telc German C1
- Why do I need the telc German C1 - Exam?
The telc German C1 exam is required to demonstrate language skills at level C1. The exam requires a highly advanced level of German language skills from the participants. The telc Deutsch C1 Hochschule examination in particular is required by many universities to prepare foreign students for studying in Germany or to ensure that their language skills are sufficient for university studies.
- What is the difference between telc Deutsch C1 and telc Deutsch C1 HS or telc Deutsch C1-Beruf?
The exam telc Deutsch C1 is a general language exam especially for adults at a very high linguistic level. It is intended, for example, for academics who would like to work in Germany and have already studied in their home country. The telc Deutsch C1 Hochschule (HS) examination is particularly important in the academic field. This examination may be required for admission to a university or college, or for employment at a university or college. The exam telc Deutsch C1 Beruf, on the other hand, is more important for everyday professional life and work in German companies. A high level of language skills is also required here.
- What do I need to know at this level?
At level C1 learners should be able to understand long and demanding texts according to the descriptions of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. They should also be able to grasp the implicit meanings and should be able to express themselves fluently. They should not have to search for words, but be able to communicate flexibly and purposefully in professional and social life. Even complex issues should not be a problem for you.
Descriptions for all examination parts can be found here.
How is the exam structured?
The telc German C1 Examination ( C1 /C1 HS/ C1 Profession) takes a total of 3 hours and 40 minutes. In between you have a 20-minute break and 20 minutes to prepare for the oral examination.
Hier finden Sie einen Modelltest telc_deutsch_c1_uebungstest_1_format_2016
The audio file for the listening comprehension subtest
Hier finden Sie einen Modelltest telc_deutsch_c1_hochschule_uebungstest1
The audio file for the listening comprehension subtest
Deutsch_c1_hochschule_tipps_zur_pruefungsvorbereitung und Deutsch_c1_hochschule_Handbuch.
Hier finden Sie einen Modelltest telc-deutsch-c1-beruf-uebungstest
The audio file for the listening comprehension subtest
Deutsch_c1_beruf_tipps_zur_Pruefungsvorbereitung und Deutsch_c1_beruf_Handbuch
Examination section | Duration | Maximum number of points |
---|---|---|
Written examination | 220 minutes | 166 |
Leseverstehen Sprachbausteine | 90 minutes | 48 22 |
Break | 20 minutes | |
listening comprehension | 40 minutes | 48 |
Written expression | 70 minutes | 48 |
Oral expression | 16 minutes | 48 |
Total | 260 minutes | 214 |
- What score is sufficient to pass the exam?
In order to pass the examination, 60% of the possible maximum number of points must be achieved in both the written and the oral examination, i.e. at least 99 points in the written and 29 Points in the oral examination.
The note is then calculated according to the following key:
very well | well | satisfactory | sufficient | failed |
---|---|---|---|---|
214 - 193 points | 192.5 - 172 points | 171.5 - 151 points | 150.5 - 128 points | 127.5 -0 points |
- How does the oral examination take place?
The oral examination consists of 2 parts.
At the beginning you will have a short conversation with the examiners and participants and get to know each other. This part will not be assessed.
In the first part you should give a presentation of about 3 minutes. You will be given two topics to choose from. You can choose one and can practice the presentation beforehand in the 20 minutes preparation time. During the presentation the exam partner should listen carefully and after the presentation he should summarize the core statements of his interlocutor and ask 1-2 questions. The same procedure is then repeated in reverse.
Afterwards you should discuss a topic with your partner for about 6 minutes. The participants will receive a quotation for this, which they did not know before. So there is no preparation time in this part. It is usually examined in a team, i.e. two or three participants sit together in the oral examination. There should be an exchange of arguments
1st part A (Participant A) | Presentation | About 3 minutes |
1st part B (participant B) | Summary and follow-up questions | Approx. 2 minutes |
1st part A (participant B) | Presentation | Approx. 3 minutes |
1st part B ( participant A ) | Summary and follow-up questions | Approx. 2 minutes |
Part 2 | Discussion | approx. 6 minutes |
- What do I do if I do not pass the exam?
If you do not pass the exam, you can repeat it as a whole as often as you wish. At level C1 you can also repeat individual parts of the exam, for example only the oral or only the written exam. The individual examination parts are valid until the end of the next calendar year. For example, if you take the exam in August 2019 and only pass the oral part, you can have this part credited until the end of 2020.
We recommend that you take a preparatory course beforehand to ensure that you are optimally prepared for the exam.
- What other examination formats are available for telc's level C1?
In addition to the exam telc Deutsch C1, there is also the aforementioned exam telc Deutsch C1 Hochschule, which is mainly taken by prospective students as it entitles them to admission to university. This examination may also be suitable for students who are doing their Master's degree or wish to pursue an academic profession in Germany. It certifies an advanced level of language skills and is therefore well prepared. We therefore recommend that you take a preparation course. We also offer such a course at our language school. In addition, there is the exam telc Deutsch C1 Beruf, which tests language competence in general and job-related areas. It can be required by employers if the job requires excellent language skills. You should be able to speak German at a very advanced level, be able to communicate fluently and spontaneously, and be able to understand colloquial expressions. The exam lasts just as long as the telc German C1 exam.
- How is my telc C1 exam evaluated? What are the evaluation criteria?
reading comprehension, language modules and listening comprehension
The first part of your exam (reading comprehension, language modules and listening comprehension) contains mainly testable questions. You colour in the oval boxes in the exam, which are later read out by a computer. The written and oral parts of the exam have to be assessed in a different way.
Letter
First, your subtest "Writing" will be checked and assessed by our licensed evaluators. Then we send the examination papers to telc gGmbH in Frankfurt, where they are checked again by other licensed evaluators and the final evaluation is then produced. It is telc's assessment which takes the decisive vote here. Through the various evaluations by many people, we try to make the evaluations as fair and independent as possible.
In the 'written expression' part of the exam, you will write a discussion which will be assessed according to the following four criteria: task suitability, correctness, repertoire and communicative design. The text should meet the requirements in relation to the task and the task should be clearly and precisely edited. According to the CEFR's capability descriptions you should be able to grade your opinions and statements and also be able to express a degree of certainty/uncertainty, presumption and doubt. You should also be able to write in a reader-friendly manner and refer to your addressee. Correctness' is about making few to no mistakes in syntax, morphology and lexis. Spelling and punctuation should also be largely correct.
Your 'repertoire' of expressions should be extensive and complex, you should be able to use complex sentence structures and your choice of words should be varied. Your vocabulary should be wide enough to allow you to find paraphrases without difficulty and to understand and use idiomatic and colloquial expressions. When 'communicatively designing' the text, you should make sure that your text is well structured. Appropriate linking elements are important to make the text coherent. You should be able to emphasise key points and find sub-points and examples to make the text clearer and illustrate your point of view.
The evaluators mark either A,B,C or D. Each letter represents a score. For example, A represents 12 points, B represents 8, C represents 4 and D represents 0 points. The points achieved in the final evaluation of telc are added together and evaluated electronically at telc in Frankfurt. In total, a maximum of 48 points can therefore be achieved in the written printout.
A | B | C | D | |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. appropriateness of tasks | 12 | 8 | 4 | 0 |
2. correctness | 12 | 8 | 4 | 0 |
3rd repertoire | 12 | 8 | 4 | 0 |
4. communicative design | 12 | 8 | 4 | 0 |
Speak
Six criteria are considered for oral expression: Task suitability, interaction, fluency and repertoire as well as grammatical correctness and pronunciation and intonation. Whether the task has been completed can be judged by whether what has been said is well structured, precise and easy to understand. The examinee should be able to actively participate in the conversation and to name ideas and views precisely. Interaction' includes initiating the change of speaker and other discourse strategies which the participant can initiate and thus interact confidently in the conversation. The communication is spontaneous and appropriate and can be corrected independently in case of small mistakes by strategies of repair. The candidates should speak 'fluently' without hesitation or having to search for words for a long time. They should speak at a steady pace and naturally. Your 'repertoire' should be varied, you should give the impression that you do not have to limit yourself in what you say. You should be able to express yourself freely and use a large vocabulary and complex sentence structures.
The grammatical correctness should be at the corresponding level of C1, i.e. only occasional errors should occur in complex sentence structures. Pronunciation and intonation should be clear and unambiguous, the words should be correctly stressed and the intonation should be used sensibly to underline the meaning. The two examiners discuss and compare their results directly after the oral examination. However, they do not have to agree on an evaluation. Each examiner writes their assessment on the Answer Sheet S 30. By assessing your performance as a team, your performance is assessed by two examiners standing independently of each other and thus remains as fair and objective as possible.
The evaluators mark either A,B,C or D. Each letter represents a score. The scores of the first and second examiners are added together and then divided by two, which are evaluated electronically at telc in Frankfurt. In total, a maximum of 48 points can be achieved in oral expression.
1. appropriateness of tasks | A | B | C | D |
---|---|---|---|---|
Part 1 A: Presentation | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 |
Part 1 B: Summary & follow-up questions | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
Part 2: Discussion | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 |
2. liquid | 8 | 5 | 2 | 0 |
3rd repertoire | 8 | 5 | 2 | 0 |
4. grammatical correctness | 8 | 5 | 2 | 0 |
5. pronunciation and intonation | 8 | 5 | 2 | 0 |
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Reading comprehension & language modules (90 minutes)
Reading comprehension has three parts and language components two
- Reading comprehension
- 1. text reconstruction: You get a longer text with six gaps. You will also receive eight short sentences. Of these eight sentences, six of the sentences are to be placed in the gaps of the text, so two are left.
- 2. selective understanding: You will receive a longer text divided into six sections. You will also be asked ten questions about where to find information. You are asked to answer the questions by assigning a section to them. Each section can be used several times.
- 3. understanding details: I want you to read a text again. Then you have to decide for 11 statements whether a) the statement agrees with the text, b) the statement does not agree with the text or c) there is nothing in the text about the statement. Then you select which of the given headings best fits the text.
- Language modules
- You will receive a reading text containing 22 gaps. Below the text you will find four possible answers to each task (i.e. to each gap). You must select the correct answer option for each task (gap). Your knowledge of grammar, vocabulary and spelling will be tested.
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Listening comprehension (about 40 minutes)
Listening comprehension has 3 parts. All listening texts you hear only once!
- 1. global understanding: You will hear eight short interviews with eight different people. There are ten statements about the interviews. You are asked to assign the appropriate statement to each person. Two statements do not fit to any person.
- 2. understanding of details: You are listening to an interview on a specific topic. You will be given ten tasks, each with three answer options, and must identify the statements that best fit the content of the interview.
- 3. information transfer: you listen to a lecture on a specific topic There are presentation slides with ten tasks. You have to add the missing information in keywords on the slides.
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Written expression (approx. 70 minutes)
You write an argumentative text of at least 350 words.
- You will be given two topics to choose from and you will write a discussion on the chosen one by dealing with different aspects of the chosen topic in detail and in a linguistically varied manner. You present arguments, give examples and justify your opinion or position.
- Tip! - Use varied and accurate vocabulary, complex structures. Argue conclusively and comprehensibly and structure your text in a reader-friendly way.
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Oral expression (about 16 minutes)
The oral examination consists of two parts. You will be given two topics to choose from and prepare a 3-minute presentation on the chosen topic.