r/goetheinstitut

I have my b2 exam on sunday and I am scared about my listening part and schreiben teil 2. Can anyone give me some tips?

Hi everyone,

I wanted to share my experience of taking the Goethe C1 exam last month, in case it is helpful to anyone.

I prepared for the exam by myself. For the speaking part, I took classes with two teachers. For writing, one teacher corrected my texts and gave me suggestions for improvement.

I took the entire exam in one sitting, meaning all parts on the same day. You can now take the modules separately, but this was not the option I chose. It was quite intensive, as the exam started at 8:30 a.m. and finished at around 12:30 p.m. I had only around 10–15 minutes of actual break time between the reading, listening, and writing sections. After that, there was a lunch break of around two hours before the speaking exam.

The reading section was the most challenging part for me, which I did not expect before I started preparing. I did not take it seriously enough at first, so I did not invest much time in preparing for it (only around one month). I barely passed this part. My sincere recommendation is to take it seriously from the beginning. I am not entirely sure what the best preparation method is, but reading more news articles or books in German would probably help.

All the available test preparation books were very helpful and represented the real exam quite well. I used books published by Klett, Hueber, and Cornelsen. The recommendations on how to approach each exam section were particularly useful.

As for the writing and speaking parts, here is what I remember:

Writing, Part 1: I had to write about the balance between career and parenthood. What I found interesting was that the point about the home country was the first one to address, unlike in the practice books, where it is usually the third point. I found this much more logical and easier to structure my text around.

Writing, Part 2: For some reason, I do not remember this task very well, but I had to write a complaint. I think it was about a company deciding to close the canteen for renovation because it needed more meeting rooms or something similar. I know I wrote a similar complaint during my test preparation.

Speaking, Part 1: I had to give a short presentation on whether unhealthy products should be labelled more clearly. That was the topic I chose, since I had practised a similar one during my test preparation. The other topic was a bit more difficult for me. I believe it was about the mandatory representation of women in politics, for example whether there should be a required percentage of women.

Here, the point about the home country was also the first one to cover instead of the usual third point.

Speaking, Part 2: We had to discuss whether elderly people should be banned from driving. The final instruction was simply Diskutieren Sie about a certain given point (don't remember what), rather than the usual Fassen Sie die Diskussion zusammen or Ziehen Sie ein Fazit aus der Diskussion.

For both speaking parts, you receive a piece of paper for notes. The preparation time for the speaking part is really limited, and the time for writing felt just about sufficient for me. However, you do not have much time to think, so it is important to prepare yourself well in advance.

For the sake of your speaking partner, please prepare for Part 2 and familiarise yourself with the exam format. I had difficulties with my partner because they were not prepared for the format. This confused me during the exam and, of course, affected my score as well.

It is also important to work on clear pronunciation. My partner was a French speaker and pronounced ch as sch instead of using the German ch sound, which made it very difficult for me to understand them during the discussion or their question after my presentation.

If you practise with the test preparation books and ask AI for additional practice examples, you will be well prepared. It took me around five months of irregular preparation to pass the exam.

I hope this helps someone. Good luck!

Hello. I booked my B2 lesen, sprechen and hören exams on the 12th of August but later I realised it would be too kuch pressure and decided to cancel my Sprechen exam. Only the sprechen exam, mind you. So I wrote GI a mail stating the same only to receive a reply stating that they don't do modular or partial refunds. I don't understand what this means. Does this mean that they'll cancel all the other modules along with sprechen on the same day? I also clearly stated that I wanted to appear for the rest of the modules(hören and lesen). Any help regarding this?

Hi everyone!

I'm currently at the A2 level in German and looking for someone to practice with regularly. My main goal is to improve my speaking, but we can also help each other with vocabulary and grammar.

I started learning German before, but I took a break. Now I'm back and motivated to continue.

If you're around A2 or B1 and would like to practice together through voice calls or messages, feel free to send me a DM!

Hallo! 😊 Ich habe im Juli die Goethe-A2-Prüfung. Ich suche einen Sprechpartner zum Deutschlernen. Wir können 20–30 Minuten zusammen sprechen und die A2-Themen üben. Wenn du auch A2 lernst oder für die Prüfung übst, schreib mir bitte eine Nachricht. Vielen Dank!

Hi everyone,
I’m taking the Goethe C1 exam tomorrow and was wondering if anyone here has taken it within the last 6–12 months.
Do you remember the topics you had in the speaking and writing sections? I’m especially interested in the presentation topic for the speaking exam and the writing task.
I know the topics change, but I’d really appreciate hearing what recent candidates got, just so I know what kinds of topics to expect.
Thanks a lot in advance, and wish me luck for tomorrow! 😊

Hi everyone. I have a question regarding accents.

I currently speak at a B2 level and I am really comfortable conversing with people, but I have not officially taken my B2 exam yet. However, I have only ever learnt German from Swiss people and as a result of this, I have a very Swiss accent when speaking German. I have only visited Germany twice in my life for day trips, whereas I have been frequently visiting Zürich over the past 3 years.

Does anyone know if having a Swiss accent could result in me getting a lower score in an official exam environment (B2) ?

Sometimes I even say Swiss-German words instead of Hochdeutsch which is something I am working on. The Swiss people love it! But it is slightly embarrassing for me …

Any advice is appreciated - thanks!

My Goethe C1 exam is in five days. I average 24/30 in both listening and reading, and GPT usually rates my writing above 80/100, with mainly stylistic rather than grammatical issues. However, when speaking, I struggle to formulate sentences spontaneously and often freeze completely. **Do I still have a realistic chance of passing? Has anyone had a similar experience and can share advice?**

i wanted some advice regarding the goethe exams , if someone can help out pls! i gave the A1 exam almost 2-3 years back and I stopped learning german after that , i want to give the A2 now because i genuinely wanna learn the language because at that time i was just doing it for school , i don't know how to start at all , my old german teachers of school weren't help at all.