DELE Spanish Exam: How to Prepare

In short: the DELE tests reading, listening, writing and speaking. Read Spanish from different countries, review words every day, listen every day, and practise the writing and speaking tasks. Use the official model exams to learn the format.

What the exam tests

The DELE (Diplomas de Español como Lengua Extranjera) is the official Spanish diploma from the Instituto Cervantes. It exists at every level from A1 to C2, plus versions for school students. Many learners take A2, B1 or B2. The A2 is often asked for in Spanish nationality applications, together with a separate test on Spanish culture and the constitution (CCSE); check the current rules for your case.

From A1 to B2, each exam has four parts (at C1 and C2 the parts combine skills, for example reading with use of the language):

• Comprensión de lectura (reading)
• Comprensión auditiva (listening)
• Expresión e interacción escritas (writing)
• Expresión e interacción orales (speaking, with an examiner)

The result is apto (pass) or no apto (not passed). The parts are marked in two groups (reading with writing, and listening with speaking), and you must pass both groups, with at least 60 percent (30 of 50 points) in each, so one strong part cannot fully save a very weak one. The diploma does not expire.

Formats and rules change, so always check the current details on the official DELE site of the Instituto Cervantes. It has free model exams. Use them.

How many words?

There is no official DELE word count, and sources count words in different ways. The Instituto Cervantes describes the vocabulary and topics for each level in its Plan curricular. Teachers often quote rough figures for European languages: about 2,000–3,000 common words for B1 and about 3,000–4,000 for B2. Treat these only as a rough guide.

Estimate Your Vocabulary (Settings → Languages) gives you a word count, not a level. It is a rough check, and it depends on where you stop scrolling. When it opens at first run, scroll to the point where the common words stop looking familiar, tap OK, and stop a little early rather than late: words marked as known get no translation.

What to read at each level

• A2: graded readers (easy books written for learners) for A2, for example found by searching for lecturas graduadas (buy or borrow them as EPUB or PDF and open them with Open a file), short messages, adverts and notices. Just starting? See Start a New Language From Zero.
• B1: graded readers at B1, news for learners, blogs about travel, food and daily life. If a site has a news feed (RSS), add it in Feeds → Add Feed → Add URL.... You can also share a web page to pimReader from your browser.
• B2: real news and opinion articles on exam topics: work, education, health, the environment, culture, technology. Read from Spain and from Latin America. The exam can use texts and accents from different Spanish-speaking countries.

For fun, look in the library under ＋ → Free books for Spanish classics and stories. They are old, so they are not exam models. For easy reading there, look for fairy tales and children's stories; the catalogues differ by language, so the choice is bigger in some languages than others.

How many coloured words you see depends on the book. A graded reader or a modern text may have a few per paragraph; classics often have many more. If almost every line is full of colour, choose something easier.

A weekly plan (30–45 minutes a day)

Only 15 minutes a day? Do the reviews and the reading every day, and speak once a week.

Every day

1. 5 minutes: daily reviews: tap the Exercise card on Home. Tap Again, Hard, Good or Easy. Spaced repetition brings each word back when you're likely to start forgetting it.
2. 15 minutes: read one text. Tap a coloured word, tap its translation in the dictionary panel, and tick Memorize on the word's card. Keep 5–10 useful words a day. When a verb form confuses you, ask about it (AI): "Why is it fui here and not iba?"
3. 10 minutes: listen. Turn on read-aloud (in a book: ⋮ → Book ..., tick Play Audio:, choose Speech Synthesis). Listen once with the text, once without.

Twice a week (AI): expresión oral. Open Ask AI → Speaking practice. Ask for exam-like tasks: "Describe a photo of a family at a market, then ask me questions" or "Play a hotel receptionist; I have a problem with my room." Use Train speech (select a paragraph → ⋮ → Train speech) on sentences with sounds you find hard, like r and rr.

Once a week (AI): expresión escrita. Write one exam task: an email or short note at A2, a letter or blog post at B1, an opinion text at B2. Paste it into Ask AI together with the official assessment criteria, and ask: "What would an examiner take points off for? Show a corrected version." Then write it again. This is a study aid, not an official mark.

Every two or three weeks: do one official model exam, timed, without the app. Find your weakest part and give it more time next week.

Before the exam

Keep reviews going, add few new words, do timed model exams, and learn the instructions for each task. For a longer structure, see A 90-Day Plan for a B2 Language Exam.

What it won't do

• It has no official DELE papers. Use the free model exams on the official site.
• It won't give you points or say apto or no apto. AI feedback is a guide, not an exam result.
• It has no exam timer. Time yourself.
• It has no exam listening audio. Read-aloud uses a computer voice, not real speakers from different countries.

Reading, translations, feeds, read-aloud with your phone's voice and daily reviews (the Exercise card on Home) are free; Speaking practice, Train speech and writing feedback use AI, which is part of pimReader Plus. When you open an AI feature, pimReader offers Try free for a month: no card, no account, nothing renews. Tap Not now to carry on without AI.