Many who need a Start Deutsch A1 certificate to move to Germany are interested in how to prepare and pass the exam at the Goethe Institute on their own. Of course, this will require all sorts of materials, letters, practice tests, cards, examples for Start Deutsch A1. You can download all this for free on the Internet. But will all this be useful? Today's article is devoted to this issue.

Start Deutsch A1 - flashcards, examples, practice tests

To begin with, let's deal with the question of whether it is possible to pass the Start Deutsch exam on your own without outside help? Yes, you can. However, it's not as easy as some video bloggers on the subject make it out to be. You will need a huge motivation, a lot of time, good discipline and powerful perseverance.

To successfully pass the exam, you need to know vocabulary, basic grammar and know how to correctly complete tasks on the exam. All this must be well trained. In the written and oral parts, you need to make as few mistakes as possible to get a high score. I have been preparing for exams for over 7 years. And my personal library has a complete collection of materials. These are flashcards that will be useful for passing the written and oral Start Deutsch A exam. There are also numerous Start Deutsch examples that are built on written and oral materials. You can download all this for free on the Internet. But are you sure about the authenticity and usefulness of free materials on the web? Personally, I have doubts about this issue.

From the grammar of German, you need to learn the following topics (by learn, I mean not just read the rule and apply it several times, but use it freely in writing and speaking):

Present tense: Praesens
Declarative sentences
Interrogative sentences
Imperative: Imperative
Numbers up to 1000
Temporary "circumstances" (today, yesterday, at 3:15, in 2 days, in January, on Monday, etc.)
Cases
Personal pronouns
Modal verbs
The verbs sein and haben

These are basic grammar topics. You will definitely have to apply them when you take the Start Deutsch letter (this is the written part of the exam). There are some grammar topics in the exam that you don't have to use on your own. I can help you by providing a variety of Start Deutsch practice tests. Here is a short list of topics for the grammar part of the exam:

Past tenses: Praeteritum, Perfekt, Plusquamperfekt
Future tense: Futur 1
Separable and non-separable prefixes for verbs
Adjectives and adverbs
Possessive pronouns
Reflexive verbs + reflexive pronouns
Compound and complex sentences

The grammar of these topics will be more than enough for you to pass the Start Deutsch A1 exam. In addition to grammar, you need to gain vocabulary. Written materials will help you with this. If you learn only the words necessary for passing the exam, it will be enough for you to learn 250-400 words of active vocabulary (these words you will use in writing and speaking on the exam), as well as another 400 words of passive vocabulary (these words will occur in various tasks in the listening and reading parts, but you do not have to use these words yourself). If you learn words on your own from a textbook, you will have to learn a total of about 1,500 words, because. there are a lot of unnecessary words in textbooks. Start deutsch a1 letter- this is one of the most important steps in passing the exam.

To successfully pass the exam, you must be able to write letters well in German. For this task, most of the points are given in the written part.

The oral part consists of 3 tasks. In the first task, you need to introduce yourself and tell a little about yourself, and then answer the questions of the examiner. For this, Start Deutsch cards are issued. In the second and third tasks, you must be able to ask questions and build requests, as well as answer them.

Is it effective to prepare for the A1 exam without the help of a teacher?

Here you can draw an analogy with any area where you need to know the subject well in order to achieve a good result. Let's take construction as an example. Is it possible to build a house on your own and carry out an electrician and plumbing in it, if you are not a builder at the same time? Yes, you can, but it's difficult. Construction will take you a lot of time, and the house may turn out crooked and ugly. Aside from aesthetics, the cost of a mistake can be high. For example, if the wiring is done incorrectly, the house may burn out, and if you screw the plumbing and heating on your own, you may be flooded. In such cases, it is always better to hire a good specialist. He will solve your problem efficiently and quickly, and it is not so expensive.

Absolutely the same is the case with the preparation for the A1 exam at the Goethe Institute. It can be compared with the exam. This is an exam in which it is important to know many subtleties. Otherwise, the exam can easily fail.

At my school, just before the exam, I suggest taking test start deutsch a1. Only if the result of the test is sufficient for you to safely go to the exam, I recommend that you finish your preparation. This is done for the reason that I am responsible for the level of knowledge with which you leave my courses. I remind you that you pay for tuition only upon successful completion of the exam.

Who is the best person to turn to for help?

The choice of a teacher should be given special attention. I am often approached by people who have undergone long-term training in courses or with German tutors, who have not achieved the desired result, who have spent a lot of money. I will cite 2 situations with which I have been approached over the past 3 days. As you can see, the problem with poor-quality training is quite relevant.

We continue our conversation about preparing for the Start Deutsch 1 exam (Start Deutsch 1)

Earlier, I already talked about what parts the A1 exam consists of and what you need to pay attention to when preparing. Today I want to talk about what is important to consider when preparing for each part of the exam and how to overcome your anxiety in order to successfully pass the exam, and not get confused and, as a result, lose the necessary points.

We will discuss some very simple points, which, unfortunately, are often simply overlooked.

A lot of people are afraid of the "Listening" part

And this is quite justified, since it is much more difficult to hear and understand something than, say, to read and understand. It is difficult not only because there are not enough words, but also because you need to train the skill itself, the skill of listening to speech. I advise you to listen to A1 level texts in advance, listen to German speech. You can listen to your German fiancé or husband (he will even be pleased), listen to discs from authentic (most importantly) A1 level German-language manuals (Tangram A1, Lagune 1, Optimal 1..) and so on.

Of course, understanding is impossible without knowledge of vocabulary. You need to learn A1 level words and expressions. Here are some examples of topics that are included in terms of vocabulary in the exam:

- Hobbies

- Free time

- In the shop

- Cloth

For each topic, I advise you to develop words and basic expressions. How to do it right?

Of course, the greatest attention should be paid to nouns and verbs. Because if you don't understand an adjective, you'll usually get the point anyway. But, if you do not understand the verb, it will be much more difficult.

Do not forget to constantly train: when driving in a car - listen to something in German, drink tea at home - listen again. The more you train your “ear”, the easier it will be for you to complete the tasks in this part of the exam.

The writing part, as a rule, causes difficulties only if you have not practiced writing letters.

I advise you to learn cliches in advance: phrases of greeting and goodbye, as well as clichés that will help you make transitions between sentences.

— Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren,

— Vielen Dank fur Ihre Bemühungen.

Vielen Dank im Voraus.

- Mit freundlichen Grüßen and so on

On our online exam preparation course “Start Deutsch 1”, we analyze all these clichés in great detail, I give a whole selection of phrases, and as a rule, if students remember and use these clichés in practice letters, then there is no difficulty in writing a letter does not appear on the exam.

Also note: the letter must be written immediately on the answer sheet, this is exactly what is expected in the exam.

In the oral part, many are frightened by the fact that they do not know which interlocutor they will come across in the group on questions and requests.

Cards are also scary, namely, the need to quickly come up with a question or request on a given topic. In this case, I dare to reassure you: your result in the oral part of the exam in no way depends on the interlocutor. If he asks an incomprehensible or completely wrong question (or request), then the examiner will immediately intervene and ask him to reformulate the question (or request), and in extreme cases even formulate them for him on his own.

Of course, I advise you to work out the possible (and most popular) options for questions and requests in advance.

First, you must not get confused about the structure, i.e. must clearly understand how to ask a question and how to formulate a request, and secondly, you can train every day once an hour as follows: look around, choose an object, formulate one question and one request with it in German. Then in the exam, even if you are worried, the question and request will fly out automatically.

You can find out what the oral part of the exam consists of, what options for requests and questions are in this video tutorial (we figure out how to tell the examiner about yourself, what questions to expect from him and how to answer them):

On the agenda - questions that you ask on the cards!

There is always a theme on the card and there is always a word. It is necessary to formulate a question on a given topic using the specified word.

Rules:

- The question must be asked on the topic
- The word of the topic can not be called
- You can not repeat the structure of the question of the previous interlocutor
- When formulating a question, you do not have time to prepare
- You must not only ask your question on the card, but also answer the question of the interlocutor

How to work with cards and formulate requests in this video:

And one more important point. How to deal with exam fear?

It's no secret that even those who are well prepared can simply not control themselves and get confused at the most crucial moment.

First, this is the so-called method 7/11. That is, you count to yourself and take a breath at 7, and exhale at 11. At the same time, the tension is removed and gradually disappears. I strongly advise you to use this method before you go to the exam itself. Especially on the oral part. Because before the oral part, many are worried. They see a small audience and examiners in front of them and panic seizes them.

Another effective method is called " fly on the wall". It helps to take a little break from the situation. Imagine yourself as a fly that sits on the ceiling and looks at everything from above. That is, she is not in this situation, but is at the top, above the situation. Accordingly, you will live this situation from above and the excitement will subside a little.

There is another psychological method. If after the exam you continue to be nervous and worry about what the result will be. This method is called " step over the wave". What does it mean? You imagine a situation that makes you nervous in the form of a sea that you fold... and step over. And you can actually do it. Take a step and imagine that you have stepped over this wave, you have stepped over this situation and now you have calmed down and are calmly waiting for your results.

Although, if you think about it, being nervous in an exam is almost a sacred tradition. And if you can not overcome the excitement - turn it to your advantage! Check everything written again, repeat all the learned clichés the day before, review a couple of videos.

Check if you have forgotten your documents. And the pen? And the head?
Everything is in place - you are ready!

Inna Levenchuk,

candidate ped. Sci., Head of the Online School of the German Language
especially for Deutsch-online

At the end of June 2014, a student contacted me, who for the German embassy needed a certificate from the Goethe Institute Start Deutsch 1 or, as it is also called, Goethe-Zertifikat A1 according to.

The certificate was required urgently, by the end of August 2014. Those. in just two months.

Initial conditions:

Complete ignorance of the German language. There were attempts to learn the language earlier, but these attempts left the knowledge of no more than 20-30 words and the most rudimentary knowledge of grammar.
Great desire and motivation. In this case, it played, I think, a very important role.
Quite a lot of free time. The student was not working at the moment, had constant access to the Internet.
Lessons were held via Skype, every day, except for some weekends (almost all Saturdays were also used).

First you need to understand what level of knowledge is needed to successfully pass the exam for this certificate.

Requirements for taking the Goethe Start A1 exam

How does the Goethe Institute itself formulate such knowledge?

The student/student must

understand simple everyday questions, instructions and messages, including texts recorded on an answering machine, announcements at airports and train stations, as well as short dialogues,
understand information relevant to you contained in short written messages, explanatory inscriptions on signage boards, as well as small announcements
understand and name numbers, quantity designation, clock readings, prices,
fill in forms containing standard personal data,
write short messages of personal content,
be able to introduce yourself during the conversation and answer simple questions relating to you personally
be able to formulate everyday questions and respond to them.

On the one hand, this exam is the most basic and obtaining this certificate only indicates that its owner can read and understand a simple text, understand his interlocutor (unless, of course, he does not speak very quickly and uses simple phrases and expressions ), tell a short story about yourself and write a short letter.

But on the other hand, the usual time for learning a language to pass this exam is at least 6-8 months. Is it possible to achieve a successful result in just two months? Extremely unlikely.

Naturally, I informed the student about this. But she decided to take the risk. So the training began.

A small digression.

What knowledge do you need to show in order to get this same Goethe-Zertifikat Start A1 deutsch certificate? Requirements are quite loyal.

The exam consists of two parts.

First part

listening ( hören) - about 20 minutes
reading ( lesen) – about 20 minutes
letter ( schreiben) - about 25 minutes

Then a short break for 2-3 hours and a group interview in German ( sprechen).

Total - four parts of the exams. Each part gives approximately 25 points in the absence of errors.

25 points * 4 = 100 points. This is the maximum you can get if you pass all four parts of the exam perfectly and do not make a single mistake.

But, besides the absolute maximum, there is also a minimum.

So, the certificate is issued and the exam is considered passed even with a fairly low 60 points. This is the minimum number of points from which a certificate is provided. The number of points less than 60 - the exam is not passed.

In the case of a student, she needed the certificate itself, even with the lowest score, i.e. even 60 points. 59 points - failure and failure, 60 points and above - success and victory. Given the very tight deadlines, the chances of getting even those same 60 points were very small.

For example, already during the exam, my student got into a conversation with the same applicant for a certificate and found out that she was already taking this exam. fourth time! Those. three previous attempts were unsuccessful.

Strategy for passing the Goethe Start A1 exam

The website of the Goethe Institute has a lot of materials that talk about how the exam is held and what tasks are provided. Naturally, these tasks are test and the exam itself will be different, but similar.

Therefore, after discussing these materials with the student, a learning strategy for successful delivery was developed.

Hören Section (Listening)

The student listens to the text twice, and then in the provided answer form he marks the correct, in his opinion, option.

There are a total of 15 questions in this section, with four questions having two possible answers and the rest having three possible answers.

Those. the chance to give the correct answer even by accidentally crossing out one of the answer options is 37%.

But, nevertheless, it was this section that was recognized as the most difficult to pass and obviously a failure. Why?

Everything is very simple - it is impossible to teach to understand speech in another language in two months, this is available only to units with an ear for music and an excellent memory. Very often, students who take this exam complain about the hören section. Allegedly, the sound quality is poor and this is what makes it difficult to understand speech well. But the reason is completely different - the lack of practice. Your brain is not yet accustomed to German speech and any interference prevents it from correctly understanding the information in it.

Therefore, this particular section was classified as secondary in training. But still he was given enough attention. However, work here was carried out approximately from the end of the first month, because. before this period, the student did not have a sufficient vocabulary.

As soon as the vocabulary appeared, classes began on the following practice:

The teacher slowly reads the phrases, for each lesson - 10 phrases.
The student gives the translation.
Each next lesson, the speed of pronouncing phrases increases, new phrases are added to the new lesson, but some old phrases are left. It turns out such a hodgepodge in which the student receives the old, learned information along with the new one.
As an independent work, the student listened to test dialogues from the Goethe website, which were offered as an example for the A1 exam.
As an additional homework task, the student listened to my chosen training videos from Youtube with subtitles. (Example below)

Section Lesen (Reading)

In this section, during the exam, the student is given a text and some statements that need to be marked as true or false.

Here we need to memorize words.

The program for Android came in very handy - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=en.forteamwork.dfc.a1

This program is a set of flash cards with words that you need to know specifically for the Start A1 exam. About 1300 words.

The learning plan was as follows:

The first week - we learn 20 words daily. Naturally, fewer words remain in memory, but we do not reduce the intensity.
The second week - we learn 18 words daily. Then every next week we reduce the plan for the day by two words.
On the sixth week we come to the task - ten words a day and this level is maintained until the exam itself.

Ideally, the student should have learned about 900 words, the real result is about 600-650 words. Which, theoretically, should have been enough to pass the exam.

Additionally, the student used the program I proposed to memorize words Anki (http://ankisrs.net/)

This program is available for phones / tablets on the Android operating system, and for iOS (Iphone / Ipad), and even for PC.

The program is convenient in that it is possible to create individual dictionaries for each student, monitor his progress (through the online portal - https://ankiweb.net/)

In the study, I paid special attention to the study of basic, root words.

Those. not to learn long words right away, for example, the word - Sehenswürdigkeit (attraction), but to be able to divide it into separate components and learn them first of all.

sehen - to see

wurdig - worthy

Example No. 2. Bahnhof - train station

Bahn (road) + Hof (yard)

Additional tasks for this module are texts from Hueber Verlag textbooks with a gradual increase in the complexity of the text.

This section was quite easy and it was here that you could score much-needed points. Quite a banal cramming and getting at least 17 points out of 25 is quite possible.

Letter (Schreiben)

In this section, the student is given the task of writing a letter on a given topic.

In preparation for this section, much attention was paid to typical phrases that are used in a business letter - greetings, farewells, apologies, thanks. Again we cram, teach, memorize.

In order to simplify, it was decided not to use articles in the letter in cases where the student is not sure of their correctness.

As an additional task, the student rewrote simple test letters in order to develop a beautiful handwriting, which may be useful for the exam, on the one hand, and on the other hand, allows you to unload the brain for a while, free it from cramming. In addition, some students have better developed visual memory and writing words with a pen often helps to remember a word better.

Please note that in tasks for Lesen you may come across letters. This is a ready-made blank for your own letter to Schreiben! Just change the phrase a little and voila!

Interview (Sprechen)

Also quite an interesting and good section. Why is he good?

a) The previous three sections are scored on the answers on the answer sheet. It looks like this:

All your personal qualities, appearance, behavior and so on does not matter. You put a cross on the correct answer and then the computer quickly, automatically and ruthlessly determines the correct and incorrect answers.

b) The Sprechen section is conducted by a live person, who determines the level of your knowledge. In the vast majority of cases, teachers do not aim to fail you, and with a small number of errors, they can give you those scores that are so necessary for obtaining a certificate. Unlike Hören, if you don't understand something, you can ask again (Wie, bitte? Wiederholen Sie bitte noch einmal). The teachers speak slower than the announcer and also you will be talking to other students and their speed/pronunciation is much easier to understand.

c) A significant part of the interview is a summary of your biography - profession, hobby, personal life. All this can be prepared in advance, memorized and spoken with feeling, sense, arrangement and good pronunciation. It's elementary and the funniest thing is that few people do it. My student came up with the longest pre-learned text, all the other participants, apparently, were hoping for an impromptu.

d) In addition, cards with a specific theme are given. Here is an example. Topics don't usually change very often, and generic phrases are also good here to help you say a few words on virtually any topic.

Preparation for the Goethe Start deutsch 1 exam - general information

Grammar

Only basic knowledge of pronouns and their declensions, declensions of verbs were given.

Irregular verbs are only the most common.

Times - Prasens, Präteritum, Perfect and Future I. All other times were not considered due to lack of time. By the way, other tenses are essentially not used in the exam itself.

Basic knowledge of reflexive verbs and verbs with separable prefix is given.

Case declension is basic, almost adjective declension was not considered.

Pronunciation

From the very beginning, emphasis was placed on setting the correct pronunciation, especially letters with umlauts, diphthongs, long vowels, words ending in -er.

For control, simple texts were used, which the student read aloud.

A standard answer sheet was printed out and the student took two tests to ensure that she completed it correctly.

Communication coordinates.

The written part of the exam Start Deutsch A1 (Start Deutsch 1) in German

Are you experiencing:

Not enough time to rewrite everything.

Have to finish everything on the go

Alas, your fears are not in vain. Once I really had a listener who wrote everything on a draft, but did not have time to rewrite it on the answer sheet. Time ran out and he was not allowed to transfer his notes. Those are the rules... I must say that over the years of my practice in preparing for the exam, he was one of two people who did not pass the exam the first time. I hasten to answer your question right away - exactly one month later he nevertheless became the owner of the A1 certificate.

We offer:

Listening exam Start Deutsch A1 (Start Deutsch 1) in German

Are you experiencing:

I'm afraid not to hear (not understand) the audio recording, especially where they let you listen only once.

I can't make out the audio text.

Listening is a problematic part for many of our listeners. It is with her that a lot of experiences and fears are connected. It just so happens that what can be read is much easier to perceive than what can only be listened to.

We offer:

Training and only training!

Listen to as many A1 level texts as possible, so you will train your ear to understand German speech.

And of course, you need to learn words and expressions for level A1. Sometimes the problem is that we cannot hear, not because we do not hear, but because we simply do not know the words.

More about the promotion .

The oral part of the exam Start Deutsch A1 (Start Deutsch 1) in GermanAre you experiencing:

I don’t know which interlocutors will be in the group for questions and requests.

They are frightened by the cards that come across and the need to quickly come up with a question or request on a given topic.

In this case, I dare to reassure you. Your result on the oral part of the exam is in no way dependent on the interlocutor. If he asks an incomprehensible or completely incorrect question (or request), then the examiner will immediately intervene and ask him to reformulate the question (or request), and in extreme cases, even formulate them for him on his own.

We have made a detailed analysis of examples of tasks for the Start Deutsch A1 exam in this .

We offer:

Work out in advance possible (and most popular) options for questions and requests.

And the main problem:

You get a little lost because you're nervous.

Being nervous in an exam is almost a sacred tradition. And if you can not overcome the excitement - turn it to your advantage! Check everything written again, repeat all the learned clichés the day before, review a couple of videos. Check if you have forgotten your documents. And the pen? And the head? Everything is in place - you are ready!

If you want to pass the Start Deutsch A1 exam easily and the first time, sign up for our online preparation course .

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