Goethe-Zertifikat A1: Start Deutsch 1 · SPRECHEN
The speaking exam, part by part
What actually happens in the room, quoted from the exam board’s own document — including who your partner is and how much they matter.
| Duration | 15 minutes |
|---|---|
| Format | Group exam — up to four candidates |
| Preparation time | None |
| Examiners | 2 |
| Module pass mark | 60 % (15 points) |
The parts, in order
- Teil 1 — 5 minutes
- Teil 2 — 5 minutes
- Teil 3 — 5 minutes
Die Teile 1, 2 und 3 des Prüfungsteils SPRECHEN dauern jeweils circa 5 Minuten.
Your partner, and how much they affect you
The exam centre decides who you are paired with — you cannot choose, and you will usually meet them minutes beforehand. You cannot agree a strategy in advance either: an invigilator has to ensure candidates do not talk to each other during the preparation time. What protects you is not that your partner is irrelevant. It is that the examiner is instructed to intervene: if a candidate falters, or takes over the conversation too much, the interlocutor is required to step in with prompts. So a dominant partner does cost you something, and the examiner is supposed to correct for it. Your own job is to take your turn deliberately rather than talk over them: ask a direct question, then answer it yourself at length.
Der Prüfungsteil SPRECHEN wird als Gruppenprüfung mit maximal vier Teilnehmenden durchgeführt und dauert 15 Minuten.
Der Prüfungsteil SPRECHEN wird von zwei Prüfenden durchgeführt. Eine/-r der Prüfenden übernimmt die Moderation des Prüfungsteils SPRECHEN.
Who marks you
Two examiners, not one. Each records an assessment independently while you speak, on their own sheet. Your result is then the average of the two — for this exam the examiners are not required to arrive at one shared verdict. The exact procedure differs between exams, which is why the official wording is quoted below rather than summarised.
Die Teile 1 bis 3 zur mündlichen Produktion werden von zwei Prüfenden getrennt bewertet.
Es werden nur die auf dem Bogen Sprechen – Bewertung vorgesehenen Punktwerte vergeben. Zwischenwerte sind nicht zulässig.
Im Prüfungsteil SPRECHEN sind maximal 15 Punkte erreichbar, davon 3 Punkte in Teil 1 sowie jeweils 6 Punkte in Teil 2 und 3.
Preparation
Es gibt keine Vorbereitungszeit.
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.
Die Prüfung ist bestanden, wenn mindestens 60 Punkte (60 % der Maximalpunktzahl) erreicht und alle Prüfungsteile abgelegt wurden.
Careful: a similar exam, a different format
Exams with almost the same name do not share a speaking format. The differences below are real, and turning up prepared for the wrong one is a common way to lose marks.
| telc Deutsch A2·B1 | Sich vorstellen · Anschlussfragen beantworten · Gemeinsam etwas planen · Meinung begründen | None |
|---|
Where this comes from
Every statement on this page is quoted from the exam board’s own published document, in the original German, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.
Goethe-Zertifikat A1: Start Deutsch 1 — Durchführungsbestimmungen — Goethe-Institut, § 1.4, § 3, § 5, § 6 — Stand: 1. September 2025
We only publish a format we can quote from the board’s own document. Where a page is missing, we have not verified it yet — we would rather say nothing than tell you the wrong task.