A Goethe-Zertifikat is not one long paper. It is four separate exams called Module, each marked out of 100 and each passed or failed on its own. This page walks through the B1 exam Modul by Modul as the Goethe-Institut sets it out in its own Durchführungsbestimmungen and official practice set, then shows how the other levels are shaped. If you are working towards B1, the Myndaq Goethe-Zertifikat course drills the same four skills in the same order.
The short version
- Four Module: LESEN, HÖREN, SCHREIBEN, SPRECHEN. You may sit them individually or together.
- Timings at B1: Lesen 65 minutes, Hören about 40, Schreiben 60 - about 165 minutes of written exam with no breaks counted in - plus a Sprechen exam of about 15 minutes in pairs.
- 100 points per Modul, and a Modul is passed at 60 points, which is 60 per cent.
- No compensation. A strong Lesen score cannot lift a Schreiben score of 55 over the line.
- Ratings run from ausreichend at 60 points to sehr gut at 90.
Four Module, bookable one at a time
The B1 exam has three written Module taken as a group exam - Lesen, Hören and Schreiben - and one oral Modul, Sprechen, normally taken in pairs and, in exceptional cases, alone. The regulations state twice over that the Module may be taken individually or in combination, and that is the single most useful fact about the exam's shape: each Modul is its own sitting with its own result.
If all four are taken in one session, the written Module usually come first, in the order Lesen - Hören - Schreiben, though the centre may reorder them for organisational reasons. A break of at least 15 minutes must be scheduled between each written Modul, so the day is longer than the 165 minutes of exam time suggests.
Lesen: 65 minutes, five parts, 30 items
Every Lesen item is worth one raw point and there are 30 of them across five parts. The official practice set for adults divides the hour like this:
- Teil 1 (10 minutes) - a personal message, six richtig oder falsch decisions.
- Teil 2 (20 minutes) - texts from the press, each with three-option multiple choice.
- Teil 3 (10 minutes) - match people's situations to small ads; one ad can be used once, and one situation has no match, which you mark 0.
- Teil 4 (15 minutes) - opinions in a discussion, each judged ja or nein.
- Teil 5 (10 minutes) - a set of house rules with three-option multiple choice.
The candidate sheets tell you that you may start with any task, that only one answer per item is right, and that dictionaries and mobile phones are not allowed. You also have to copy your answers onto the answer sheet inside the exam time; the regulations tell you to allow about five of the 65 minutes for that.
Hören: about 40 minutes, four parts, 30 items
Hören also carries 30 one-point items, but the clock belongs to the audio file, which the invigilator starts and which carries every instruction itself. In the practice set:
- Teil 1 - five short texts, each played twice, two items per text.
- Teil 2 - one text, played once, five items.
- Teil 3 - a conversation, played once, seven items.
- Teil 4 - a discussion, played twice, eight items.
Two of the four parts are heard only once, so the parts where a second listening exists are the ones to leave unfinished on the first pass. Transferring answers to the answer sheet again happens inside the exam time.
Schreiben: 60 minutes, three tasks
Schreiben is one hour for three short texts, and the practice set splits it 20, 25 and 15 minutes. The three text types are:
- an informal e-mail of about 80 words covering three given content points, with the structure - greeting, opening, points in order, close - explicitly part of the task;
- an opinion of about 80 words written into an online guest book in response to somebody else's posted view;
- a polite formal e-mail of about 40 words, for instance an apology to a course leader, with the correct form of address and sign-off.
You write on the answer sheet itself. Rough paper is stamped and handed out by the centre, and if you draft on it you have to leave yourself time to copy the fair copy across, because only what is on the answer sheet is marked.
Sprechen: about 15 minutes, after 15 minutes of preparation
Sprechen is normally a paired exam of about 15 minutes; an individual exam, where it is unavoidable, runs about 10. Either way you get 15 minutes of preparation in a separate room with the task sheets and stamped paper for notes, and you may use those notes in the exam. Pairs are put together at random.
Two examiners run it. One moderates; the other listens, gives feedback and asks a question in the third part. After a roughly one-minute introduction that is not graded:
- Gemeinsam etwas planen (about 2-3 minutes) - you and your partner plan something together, making and reacting to suggestions. Alone, an examiner takes the partner's role.
- Ein Thema präsentieren (about 3-4 minutes per candidate) - a short presentation built on five prompt slides, one instruction each: introduce the topic and the structure of your talk, report your own situation or experience, describe the situation in your home country with examples, weigh the advantages and disadvantages and give your opinion, then close and thank your listeners.
- Über ein Thema sprechen (about 1-2 minutes per candidate) - your partner and the second examiner respond to your presentation and put a question; you answer. Alone, only the examiner asks.
Candidates with a documented specific need can be given longer than these times, under a separate supplement to the regulations.
How 100 points per Modul are put together
Lesen and Hören are counted, not judged. Each raw point is multiplied by 3.33 and rounded, so 30 correct is 100, 18 correct is 60 and 17 is 57 - which is the line between a pass and a resit. If you want to see what a raw score turns into before you sit the real thing, the Goethe-Zertifikat score calculator does that conversion for you.
Schreiben and Sprechen are marked by two people working independently, on fixed criteria with no in-between values. Writing is graded on Erfüllung, Kohärenz, Wortschatz and Strukturen, and a task whose Erfüllung is graded 0 scores 0 overall, however good the German is. The two marks are averaged and rounded. A third assessment is ordered only in one specific case: one grader put the Modul below the pass mark, the other above it, and the average of the two still falls under 60.
The written Module are graded at the exam centre or in designated offices by two independent graders, and their results are deliberately kept from the Sprechen examiners so the oral is judged cold.
The pass rule and the ratings
A Modul is passed with at least 60 points, or 60 per cent. The certificate shows points or percentages on the front and the corresponding rating on the back:
- 100-90 points - sehr gut (very good)
- 89-80 - gut (good)
- 79-70 - befriedigend (satisfactory)
- 69-60 - ausreichend (pass)
- 59-0 - nicht bestanden (fail)
Passing one Modul earns a certificate for that Modul. Pass all four at one venue in one session and you may instead ask for a single certificate showing all four. Module passed at different times can be combined with certificates you already hold.
How the other levels are shaped
Not every Goethe exam is modular. A1 and A2 are single exams; B1, B2, C1 and C2 are the modular ones, and only for those can individual Module be repeated on their own. Written timings read as follows in each exam's own regulations:
- GOETHE-ZERTIFIKAT A2 (and A2 Fit in Deutsch) - not modular. Lesen 30 minutes, Hören about 30, Schreiben 30, 90 minutes in all, then a paired Sprechen of 15 minutes with no preparation time. The whole exam is out of 100: 75 for the written part and 25 for the oral. You need 60 overall and at least 45 written and 15 oral, or the entire exam counts as failed.
- GOETHE-ZERTIFIKAT B1 - as above: 65, about 40 and 60 minutes, about 165 in total.
- GOETHE-ZERTIFIKAT B2 - Lesen 65, Hören about 40, Schreiben 75, about 180 minutes; Sprechen about 15 minutes in pairs after 15 minutes of preparation.
- GOETHE-ZERTIFIKAT C1 - the same 65 and about 40 for Lesen and Hören, Schreiben 75, about 180 minutes; Sprechen about 20 minutes in pairs after a longer 20-minute preparation.
- GOETHE-ZERTIFIKAT C2: GROSSES DEUTSCHES SPRACHDIPLOM - modular, like B1 to C1.
There is no minimum age and no requirement to have taken a course or to hold the level below. The Goethe-Institut only publishes recommendations: A1 Fit in Deutsch 1 from age 10, A2 Fit in Deutsch and B1 from 12, B2 from 15 for young learners, the adult exams from 16, and C2 from 18. Sit far outside the recommended age and you give up the right to appeal the result on the grounds that the topics did not suit your age.
Paper, digital and online are the same exam
A digital sitting happens in person on a Goethe-Institut exam centre laptop; an online sitting happens remotely on your own machine under remote invigilation. In both, Lesen, Hören and Schreiben are presented on a test platform and answered there, with no transfer to answer sheets, and you can change answers until you submit the Modul or the time runs out. In a digital sitting the Sprechen tasks still come to you on paper. The digital material matches the paper exam in content, the grading criteria are identical, and the multiple-choice items in Lesen and Hören are marked automatically while Schreiben and Sprechen still go to two independent graders. A tutorial on using the platform can be watched at the start of each Modul, and the exam clock starts only after it.
Where telc and TestDaF differ in shape
If your receiving organisation names telc Deutsch B1 rather than Goethe, expect a different build: a written part of Reading with language elements (90 minutes), Listening (about 30 minutes) and Writing (30 minutes), plus a paired oral of about 15 minutes after 20 minutes of preparation. TestDaF, the university-entrance test run by g.a.s.t., does not use a 100-point-per-Modul scheme at all: each of its four parts is scored 0 to 20 and reported as TDN 3, 4 or 5.
Quick answers
How many Module does the Goethe-Zertifikat B1 have?
Four - Lesen, Hören, Schreiben and Sprechen - and they can be booked individually or together. Passing one earns a certificate for that Modul.
How long is the Goethe-Zertifikat B1 exam?
The three written Module take about 165 minutes of exam time (65, about 40 and 60 minutes), with a break of at least 15 minutes between each. Sprechen adds about 15 minutes in pairs, after 15 minutes of preparation.
What is the pass mark?
60 points out of 100 in each Modul, which is 60 per cent. Below 60 the Modul is nicht bestanden, and no other Modul can make up the difference.
How many questions are in Lesen and Hören?
Thirty items each, one raw point apiece, converted to a score out of 100 by multiplying by 3.33 and rounding.
Who marks Schreiben and Sprechen?
Two people, independently, on fixed criteria. Their marks are averaged; a third assessment happens only when one grader was above the pass mark, the other below, and the average still falls short of 60.
