I have been learning German for a long time, I really enjoyed it and could develop a habit of using the language every day. Lately, I have passed the telc Deutsch C1 Hochschule so I would like to share with you in this post my experience and some resources for learning German and preparing for a German Exam.
1. Motivation and Goals
Answer to yourself why do you want to learn the language and what do you want to achieve. Be as clear as possible because the clearer you are, the more likely you are successful in learning the language and achieve your goals.
Plan so that you can learn frequently. Ideally, you arrange your time so that you can learn at least 30 minutes every day or every two days (read the news, watch a video, write a diary, etc.) When you are in the flow, you can increase the learning duration very easily.
2. Get familiar with the exam structure
Before learning, you should take the time to study the test sample/ mock exam, provided by the exam centers. The mock exam materials give you an overview of exam structures, which parts are they, what types of questions are asked, etc.
These mock exams you can google to find the free version and buy from the exam centers. (I put the links for your reference, I don't earn a commission from it)
Below are some materials for the telc Deutsch C1 Hochschule
Übungstest 1 - for free
Übungstest 2 - 4 - you can buy on Telc shop
3. Practice Practice Practice
- How to prepare for Reading and listening parts
Practicing mock exams facilitates you to improve the reading and listening skills, prepare yourself for the time pressure and the speed of the listening exercise, and develop proper strategies for individual exercise and practice taking notes.
But if you just focus on practicing mock exams, you improve the "do the test" skills and not your language skills and you can not score well when facing unfamiliar topics. Therefore, it is very important to expand your language knowledge on different topics, make your comfort zone of "familiar topics" wider and wider. Below is how.
By reading: Reading is a powerful way to learn. Firstly, you can "meet" again the vocabularies that you have learned, it also helps you to expand your understanding of the words in different contexts, you also learn how native speakers write, how they structure the ideas and sentences.
Reading the text with audio makes it a lot easier for you to improve your listening comprehension and pronunciation. I usually read on DW.de, even when I was at level A1. From the beginning, it was difficult but very interesting and I could learn a lot of vocabulary and expressions.
Additionally, I read my favorite books in German and in English at the same time. By doing this, I can understand German easily, and learned how beautiful German can be.
The Books I read:
By watching Youtube channel: This is an amazing resource to learn German, I practiced a habit of watching Youtube for around 45 - 60 minutes in the morning. The videos enable me to understand German faster and it is also more interesting to learn. Not only did I learn pronunciation, vocabulary, improve my listening skills but I also learned a lot of social and scientific knowledge through these videos
My recommended youtube channels:
These are also good resources, in terms of vocabulary, and ideas for your speaking and writing parts.
- How to prepare for speaking part
- Know the structure of speaking session
- Search for speaking mock test questions
- Have a buddy to practice with you
- Prepare the topics and practice
- Give feedback to each other
If you don't have a buddy, you can record your speaking part, and ask a native speaker for feedback.
Such activities give you the opportunities to have the confidence to speak and know your frequent mistakes so you can correct yourself when speaking.
- How to prepare for writing part
- Know the writing test structure
- Compose a list of sample sentences to structure your text (introduction, content, and conclusion)
- Practice writing
- Get your text corrected by a native speaker and learn from your mistake
- Practice writing on various topics so you have more ideas about different topics.
Tips:
- Quickly draft an outline for your text before writing so you have a clear structure.
- It is better to write a simple and correct sentence than a complex sentence but full of mistakes.
- Manage your time, save the last 5 -10 minutes to double-check the text again, and correct any grammar and spelling mistakes.
No comments:
Post a Comment