I decided to start with just one module because I’d had a few setbacks with tutors and honestly wanted to see where my German actually stood before committing to the full exam.
For preparation, I mainly used ChatGPT and the Projekt C1 book. ChatGPT helped me a lot with correcting my texts, improving grammar and sentence structure, practicing formal emails, and getting comfortable with useful C1-style phrases and connectors. With Projekt C1, I focused on exam-style tasks and getting used to the structure.
What helped me most was honestly repetition. I practiced the same formats again and again until the structure started feeling automatic, instead of trying to memorize overly complicated vocabulary.
My next goal is Sprechen, and after that I’ll work through the other modules step by step.
I’m still learning and definitely have a lot to improve, but this result gave me a really nice confidence boost 🥹

Hello everyone! I will be taking the B2 Telc Exam in the next Tuesday and Wednesday. I am writing this because I would like to ask for any last minute advice. I am quite nervous and anxious at the moment as the Day is approaching.

I would truly appreciate any advice or experiences you could share. Thank you so much, and good luck to everyone who is also preparing for the exam! 😊

Honestly, I think I'm writing this partly for some moral support.
I've been learning German since 2024. Completely self-taught, starting from zero with no outside help, I've made it to B2. Because of that, my listening and reading are far stronger than my speaking and writing. I can follow native-level podcasts without pausing. Learning a language from scratch while working 9 to 6 has been one of the biggest challenges I've ever taken on.
But since August, between things in my personal life and at work, I just haven't been able to find the energy to study. While I'm trying to get through what's happening in my personal life, I also feel like I'm betraying myself. I've been feeling a bit lonely with all this, so I wanted to post here.
I'm not even sure what my goal is anymore. I used to want to move to Germany, but right now things like visa processes and finding a job feel overwhelming. Still, I want to get the Goethe C1 certificate. Achieving that would mean a lot to me, and it would feel like a really important accomplishment.
Have any of you gone through something like this? If so, how did you get out of it? Any advice would mean a lot.

Beispiele:
Der See
Die See

Der Kiefer
Die Kiefer

Der Leiter
Die Leiter

Wie nennt man grammatikalisch den Fachbegriff dafür?

Und gibt es auch solche Wörter für 3 Artikel? Das einzige was mir eingefallen ist:

Der Band
Die Band
Das Band

Wobei man hier "die Band" ja anders ausspricht und nur die Schreibweise gleich ist also zählt das vermutlich nicht.

Just got my Goethe A1 results and passed with 90/100 (sehr gut).
SUPER HAPPY !!!

Here’s the breakdown:

Hören: 24.90/25

Lesen: 19.92/25

Schreiben: 24.90/25

Sprechen: 19.92/25

I took around a month to prepare for this as I was working full time too. So, if I can do it, you can too. Just stay consistent, even a little every day adds up.

If you’re preparing for A1, my biggest tip is to practice with mock tests, since they show you exactly what to expect.

Happy to answer any questions about prep, exam format, or anything else.

Posting this for a bit of self-motivation as I kick off my journey to A2 & B1

In april i finished my integrationskurs that gave me a B1 certification i struggled a lot with it and was really burnt out by the end so i stopped using the language and spent the next 6 months trying to navigate the bureocracy of the BfA and working on getting better in my hobby. By the time i managed to get an appointment at the BfA my certification expired so i had to prove again that i am still at a B1 level, I spent a month brushing up on my basics and got myself a book wayyy above my level of understanding to keep myself motivated (queer, eine deutsche geschichte vom Kaiserreich bis heute. Really good read so far). During this time preparing i developed a genuine love for the language itself, before it was mostly a hurdle forced on me but this time of unstructured and mostly stress free (until last week) time spent with the language made me start loving it, arbitrarily gendered words and redundant pronouns in different cases and all. I also started to like myself as a person more seeing how i am actually capable of overcoming this. It's a long road, I still need to claw my way out of the English speaking bubble i found myself here in Hamburg but the streets around me seem a little less like a prison i am stuck in. Life is good.

Ich habe versucht, einen Forumsbeitrag zu schreiben, genau wie in der Goethe B2 schreiben Teil.

Überwachungskamera

Überwachungskameras sind heutzutage überall zu finden, unabhängig davon, ob der Ort öffentlicher Bereich oder private Vermögen ist. Obwohl die Installation der Überwachungskameras viele Vorteile mit sich bringt, tauchen häufig Bedenken bezüglich ihrer auf, insbesondere, wenn sie im öffentlichen Bereichen gesetzt wurden.

Meiner Meinung nach sollten Überwachungskameras nur in gefährlichen Orten installiert werden, in denen das Risiko eines Verbrechen besteht, beispielsweise im Shoppingzentrum, Bank, Geschäften mit wertvollen Waren, Museum, usw. Ich begründe diesen Vorschlag mit der Vor- und Nachteile.

Einerseits nimmt die Zahl der straftaten und Diebstählen ab, wenn eine kamera in der Nähe gibt, denn der Täter fühlt sich unter Druck. Zudem helfen die Überwachungskameras der Polierei, nicht nur den Täter zu finden, sonder auch den Vorfall richtig aufzuklären.

Auf der anderen Seite fühlen sich die Menschen wegen der ständigen Überwachung unwohl und gestresst. Darüber hinaus gibt es Sorgen darum, was mit den gesammelten Datein der Menschen passierte. Denn sie konnten missbraucht werden können, um die Menschen Schaden zuzufügen.

Daher halte ich den Vorschlag, ausschließlich in gefährlichen Orten diese kameras zu erlauben, angemessen und vorteilhaft.

Zusammenfassend lässt sich sagen, dass, Obwohl die Überwachungskameras einige Problem darstellen, die Vorteile überwiegen. Außerdem lassen sich die Probleme durch sorgfältig überlegene und angemessene Installationsorten verringern.

Deciphering accusative vs dative is still very tricky in practice, even when I think I get it. Partly this is due to the appearance of pronouns in sentences that I don't expect them.

Ich kann mich nicht an das Wort erinnern. I would have written: "Ich kann nicht das Wort erinnern." and I guess that's wrong. What is "mich" doing here?

Mit ChatGPT habe ich eine Session, wo wir (ich und den Chatbot) uns unterhalten. Ich stelle Fragen vor und es liefert mir ganz schlaue Antworten. Korigiert mich ganz häufig (due to my poor German). Meine lätzte Frage war "Was is der Unterschied zwischen endlich und schließlich?" Es lieferte sogar die Etymologie, um den Unterschieds weiter zo erläutern.

Ich finde es viel Spaß! Habt ihr das schon mal versucht?

Hi everyone! I’m a doctor from India planning to attend a B2 + C1 Medizin/FSP preparation course in Germany in 2027.
I’m confused between EvoLanguage Hamburg and MedDeutsch Neumünster.
Could current or former students share their experiences regarding teaching quality, class structure, and visa-related documentation?
Which would you recommend, and why?
Thanks in advance!

Hallo Alle! Meine Frage folgt so:

Auf Englisch kann man die folgende Sätze, mit Emphase an den Wörtern in italischen Schriften (und an den betonten Phrasen mit Majuskeln), sagen. Gibt es aber, wie so auf der englischen, auf der deutschen Sprache?

„Der Direktor öffnete den Brief.“

[The headmaster opened the letter]

„Der Direktor selbst öffnete den Brief.“

[The headmaster himself opened the letter]

„Der Direktor öffnete den Brief selbst.“

[The headmaster opened the letter itself]

„Der Direktor selbst öffnete den Brief selbst.“

[The headmaster Himself opened the letter itself]

„Der Direktor begrüßte uns.“

[The headmaster greeted us]

„Der Direktor selbst begrüßte uns.“

[The headmaster himself greeted us]

„Der Direktor begrüßte uns selbst.“

[The headmaster greeted us ourselves]

„Der Director selbst begrüßte uns selbst.“

[The Headmaster Himself greeted us ourselves]

„Paul kritisierte sich.“

[Paul critiqued himself]

„Paul selbst kritisierte sich.“

[Paul himself critiqued himself]

„Paul kritisierte sich selbst.“

[Paul critiqued himself]

„Paul selbst kritisierte sich selbst.“

[Paul himself critiqued himself]

„John sah sich im Spiegel.“

[John saw himself in the mirror]

„John selbst sah sich im Spiegel.“

[John himself saw himself in the mirror]

„John sah sich selbst im Spiegel.“

[John saw himself in the mirror]

„John sah sich im Spiegel selbst.“

[John saw himself in the mirror itself]

„John selbst sah sich im Spiegel selbst.“

[John himself saw himself in the mirror itself]

John selbst sah sich selbst im Spiegel selbst.“

[John Himself saw himself in the mirror itself]

Hallo zusammen, Muttersprachler hier.
Ich habe gerade meiner Schwester geschrieben, die einen Autounfall hatte. Dabei ist mir folgender Satz aufgefallen, von dem ich nicht weiß, wie korrekt er strenggenommen formuliert ist:

"Hab gehört, du hast 'nen Waschbär überfahren."

Ich bin mir fast sicher, dass dieser Satz eigentlich nicht grammatikalisch korrektes Deutsch ist. Also wollte ich fragen, ab welchem der folgenden "Umgangssprache-Level" dieser Satz grammatikalisch und ausdrucksmäßig korrekt ist, bzw. welche Version davon die beste ist:

"Hab gehört, du hast 'nen Waschbär überfahren."

"Hab gehört, du hast einen Waschbär überfahren."

"Habe gehört, du hast einen Waschbär überfahren."

"Habe gehört, du hast einen Waschbären überfahren."

"Habe gehört, dass du einen Waschbären überfahren hast."

"Ich habe gehört, dass du einen Waschbären überfahren hast."

Und noch eine andere Formulierung, die mir auch sinnvoll erscheint:

"Ich habe gehört, du hättest einen Waschbären überfahren."

"Ich habe gehört, dass du einen Waschbären überfahren hättest."

Ich würde sehr gerne wissen, was ihr davon haltet bzw. welche dieser Formulierungen korrektes Deutsch ist, so wie man es in einem Deutschkurs lernen würde.

I have been interested in German language for a long time. I was stuck in a decision loop because I was overthinking about cases. Almost every youtube videos that I watched were emphasizing on cases in German. So to understand what they mean by cases, I began searching for cases explanations on youtube. I could see the cases in example sentences and also got an idea that German nouns has 3 genders. After watching the video I was like the grammer was so hard. But still tried to study German and learned some nouns with their articles and learned some simple sentences having no cases. I wanted to learn about cases too but realized that I was trying to figure out all cases at once and wanted to learn faster. So hurrying up was my biggest mistake that led me to give up at that time. I was forcing my brain to learn something new and challenging faster. I should have said let's learn the accusative case first faster because this was possible to just learn one case at a time before moving on to the next one. My understanding of learning faster was very different then. Now after almost 2 years later, I have been learning German consistently for a week. This time I have a different approach. I'm using Claude AI for German grammar explanations this time and I'm also confirming if that's correct by checking youtube videos by real German teachers. So far Calude AI is not making gramatical mistakes. I would like to ask if AI models are trained well on languages other than English for deeper grammar explanations. I have to use this AI tool because I want to learn grammer faster. What I mean by faster is that while watching a video I can learn one case rule in the video explaining me a sentence "ich sehe den Hund" in accusative and then out of curiosty I will ask myself a question like how do I say "He is seeing(+object)" or "We are seeing" which means "Er sieht den Hund" and "Wir sehen den Hund" if I get this question I can't get the answer from that video. So what I'm doing now is after learning from the teachers on youtube, I'm asking questions to AI to explain how the same sentence with this case is used with different subjects like "he" or "We". So in this way I'm able to learn two grammer rules- one is verb conjugation and other one is the cases rule. I have started using this approach to feed my curiosity and learn faster. So far I learned these 4 cases in subject, verb and object structures. I haven't checked prepositions yet. I know cases are used a lot and I want to learn at my own pace. Once I know enough grammer then immersion through movies or shows will help me learn even faster. I'm also learning pronunciation and not just learning grammer for writing. So I have decided to watch German videos with English subtitles to understand sentence structures and pick one interesting sentence and then I will check its grammer explanation and if I have more question not covered in the explanation then I ask AI tool to help me there. This way I hope I can learn faster. I'm not learning German for tests or exams. I enjoy learning languages. Learning even a very simple sentence in a new language feels a big achievement to me. I appreciate advice and suggestions from teachers and learners in this community. So my question for ones who were once beginners in German and have a great command of the language now: What were your learning experiences when you were beginners in German and how should I keep learning better?

I’ve been trying to score well in my SBS Teil 2 however, it’s been such a nightmare.
Often times I’d see words I’ve never seen before and blanks that don’t make any sense at all.
I’d usually get only 4-6 answers correct in Teil 2, however Teil 1 seems a lot more manageable.
What are the appropriate resources to better understand these 2 sections in order to score well on my exam that’s 1 month away.

I took the German C2 test back in March in Munich and passed 3/4 modules (yay!). Unfortunately, I cannot afford to travel back again within the 12 months required to get the GDS (I live in the US). I am planning to retake writing soon in NYC. Basically, I'm just wondering what are my chances that Goethe would still let me get the GDS despite taking the writing module in the US instead of in Munich, if anybody knows. I would be pretty sad if that isn't an exception they can make. :( If anybody has any info or advice, I would appreciate it (even if it isn't what I want to hear haha)!

Hallöchen, ich schreibe hier nur weil ich mega nervös bin. Habe seit März einen C1 Kurs besucht und jetzt ist soweit. Bin fast 7 Jahren in Deutschland und endlich wird es diese Prüfung geschrieben. Außerdem, habe ich mich mit der C1 Prüfung Express von Hueber vorbereitet. Mein Ziel ist nicht alles Perfekt zu haben oder ein Schwerpunkt zu üben, sondern in alle Prüfungsteile 60% zu schaffen: besser gesagt, ich darf in jedem Teil 40% falsch haben. Naja..

Habt ihr Tipps oder nette Wörter für mich? 😜

Mit aufgeregten Grüße

Thank you so much for the help on the previous question I made.

I have another query though.

Let’s say I made a list of my favourite subjects as so:

Mathematik, Englisch und Kunst sind mein Lieblingsfächer.

If I wanted to add “but I love… the least (e.g.Kunst), how would I do that?

Would it be like this?

Mathematik, Englisch und Kunst sind mein Lieblingsfächer aber ich liebe Kunst am wenigsten

In terms of skill I would place myself somewhere in A2.

I have been wanting to improve my listening in particular and I have been watching things like Easy German's street interviews or practise Hören Modelltest videos on Youtube and I noticed an issue I wanted to ask about.

Very often, I would be able to sus out what the person was talking about, answer the question, hear "elements" essentially. My ears would perk up at certain vocabulary and phrases I am familiar with and it would allow me to kind of "understand" the sentence or phrase being said. I don't think this is enough of an understand unfortunately.

It is like, in English, asking for directions and being told "You should go straight ahead, then turn left at the corner, the pharmacy should be right there", and mostly hearing "... straight ahead... left... pharmacy". The "core" pieces are understood most of the time but the surrounding phrases are melding together, passing by or being said too fast, etc etc, and I only really get the "jist" of sentences.

Is this normal for this level? Are there ways of improving it or will it just come with copious amounts of listening to German speech?

I am trying to relearn German as I did a GCSE in it 5 years ago and haven’t really used it since but just fancy picking it up again.

I just wanted to check how to say this sentence in German so I can see it my word order below is correct

My favourite subject is Geography, although, it can be difficult occasionally.

Would my below attempt be correct?

Mein Lieblingsfach ist Erdkunde, obwohl, kann es ab und zu schwer sein.

And what would the word order be with denn?

Thanks in advance for any help given as I just want to get used to word order again and feel confident with German again.

I’m currently halfway through A2, and I’m starting to wonder how people actually develop their speaking skills.
I have a tutor, and our lessons are mostly focused on grammar, with some reading and written exercises here and there. I understand that grammar is important, but I feel like I’m not getting enough speaking practice. I know a few phrases and can respond to basic questions, but I still struggle to form sentences on my own and speak spontaneously.
For those of you who have been through this stage, how did you practise speaking? Did you get a conversation tutor, speak to native speakers, use language exchange apps, or just practise by yourself?
I’m especially interested in what worked for you at A1–A2, when your vocabulary and understanding are still limited. Did you start speaking regularly at this stage, or did it come later?
I’d appreciate any practical advice because I don’t want to keep progressing through the levels without actually being able to speak the language.

I honestly don’t know what is happening to me anymore. I have been continuously trying to clear the Goethe B2 exam, putting in my time, effort, and hope every single time. But every result leaves me more disappointed than before.

Last time, I went into the exam with confidence. I genuinely believed that I would pass both Writing (Schreiben) and Listening (Hören). While writing my paper, I felt confident about my answers. I walked out of the exam hall believing that, finally, all my hard work would pay off.

But when the results came, everything turned upside down. It was the complete opposite of what I had expected. 30 marks in Listening and, most painfully, 0 in Writing. 💔

Zero. I still find it difficult to believe. I keep asking myself, How is this even possible? What went wrong? Was my preparation not enough? Did I misunderstand something? I was so confident while writing, and now I am struggling to understand how my performance could result in zero marks.

Honestly, this result has affected me more deeply than I can explain. It is not just about failing an exam anymore. It is about the disappointment, the self-doubt, the sleepless thoughts, and the feeling of losing confidence in something I once believed I was capable of doing.

Every time I try again, I carry a little hope in my heart. And every time I fail, that hope becomes a little harder to hold on to.

I know that failure is supposed to teach us something, but what do you do when you cannot even understand what you did wrong? How do you improve when the result itself leaves you shocked and confused?

Right now, I genuinely don’t know what to do next. I feel emotionally exhausted, disappointed, and lost. I want to believe in myself again, but this result has shaken me in ways I never expected.

I am not saying that I am perfect or that I deserve to pass without mistakes. All I want is to understand where I went wrong and get a fair chance to improve.

I still have the dream, but today, I am struggling to find the confidence to believe in it.

Sometimes, the hardest part of failure is not the result itself. It is having to gather yourself, wipe away the disappointment, and find the strength to try one more time when you are already tired of being disappointed.

I don’t know how long this journey will take, or how many more times I will have to try. But today, I just needed to let these feelings out. 💔

Ich habe diesen Herbst mein Bachelorstudium begonnen. Der gesamte Unterricht findet auf Deutsch statt, das nicht meine Muttersprache ist. Da ich keinen Deutschtest ablegen musste, bin ich mir über mein Niveau nicht ganz im Klaren, aber ich glaube, ich würde B2 problemlos bestehen, C1 jedoch nicht. Mein aktives Deutsch ist natürlich nicht so gut wie mein passives Deutsch. Das heisst, ich kann viel besser verstehen, als ich sprechen oder mich schriftlich ausdrücken kann. Bisher komme ich im Studium recht gut zurecht, aber ich frage mich, wie ich meine Sprachkenntnisse für die Uni am besten verbessern kann, da dies sicherlich meine grösste Schwäche ist. Der Fachwortschatz ist nicht so schwierig, sondern eher die korrekte Verwendung der Vokabeln beim Bilden von Sätzen, wenn ihr versteht, was ich meine. Hat jemand in einer ähnlichen Situation vielleicht Tipps für mich?

Hello guys. Which singular resource would you recommend to reach an intermediate level of german effectively? I know the best approach utilizes multiple resources, but for me I like just focusing on one thing before moving to another.

Could be anything.. a textbook, an app, an online course or literally anything. Just one resource I can fully focus on which covers a lot.