Goethe A1: Listening
Each text is played once or twice, exactly as in the exam. You cannot pause or replay. Read the question before the text starts.
Hören · 20 minutes
| 1. short conversations | Items: 6 · Plays: 2 · Format: mcq |
|---|---|
| 2. announcements | Items: 4 · Plays: 1 · Format: rf |
| 3. phone messages | Items: 5 · Plays: 2 · Format: mcq |
FAQ
How long is Listening?
Listening is 20 minutes.
What are the tasks in Listening?
1. short conversations; 2. announcements; 3. phone messages
What score do you need to pass?
You pass with 60 of 100. In this app you are marked ready when every module is at least 70.
How to prepare
A1 listening is short dialogues, public announcements, and phone messages. Some texts play twice and some play once. The page table says which. You cannot pause them in the exam shape the app uses.
Before the audio, read the answers and circle the word that makes them different: a time, a platform, a name, a price. That is the only word you must catch.
A worked example
Der Zug nach Hamburg fährt um 9.15 Uhr von Gleis 4.
If the options are 9.15 and 9.50, you are listening for fifteen versus fifty, not for the city.
Numbers are the usual trap at A1. The rest of the sentence is often there to slow you down.
What usually drops the point
- Writing the number you expected from the question, not the number that was said.
- Waiting for a second play on an announcement that plays once.
- Changing a correct first answer during the second play because you heard a different number in a different sentence.
How to use the mock
Answer on the first play when you are sure. Use the second play only to check the item you marked with a dot. Practise with the course audio and read the example sentence on the screen as the transcript after you answer, not before.
- Play one course sentence and write the time. Then reveal the sentence and compare.
- Listen to three numbers in a row and say them back.
- Run the A1 listening mock and note which task played only once.
Author: Fahrplan Deutsch. Last reviewed 2026-10-27. reviewed: false. A native-speaker review is still open. This page is not a Goethe-Institut paper.
How to spend the time
Use the silent seconds before each text. Read the options and mark the one word that separates them. If the options are two times, you are listening for the number. If they are two places, you are listening for the place. Everything else in the sentence is scenery. Write that word in the margin so your ear has a job.
Texts that play once need an answer on the way through. Do not wait for a sentence you liked better. Texts that play twice: answer on the first play when you are sure, and leave a dot on the item you did not catch. The second play is only for the dots. Changing a sure answer because you heard the same number in a later sentence is the usual way a right item becomes wrong.
Practise numbers until 9.15 and 9.50 sound different on the first hearing. Say them yourself, then play a course sentence and write only the time. Check against the sentence on screen after you have written, not before. The transcript is a teacher. It is not a preview.