Is your mind made up and you’re planning on taking the DELE exam in 2022? But you’re not sure where to start and you have difficulty understanding and navigating the official website? In this guide to DELE 2022, we are bringing you all you need to know about applying for DELE in 2022, from basic requirements to registration process − all in one place.
Chances are, you already know all about what DELE exam is and the benefits it can bring you if you want to make your knowledge of Spanish official and if you are successful at it.
So let’s take it from the start.
WHO CAN TAKE THE EXAM?
When I took the DELE exam in 2010, there were certain rules in place prohibiting the native Spanish speakers from taking the test, for example.
However, this changed in 2015 so there are currently no restrictions regarding the age or the nationality. This means that native Spanish speakers can take the test as well.
However, there are no requirements for anyone from Spanish speaking territories to pass DELE in order to apply for Spanish citizenship, though.
As for the age requirements, if you’re younger than 16, you can still apply, but you will need your legal guardian to handle the registration for you. There are also specially designed tests for escolares aged 11-17. The levels include A1 and A2/B1. They are just as valid as the ‘adult’ DELE certification, the only difference being the content – it is directed at and written for a younger student.
HOW DO I REGISTER FOR THE DELE EXAM
The first thing to do is to register of course.
There are two ways of doing that: you can either do it in person in your local center or you can register online. If you’re in Spain, you have to register online. The only exception are young learners, who will have to register in person wherever they are.
If you’re living outside of Spain, you will most likely have to register in person.
To see how you can take the DELE exam in the UK in 2022, visit the Instituto Cervantes London:
REGISTERING IN PERSON
If you’re going in person to your nearest center, make sure you bring the original and the photocopy of your identification document (passport, ID). You also have to fill out and bring the form at the bottom of this page:
This form isn’t the confirmation of inscription, it’s only application.
Once your payment is processed, you will receive the registration slip with your personal code for the exam. Make sure that all of the personal information is correct and matches the information on your official documentation.
REGISTERING ONLINE
To register online, you need to go to the official Instituto Cervantes website. Be warned − it’s in Spanish only.
Step number one is to create your account with Instituto Cervantes.
Follow the infographic below to make sure you’ve followed all of the steps correctly:
After you’ve selected Mis inscripciones, you need to choose the date and place where you wish to take the exam. To make this even clearer for you, we’ve explained this in greater detail.
WHEN AND WHERE CAN I TAKE DELE?
Location? Instituto Cervantes of course, although you can take the test in the centers certified by Instituto Cervantes too. In Spain, for example, those centers include Enforex and don Quijote.
This may mean that you have to travel or even stay the night in another city, especially because the oral part of the exam is sometimes later on the same day.
Bear in mind that DELE has over 1000 centers all over the world so the table shown above doesn’t reflect all of them. This means that not every Instituto Cervantes center offers all of the dates.
To find out if your nearest center offers the date you’re interested in, all you need to do is go to the search engine here .
You can do this before you’ve started the registration process or after.
Another tip: the engine is a bit impractical, as it will show you a list of all of the regions in your country, but it can be that only one of them has Instituto Cervantes.
To save yourself time, first google the locations of the Instituto Cervantes in your country. Pick the one most suitable to yourself and then enter the region in Instituto’s search engine to see dates and levels available.
HOW MUCH DOES DELE COST?
As you can see, the price depends on the level you’re taking, but it also depends on the country.
The price list shown is for London, UK only.
If you’re not taking the exam in the UK, your local Instituto Cervantes is your best friend.
HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO GET DELE RESULTS?
If you’ve ever taken IELTS or a similar language test, you might expect to get your results within a month.
With DELE, however, you might have to, armarse con la paciencia as they say, because it might take up to three months.
Even though it’s Instituto Cervantes who conducts all DELE exams, they are actually made and evaluated at the University of Salamanca. That it takes so long speaks of the popularity of the exam as well.
HOW IS DELE GRADED?
The DELE test consists of four parts: writing, speaking, reading and listening. However, the system of grading is different depending on the level you’re taking.
Take a look at the official table from the Instituto Cervantes website:
As you can see, from A1 to B2 levels, each section brings you 25 points. To pass the exam, you need 30 points from two sections merged together. Therefore, out of 50 points, you need to be awarded 30. The exam has 100 points in total, so you need to get at least 60 points in order to pass.
It gets a bit more complicate with C1 and C2 levels.
C1 level merges together some of the learning activities into one, but the grading system is the same.
With C2, however, there are three sections that consist of four merged activities. The system of grading is much stricter as well: you must receive 20 points minimum per section, and each section consists of 33,33 points.
So even though you still need 60 points out of 100 to pass, it’s harder to obtain them because you need 20 points out of 33,33 and not out of 50 total like in previous levels.
You will get the diploma if you’ve met this criteria. If you don’t pass, there are no options to ask for exam reevaluation. Instead, you would have to register and take the exam again.
To see the exact breakdown of the exam structure by the level, visit here.
You will receive the certificate through the post, but I personally had the option to pick it up from the local Instituto Cervantes, so check if that’s an option for you and if you would so prefer.
FOR HOW LONG IS DELE VALID?
DELE lasts for a lifetime so there’s no need to renew it. This is another reason why DELE diploma is so coveted.
Thousands of people take DELE exam every year for various reasons − study, travel, nationality.
It really is a valuable and useful diploma to have up your sleeve. We hope that our overview of everything you need to know about DELE in 2022 made things a little bit clearer for you and that you feel encouraged to keep going.
If you want to know more about DELE and how to prepare for it, we have an article where we give advice on how to triumph at DELE, written by a Spanish teacher and DELE C2 Master.
And stay tuned, because we will be bringing you a lot more DELE content in 2022!
