DELF Junior B1 and B2: what changes from the DELF tout public?

The DELF Junior and the standard DELF (officially DELF tout public) are the same diploma: the same level on the European framework, the same marking scheme, the same recognition, the same lifetime validity. Only one thing changes — the topics of the exam papers, chosen to speak to a teenager rather than to an adult. And here is the part that surprises most people: the version you sat does not appear on the diploma. A DELF B2 obtained in the Junior version is a DELF B2: the diploma states the level obtained and the session, and nothing on it indicates that the papers were the Junior ones.

So it is a question of comfort, not of value. A fifteen-year-old should not have to write about an employment contract or a tax return to prove their level of French. Below we set out what actually changes from one version to the other, how to choose between them, and which level makes sense for a teenager.

One diploma, two versions of the paper

The DELF is an official diploma of the French Ministry of Education, awarded by France Éducation international. It comes in several variants depending on the audience, but they lead to the same diploma, with the same structure: four skills assessed (listening, reading, writing, speaking), each marked out of 25, and 50 out of 100 required to pass, with a minimum of 5 out of 25 in each paper.

What sets the Junior version apart are the documents and the tasks. Where a tout public paper starts from a flat to rent, a job interview or a residents’ meeting, a Junior paper starts from school, friends, sport, music, social media, screen time, the environment or a school trip. The level of language required is exactly the same; the context is a teenager’s.

A junior candidate is therefore neither favoured nor penalised. They are simply questioned about a world they know — which stops a French exam from turning into a test of French administrative culture.

Junior or tout public: which to choose for a teenager

A teenager may sit either version. Nothing obliges them to take the Junior papers, and the tout public papers are not closed to them: the question is practical, not regulatory.

The Junior version gives them more familiar ground — they will read an advert for a sports club rather than the rules of a block of flats. At the same level of language, that saves them losing marks on vocabulary they have simply never had occasion to meet.

That said, there is nothing to lose by sitting the tout public version if that is the session that suits you: the diploma is identical, and a well-prepared secondary-school student does perfectly well. Our advice is to decide on the level and the date first, then take the Junior version when it is open.

What age, and above all what level

The Junior version is aimed at teenagers, in practice from 12 to 17. This is not a hard boundary: a very confident eleven-year-old, or an eighteen-year-old still at school, are not a problem. Ask us rather than rule it out.

Choosing the level matters far more than choosing the version. The two we are opening today:

• DELF B1: the candidate copes on their own in most everyday situations. They can tell a story, explain, give an opinion and justify it simply. This is the level many applications and administrative procedures ask for, and a solid first piece of evidence in a school record.
• DELF B2: the candidate argues, qualifies, defends a position, and understands a press article or a debate. This is the level that opens the most doors — admission to a secondary school in France, application files, and later exemption from the language test when entering many French universities.

How the DELF Junior B1 and B2 exams run

The Junior papers follow the tout public ones, timings included. At our centre, a junior candidate sits:

• DELF Junior B1: group papers of about 1 hr 55 — listening, reading and writing — followed by an individual oral of about 15 minutes, preceded by 10 minutes of preparation.
• DELF Junior B2: group papers of about 2 hr 30, followed by an individual oral of about 20 minutes, preceded by 30 minutes of preparation.

The group papers are sat together, at the time shown on the exam notice. The oral is scheduled in an individual slot — on the same day or another day of the session — and its exact time also appears on the notice. One thing not to forget for a candidate under 18: registration requires a parental authorisation, which you download, sign and upload from your candidate space after registering.

Registering for the DELF Junior B1 or B2 with us

Our centre, in Bezons in the Val-d’Oise, 15 minutes from La Défense, opens the DELF Junior at B1 and B2. The fees are the tout public fees:

• DELF Junior B1: 130 €
• DELF Junior B2: 150 €

Registration is done online, and two links take you straight there: book a seat for the DELF Junior B1 or for the DELF Junior B2. You will see the sessions open for the level you chose; all that is left is to pick the date that suits you. Payment is by card and the seat is held as soon as the payment goes through. Junior sessions have few seats, so it is wise not to leave it to the last few days.

We are not yet opening the Junior version at other levels: demand today is for B1 and B2. If you are looking for an A1, an A2 or a DALF for a teenager, the tout public version is open at any age — and, to say it once more, it is exactly the same diploma. Other common questions are answered in our DELF-DALF FAQ.

The essentials

• The DELF Junior is the same diploma as the DELF tout public: same level, same marking, same recognition, valid for life.
• The version you sat does not appear on the diploma. Nobody reading it will know the topics were about school rather than work.
• Only the topics change: school, friends, leisure, social media, the environment.
• A teenager may sit either version; the Junior one is more comfortable, the tout public one takes nothing away from the diploma.
• Our centre opens the Junior version at B1 (130 €) and B2 (150 €), with parental authorisation for candidates under 18.

For a teenager, the real question is not which of two versions of the same diploma to choose: it is sitting the right level, with enough preparation behind them. Write to us from our contact page if you would like to talk it through before registering your child.