Author: Jadranka Bokan
The Goethe-Zertifikat exam for the A1 level, or Start Deutsch 1, is an exam that not everybody should take, but only those whose spouse is already in Germany and they want to move to Germany too. In that case, which is also known as Ehegattennachzug, the other spouse (the one that lives outside Germany) needs to pass the Goethe-Zertifikat A1 exam.
In the following text you will find everything that you should know about the Goethe-Zertifikat A1: Start Deutsch 1 exam, including valuable resources for learning German at the A1 level:
- list of irregular verbs at the A1 level (made by myself)
- official word list at the A1 level (650 words, provided by Goethe Institute)
- words at the A1 level arranged in topics (provided by Deutschlernerblog)
- example letters at the A1 level (provided by Time to Learn German)
- official model test (provided by Goethe Institute)
- official video that shows how the oral part of this exam looks like (provided by Goethe Institute)
- official “learn German on the go” app for learning German at the A1 level (provided by Goethe Institute)
- preparation book for the exam:
- detailed information on how this exam exactly look like (description in English)
This exam consists of the following parts:
getting some information
And here are detailed descriptions for every single part:
I Listening (HÖRVERSTEHEN)
Listening – Part 1:
- 6 short dialogues between 2 persons on the street, at home, at work etc.
- 1 task for each dialogue (6 tasks in total)
- Each text is played 2 times
- Length: about 7 minutes (total time)
- Tasks consist of W-questions
- Before the listening part starts you have few seconds time to read questions and mark the W-words (wann / wo / woher, / welcher…)
- You are given 3 answers (a, b, c) and each answer consists of 1 picture plus 1 word
- If you don’t understand some word, it’s not big deal, illustrations are there to help you
- During the 1. listening try to understand the topic i.e. to recognize the topic the people are talking about
- After the 1. listening look at the answers and if you already know the answer, mark it
- After the 2. listening check out whether you have marked the correct answer
!!! it happens often that you can hear all the three answers in the text, but there is only one correct answer!
Listening – Part 2:
- 4 announcements, for example at the airport, on the railway station, on the bus or in the supermarket
- 1 task for every announcement (4 tasks in total)
- As an answer you should choose between „richtig“ and „falsch“
- Every task is given in 1 sentence and every one of them contain the verb SOLLEN
- You have 4 minutes time (total time)
- You listen every text only once (!!!)
- Before listening read all tasks and mark what people need to do
- After listening choose the correct answer (richtig / falsch)
Listening – Part 3
- 5 announcements or telephone messages = 5 tasks
- Spoken by your friends, people from the school, doctor’s office, mechanic shop or your office.
- You listen every text 2 times
- The same rules apply as for the listening part 1 (mark the most important words, W-questions, during the first listening try to understand what’s all about (the topic), mark the answer that you deem correct, and then after the 2. listening check whether you were wright)
- Lasts for about 5 minutes (total time)
- If you don’t understand some word, don’t panic. Tell yourself: I have understood everything – instead of: I haven’t understood anything
- Concentrate only on the most important words – those are the words that you need in order to resolve the task!
After this part you have 3 minutes time to write all your answers into the answer sheet
II READING (LESEVERSTEHEN)
Reading – Part 1
- 2 short texts e.g. letters, faxes, e-mails, notes from your friends, colleagues or other persons.
- 5 tasks in total (richtig / falsch) for boths texts
- You have 5 minutes time (total time)
- Before reading: read the tasks first and then the text; ask yourself: what pieces of information do I need to be able to resolve the task? Please bare in mind: the