The exam at a glance
Which result you need
| Goal | Usually required |
|---|---|
| Visa to join a spouse in Germany | Usually A1 (Start Deutsch 1), with exceptions for some nationalities |
| Permanent residence in Germany (non-EU citizens) | Usually B1 |
| German citizenship | B1, usually together with the Leben in Deutschland test |
| Working in Germany | B2 or C1 for many jobs, sometimes B1 is enough |
| Studying at a German university | Usually C1: universities often accept TestDaF, DSH or Goethe C1/C2 |
The exam part by part
Five parts with different kinds of text: a blog post or personal email, newspaper articles, ads, readers’ opinions and rules such as house or course rules. Tasks: true or false, multiple choice with three options, matching ads to situations and, at B1, deciding whether a writer is for or against something. At B2 the texts are longer and more abstract: articles, comments and arguments.
Tips- Read the questions first and underline the key words, then look for the answers in the text. You don’t need to translate everything, and there is no time to.
- The text almost always words the answer differently: the task says kostenlos, the text says gratis or umsonst. Learn words together with their synonyms.
- Keep to about 13 minutes per part, don’t get stuck on one question and never leave an answer blank. Fill in the answer sheet (Antwortbogen) as you go.
Four parts: short announcements and messages (at the station, on the radio, on voicemail), a talk or guided tour, a conversation between two people and a radio discussion. Tasks: true or false, multiple choice and, in the last part at B1, working out who said what. At B2 the recordings are longer and faster: interviews, discussions and talks. Some recordings are played only once.
Tips- Use the pause before each recording to read the questions and think about which words you might hear.
- Practise numbers by ear: German puts the units before the tens (dreiundzwanzig is 23), so train times, prices and platform numbers are easy to mishear.
- If you miss an answer, move straight on: the recording won’t stop. In the radio discussion, note who is who from the start: the presenter introduces the guests by name.
At B1 there are three tasks: an email to a friend (about 80 words), an opinion post for an online forum (about 80 words) and a short polite message, for example to a teacher or boss (about 40 words). At B2 there are two: a forum post with arguments (about 150 words) and a formal message, for example to a manager or an organisation (about 100 words). Examiners check whether you covered every point, how well the text hangs together, vocabulary and grammar.
Tips- Number the points in the task before you write and cover every one: a missing point costs you noticeably, even in a text with no mistakes.
- Get the register right, because German has two words for you: du with a friend (Liebe Anna, Viele Grüße), Sie with a boss or an organisation (Sehr geehrte Frau Weber, Mit freundlichen Grüßen). For opinions learn Redemittel such as Meiner Meinung nach and Einerseits… andererseits.
- Leave 5 minutes to check: genders and case endings, the verb in second place and at the end of subordinate clauses, and a capital letter on every noun and on Sie.
You usually take it with another candidate. At B1 there are three parts: plan something together (a party or a trip, for example), present a topic following a five-slide outline, and then give each other feedback and questions on your presentations. At B2 there are two: a talk of about 4 minutes on a given topic and a discussion in which you and your partner exchange arguments.
Tips- It tests interaction, not just your German: make suggestions, agree, disagree politely and ask your partner questions (Was meinst du? Wie wäre es mit…?).
- For the B1 presentation, prepare a sentence for each of the five slides: the topic, your own experience, the situation in your country, pros and cons with your opinion, and a closing. At B2 rehearse the transitions in the same way: Ich möchte über … sprechen, Ich komme jetzt zu …, Zum Schluss …
- During preparation write key words, not a script: you sound more natural talking from notes than reading out sentences. If you make a mistake, correct it briefly and carry on.
How it is scored
Each module is scored on its own: you pass it with at least 60% of the points, and a strong module cannot make up for a weak one. From B1 upwards you can take the modules together or separately and retake only the one you failed, but authorities and employers usually expect results in all four.
How many words you need
For the Goethe-Zertifikat B1 you need about 2,750–3,250 German words that you recognise when reading, and for B2 about 3,250–3,750. These figures come from research on learners of English and French (Milton and Alexiou, 2009) and work as a guide for German too. Below: how the exam is built, how it is scored and how to prepare your vocabulary.
Check where you are now: the free German vocabulary test takes 3 minutes and estimates how many of the 5,000 most frequent German words you know.
Take the German vocabulary test →Vocabulary by exam topic
- der Lebenslauf CV, résumé
- die Bewerbung job application
- das Vorstellungsgespräch job interview
- die Stelle job, position
- der Arbeitgeber employer
- das Gehalt salary
- der Arbeitsvertrag employment contract
- die Kündigung notice, dismissal
- die Miete rent
- der Vermieter landlord
- die Nebenkosten utility and service charges (plural)
- die Kaution deposit
- der Mietvertrag tenancy agreement, lease
- die Wohngemeinschaft shared flat (WG)
- die Hausordnung house rules
- der Umzug move to a new home
- die Krankenversicherung health insurance
- der Termin appointment
- die Praxis doctor’s practice, surgery
- das Rezept prescription (also recipe)
- die Erkältung cold
- der Schmerz pain
- die Ernährung diet, nutrition
- die Notaufnahme emergency department
- die Verspätung delay
- der Anschluss connection
- das Gleis platform, track
- die Fahrkarte ticket
- die Durchsage announcement over a loudspeaker
- die Unterkunft accommodation
- der Ausflug day trip, excursion
- der Stau traffic jam
- die Ausbildung vocational training
- das Studium university studies
- die Weiterbildung further training
- der Abschluss qualification, degree
- die Prüfung exam
- das Zeugnis certificate, school report
- die Note grade, mark
- das Praktikum internship
- die Nachricht news item, message
- die Werbung advertising
- der Datenschutz data protection
- die Bildschirmzeit screen time
- der Umweltschutz environmental protection
- die Mülltrennung waste separation, recycling
- der Klimawandel climate change
- die Verpackung packaging
Paste a topic name from the list above into the generation chat in the app and get a word set made for your exam, with examples in context, audio and smart reviews. You can get words for any other topic the same way.
Grammar for the exam: what you need
Forum posts at B1 and B2 and the speaking discussion are full of reasons and conditions: after weil, dass, obwohl and wenn, in relative clauses with der, die, das and at B2 after indem and sodass, the conjugated verb goes to the very end, not next to the subject as in English, and the clause always gets a comma, even before dass. If the clause comes first, the main clause starts with the verb. “Obwohl ich wenig Zeit habe, lerne ich jeden Tag Deutsch.”
Coherence is a separate marking criterion in Schreiben, so link your ideas, but watch the word order: when a sentence starts with deshalb, trotzdem or außerdem, the verb comes straight after, unlike after therefore or however in English, while und, aber, oder and denn change nothing. At B2 add two-part connectors such as zwar… aber, nicht nur… sondern auch and je… desto. “Die Miete ist hoch, trotzdem wohne ich gern im Zentrum.”
English marks case only on pronouns (he, him), German marks it on the article, so a noun learned without its gender means case mistakes in Schreiben and Sprechen. Learn which prepositions take the dative or the accusative (at B2 also wegen, trotz and während with the genitive), and that in, an, auf and the other two-way prepositions take the dative for where (wo?) and the accusative for where to (wohin?). “Ich lege das Handy auf den Tisch, jetzt liegt es auf dem Tisch.”
In the B1 email to a friend and in your presentation you talk about the past in the Perfekt, which German uses even with gestern or letztes Jahr, where English needs the simple past. The helper verb is sein for movement and change of state (fahren, kommen, einschlafen) and for bleiben and werden, haben for most other verbs, while sein, haben and the modal verbs mostly use the Präteritum: war, hatte, musste. “Letztes Jahr bin ich nach Wien gefahren und habe dort einen Sprachkurs gemacht.”
The polite message at B1, the formal message at B2 and planning together in Sprechen all call for the Konjunktiv II (Könnten Sie…, Ich hätte gern…, Wir könnten…), and at B2 you need it on both sides of a hypothesis. Mind the umlaut: the had of an English if-clause is hätte, while hatte is just the past tense. “Wenn ich mehr Zeit hätte, würde ich öfter ins Theater gehen.”
Articles and rules in Lesen often use the passive, and at B2 it gives your forum post and formal message an objective tone: werden plus the past participle, and with a modal verb the participle and werden go to the end. English builds the passive with to be, German with werden, so the past passive takes wurde, not war, while sein plus the participle only describes a result (ist geschlossen). “Die Schule wurde 1970 gebaut und muss jetzt renoviert werden.”
The app has a big grammar section for every level from A1 to C2, with short lessons and exercises. Paste a topic name from the list above into the generation chat and get exercises on exactly that topic. Any other topic works the same way.
8-week preparation plan
Do a free practice test (Modellsatz) from the Goethe-Institut website for all four modules under timed conditions, and take a vocabulary test. Find your weakest module and set a daily routine: 10–15 new words with their articles and 30–40 minutes of practice.
Topics Arbeit und Beruf and Wohnen. One Lesen part a day: find the answers through key words and synonyms, and watch the clock.
Hören: one exam part a day plus 15 minutes of German radio or podcasts. Topic Gesundheit, plus numbers, dates and times by ear.
Schreiben: templates and Redemittel for the three B1 texts or the B2 forum post and formal message. Write three texts and check the genders, case endings and word order in each.
Sprechen: a structure for the presentation and phrases for planning and discussing together. Speak out loud for 10 minutes a day and record yourself. Topic Reisen und Verkehr.
A second full practice test under timed conditions. Compare it with the first and go through every mistake. Topics Bildung and Medien und Umwelt.
Work on weak spots: your weakest module every day, the others every other day. Two timed texts and two presentations, with a partner or teacher if you can.
A final practice test, then only light review of words and Redemittel, no new grammar. Check your ID, the address and the start time, and get a good night’s sleep.
Common mistakes
English has no grammatical gender, so learn every noun with its article: das Problem, das Mädchen, die Bewerbung. Endings help: nouns in -ung, -heit and -keit are feminine, nouns in -chen are neuter.
The article changes with its role in the sentence: Ich sehe den Mann (accusative), Ich helfe dem Mann (dative). Learn each preposition with its case: mit, bei, nach, von and zu take the dative; für, ohne, gegen and durch take the accusative.
The conjugated verb comes second, even after a time phrase: Morgen fahre ich nach Berlin. In clauses with weil, dass or wenn it moves to the end: …, weil ich keine Zeit habe.
For something that is still going on, German uses seit with the present tense: Ich lerne seit zwei Jahren Deutsch, literally I learn German since two years.
The verb bekommen means to get; to become is werden: Ich werde Lehrer. Other traps: also means so, Chef means boss and Gift means poison. Keep false friends on a list of their own.
On exam day
- Bring a valid passport or other photo ID: without it you usually cannot sit the exam.
- Arrive about 30 minutes early: registration and seating take time, and latecomers may not be let in.
- Switch off your phone and smartwatch and hand them in; dictionaries are not allowed. Bring only what your exam invitation lists.
- If you can, chat with your Sprechen partner in German for a couple of minutes beforehand: it warms up your speaking and calms your nerves.
- If you don’t understand the examiner’s question, ask: Könnten Sie die Frage bitte wiederholen? It is a normal part of conversation, not a mistake.
How NewLexi helps you prepare for the Goethe-Zertifikat
Generate sets of German words on exam topics at your level or add words from your textbook by photo. Every word gets spaced repetition and comes back in stories and dialogues at your level, which you can read and listen to. Practise emails and opinion texts in the writing trainer with instant AI feedback, and grammar from A1 to C2 in the same daily plan.
