Facebook page of Goethe Institute in Amman, Jordan. Link.
Goethe Institute, Jordan, holds a sample test before each B2 or B1 exam (Probably also before other types of exams, but I am only sure of these two.) Last month, I participated in the B2 sample exam which is held every two months. I paid only 10 JD. We were 13 students. To take this sample test, you do not need to be a student at Goethe and you do not need to have registered for the B2 exam (It costs 120 JD). It was an amazing experience. Therefore, I will write about it as Goethe Institute published today the timing of the new B2 sample test: 15/04/2014 at 08:45 AM.(https://www.facebook.com/events/1416591968600818/?ref=22).
Next B2 Sample Test by Goethe Institute in Amman, 15/04/2014. Link.
Last time’s sample test was under a direct supervision of the director of the Goethe Institute Amman, Dr. Christiane Krämer-Hus-Hus. For about 10 minutes before the exam, Dr. Krämer-Hus-Hus explained many things including the aims of the sample test (I hope my rememberance is good):
1) To give students the chance to experience how the real exam is.
2) To give students an important feedback on what to concentrate on. More importantly, the director said more than one time, “We do not want you to lose your money. We want to give you a chance to withdraw your money that you had paid for the registration for the B2 exam.” I think that the Institute will give you 110 JD (out of 120 JD) if you decided to withdraw up to three days before the date of the exam. Dr. Krämer-Hus-Hus continued saying, and it was very funny and interesting, “After you finish the exam, if we tell you not to take the exam and you still insist on that, then do that if you like to throw your money through the window on the street.” At the end of the exam, Dr, Krämer-Hus-Hus beautifully advised the 11 out 13 students who failed the exam, “Go and invest your money in learning German instead of taking this exam and failing in it!”
[I got 42.5. I needed 45 to pass. I had been learning German only since 7.5 months then. No one in my batch had taken the B2 exam yet].
Last time, the origin of the sample test was from the book “Fit fürs Goethe-Zertifikat b2, 2 Auflage, 2012”. The book is amazing and I highly recommend it preaparing for Goethe’s B2 Test. Today, an employee at Goethe Institute told me that next time’s exam would be a real Goethe test not from a book. This is more rational! We began the sample test at 09:30 AM with general instructions. We finished at about 03:00 PM with instructions on the speaking section.
The details of the sample test:
We did three out of four parts of the Exam (Reading – Lesen, Writing – Schreiben, and Listening- Hörverstehen). The timing of each section is like the real exam. We started with writing, then continued with listening and reading. Concerning the writing section, they made copies of the texts that each of us wrote before a teacher from the institute corrected them. After we finished the above three written parts of the exam, they distributed randomly the uncorrected copies of the texts at us. They taught us how a text is corrected (On what points are marks given. For example, grammar, spelling, covering the points in the question, use of good expressions, etc.) This was amazing! I did not know that the correction is that systematic. Next, we worked in pairs to correct and give a mark for three random texts that were given to each pair of us. The director of Goethe Institute then wrote the marks on a white board. She then wrote beside each of our marks the mark given by the teacher. We compared the two marks. Most of our marks were higher than the real marks given by the teacher. Interestingly, one student got zero/15 because he did not understood the topic of the writing correctly and wrote an irrelevant text. Making a hard fest, the director of Goethe Institute finally concluded, “We were stricter than you are!” They then gave us the corrections of the text we wrote, the reading, and the listening sections.
Concerning the speaking section (Mündlich) of the exam. It takes a lot of time for teachers to do it for all participants. Therefore, a teacher accompanied us after we finished all the previous three parts to a video room. After only 2/13 students were told that they had passed and were recommended to take the exam, only five students were interested to attend this section. Like the writing section, the teacher gave us written instructions and explained to us how the performance of participants is evaluated (Fluency, grammar, content, covering the points of the question, etc.). She then showed us a sample official video of real students who took Goethe’s speaking section. This is the most beautiful part. She then asked us to rate the answers of the students in the video. We then discussed the strengths and weakness of each student’s response.
Finally, to pass the exam, you need:
1) Get at least 45/75 in the written section (Reading, listening, and writing). Regardless of whether or not you passed each section. For example, a student who got 20, 20, and 5 can pass the exam.
2) Pass the speaking section with at least 15/25.
If you failed in any of above two, you should repeat the WHOLE TEST. You cannot only repeat individual sections.
The experience was great. It provides you with a very important feedback and allows you to live almost the real exam. Most importantly, it is only for 10 JD. I highly recommend it.
Facharzt JETZT! 