How does the exam look like and how long does it take?

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1 How does the exam look like and how long does it take? This article provides an overview of the important parts and procedures of the German B1 (CEFR * ) exam and describes the tasks and skills for each part that are required to pass it. It also advices you on what to focus on in your preparation and shows you efficient strategies to get through this exam securely. Last but not least you will read about how you can find out whether you are ready for this exam or not. *CEFR means common european framework of references for languages and is a European standard for grading an individual's language proficiency The B1 exam usually lasts around 3h. The Goethe-Institut estimates 150minutes exam with a 30-minute break after the first part. It is divided into four parts: 1. Reading and Structure (=Grammar) [90 minutes] 2. Listening [30 minutes] 3. Writing [30 minutes] 4. Oral [15 minutes preparation plus 15 minutes exam with another student, usually on another day.] The oral exam is split into three parts as well: 1. Introduce yourself [2-3 minutes] 2. Describe a picture [5-6 minutes] 3. Plan something with your partner like a common birthdayparty or a trip or the like [you should express opinions, make suggestions and come to an agreement in 5-6 minutes] It costs 120 if you have visited a Goethe language course in the last 12 month before the planned exam and 180 for all others. Just know that there are plenty of schools offering officially acknowledged and certified (ISO9001, TELC) B1 exams for less than half the price. One example would be the Hartnackschule in Berlin (65 for externs). To pass the B1 exam you need to finish all parts of the exam and have to get a total of 60% of all possible points BUT at least 75% of the written exam while 60% of the oral exam suffice. At the Goethe version of the exam you can make more points in certain parts. For example out of 300 points you can make

2 75 in reading 30 in structure 75 in listening 45 in writing 75 in oral [15 in part 1, 30 in parts 2 & 3] So it becomes clear that grammatical training and writing exercises won't have to be practiced as intensely as the other parts. And the oral exam is what unneccessarily scares people a lot but should be mastered with some focussed training on the key element of the exam's requirements. The exam can be retaken within one year after the first try. It might cost additional money. Sometimes the institution let's you retake the exam partly, which means that you can repeat either the written or the oral exam solely, depending on which one you've failed. Let me guide you through the individual exams and at the end I will close this article with a section on tips and tricks about how to get through this exam as soon and as safely as possible and how to find out if you are ready for it or not. Source: The reading exam-part I The reading part is the easiest. It is about recognizing certain keywords in a set of short texts or ads and to find an appropriate answer. There usually are blind shots, that means some ads are just there to make it more difficult and have no answer to it. Let me give you an abriged example taken from the Modellsatz 1 as provided freely on the TELC's webpage: Text 1: Touristen zwischen 14 und 29 Jahren sowie zwischen 40 und 49 Jahren haben ein besonders großes Interesse an der Kultur des jeweiligen Reiselandes, während die Gruppe der 30 bis 39jährigen im Urlaub eine Kulturpause einlegt. Dies geht aus der Reiseanalyse 96 der Forschungsgemeinschaft Urlaub und Reisen e.v. hervor. Urlauber aus den

3 neuen Bundesländern, so die Studie, zeigen wiederum mehr Kulturinteresse als Reisende aus dem Westen. Grundsätzlich gelte: Je höher das Einkommen und die Schulbildung sind, umso mehr besteht im Urlaub der Wunsch, Land und Leute kennen zu lernen. Possible answers, only one fits: 1. Immer mehr deutsche Familien reisen mit der Bahn 2. Buchtipp: Hilfe bei Schlafproblemen 3. Der Computer: Liebstes Hobby von Deutschlands Frauen 4. Neu bei der Bahn: Spezielle Informationen und Angebote für Radfahrer 5. Neu am Markt: Billige Schlaftabletten 6. Familien reisen immer billiger 7. Urlaub mit dem Fahrrad in Deutschland immer beliebter! 8. Kultur im Urlaub: Interessen je nach Alter unterschiedlich 9. Umfrage: Wer verwendet den Computer am häufigsten? 10. Deutschland: Immer mehr Touristen reisen in den Westen Note that the task is not to understand all of the words. That exercise is explicitly designed this way because language is never about understanding everything but rather of getting an idea what you are dealing with and respond appropriately. There is five texts and ten titles. That suggests that there might be two similar titles to one text. Let's find the two similar ones in the above example. Go back and look at the words that I have highlighted earlier. These are so called keywords that have to be found in the texts. All other words can be neglected. The problem is that from B1 on the examiners expect you to not only know these words but also their synonyms or other words related to them. So I've marked the possible keywords in the text above. Usually! keywords are nouns, these are words that in German are written with a capital inital, like e. g.haus, Boot, Gras and so on. So if you take a look at the text again you might recognize that the words Kultur and Jahren appear more often than others. That could also be a clue. So let's follow it and we find in number 8 both keywords, one clearly (Kultur) and one in disguise as a synonyme (Alter).

4 If that clue hadn't lead you there you could have tried a different approach: Start with the possible answers. You have marked the keywords with a highlighter and now run through the list until you can reduce the number of possible answers to a minimum. Let's do it together once: 1. Immer mehr deutsche Familien reisen mit der Bahn 2. Buchtipp: Hilfe bei Schlafproblemen 3. Der Computer: Liebstes Hobby von Deutschlands Frauen 4. Neu bei der Bahn: Spezielle Informationen und Angebote für Radfahrer 5. Neu am Markt: Billige Schlaftabletten 6. Familien reisen immer billiger Only "reisen" appears but nothing that relates to "billiger". Probably not the answer. 7. Urlaub mit dem Fahrrad in Deutschland immer beliebter! "Urlaub" is found but "Fahrrad" is not mentioned. Problably not the answer. 8. Kultur im Urlaub: Interessen je nach Alter unterschiedlich "Kultur" is mentioned as well as the word "Jahren" which is related to "Alter". Most probably the correct answer. But we cannot be sure as we haven't checked the last two answers. 9. Umfrage: Wer verwendet den Computer am häufigsten? None of the keywords or any word related to them appears in the text. Probably not the answer. 10. Deutschland: Immer mehr Touristen reisen in den Westen All keywords can be found, or in case of "Deutschland" we find

5 "Bundesländer". That's irritating because it could be another possible answer. Now we have reduced the number of possible answers to two. It should be possible for you to figure out wheter number 8 or number 10 suits better. As the repetition of the words "Kultur" and "Jahren" in the text indicates strongly that number 8 is right, I would vote for it, especially when being in doubt. To finish this first exercise you have approximately 20 minutes. Having five texts that would leave you 4 minutes per subtask. That's a lot of time if you work right. Working right means that you would have to do the highlighting at the very beginning of this exercise. Always start with the questions, answers or exercises as reading and highlighting the keywords prepare your mind to be attentive during your search for the correspondant text or ad. At the end of this article you will find links to free examples of the official B1 test to practise. Reading-Part II The second part of the reading exam usually consists of some sort of text followed by a set of multiple choice questions. So even if you don't know the answer there's a chance of 33% that you tick the right answer off.