When to take your first official exam
Hola I just started learning Spanish using this site and fluencia. I take a lesson everyday. Follow along audio recordings in Spanish although I understand little. I changed most of my social media settings to Spanish and at least once a month I watch films and clips ( about 5 each 40 minutes) with no subtitles in Spanish. I do find I follow the films pretty well. I've been doing this consistently for 2 months. Finally I take notes which I review every month or fortnight because of a harsh work schedule. At this rate After how long should I take my first exam? Also do I need to enroll in an official college before I even think about DECE?
3 Answers
Hi, I have not actually taken a DELE exam, so someone else can probably answer this better, but I will try to help. It is my understanding that the A1 and A2 exams contain approximately the material covered in the first year of Spanish at a university. The Fluencia course says it is equal to the first year of Spanish, but I don't know if that means the college or high school level. I have taken about half the Fluencia course and it seems pretty easy to me. (Really fun though, right?!) I know there are online DELE prep courses out there, but I don't know how much they cost. Perhaps there are free trials or sample tests you could access to see if you think you are at the right level yet. There is a language school called Don Quixote that teaches specifically to the DELE online and in various locations around the world. I think they have a free online placement test that might be of value to you. Also, many local universities have DELE prep courses that cost less than a regular college course because you are not paying for the college credits, just specialized instruction. They are usually through the continuing education department. Do some online searches and I think you will find useful information. Good luck!
In my view you are taking steps in the right direction but if you want to know when you are ready I would suggest and strongly recommend you take lessons from a native teacher through Skype because:
1 They know the standards necessary for all these DELE exams
2.The native teachers are trained to know how to prepare students for these exams and they will be able to assess your current level /standard, and coach you until they know you have reached the standard of proficiency required so that you neither waste time waiting nor are tempted to apply too early and are discouraged by the results.
I can suggest two genuine online language schools you can use as a starting point for your enquiries:
1 La Aventura Española (Madrid) Online Skype lessons available. I have recently been looking at their website, They are linked to the Cervantes Institute. Please follow this link: enter link description here
2 Verbal Planet Online Skype lessons available enter link description here
If you choose not to use/take advantage of their services, for whatever reason you decide, they should at least be able to point you in the right direction so you know what kind of learning resources you will need to use and give you some guidance as to the practical implications of taking threse exams. There are also the Common European Framework exams available, too.
Have you come across or used either LoMás TV or Yabla? These are sites which offer short videos created by native speakers in Spanish, or French, respectively Yabla offer many other languages, too
Here is a review of the site LoMas TV: enter link description here
LoMás TV is owned by Yabla. Sorry, I hadn't realized that but I will give you the site link: LoMAs TV /Yabla: enter link description here
I hope this helps 
Other useful sites apart from Fluencia, of course, include:
1 Busuu.com [enter link description here][5]
2 Live Mocha.com. enter link description here
3 Spanishhelp.freeforums.org enter link description here
[5]: http://www.busuu.com/enc/?b_source=adwords&b_campaign=ob_enc&b_group=busuu&b_subnetwork=SN&b_term=busuu com&b_placement=&utm;_noov
