Getting through a German B1 Exam
How are you doing? This was an eventful week in more ways than one, and this included a German exam. Today's post will be about my B1 ÖSD Exam experience in Austria and also sharing a bit on how I prepared for the exam. Feel free to skip around to what works for you, and as always, a German language exercise is provided at the end, this week's exercise has you look at old advertisements.
The Exam Day
My B1 Exam took place at 8:30 a.m. this past Saturday with Mundshutz (mask) and Abstand (distancing). All those taking the exam were separated and I was very grateful our room had a digital clock, since I discovered my old wrist watch had indeed stopped ticking. Sadly my Fitbit which I normally use now isn't allowed in the testing room.
As the other A1 and A2 ÖSD exams, there were 2 teachers there. Sometimes you met an old teacher of yours. This day had two I wasn't familiar with, but one did have a good sense of humor. Of ÖSD Exams, you have 4 parts in this order: 1. Reading + 'Grammar' 2. Listening 3. Writing 4. Speaking. You get a break after the reading/grammar portion of the exam, we had 15 minutes. And the Speaking portion needs to be split between the students, so if you're someone that lives close to the testing center (like me) then you likely have one of the later speaking tests.
We wore masks in the building. This is what is still happening in Austria in general like when you are inside a grocery store or shopping mall. You where a mask in the testing room getting settled in, but you can remove the mask as you are taking the exam, as everyone is sitting far apart and there is no interaction.
Things feel much more relaxed since 3:00 p.m. and I finished the exam with the speaking. I felt this 90s song going through my head, now that the exam is over.
Of course, we don't found out about our test results on the same day, but in two weeks. Hopefully there is something good to celebrate! I did a lots prep work leading up to this test, so if things don't work out, I'll just try again. But I have a good feeling about the exam. (Hoping I don't have to rethink that.) So what did I do to prepare for this exam?
Preparing for the exam
Here are some different things that I did for preparing for the exam. Take what works for you.
Know the test
It's important of course to study German, but it's also very good to prepare yourself for what you'll run into in the exam. You don't want to prepare with only leg squats if you are going to do an arm wrestling competition. You don't want to find yourself feeling confident about entering a cooking competition realizing that you are going to bake a cake. Know what to expect. For the ÖSD B1 Exam, you have 4 parts:
- Leseverstehen & Sprachbausteine 90 min. (Reading comprehension w/ some grammar)
- Hörverstehen 30 min. (Listening)
- Schreiben 40 min. (Writing)
- Sprechen 15 min. (Speaking) You do this part with another person taking the exam.
Note that in Austria, there are 2 general tests, the ÖSD and the ÖIF Integration exam. The ÖIF Exam has a whole other section devoted to facts about Austria and the culture. It's important to make sure you are choosing the correct test! To do this, don't just ask your friends what they took because it's different in different situations. I am NOT an expert in this, but I know for myself I needed to speak with the Räthaus of my city. Now back to the ÖSD test.
Get familiar with the structure. For example, in the A2 exam, there was a part of the reading portion that has you match a sentence with the correct advertisement and you will always have a match. In the B1 exam, sometimes you would need to write '0' because there were no advertisements that matched. Of course they explain that to you in the test itself, but why become shocked by it?
Something silly that I forgot to do was look specifically into the speaking portion of the exam. And luckily I had a break in between, because I found out some details that took away the surprise factor. For example, in A1 and A2 you always start my introducing yourself, but in B1 you need to ask your partner questions about them and vise versa. While I practiced speaking a lot, and felt a bit confident with it, I thought, "I know generally what's coming" and not knowing the new change in the B1 would have brought an unnecessary surprise.
Practice the whole test
The ÖSD Exam has a great practice test book that you can buy for around 21 Euros. It contains 4 tests, one of the tests having a more in-depth look at how to go through the tests with advice. (For those that take the ÖIF, they have free and available online practice exams that you can find on Mein Sprachportal.)
Take a look at the format of the test soon, know what to expect. For me, I really like to build up my stamina for taking the test, and so I might take a look at the book early, but I save the tests for the week of the test and I do one test a day. With the set up I had, I went through the first three parts, but for the speaking it was hard to do on my own, so I just made sure to just speak with as many friends and family as I could to get that listening and speaking conversation strong. (Looking back, I would have maybe made a plan to do the speaking part of the test in advance so that way I could also just practice the format of the exam.)
Of course this might not be possible depending on your life situation. Maybe you have an office to go to, or you have kids to take care of. I am very lucky at the moment to have enough time to do this. So do what you can. I know test fatigue can be a problem for me, so I try to get ready this way.
Don't Procrastinate!
Looking at the previous advice of practicing the whole test, and me doing this a week before the exam, might look like procrastination. But the thing is, you need to be practicing German more than just the week before the exam. Things that I've done earlier are:
- Taking German courses
- Writing at least 2-3 sentences of German everyday
- Reading German everyday
- Listening to German everyday
- Reviewing Grammar ever few days
- Participating in German conversations as much as possible
- Being consistent with using a German learning App (shout out to Seedlang!)
You might not feel super confident about your German, but you should feel confident about the practice that you put in regularly and consistently. This really shows in my writing. While I am very comfortable in informal writing, which is what I practice daily, I struggle with formal writing. And it's because I really haven't put much effort into writing formal letters or emails. (Which I am planning to do now.)
Be rested, not just the day of the test
This sounds A bit silly, but sleep has a big impact in how you can perform. Should you spend the whole night studying before the test? While that does show some willpower, it's really better to use that willpower to not procrastinate and study in advance to prevent you feeling the need to cram. There's a great long podcast with a sleep doctor expert that really goes into how important sleep is. In it he shares that if you get the full amount of sleep you need (usually around 8 hours) the last 2 hours of sleep is dedicated to relearning or instilling things that you practicing during the day. So when you are learning German, that time can be precious! Also, I think we've all experienced the terrible feeling of trying to stay awake and concentrating after little sleep. So get the rest, not just the day before the test, but in your life as much as possible. (Matthew Walker also wrote the book Why We Sleep if you are more interested in the many benefits and needs of good sleep.)
Be early for the exam (with everything)
Let's say you did everything right leading up to the exam, but you find yourself running to the test site hoping you made it in time, panicking about where it is located and wishing you just left sooner. It's not a great feeling, I've been there before and it's one of the most preventable things you can do. Just plan it out earlier.
- When does the test start?
- When do they recommend that I arrive for the test?
- Do I know where the test is exactly located?
- What do I need to bring with me for the test? (water, passport, money, watch, pen)
- Do I have everything ready to go the day before? (aka Do you know where your Passport is?)
- Do I know if I eat before the exam or not?
It's simple to do before, and sometimes overlooked because it feels easy, but you don't want to be figuring these things out the day of the exam.
Do what works for you
You might be thinking, "Why is she saying this after I took the time to read/skim everything?" One part is because I don't want anyone to follow this advice and then fail the test from it. And the other reason is because I think it's important to do what works for you. Someone told me once that I should eat lots of small meals in the day to be healthy, and you know, that really didn't work for me. But I had to learn that for myself by listening to my body. So take what makes sense, and forget the rest. And so those are some tips that really have helped me out, I hope that they can help you!
German Exercise for the Week
Leseverstehen Übung 1 (Level: B1)
In this exercise, you'll take a look at some old ads and figure out the missing parts. This exercise came from the use of the free online Bravo German magazine, January 1969 edition.
