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8.3 Writing Scales, Essential Connectors & Common Spelling Errors

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DELE A1 Study Guide Exam

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1 Introduction, Exam Architecture & Scoring

1.1 About the DELE A1 Exam: Purpose, CEFR Level & Registration 1.2 Exam Architecture: Four Pruebas & Two-Group Scoring System 1.3 Strategic Preparation: Study Schedule, Time Management & Exam Traps

2 Prueba 1: Comprensión de Lectura (Reading Comprehension)

2.1 Reading Tarea 1: One Personal Email or Postcard (5 Questions) 2.2 Reading Tarea 2: Notes, Signs & Short Notices (Match 6 Sentences to 9 Texts) 2.3 Reading Tarea 3: Matching People's Needs to Short Ads (6 of 9) 2.4 Reading Tarea 4: Extracting Details from One Informational Text (8 Questions)

3 Prueba 2: Comprensión Auditiva (Listening Comprehension)

3.1 Listening Tarea 1: Short Interpersonal Dialogues & Graphic Selection 3.2 Listening Tarea 2: Short Messages & Announcements Matched to Pictures 3.3 Listening Tarea 3: Eight Statements from One Monologue (Matching Beginnings and Endings) 3.4 Listening Tarea 4: One Conversation, Seven Sentences to Complete

4 Core Grammar I: Essential Verbs & Foundations

4.1 Subject Pronouns & Regular Present Tense (-ar, -er, -ir) 4.2 Ser vs. Estar: Permanent Identity vs. Temporary States & Locations 4.3 Essential Irregular & Stem-Changing Verbs 4.4 Reflexive Verbs, Daily Routines & Time Sequencing

5 Core Grammar II: Nouns, Modifiers & Structures

5.1 Gender, Number, Articles & Noun-Adjective Agreement 5.2 Expressing Likes & Preferences: Gustar, Encantar, Interesar & Parecer 5.3 Question Words, Demonstratives & Possessive Adjectives 5.4 High-Yield Verbal Periphrases: Ir a + Infinitivo, Tener que + Infinitivo, Estar + Gerundio

6 Essential Vocabulary: Numbers, Time & Daily Life

6.1 Cardinal Numbers (0–1,000), Telling Time, Calendar & Weather 6.2 Personal Data, Nationalities, Family Members & Descriptions 6.3 The Home, Furniture, Rooms & Spatial Prepositions

7 Situational Vocabulary: Shopping, Travel, Health, Work & Free Time

7.1 Food, Market Shopping, Restaurant Orders & Asking Prices 7.2 City Navigation, Public Transport & Asking for/Giving Directions 7.3 Physical Well-Being, Body Parts, Doctor Visits & Pharmacy Purchases 7.4 Studies, Work, Free Time & Communication

8 Prueba 3: Expresión e Interacción Escritas (Written Expression & Interaction)

8.1 Writing Tarea 1: Personal Data Form Completion & Questionnaires 8.2 Writing Tarea 2: Short Epistolary Texts (Emails, Postcards, Messages & Ads, 30–40 Words) 8.3 Writing Scales, Essential Connectors & Common Spelling Errors

9 Prueba 4: Expresión e Interacción Orales (Oral Expression & Interaction)

9.1 Oral Tarea 1: Personal Presentation (1–2 Minute Monologue) 9.2 Oral Tarea 2: Exposición de un tema (2–3 Minute Talk on a Topic) 9.3 Oral Tarea 3: Conversation with the Interviewer (and Your Two Questions) 9.4 Oral Scoring Scales, Pronunciation & Communication Repair

8.3 Writing Scales, Essential Connectors & Common Spelling Errors

Key Takeaways Explain This Topic AI

Prueba 3 is scored by two independent raters, each giving every task a holistic rating from 0 to 3; the two tasks count 50% each and the ratings are averaged.

Band 2 describes the A1 level, band 3 a comfortable achievement of the level, band 1 non-achievement and band 0 a blank, irrelevant or illegible answer.

Prueba 3 belongs to Grupo 1 with reading, and a direct score of 2 out of 3 converts to 16.67 of the 25 points.

The coordinating conjunction 'y' becomes 'e' before words beginning with the /i/ sound ('geografía e historia'), and 'o' becomes 'u' before the /o/ sound.

Days, months, languages and nationalities are lowercase in Spanish, and diacritic accents distinguish pairs such as está/esta, tú/tu and sí/si.

Last updated: October 2026

8.3 Writing Scales, Essential Connectors & Common Spelling Errors

Achieving an APTO (Pass) in Prueba 3 ( Expresión e interacción escritas ) requires not only understanding what each task asks of you, but also understanding how your text is scored behind the examiner's desk. Writing at the CEFR A1 level is not expected to be sophisticated, but it must be coherent, legible, and structurally sound. By mastering basic discourse connectors and eliminating recurring orthographic mistakes, you can turn a fragile, borderline paper into a decisive high-scoring submission.

How Prueba 3 Is Scored

Prueba 3 is worth 25 points of the 100. Together with Prueba 1 (reading), it forms Grupo 1 , and you need at least 30 of the 50 points in that group (and 30 in Grupo 2) to be APTO.

Two independent raters score every paper, and the final result is the average of their scores.

Each rater gives one holistic rating per task , from 0 to 3, using a scale written for that task. There are no separate sub-scores for grammar or vocabulary in the writing test.

Tarea 1 and Tarea 2 count 50% each , so each rating is worth 25% of the prueba.

The resulting direct score out of 3 converts to points: direct score × 25 3 \frac{\text{direct score} \times 25}{3} 3 direct score × 25 ​ . A direct score of 2 gives 16.67 points; 2.5 gives 20.83.

What the Bands Mean

Band Meaning in the official scales Tarea 1 (form) particulars Tarea 2 (epistolary text) particulars

3 Comfortably above the level: meets the communicative goals with more elaborate answers than strictly necessary and some added details Completes all fields effectively Enough repertoire to express itself with some efficiency; simple sentences and a cohesive text despite some errors

2 The A1 level: meets the goal simply but comprehensibly, despite errors May leave blank or misread some fields 30–40 words; may omit or misread one point; words, short phrases or memorised sentence patterns

1 Level not achieved: comes close, but the information is insufficient Leaves blank or misreads most fields 20–29 words, or more than one point omitted or misread; loose words, many errors, words from other languages

0 No answer, isolated words, does not follow the points, irrelevant or illegible Fails the communicative goal 0–19 words: the task is not evaluated

What the Official Samples Teach

The exam guide comments on real candidate texts. A band-1 Tarea 2 sample developed only one of the points (things the writer likes) and added irrelevant information, while leaving out the greeting, the physical description and the farewell; its grammar and vocabulary were otherwise appropriate for A1. A band-2 sample ( Soy un estudiante de Alemania y me gusta trabajar en la televisión. Soy alta y delgada... ) covered the points simply, used basic courtesy formulas and the connector y , and controlled simple present-tense sentences. The difference was task coverage, not advanced grammar.

High-Yield A1 Connectors ( Conectores Discursivos )

At the A1 level, beginner writers often produce choppy, isolated sentence fragments:

Choppy Draft: "Vivo en Madrid. Madrid es grande. Me gusta el fútbol. Juego con amigos los sábados. El fútbol es divertido."

This telegraphic style matches the band-2 description of short, memorised sentences. Linking the ideas with two or three simple connectors moves the text toward the band-3 description of a cohesive text:

Cohesive revision: "Vivo en Madrid, que es una ciudad grande. Me gusta mucho el fútbol y juego con amigos los sábados porque es muy divertido."

Below are the essential connectors for DELE A1:

Connector Function Example Sentence Special Rules & Pitfalls

y Addition ("and") Estudio español y trabajo en un hotel. Changes to e before words starting with the sound /i/ ( i- or hi- ).

e Phonetic variant of y Hablamos de geografía e historia. Used before i or hi , but not before diphthongs like hierro or hielo .

pero Contrast ("but") El piso es pequeño, pero muy luminoso. Always preceded by a comma when linking two independent clauses.

porque Cause / Reason ("because") Estudio español porque quiero viajar a Perú. Written as a single unaccented word. Do not confuse with ¿por qué? (why).

también Addition ("also / too") Hablo inglés y también hablo un poco de italiano. Must carry a written tilde on the letter e ( también ).

además Amplification ("furthermore") El hotel está limpio. Además , está cerca de la playa. Carries a tilde on the letter a ( además ); usually begins a new sentence.

por eso Consequence ("therefore / that's why") Mañana tengo un examen; por eso estudio hoy. Two separate unaccented words indicating a logical outcome.

o / u Alternative ("or") ¿Prefieres cenar a las siete u ocho? o morphs into u before words starting with the sound /o/ ( o- or ho- ).

Spanish Orthography & Mechanics Essentials

Spelling and punctuation are part of the overall impression on the holistic scale. Pay attention to the rules that most often trip up beginners.

1. Inverted Punctuation Marks ( Signos Invertidos )

Spanish is unique in requiring opening inverted question marks ( ¿ ) and exclamation marks ( ¡ ). They indicate where the intonation contour begins:

¿Cómo te llamas?

¡Qué sorpresa!

When a sentence opens with a vocative name, the inverted mark attaches strictly to the question clause: Hola, Juan, ¿a qué hora quedamos? (Notice that ¿ begins after the greeting comma, not before Hola !).

2. Capitalization ( Uso de Minúsculas )

English capitalizes numerous lexical categories that Spanish strictly keeps in lowercase ( minúsculas ). Capitalizing these words is an immediate giveaway of non-native interference: ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐

  • │ NEVER CAPITALIZE IN SPANISH │
  • ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
  • │ • Days of the Week: el lunes, el martes, el sábado (NOT Lunes) │
  • │ • Months of the Year: en mayo, en septiembre, en enero (NOT Mayo) │
  • │ • Languages: hablo español, estudio francés (NOT Español) │
  • │ • Nationalities: un chico mexicano, comida china (NOT Mexicano) │
  • │ • Seasons: la primavera, el verano, otoño (NOT Verano) │
  • └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
  • 3. High-Frequency Diacritical Accents ( Tildes Diacríticas )

In Spanish, an accent mark ( la tilde ) changes grammatical function or verb meaning. The table below lists six minimal pairs worth mastering at A1:

Accented Word Meaning / Grammatical Role Unaccented Word Meaning / Grammatical Role

está 3rd person singular of estar ( Él está en casa ) esta Demonstrative adjective ( esta tarde , esta ciudad )

  • tú Subject pronoun ( Tú hablas español ) tu Possessive adjective ( tu pasaporte , tu casa )
  • él Subject pronoun ( Él se llama Pedro ) el Masculine definite article ( el profesor , el libro )
  • sí Affirmative adverb ( Sí, voy a la fiesta ) si Conditional conjunction ("if": Si tienes tiempo, ven )
  • mí Prepositional pronoun ( Es para mí ) mi Possessive adjective ( mi cumpleaños , mi amigo )

qué / dónde / cómo Interrogatives / Exclamatives ( ¿Qué haces? , ¿Dónde vives? ) que / donde / como Conjunctions / Relatives ( Dice que sí , la casa donde vivo )

4. Consonant Restrictions & The Letter Ñ

Few Double Consonants : Unlike English, Italian or French, Spanish rarely doubles a consonant. Besides the digraphs ll ( calle ) and rr ( perro ), only c ( acción ) and n ( innecesario ) are doubled. There are no double letters for bb, dd, ff, mm, pp, ss, tt . Writing professore , difficil , opportunidad , or caffe are classic English spelling calques. Write cleanly: profesor , difícil , oportunidad , café .

The Vital Letter Ñ : The letter ñ is an independent letter of the Spanish alphabet, representing the palatal nasal sound /ɲ/ (like canyon or gnocchi ). Leaving off the tilde changes meaning completely: writing ano (anus) instead of año (year) is a well-known and embarrassing beginner mistake ( Tengo 25 años , never Tengo 25 anos ).

The 3-Minute Pre-Submission Proofreading Routine

When the proctor announces that five minutes remain in Prueba 3, immediately stop writing new sentences and execute this systematic 5-point checklist:

Pauta Audit : Count your prompt bullet points. Did you satisfy every single instruction? Cross each off with your pencil.

Inverted Marks Check : Scan your text for question marks and exclamation points. Does every ? have a matching ¿ ? Does every ! have a matching ¡ ?

Decapitalization Sweep : Inspect days of the week, months, and languages. If you wrote Lunes , Agosto , or Español with a capital letter, erase and replace with lowercase lunes , agosto , español .

Verb & Agreement Scan : Verify that your main subject matches your verb endings ( yo voy , nosotros vamos ), and check that adjectives match their nouns in gender and number ( casas blancas , chicos altos ).

Word Count Total : Quickly verify that your Tarea 2 text contains between 30 and 40 words. If you have 25 words, add a short polite closing ( ¿Y tú? Escríbeme pronto ); if you have 60 words, prune unnecessary adjectives.