Exam day, mapped
What happens on the day, in what order and under which rules — so that when you walk in, nothing is new.
Taking all four modules? Lesen, Hören and Schreiben usually run one after another — about three hours of exam time, with a break of at least 15 minutes between modules. Sprechen follows on the same day or on a date of its own.
65 minutes · 5 Teile · 30 items
You may start with any Teil. The paper suggests 18, 12, 12, 12 and 6 minutes, and on paper you also need about five minutes to copy your answers onto the answer sheet — inside the 65. Teil 5 is the shortest and the most official in tone.
about 40 minutes · 4 Teile · 30 items
Teil 1 and Teil 3 are played only once, Teil 2 and Teil 4 twice. The recording never stops — even the reading time before each Teil is part of it. Afterwards you get five minutes for the answer sheet.
75 minutes · 2 tasks · both compulsory
Teil 1 is a Forumsbeitrag (about 150 words, 60 points), Teil 2 a Nachricht to a named person (about 100 words, 40 points). You choose the order; the paper suggests 50 and 25 minutes. There is no choice of task.
about 15 minutes, in pairs · 15 minutes' preparation
You prepare alone for 15 minutes and may take notes, but you are expected to speak freely. Two examiners, one partner, two Teile.
Many Goethe-Instituts now run the exam digitally, on a computer at the exam centre. The tasks, timings and marking are the same — which form you get depends on the centre and the date.
The rules are strict because the certificate is worth something. None of them bite if you know them in advance — the invitation from your exam centre has the final word on the details.
A valid official photo ID — a passport or national identity card — in the name you registered with. Without it you cannot take part.
Be there well before the start time. Before anything begins, the centre checks IDs and explains the rules, and late arrivals may not be let in.
Phones, smartwatches and other devices are banned in every module, including the preparation time for Sprechen. Using one can get you excluded from the exam.
No module allows a dictionary. Notes go on the paper the centre hands out, and in Schreiben only the answer sheet is marked.
You take it with another candidate, usually paired at random, in front of two examiners: one leads the conversation, and both mark you independently. In exceptional cases it is taken alone and lasts about ten minutes.
Alone, without a dictionary or a phone. You pick one of two topics for your talk and look at the question for the discussion. Notes are allowed; reading them out is not what the exam wants.
The examiners greet you and ask you both to introduce yourselves. This part is not marked.
You give your prepared talk with an introduction, a main part and a conclusion. Your partner and one examiner then ask questions, which you answer — then the roles swap, and you ask your partner a question yourself.
Together you discuss one controversial question: you exchange positions, respond to your partner's arguments and, at the end, sum up whether you are for or against.
Your results come from the exam centre, which also decides how long that takes — ask when you register. Each module is certified on its own, so a module you passed stays passed while you resit another.
Every module is out of 100 points and is passed at 60 — with no compensation between modules. In Lesen and Hören that means 18 of 30 correct answers, and a wrong answer costs nothing. The certificate gives points and a grade for each module: sehr gut (90–100), gut (80–89), befriedigend (70–79), ausreichend (60–69).
Every module described above exists here as a mock under the real time limit, in the same order and with the same Teile. One mock per module is free.
DeutschCertPrep is an independent preparation service. We are not affiliated with, authorised by or endorsed by the Goethe-Institut, telc gGmbH, ÖSD or the BAMF, and we do not issue certificates. “Goethe-Zertifikat”, “telc” and “ÖSD” are trademarks of their respective owners and are used here only to name the exams our material prepares for. Felix’s marking is a practice estimate, not an official exam result.
