks.

[donJhon]

I just checked on the availability of the SIELE exam here in Costa Rica. It is available at two language schools. Both give it of Fridays at 2p and the fee is €155 ($171 USD) for the Global (all four tests).

One school, ILISA, offers a DELE prep course and the SIELE is held weekly.

The advantages over DELE seems to be a) frequent exams, weekly; b) Instant scores on the two comprehension tests and complete results and certificate in about three weeks or less; c) there is no fail as long as your total score is at least the minimum for A1 so it gives you guidance where you stand on all four tests; d) since you schedule it for almost any week with less time in advance and you get the results sooner it would be great for someone who needs a CEFR cert. by a deadline.

The downside is that it is only good for two years but for many people that need it soon that would not be an issue and like I said above if you just want to check and confirm your level the time span is much shorter. I think the cost for the DELE Exams are prices: A1-$105, A2-$110, B1-$130, B2-$150, C1-$165, C2-$180 (2017).

Edit: I should of said that all the prices above are in Costa Rica and will vary by country.

[kunsttyv]

I have almost decided I want to sit the DELE exam one year from now, most probably July 2018. There's really no reason for me to do this (I'm an engineer working for a German-owned software company in Norway without any relocation plans for the foreseeable future) other than for the challenge itself, and maybe to push my Spanish to a level I wouldn't have reached without the self-imposed external pressure.

I started to check out the DELE examination centers closest to me. There are none in Norway, none in Denmark. However there's one in Stockholm. But then I looked for ones in Spain and found out that there is actually one in walking distance from my family's apartment in Nueva Andalucía outside of Marbella. And there are even cheap direct flights from Trondheim to Málaga!

So which level is it going to be? At least C1 for sure, but I'm considering going all in and try for the C2. Is it correct that the primary difference between C1 and C2 is that the latter requires a more precise academic vocabulary and that the exam is more formally strict? I think Cavesa had something to say about this earlier.

I also don't want to be over-confident, arrogant, stupid and try for something that isn't feasible. The exam is going to be one year from now, and my tutor says that my current level is about B2. However I think that most days, when I'm not feeling on top of it, my performance during our skype sessions is closer to B1. So one year to go from B1 to C1, or from B1 to C2, with an average of 2-3 hours of Spanish every day. Is it possible? What is the track record for others who have tried for something similar?

Additional information: I live in a monolingual environment and I have little experience with language learning (except my Spanish journey so far). I have a time consuming full time job, but not that many commitments outside of this.

[haziz]

Count me in. Aiming for either the SIELE to figure out my level, or alternatively for the DELE at A2 if I take it in May or possibly B1 if I plan to take it later in the year or possibly early next year. I did take the A2 DELE in May 2016, but unfortunately did not pass. I am doing this for "fun" (some fun!?) and as a motivator for myself; I do not need it for either personal or professional use.

[reineke]

People's experiences

s_alard taking the Spanish DELE C2 exam

Thanks to smallwhite for the hyperlinks:

Taking the Spanish DELE C2 exam - Part 1 - Overview
Taking the Spanish DELE C2 exam - Part 2 - Reading Comprehension
Taking the Spanish DELE C2 exam - Part 3 - Listening Comprehension
Taking the Spanish DELE C2 exam - Part 4 - Written production
Taking the Spanish DELE C2 exam - Part 5 - Spoken production
Taking the Spanish DELE C2 exam - Part 6 - Final thoughts
Taking the Spanish DELE C2 exam - Part 6 - Results