Goethe-Zertifikat A1
Reading — LESEN
LESEN: undefined Parts, 25 minutes.
At this level the exam is passed as a whole
There are no separate modules here. One 60 % threshold covers the whole exam and every part must be sat, so failing means repeating all of it — the opposite of how this board’s higher levels work. Do not plan on resitting a single part.
What the module consists of
| Parts | undefined |
|---|---|
| Time allowed | 25 minutes |
| Break | keine Pause |
| Part of your exam time goes on the answer sheet | 5 minutes |
| Official exam information | Goethe-Institut |
Die schriftliche Prüfung dauert ohne Pausen insgesamt 65 Minuten:
Für die schriftliche Prüfung wird folgende Reihenfolge empfohlen: HÖREN – LESEN – SCHREIBEN.
Zwischen den Prüfungsteilen ist keine Pause vorgesehen.
How it is scored
The exam board does not publish a point total or a pass threshold for this paper on its own, so none is stated here. Where a threshold matters, it is set per exam rather than per paper.
Practise with the official material
The exam board publishes a complete practice set free of charge. It is the only material that matches this format exactly.
Open the official practice test
Prüfungstraining Goethe-Zertifikat A1 · Goethe-Institut · free
What the whole written sitting looks like
The order the exam board recommends. Your exam centre may change it for organisational reasons.
| Order | Exam part | Time allowed |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | HÖREN | ≈ 20 minutes |
| 2 | LESEN | 25 minutes |
| 3 | SCHREIBEN | 20 minutes |
| Total | 65 minutes |
Part of your exam time goes on the answer sheet
The board counts this inside the exam time, not on top of it. Leaving it to the last minute is how candidates lose answers they had already worked out.
The same paper at every level
Taken from the exam board’s own subtest tables. Worth a look before you commit to a level: the listening paper is not simply longer as the level rises.
| Level | Parts | Time allowed | Shares its time with |
|---|---|---|---|
| A1 | undefined | 25 minutes | — |
| A2 | undefined | 30 minutes | — |
| B1 | undefined | 65 minutes | — |
| B2 | undefined | 65 minutes | — |
| C1 | undefined | 65 minutes | — |
Every quote on this page is taken verbatim from the exam board’s own description of the format, linked above. The exam tasks themselves are copyrighted and are not reproduced here.