All about my DTZ German B1 exam

After 7 weeks of waiting, the results are in. I passed! Woot, woot! I can finally share my experience, and I’ve listed them in the order that the test was conducted.

First off, an important tip to those who are going to take the exam: don’t fall sick. That is what happened to me right on the week of the exam, and it was not good. The day before the exam, my husband and I were discussing whether or not I should go to the doctor instead. Anyway, to make a long story short, I did it because  wanted to get it over with, so, TA-DA.

Here goes. 🙂

1. Reading. Some parts were admittedly, a bit tricky, and with my nose being blocked and my head full of 2 sachets of aspirin (that I took so I could prevent a fever and continue the test), I tried my best to concentrate and choose the right answer.

Tip: For some parts, skip the difficult words and get the gist of the whole text. Also, answer the questions you can easily answer and just go back to the ones you find difficult.

2. Listening. Same goes for the listening part. It was clear and easy to understand. To be honest, it felt like they were giving the answers already. The only thing we were worried about was that the CD player (yup, no speakers or whatever) was placed in the front of the class, giving advantage to those who are nearer to it. But it turned out to be okay.

Tip: Try to listen to to the radio everyday, and I do mean the heavy duty news kind, not the one that plays english songs in between.

3. Writing. We didn’t prepare much for the writing part of the exam at the school I went to. In this section, you will be given two situations wherein you will have to write a letter. Usually, it is a formal one. Both of the situations given in my exam where ones that I have not encountered before, so I didn’t write much.

Tip: Write as much as you can and try to fill the page. Once you’re finished writing the letter, go over it and make sure there are no grammatical errors. Also, practice writing for different situations where you have to write a letter.

4. Speaking. A few minutes before the writing section ended, we were given a pieces of paper with our names and the time we were supposed to do our oral exam. If you’re lucky, you get paired with someone you know in class, who you’ve already gotten the chance to talk to. If you’re luckier, you get paired with a total stranger. Yep, you guessed it, I was luckier. We had about an hour to practice, so we just tried to get acquainted as much as we could before we pretend to be very good friends during the test.

Tip: Take the exam at the Volkshochschule. When I told my orientation course teacher of my experience, she said that things should’ve been more clearly stated for us and that we should have been encouraged to say more. She added that if I ever feel like taking the exam again, I should do it at the VHS where the examiners will be kinder, haha. But I think once is enough. 😀

Anyway, that was my DTZ Deutsch B1 Prüfung experience. Have a good week ahead, guys and gals! Ciao. 🙂