How our exercises are made

Where our exercises come from — and how they are checked

Every task here is written new, to the published description of the Goethe-Zertifikat B1 / B2. This page shows the rules behind that, what is checked automatically and what we expressly do not claim. Every figure on it is counted from the exercise bank.

exercises in Lesen and Hören, counted live: 540
items, each with its own answer key: 3,600
of them with an explanation of the answer and notes on the wrong options: 100%

To the published description — not from the Modellsätze

Every task is built on the published description of the Goethe-Zertifikat B1 / B2: the Durchführungsbestimmungen (the exam regulations, as of 1 September 2025) and the format of the Modellsatz, the Goethe-Institut’s sample paper. From these we take what makes the exam what it is — the number and type of tasks, the text types, lengths, timings, marking and the wording of the instructions.

What we never take: the texts, recordings and tasks of the Modellsätze — not even reworded. Every text, every task and every wrong option here is written new. The people in them carry names common in Germany and Austria, and the places reach from Bonn and Chemnitz to Linz, not just Berlin and Munich.

Every exercise is written before anyone practises with it: everyone sees the same task, and each one has been checked beforehand, as described below.

Six things happen before a task reaches you

The same sequence for every exercise.

01
Fix the format
Teil, task type, number of items, text length and time are fixed before the first sentence is written — from the table in the exam description.
02
Choose a new topic
Every topic is kept in a register, and within a Teil no topic appears twice. The topics come from the areas the exam draws on — work, housing, media, environment, health and more.
03
Calibrate to B2
Each task is written against a checklist that separates B2 from B1 and C1 — in full further down.
04
Build the wrong options
Each wrong option uses one of the exam’s known traps instead of simply being wrong — more on that below.
05
Spread the answers
The correct answers are spread across a, b and c; in Lesen Teil 1 each of the four people is the answer at least once. Guessing by pattern does not pay.
06
Explain: the answer and the traps
Every item gets an explanation of why the answer is right, pointing to the words in the text — and notes on why the wrong options do not fit.

B2 — not B1 and not C1

A task is not B2 just because its text is long. Every task is written against this checklist from our description of the exam:

The answer rests on a person’s attitude, judgement or intention — not on a fact stated word for word in the text.
The correct option is a paraphrase: between the text and the answer there is at least one change — a synonym, a noun instead of a verb, a rewording.
The text contains contrasts you have to follow — “zwar … aber”, “bei allen Vorzügen” — and the wrong options hang on them.
B2 connectors and modality: “dennoch”, “allerdings”, “zumal”, “je … desto”, Konjunktiv II.
B2 grammar: the passive and its alternatives, extended participle phrases, relative clauses with “dessen” and “deren”, the nominal style of official texts as in Lesen Teil 5.
B2 vocabulary: abstract nouns, compounds and fixed pairings such as “Verantwortung tragen” or “Rat suchen”.

Too easy, so B1

The answer stands word for word in the text, and the correct option repeats its words.

Too hard, so C1

The answer requires reading irony between the lines, untangling layered arguments, knowing specialist jargon or recognising an attitude from style alone.

The checklist is a standard for writing, not a measurement. Whether a task is easy or hard for you is what your result shows. The checklist above is the B2 one; B1 tasks are written to the B1 description in the same way — concrete everyday topics, short sentences, on average at most one subordinate clause to a sentence.

How a wrong option is built

The exam uses a set of recurring traps. Our wrong options use the same ones — and the notes in the review say which.

Someone else’s opinion: The text quotes a view in order to reject it; the wrong option adopts it.
Shifted reference: A fact belongs to another group, another time or another place.
Hidden negation: Words like “kaum”, “nur wenige” or “nicht immer” turn the statement around.
Generalisation: A detail becomes a statement about the whole.
True, but not in the text: The option may well be right — but the text does not say it.
Mixed-up aspect: Two texts talk about the same topic, but about different sides of it.
Connector without a reference: In Lesen Teil 2 a sentence opens with “Diese Veränderungen …” at a point where no change has been mentioned.
Same number, different reference: In Hören, a number from the recording belongs to something else than in the option.

Judge for yourself: tasks from the bank

The items below are quoted unchanged from the first free exercises — from the same data the practice pages use. You see the answer, its explanation and, for every wrong option, the note the review shows. The items are exam material, so they stay in German.

Quoted from the bank · Lesen Teil 3 · item 1

Laut der Leipziger Befragung …

aleiden ältere Berufstätige am stärksten unter Schlafmangel.
bschläft jeder fünfte Berufstätige zu wenig.
cbetrifft Schlafmangel vor allem Menschen mit mehreren Verpflichtungen.

Why the answer is right

Besonders betroffen sind die 30- bis 45-Jährigen, „die Beruf, Familie und oft noch die Pflege von Angehörigen gleichzeitig bewältigen müssen“ – also mehrere Verpflichtungen.

Why the others do not fit

a Der Text nennt die über 60-Jährigen als am wenigsten betroffen („nur jeder Fünfte“). Der Distraktor dreht die Gruppe um.
b „Jeder Fünfte“ steht im Text, bezieht sich aber nur auf die über 60-Jährigen. Insgesamt schläft jeder Dritte zu wenig.

Do the whole exercise — free →

Quoted from the bank · Hören Teil 2 · item 1

Wie viel Schlaf braucht ein Mensch laut Frau Wieser?

aAcht Stunden sind für alle das richtige Ziel.
bDas ist von Person zu Person verschieden.
cSechs Stunden reichen, wenn man sich fit fühlt.

Why the answer is right

„Es gibt keine Zahl, die für alle gilt. … Manche Menschen sind nach sechseinhalb Stunden erholt, andere brauchen neun.“

Why the others do not fit

a Die acht Stunden nennt Frau Wieser, um sie zu relativieren: „ein Durchschnitt, kein Ziel“. Wer nur die Zahl hört, fällt auf die Falle herein.
c Genau das Gegenteil: „Wer dauerhaft unter sechs Stunden bleibt, schadet seiner Gesundheit, auch wenn er sich selbst fit fühlt.“ Das Gefühl zählt hier nicht.

Do the whole exercise — free →

And this is how the review shows it after handing in — screenshots of the app, taken with a demo account:

Review of a Lesen item: the chosen answer in red, the right one in green, the explanation and the notes on the other options — Lesen Teil 3: the chosen option in red, the right one in green, the explanation quoting the text, the note on why the chosen option was a trap — and the one on the option left over.

Review of a Hören item: the explanation quotes the recording, the note names the trap — Hören Teil 2 after handing in: the explanation quotes the recording, and the note names the trap — a restriction easy to miss.

Checked automatically before an exercise goes live

Every exercise has to pass a checking program before it is published. An error keeps it back; warnings are weighed one by one. It checks what a reader easily misses:

Lesen and Hören

the number of items and options in every Teil, as in the exam
the right number of spare sentences and texts: two in Lesen Teil 2, one in Teil 4, four in Teil 5
gap numbers that match the items, and an example that is never an answer again
an explanation for every item, and notes on the wrong options — on every one in Lesen Teile 1 and 3 and in all of Hören, on the three closest in Lesen Teile 2, 4 and 5
quotations in explanations that do not appear in the text as written
a letter that is never, or too often, the correct answer

Hören

that the recording exists, and that the Teil is heard once or twice with the reading time of the exam
the length of the transcript, and in Teil 1 five texts with two items each
that two people in one conversation never share a voice — in Teil 3 (“Wer sagt das?”) you have to tell them apart
that in Teil 3 the presenter is never the answer

Schreiben and Sprechen

four Inhaltspunkte, the target of “circa 150” or “circa 100” words and the points of the task
a model text of the right length: no salutation or sign-off in a Forumsbeitrag; “Sehr geehrte …”, a sign-off and the formal “Sie” in a Nachricht
Vortrag: two topics with three points each, the third asking for advantages, disadvantages and an evaluation; three to four questions on each topic
Diskussion: a yes/no question, three instructions, four to five Stichpunkte (prompt words)
German quotation marks, and no words like “offiziell” or “garantiert”

The bank, counted while this page is built

No number on this page is typed in. They are counted from the same data the exercises come from, so they can make the bank neither bigger nor smaller than it is.

Lesen: exercises per Teil

30 per Teil · all Teile level

Hören: exercises per Teil

30 per Teil · all Teile level

Answers a, b and c

How the correct answer is spread across all 1,350 items with the options a, b and c.

a: 33%450 items
b: 34%454 items
c: 33%446 items

Module	Teil	Exercises	Items
Lesen	Teil 1	30	270
Lesen	Teil 2	30	180
Lesen	Teil 3	30	180
Lesen	Teil 4	30	180
Lesen	Teil 5	30	90
Hören	Teil 1	30	300
Hören	Teil 2	30	180
Hören	Teil 3	30	180
Hören	Teil 4	30	240
Lesen	Teil 1	30	180
Lesen	Teil 2	30	180
Lesen	Teil 3	30	210
Lesen	Teil 4	30	210
Lesen	Teil 5	30	120
Hören	Teil 1	30	300
Hören	Teil 2	30	150
Hören	Teil 3	30	210
Hören	Teil 4	30	240

Schreiben and Sprechen have no answer key — Felix, our AI examiner, marks them. See how Felix marks.

Found a mistake? We fix the exercise

Report it through support under the topic “A mistake in an exercise or answer key”. We correct the exercise itself, not just the reply to you — from then on, the fix applies to everyone who practises with it.

Report a mistake

What we do not claim

We are not connected with the Goethe-Institut and do not speak for the exam. We prepare you for it.
We use no real exam tasks and no texts from the Modellsätze — only the published format.
We do not claim that teachers or examiners have approved our tasks. They are checked by the rules on this page, and automatically.
We do not claim that every task is exactly as hard as in the exam. The checklist is our standard for writing, not a measurement.
The listening texts are not radio recordings: they are produced from the written transcript, with synthetic voices speaking standard German.
Felix’s marking is an AI estimate, not an official result. Only the examiners at your exam centre award your points.
Where part of the bank is still small, this page shows it rather than rounding up — the figures above are counted, not typed.

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.

Where our exercises come from — and how they are checked

To the published description — not from the Modellsätze

Six things happen before a task reaches you

Fix the format

Choose a new topic

Calibrate to B2

Build the wrong options

Spread the answers

Explain: the answer and the traps

B2 — not B1 and not C1

Too easy, so B1

Too hard, so C1

How a wrong option is built

Judge for yourself: tasks from the bank

Checked automatically before an exercise goes live

Lesen and Hören

Hören

Schreiben and Sprechen

The bank, counted while this page is built

Lesen: exercises per Teil

Hören: exercises per Teil

Answers a, b and c

Found a mistake? We fix the exercise

What we do not claim

Where our exercises come from — and how they are checked

To the published description — not from the Modellsätze

Six things happen before a task reaches you

Fix the format

Choose a new topic

Calibrate to B2

Build the wrong options

Spread the answers

Explain: the answer and the traps

B2 — not B1 and not C1

Too easy, so B1

Too hard, so C1

How a wrong option is built

Judge for yourself: tasks from the bank

Checked automatically before an exercise goes live

Lesen and Hören

Hören

Schreiben and Sprechen

The bank, counted while this page is built

Lesen: exercises per Teil

Hören: exercises per Teil

Answers a, b and c

Found a mistake? We fix the exercise

What we do not claim