AFTER THE COURSE
The Goethe A2 exam: a preparation checklist
The Goethe A2 preparation checklist: four parts and timings, what changes from A1, the opinion bank to prepare, and the week-before routine.
VON GERMANIUM
Editorial desk — reviewed against Goethe A1–A2 frameworks
Start Deutsch 2 is A1's older sibling — same four-part shape, one level more content: opinions, past-tense storytelling, connected sentences. Where A1 rewarded rehearsed formulas, A2 rewards the connector habit: weil, dass, wenn, and a past narrative you can actually sustain.
The four parts, with what changed
- Hören (~25 min) — longer dialogues and announcements, still once each. A2 audio includes opinions and feelings, not just facts: train for 'what does the speaker want?'
- Lesen (~30 min) — longer ads, notices, simple articles; matching tasks get trickier. Skim-question-verify, not linear reading.
- Schreiben (~30 min) — two pieces: form-filling plus a longer message (~50–80 words) that usually asks for a reason or a story — connectors earn their points here.
- Sprechen (~15 min, group) — self-introduction, then a topic exchange that expects opinions with reasons (Ich finde das gut, weil…), then planning something together with a partner.
The week-before checklist
- 01One full [official model test](https://www.goethe.de/en/spr/kup/prf/prs/sd2/5069488.html), timed, real conditions. Then — unlike A1 — review it with a notebook: A2 errors cluster (cases, connectors) and clusters are fixable in a week.
- 02Build your opinion bank: six topics (home town, work, learning German, free time, travel, food) × two opinions each, *each with a weil-clause*. This is the Sprechen part 2 engine.
- 03Rehearse one 60-second past-tense story (last weekend, a trip) using perfect tense — spoken German's narrative currency.
- 04Drill connector spelling out loud: weil/dass/wenn sentences until the verb-final slide is automatic in speech, not just recognition.
- 05Two quiet days before the exam. A2 is a floor exam too; arrive rested, not maxed.
How long should I prepare between A1 and the A2 exam?
Once your course material is genuinely A2, preparation is one to two weeks of format work — model tests, opinion bank, story rehearsal. If you are still mid-course, don't format-drill early; finish the road first and let the last stretch of lessons feed the exam naturally.
What is the pass mark for the Goethe A2 exam?
The same shape as A1: 60% overall with a minimum in both the written and oral blocks. The practical difference is what earns the points — A2's Schreiben and Sprechen reward connected sentences with reasons (weil-clauses), so candidates with an opinion bank and one rehearsed past-tense story consistently outscore candidates with broader vocabulary and no connectors.
Is the Goethe A2 exam harder than A1?
Longer and deeper, but not nastier: the four-part format is identical, each part gains 5–10 minutes and one level of content (opinions, past narratives, longer texts). Candidates who found A1 friendly usually find A2 fair — the step-up lives in the connector habit and past-tense storytelling, which are exactly the skills a structured A2 course drills daily. Format surprises, not difficulty, remain the only real enemy.