telc German C2

telc German C2

• Why do I need the telc Deutsch C2 exam?

The telc C2 German exam proves language skills at a level approaching that of a native speaker. The examination is primarily intended for students and graduates from Germany, i.e. those who have been living and studying in Germany for a longer period of time or students of German studies from abroad. In addition, you can use this examination to prove above-average German language skills, for example for employers.

• What do I need to know at this level?

At level C2 you should be able to understand almost everything you hear or read. You should be able to compile information from different sources and summarise it competently. You should be able to express justifications and explanations in an appropriate way in an argumentative structure. In addition, after successful completion of the course, you will be able to express yourself spontaneously, fluently and even on complex issues that you are not familiar with. You can also make subtle differences in meaning clear and understand implicit expressions and jokes.

Descriptions for all examination parts can be found here

• How is the exam structured?

The telc German C2 exam consists of a written part, which takes a total of 4 hours and 10 minutes, and an oral part, which takes 15 minutes and 20 minutes preparation time. The oral examination can take place on the same day as the written examination, but also on another day.

Here you can find a model test

The audio file for the listening comprehension subtest

Tips for exam preparation and the manual.

• 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:

• How does the oral examination take place?

The oral examination consists of two parts. After the examinee and the examiners have introduced themselves and got to know each other, you will have to give a presentation in the first part, which should last about 6-8 minutes. Afterwards you will have an in-depth conversation with the examiners. In the telc C2 German exam, you will be tested alone and will not have a conversation partner. The in-depth conversation should last about 7-9 minutes. In total, the exam should not take longer than 15 minutes; before that you have 20 minutes to prepare.

The examinee is given a choice of two topics for the lecture. He should choose one and prepare it during the preparation time for the lecture. In the second part, the examiners ask more detailed questions, whereby the learner should comment on various aspects of the topic. The theses of the lecture are questioned by the interlocutors and you as the examinee should defend and justify them.

A further 24 points can be awarded for linguistic adequacy. This is particularly important in the telc C2 exam. You should be able to express yourself linguistically appropriately and in a very differentiated manner.

• 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 C2 level?

There are no other telc examination formats at level C2.

• How will my telc C2 exam be assessed? What are the evaluation criteria?

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 examination, four criteria are assessed: 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 any problems 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 10 points, B represents 7, C represents 3 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 40 points can be achieved in the written printout.

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 C2, i.e. mistakes even in complex sentence structures should be very rare. 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 compare their results immediately after the oral examination and agree on an evaluation. Through team assessment, your performance will be assessed by two examiners standing independently of each other and thus remain 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.