My experience with Goethe C1

Hello everyone :))
I wanted to share my experience with the C1 Goethe exam which I took last week, as I know I was curious about how to prepare and what the exam would look like.

Background: I study at a university where German is a main language of instruction, thus a C1 was necessary for graduation. That said, I am surrounded by the language, but there is a broad gap between using the language in my daily life and using university-level vocabulary. The C1 exam really tested this gap for me. I had attempted several different local exams, with no success, and I knew I would have to pick an exam and prepare for exactly that format. I chose Goethe for a few different reasons:

• No Lückentext: I find these assignments extremely difficult! When I have to search the word myself and just hope that it is the correct answer, it feels hopeless. In the new C1 Goethe exam, there are 4 choices of the word to fill in the gap, still challenging, but much more manageable.
• Multiple different types of listening and reading assignments: there are 4 different assignments for each section, so if one is particularly difficult, you can rely a bit more on the ones more suited to your abilities.
• Two different writing assignments, always the same format: coming into the exam with a solid structure for both a Forumsbeitrag and an Email is MUCH easier in comparison to having a broad range of different sorts of texts to write
• Speaking assignments are manageable: 20 minutes is very much adequate time to prepare a ~5 minute presentation and a conversation. It is also a much more fair assessment of one's abilities: presenting and interacting, being able to self-correct. It makes a big difference as opposed to recording yourself without any interaction, much more natural.

Preparation: As mentioned, I have the opportunity to interact in German in my daily life, I did not take advantage of that, but in the end I managed.

• I wrote texts nearly every day in preparation for the exam. I could then find weak spots and focus on those areas for improvement. Some of the most important aspects were a wide variety of vocabulary (know good synonyms for the words you like to use most!), clear structure (Introduction, Hauptteil, Conclusion), smooth transitions (not only between sections, but also between sentences), and a variety of sentence structures (not every sentence needs to be complex, but don't always start the same way eg. ich... or um...zu...).
  
• PRACTICE EXAMS!!! I cannot emphasize how important this is. The reading and listening activities are HARD, especially in comparison to B2. I used all sorts of different books, but by far the best was Projekt C1 neu, with 10 Modelltests to practice. These were the same difficulty or more challenging in comparison to the Goethe exam, whereas some others were a bit easier. When doing the Modelltests, I often did not know a good but of the vocabulary. During (or sometimes after) the practice, I would make a list of all the words/expressions/structures that I did not know and translate them. Of course I didn't remember everything, and some are able to be understood in context, but this helped a lot to broaden my vocabulary. I was barely passing or sometimes failing these practice exams, so I went in with low confidence.
• Get used to the time constraints. Not only with the reading/listening, but for the preparation period for speaking (~20 minutes) and writing (75 minutes). It is really important to use your time well in the writing. Be sure to spend a few minutes to make a rough structure for each writing task then go! Try not to second guess yourself so much, then you will have plenty of time at the end to go back through for corrections. While practicing, recognize the common mistakes that you make (for me it was commas, verb placement, and repetitive vocabulary) so at the end you can look for those specific things and edit them.
• Speaking with a native: especially for the Diskussion, one needs to be comfortable having a conversation. Redemittel can only get you so far. I would pick a theme and prepare it for ~5 minutes and start the discussion, then a friend would participate with me and pose questions. It made the conversation in the exam feel super easy. Remember to always have your opinion/argument, the reason why, and an example. It is also important to address all of the Sprachfunktionen (Vor- und Nachteile, Beispiele geben, Meinung äußern usw.)

Exam day: I was super nervous going into the exam. It was essentially my last chance to achieve C1 in time for my graduation, so I felt lots of pressure. Upon arrival, it was not exactly clear the procedure, so I looked around and waiting until the exact printed time of my exam, and someone arrived to start everything with us. The schedule will vary from one Goethe Institute to another, but we had breaks between each module, this allowed me to get something to eat and get some fresh air. I went out for a very quick less-than-5-minute walk during each break, but I found the fresh air necessary.

• Module Speaking: ~20 minutes to prepare both assignments. I found the topics from Goethe significantly easier than the ones in the Projekt C1 neu book. You could choose from two, and they were both topics that are quite relevant in modern German/European society. I comfortably spoke for my 5 minutes presentation and responded to the questions. The question from the examiner was very straightforward and had no intention to be tricky, just expanding on an aspect that I did not mention in the presentation. My partner had a great presentation and it was about a topic I am quite passionate about, so I had many questions for them, but only asked one. It is a bit funny deciding who will begin for each part but we managed fine. For the discussion, I felt that I did not speak that much, mostly because my partner had really good counter arguments to my opinion. They were sure to ask for my opinion and any ideas, but they were just super strong in this discussion. I feel like I said enough, but it would have been better if I had a better-structured Behauptung-Begründung-Beispiel structure. I left the room thinking that my partner had completely rocked it and that I maybe did okay.
• Module Writing: 75 minutes for both tasks. I did not really like both of the topics, but I was able to write enough. In the Forumsbeitrag, I lost track of space and time and had to conclude quite abruptly, but in the end it was fine. Almost always for the Forumsbeitrag you will be asked to take a stance, provide examples, and talk about the situation in your home or in a country of your choice. The Email assignment was somehow more tricky for me, as I have less formal experience, but I learned specific vocabulary and structures for this. Once again, you are required to write formally, almost always you are required to remind the recipient of the situation, explain your stance and why it is important, and propose some sort of compromise. I finished this section feeling hopeless, I was really unhappy with what I had written and did not expect a good result, but I knew that I had to focus for the remaining two sections.
• Module Listening: the examiner allowed us to look through the exam before the track started, so I began to underline keywords in the questions. I also asked to sit a bit closer to the speaker, as I have had some problems previously during listening exams (anxiety sucks!). It does not hurt to ask if you think it would help to move closer if your seat is further from the speaker, certainly a suitable solution can be found. When the track started, I followed along as normal, underlining key information. In the first activity with 3 reviews in one podcast, I misunderstood something that threw me off for the rest of the activity. I did my best to recover that activity, but I had to move on and focus well for the next tasks. These are difficult by design, you have to understand context and synonyms to get the right answer. Once again, I felt that I did horrible, and was mad at myself for the mistakes. It had already been a long day, but I once again got some fresh air to calm down and be fit for the last module.
• Module Reading: 65 minutes for the 4 tasks. I feel that the time is adequate. I always had plenty of time to review each section multiple times while practicing. The Lückentext was more difficult than the ones I had practiced, so I came back to this multiple times in the 65 minutes, and my brain caught up a bit. The second task is also notably tricky, but remember that the questions appear in order through the text, usually separated by paragraph. It helped me to underline key words in the questions and answers, and compare that with the underlining that I did in the text. The third activity is notably the most difficult, but I found the particular task to be less difficult than what I had practiced. Make sure that the sentences you are inserting to the text pass within the context but also grammatically (look for connectors, pronouns, and other substitutions that could refer to the previous or following sentence). The last activity is the easiest in my opinion. Again, underline the key words from the statements and compare to the 3 paragraphs to identify the right fit or if it was not said. I didn't feel great at the end, but I was definitely happy to be done.

Results: I passed! Not with top scores, but I have the complete certificate.

• speaking- sehr gut, for me was shocking, as this was the part that I was failing I different exams
• writing- befriedigend, makes sense as I knew that I could have done better
• listening- gut, the most surprising result. I thought I had certainly failed that section
• reading- ausreichend, egal it is done!

I hope this can be helpful to some of you, let me know if you have any other questions! Viel Erfolg!