Do the arithmetic on the DELF B1 reading paper, and something becomes obvious.
Three exercises. Around six documents. Roughly thirty items. Forty-five minutes. That is about ninety seconds per item. And that figure has to cover reading two press articles of three to four hundred words each.
The paper is not hard for someone at the B1 level. It is a race against volume. Candidates lose it by reading too carefully at the start.
This sample paper gives you both halves. The selection grid that opens the paper, and an article of the length you will meet on the day.
Reading and listening test the same recognition skill on different channels, so most candidates prepare them together. DELF B1 audio papers cover the audio half.
What Is in the DELF B1 Reading Paper?
Three exercises across about six documents, worth 25 marks in 45 minutes. Exercise one uses short informative documents such as brochures and listings. Exercises two and three use press or magazine articles of roughly 300 to 400 words each.
The two halves test different things. The first is a selection task in which you check documents against a set of criteria. The second and third are comprehension tasks. You follow an argument and answer questions in detail, with opinion and purpose.
Under the current format, all answers are multiple choice. Older papers asked you to justify true or false answers by quoting the text. That version still turns up during the transition. Official past papers are available for download on the B1 sample subjects page on the France Éducation International website.
Reading sits between listening and writing, in a collective session running one hour and fifty-five minutes. Pass is 50 out of 100, with a floor of 5 out of 25 here.
Sample Exercise 1: The Selection Grid
You are given criteria and several options. For each option, you decide whether it meets each criterion.
Situation. Vous êtes responsable d’une petite association et vous cherchez une formation à la comptabilité pour deux bénévoles. Vos critères sont les suivants :
- la formation doit avoir lieu en soirée ou le week-end
- elle doit durer moins de 20 heures au total
- elle doit coûter moins de 300 € par personne
- elle doit être accessible sans diplôme préalable
Formation A. Comptabilité associative, niveau initiation 18 heures réparties sur six mardis soir, de 18h30 à 21h30. 250 € par participant. Ouverte à tous, aucun prérequis.
Formation B. Gestion financière des associations 24 heures sur trois journées complètes, en semaine. 190 € par participant. Aucun diplôme exigé.
Formation C. Comptabilité pratique pour bénévoles 14 heures sur deux samedis, de 9h à 17h. 380 € par participant. Ouverte à tous.
Formation D. Certificat de gestion comptable 16 heures, les vendredis soir et samedis matin. 220 € par participant. Baccalauréat ou équivalent exigé.
Complete the grid. For each formation, mark whether it meets each criterion.
| Critère | A | B | C | D |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soirée ou week-end | ||||
| Moins de 20 heures | ||||
| Moins de 300 € | ||||
| Sans diplôme préalable |
Which formation meets all four criteria?
The pattern I see in every B1 group is the same. Students arrive able to read a 350-word article accurately within 10 minutes. The exam gives them roughly six, twice over, plus a grid. Comprehension is rarely the problem. Rhythm is. And rhythm only responds to timed practice with the clock visible, which is how we run every reading session.
This page is the mock. For the exercise formats, the question types, and the syllabus behind them, see the DELF B1 reading guide.
Sample Exercise 2: The Article
Réparer plutôt que jeter
Chaque samedi matin, dans une salle prêtée par la mairie de Besançon, une quinzaine de personnes arrivent avec des objets cassés : une bouilloire qui ne chauffe plus, un aspirateur devenu silencieux, un pull troué. Elles ne viennent pas déposer leurs affaires. Elles viennent apprendre à les réparer.
Le principe de ces ateliers de réparation est simple. Des bénévoles, souvent d’anciens techniciens ou de simples bricoleurs, aident les visiteurs à démonter, diagnostiquer et remettre en état leurs objets. Rien n’est facturé. Une participation libre couvre le café et quelques pièces détachées.
« Les gens croient qu’un appareil en panne est fichu », explique Bernard Lemoine, bénévole depuis quatre ans. « Dans sept cas sur dix, il s’agit d’un fil débranché, d’un filtre encrassé ou d’une pièce à cinq euros. »
Le succès du mouvement s’explique aussi par le prix. Faire réparer un petit appareil en boutique coûte souvent presque autant qu’un appareil neuf, ce qui pousse les consommateurs à racheter plutôt qu’à réparer. Les ateliers cassent ce calcul.
Mais leurs animateurs insistent sur un autre point : l’objectif n’est pas seulement économique. Il s’agit de transmettre des gestes que beaucoup n’ont jamais appris. « Un adolescent qui ouvre une machine pour la première fois découvre qu’il y a quelque chose à l’intérieur, et que ce quelque chose se comprend », résume Bernard Lemoine.
Le mouvement reste pourtant fragile. Il repose entièrement sur des bénévoles, dont la moyenne d’âge dépasse soixante ans, et les salles municipales ne sont jamais garanties d’une année sur l’autre. Plusieurs collectifs demandent aujourd’hui un statut plus stable, voire un financement public modeste.
En attendant, les ateliers se multiplient. On en comptait une trentaine en France il y a dix ans, contre plus de six cents aujourd’hui.
1. Les visiteurs viennent à l’atelier pour… a) faire réparer leurs objets par des professionnels b) apprendre à réparer eux-mêmes c) vendre leurs objets cassés
2. La participation des visiteurs est… a) obligatoire et fixée à l’avance b) libre et destinée aux frais c) inexistante
3. Selon Bernard Lemoine, la majorité des pannes… a) sont impossibles à réparer b) viennent de causes simples et peu coûteuses c) exigent l’intervention d’un technicien
4. Pourquoi beaucoup de consommateurs achètent-ils un appareil neuf ? a) parce que la réparation en boutique revient presque au même prix b) parce que les appareils neufs durent plus longtemps c) parce que les ateliers sont trop éloignés
5. Pour les animateurs, l’objectif le plus important est… a) de faire économiser de l’argent aux visiteurs b) de transmettre des savoir-faire c) de créer des emplois locaux
6. Quelle difficulté les ateliers rencontrent-ils ? a) un manque de visiteurs b) des bénévoles vieillissants et des locaux incertains c) le coût élevé des pièces détachées
7. Depuis dix ans, le nombre d’ateliers en France… a) a fortement augmenté b) a diminué c) est resté stable
Answer Key
Exercise 1
| Critère | A | B | C | D |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soirée ou week-end | oui | non | oui | oui |
| Moins de 20 heures | oui | non | oui | oui |
| Moins de 300 € | oui | oui | non | oui |
| Sans diplôme préalable | oui | oui | oui | non |
Formation A meets all four.
Each of the other three fails on exactly one criterion. That is how these grids are built. B runs in the week and lasts 24 hours. C costs 380 euros. D requires the baccalauréat.
That last one is the trap. Formation D looks ideal in terms of timing, duration, and price. Candidates who stop checking after three criteria pick it. So check every criterion for every option, even when one looks like a clear winner.
Exercise 2
1. b) apprendre à se réparer eux-mêmes. The text says “Elles viennent apprendre à les réparer”, right after the negative “Elles ne viennent pas déposer leurs affaires.” The article states the wrong answer first, then corrects it. B1 texts do this often.
2. b) libre et destinée aux frais. “Rien n’est facturé. Une participation libre couvre le café et quelques pièces.” Option C tempts you because there is no charge. But a voluntary contribution does exist.
3. b) viennent de causes simples et peu coûteuses. “Sept cas sur dix”, plus les trois exemples. The reformulation turns a ratio into “la majorité”. A five-euro part becomes “peu coûteuses”.
4. a) Parce que la réparation en boutique revient presque au même prix. “Coûte souvent presque autant qu’un appareil neuf.” Almost a direct restatement, which is why this is the easiest item in the set.
5. b) de transmettre des savoir-faire. The paragraph opens with “l’objectif n’est pas seulement économique”, then names transmission. Option A repeats an idea the text explicitly demotes.
6. b) des bénévoles vieillissants et des locaux incertains. Two facts combined into one option. Average age over sixty, and rooms not guaranteed year to year.
7. a) a fortement augmenté. Thirty to over six hundred. The question converts numbers into a trend, which is standard at B1.
Look at questions 1 and 5. In both, the wrong option restates something the text mentions and then rejects it. That is the most common B1 reading trap. It is also why skimming for familiar words fails.
How Should You Spend the 45 Minutes?
Give the selection grid about eight minutes. Then roughly seventeen minutes for each article, keeping three at the end. You cannot read the articles twice, so the first pass has to count.
A workable routine:
- Two minutes. Look at the whole paper. Count the exercises and note which is the grid.
- Eight minutes. Selection grid, checking every criterion against every option.
- Seventeen minutes. Article One. Read the questions, then the text once at a steady pace, answering as you go.
- Fifteen minutes. Article two, same method.
- Three minutes. Check anything you flagged.
Read each article once, properly, rather than twice quickly. B1 questions follow the order of the text. A single careful pass, with the questions in mind, answers most of them.
Do not linger on unknown vocabulary. A word you do not know rarely holds an answer on its own. The sentence around it usually carries enough.
Candidates who struggle with pacing usually benefit from DELF B1 reading training. The fix is rhythm, not vocabulary.
The same reformulation skill decides the other papers, too. DELF B1 written papers ask you to produce those reformulations on paper. The DELF B1 oral exam asks candidates to read aloud from a press document like this one.
Which Reading Skills Does the B1 Test?
Four: locating specific information, following an argument, recognizing the writer’s or a speaker’s opinion, and understanding a text’s purpose. Reformulation sits underneath all four.
- Locating. Numbers, dates, names, conditions. The selection grid is entirely this.
- Following. Cause and effect, contrast, sequence. Words like pourtant, donc, en revanche and c’est pourquoi carry the structure.
- Opinion. Whose view is this? The article above quotes Bernard Lemoine twice. Questions 3 and 5 test whether you attributed his views correctly.
- Purpose. Is the text informing, warning, advertising, or persuading? Exercise one documents are usually informative. Articles often inform while carrying a quiet position.
Two structures deserve special attention because B1 texts lean on them. First, a negative followed by a correction, as in “Elles ne viennent pas… Elles viennent…”. Second, a concession followed by a reversal, as in “Le mouvement reste pourtant fragile.”
What Do B1 Candidates Get Wrong?
Four habits do the damage. Choosing an option the text mentions and rejects. Stopping the grid check early. Over-reading the first article, then rushing the second. And getting stuck on unknown words.
Two more worth naming.
- Attributing an opinion to the wrong voice. Articles quote people. What a quoted person believes is not always what the article concludes. Questions test the difference.
- Reading the questions after the text. It doubles the work. Read the questions first so you can answer them as you go through the text.
One habit fixes most of these at once. After each practice paper, write one line beside every wrong answer naming the trap. Rejected option. Wrong voice. Missed concession. Simple misreading. After three papers in, the pattern is usually obvious, and naming the pattern is most of the cure.
Reading and listening reinforce each other at this level. Both test paraphrase recognition. The B1 listening mock paper demonstrates the same mechanism in the audio.
Why Does B1 Matter Now?
B1 has been the required level for a French long-term residence card since 1 January 2026, raised from A2 by decree 2025-648. Naturalization moved to B2 in all four skills on the same date.
Reading is where French becomes useful in practice. At B1, you can follow a news article. You can read a rental summary or a workplace circular without a dictionary.
For learners in India, that is where French stops being a study project and becomes a working tool. It feeds the speaking paper too. Article topics and oral trigger documents come from the same families. Jobs French opens up what B1 unlocks professionally.
For Canada, DELF is not the points exam. TEF Canada and TCF Canada results expire after two years, while DELF diplomas do not.
If you are weighing DELF against other certifications, the French test comparison sets out which exam matches which goal.
DELF B1 Reading Comprehension Questions, Answered
Practice Against the Clock, Not the Dictionary
The B1 reading paper rewards rhythm. Read a 350-word article once, answer seven questions from that single pass, and you finish comfortably. Everyone else runs out of time on exercise three.
Our DELF coaching with mocks runs timed reading papers every week. We review every distractor afterward, so you can see how the rejected-option trap is built. Batches stay at six to ten students in Noida. Our online French with feedback runs the same papers across India and abroad.
Official B1 papers are published on the B1 sample exam page of the Fondation Esprit Francophonie.
Call or WhatsApp 7011164582 to book a free demo and a timed reading diagnostic.