DELF B2 Sample Essay: A Complete Model Answer, Corrected and Annotated (2026)

At B2, the difference between 15/25 and 21/25 is not a secret technique. It is a set of small, visible choices, and the easiest way to learn them is to see them made on the page, in a complete answer you can hold up against your own writing.

This article gives you the whole chain: a realistic exam prompt, a full model answer written at genuine B2 level (not C1 in disguise), a paragraph-by-paragraph annotation explaining how the answer satisfies each of the four official scoring criteria, and a deliberately weakened B1 version of the same opening so you can see exactly where the levels diverge. At the end you will find the most common ways candidates lose points, plus answers to the questions students ask most often about this task.

The DELF B2 Writing Task in Brief

Before the example, a quick recap so the annotations make sense. The DELF B2 production écrite gives you one task, 60 minutes, and a minimum of 250 words. You are asked to produce a "prise de position personnelle argumentée", which in practice takes one of a few recurring formats: a formal letter (often a complaint or a request), a letter to the editor (courrier des lecteurs), an essay, or an article for a magazine or website. Whatever the wrapper, the core demand is the same: defend a clear position with organized arguments, in formal written French.

The task is scored out of 25 points across four criteria: respect de la consigne (did you do what was asked, in the right format and length), capacité à argumenter (can you present facts and defend a position), cohérence et cohésion (is the text organized and linked), and langue (vocabulary range, grammar accuracy, spelling). Roughly half the points reward content and organization; the other half reward language.

This article deliberately stays focused on the example. For the full method, timings and paragraph templates, see our DELF B2 writing test guide and the dedicated DELF B2 essay guide.

The Exam Prompt

Here is a prompt in the courrier des lecteurs format, on a theme that appears constantly in recent sessions: screens and children.

Read the instruction twice before writing anything, because it hides three separate obligations. You must react to a specific article (so your text has to mention it), you must give a personal opinion (so a neutral summary of both sides fails the task), and you must argue it (so a bare "je suis contre" is not enough). The courrier des lecteurs format also imposes letter conventions: an opening address, a closing formula, and formal register throughout.

The Model Answer (About 260 Words)

The answer below was written to be achievable. Every structure in it is standard B2 material that you can learn and reuse; there are no rare idioms and no C1 acrobatics.

The letter runs to roughly 260 words, comfortably above the 250-word minimum without wasting exam time. Notice the shape before we go into detail: a two-sentence introduction that names the article and announces a nuanced position, one paragraph that concedes the opposing view, one longer paragraph that develops two arguments for the writer's position, and a conclusion that proposes a way forward rather than simply repeating the thesis.

Why This Answer Scores Well: The Four Official Criteria

Respect de la consigne

Examiners check the format first, and this letter ticks every box of the courrier des lecteurs. It opens with « Madame, Monsieur » and closes with a full formal formula, « je vous prie d'agréer... mes salutations distinguées ». It reacts to the specific article named in the prompt: « votre article du 12 juin consacré à l'interdiction des écrans » anchors the letter in the requested situation instead of floating as a generic essay. The opinion is unmistakable and personal, carried by « il me semble que », « je ne le crois pas » and « je suis convaincue que ». And the length requirement is met with a margin. None of this is linguistically difficult: consigne points are the cheapest points on the paper, and candidates still throw them away.

Capacité à argumenter

The B2 descriptor asks you to develop an argument, weigh points of view and reach a conclusion. The model does this through a concession-refutation structure, a move worth learning because it works for nearly every prompt in this exam. Paragraph two openly grants the other side its best argument: « Il est indéniable que l'exposition excessive aux écrans pose de réels problèmes. » Paragraph three then pivots with « Néanmoins, faut-il pour autant que l'école renonce à ces outils ? » and answers with two distinct, developed arguments: children need supervised digital education, and adaptive tools help teachers manage large classes. Each argument comes with support, either invented evidence (« De nombreuses études montrent que... », perfectly acceptable in this exam) or concrete detail (« une classe de trente enfants »). The equity argument about « les familles les plus favorisées » adds a social dimension that lifts the reasoning above a personal preference.

A one-sided text can still pass, but it caps your argumentation score. Showing that you understand the opposing view before rejecting it is what the criterion describes.

Cohérence et cohésion

Every paragraph has one job, and the connectors signal it. « Si je partage certaines des inquiétudes... » announces nuance from the first paragraph. « Il est indéniable que » opens the concession, « Néanmoins » executes the turn, « D'une part... D'autre part » organizes the two supporting arguments, « par ailleurs » adds a third without breaking the pair structure, and « En définitive » signals the conclusion. Just as important is what the text avoids: there is no connector stacking (« de plus, en outre, également » piled into one paragraph), and referencing words like « ces outils » and « cet usage » tie sentences back to earlier ones so the text reads as one argument rather than a list. If your connector repertoire is thin, build it deliberately with our DELF B2 vocabulary guide before exam day.

Langue

The grammar in the model is targeted, not decorative. The subjunctive appears twice, in both cases forced by structures a B2 candidate should own: « faut-il pour autant que l'école renonce » and « bien que je comprenne ». The conditional carries the hypothetical reasoning: « serait une réponse trop simple », « reviendrait à priver l'école ». There is one rhetorical question, one well-controlled relative construction (« un outil dont les familles les plus favorisées bénéficient »), and formal lexical choices such as « de manière raisonnée », « un encadrement strict » and « sous la conduite d'un enseignant ». None of these structures is beyond a well-prepared B2 candidate. The scoring logic rewards a few complex structures used correctly far more than many attempted and botched, so the model only attempts what it can control.

The Same Opening at B1 Level: Spot the Difference

To make the level gap concrete, here is the opening paragraph rewritten the way a solid B1 candidate would produce it, followed by the comments an examiner might scribble in the margin.

Everything in this version is grammatically correct. The B1 text loses points for what it never attempts, not for errors.

The register slips immediately. « Bonjour » is how you greet a colleague, not how you open a letter to a magazine; the expected form is « Madame, Monsieur ». The reference to the article is vague (« votre article sur les écrans à l'école ») where the B2 version cites a date and a precise topic. « C'est un sujet très intéressant et important » is filler that says nothing an examiner can credit. « Moi, je pense que » imports spoken French into a formal text. The position arrives with no nuance and no concession, so the argumentation ceiling is already set low. And « Je vais expliquer pourquoi » announces the mechanics of the text instead of letting the structure show it, a typical B1 reflex.

Compare the key sentence in the model: « Si je partage certaines des inquiétudes exprimées par vos journalistes, il me semble qu'une interdiction totale serait une réponse trop simple à un problème complexe. » One sentence establishes engagement with the article, a nuanced stance, formal register and a conditional, all before the first body paragraph. Learn its skeleton (« Si je partage..., il me semble que... serait... ») and you can open almost any B2 opinion text with it.

Where Candidates Lose Points

Having corrected thousands of practice essays, we see the same downgrades again and again, and most have nothing to do with grammar level.

Writing under 250 words is the most damaging and the most avoidable. The word minimum sits inside respect de la consigne, and a clearly short text loses points there before the examiner has judged a single argument. Count your words during practice until you can estimate reliably from your handwriting (for most people, 250 words is about 25 to 30 lines).

A one-sided argument is the classic ceiling on otherwise good texts. Candidates who feel strongly about the topic often produce three paragraphs of agreement with themselves. Without a concession, the "weigh points of view" part of the B2 descriptor is simply absent from your text.

Register slips cost more than students expect because they are so visible. A single « Bonjour », « je vais vous dire » or contracted spoken form in an otherwise formal letter signals uncertain control of register, which is a named B2 competence.

Template abuse is subtler. Memorized openings are fine; memorized paragraphs are not. Examiners read the same prefabricated blocks constantly, and a paragraph that could be pasted under any topic earns little because it does not engage the actual subject.

Finally, missing letter conventions (no closing formula, no signature) and unparagraphed walls of text both bleed points from consigne and cohésion respectively, at zero linguistic difficulty.

The honest fix for all of these is feedback on your own writing rather than more model answers. If nobody can correct your practice essays, SavoirX's AI writing correction scores DELF essays against these same criteria and returns annotated feedback in seconds, which makes it realistic to write two or three timed essays a week.

FAQ

How long should a DELF B2 essay be?

The prompt says 250 words minimum, and you should treat that as a hard floor. Aim for 260 to 290 words: safely above the minimum, but short enough to leave ten minutes for rereading. There is no bonus for length, and a 400-word text mostly means 400 words of error opportunities and no proofreading time.

Is the DELF B2 writing test hard?

It is the section where preparation pays off fastest. The topics are general (education, environment, work, technology), the formats are predictable, and the structure shown above works for nearly every prompt. Candidates who fail usually fail on method rather than French: they start writing without a plan and never develop a counterargument. For a realistic picture of overall preparation time, see how long it takes to pass DELF B2.

Do I need the subjunctive to score well?

You will not automatically fail without it, but the langue criterion rewards grammatical range, and the subjunctive is the clearest B2 marker available. The practical approach is the one used in the model: prepare two or three trigger structures you fully control, such as « bien que + subjonctif » and « il faut que », and let them force the subjunctive naturally.

Can I invent statistics and studies?

Yes. The DELF measures your French, not your general knowledge, and examiners do not fact-check. « De nombreuses études montrent que... » followed by a plausible claim is a standard, accepted way to support an argument. Keep inventions believable and vague; a suspiciously precise fake number draws attention without adding credit.