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My EU-PT B1 Exam Experience

B1 11 September 2025

Last year I took the B1 European Portuguese exam, otherwise known as the DEPLE - Diploma Elementar de Português Língua Estrangeira. I took it after having studied a few hours weekly for around 10 months. I was already around a mediocre A2 level just by a few years of osmosis with being around my family, and I wanted to take the B1 exam to push myself (and after having tried to book the A2 exam in January only to find it was immediately fully booked).

The exam was in the afternoon, starting at around 2.30pm and ended at around 6pm. In total we had:

So first up, the reading exam. Definitely one of the easier sections, and it's always fortunate that thousands on Portuguese words share their origins with English ones (https://www.practiceportuguese.com/videos/words/). So even when words were brand new they were often easy to deduce.

Most of the reading questions had a clear common sense answer, as long as you could differentiate well enough between the options. However, a couple had some options with multiple false friends trying to catch you out (like partilhar vs partir). I expect this is a given for A2-B2 levels so I’d say it’s important to brush up on these before your exam.

After that we had the writing exam, which was I was anticipating to be a bit harder actually. I had read this post where someone had to write to neighbours about recycling and a letter to friends about travelling. I felt like my topics were a bit easier. Mine were a short restaurant review and a longer text writing about a holiday - both topics I had practiced multiple times for in different ways. The main thing that almost caught me out is my own lack of attention to detail, needing to go back and make sure I commented on the atendimento (the service) for the restaurant review.

Next we had the disaster that was the listening exam. The audio was noisy and unclear, and the Portuguese spoken was rapid and unforgiving on a native English ear. They replayed the audio twice, so I was trying the tactic of focusing on understanding what was said only in the first play through, then focusing on choosing the right answer in the second play through. There were either very easy topics being spoken about (e.g. siblings talking about their family dynamics) but the speakers were talking on top of each other making it hard to follow, or the topics were random/out of nowhere. I would understand the overall topic but no fine details to make a decision on the right answer (e.g. talking about an opera singer’s career around the world, or a new UV treatment device for cancer, I think).

Finally, we had the speaking exam. This was my strongest section, in part because the main topic was general hobbies, and my partner and I focused mostly on cooking. Plus over the past year I dedicated a lot of time to my accent and the phonetics of European Portuguese, and I'm proud to say one of the main compliments I get from native Portuguese speakers is my accent. I like to think this, and how I spoke about Portuguese food (going beyond the classics like pastéis de nata and bacalhau à brás) is what made this my best section. I talked about trying to make ovos moles at home and owning a bimby (otherwise known as a thermomix in English), and got a surprised laugh from the examiners who I think didn’t expect me to know about those things at a B1 level, and since I was taking the exam outside of Portugal. The questions themselves weren’t too hard. I did blank in the beginning due to the nerves, but once you get into the flow of talking with your partner it becomes more natural.

And that was it! You leave the consulate and have no idea how well you did until 2-3 months later. I got “muito bom” in all sections except listening, in which I scraped a “suficiente”. I was certain I failed the listening exam so I’m still taking it as win.

Overall, the exam was a challenge but I think you’ve been hanging around an A2 level for a while like I was, it’s worth it to push yourself. Setting the exam as a goal can help you get to that next level of Portuguese with consistent practice.