A2 is the level where German starts to carry you through daily life: you understand short messages and announcements, cope in familiar situations, and write simple personal letters. This page shows how the exam is built, what you need to pass, and where B1 comes in.
60 points in total - you need 36 of them to pass.
No minimum score per exam part - only the total counts.
Four exam parts - listening, reading, writing and speaking.
The telc A2 exam has a written and an oral section. This is how it is structured.
| Exam part | What is tested | Duration | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Listening | 3 parts: recorded phone messages with note-taking, radio information, one longer conversation | approx. 20 min | 15 |
| Reading | 3 parts: applying a piece of information, judging an article true or false, matching classified ads | 50 min (together with writing) | 15 |
| Writing | Filling in a form and writing a short letter (approx. 40 words, 3 of 4 given prompts) | within the same 50-minute block | 15 |
| Speaking | 3 parts: introducing yourself, an everyday conversation, negotiating something together | approx. 15 min | 15 |
| Total | written and oral combined | approx. 85 min | 60 |
Three questions that usually come up before registering.
A2 is typically the intermediate step within an integration course and serves as evidence of German for straightforward professional and everyday purposes. Whether A2 is enough for your specific case is always decided by the office or employer asking for it – check with them before you register.
Vocabulary grows to roughly 1,300 to 1,800 words. The perfect and simple past tenses come in, along with modal verbs, simple subordinate clauses with weil, dass and wenn, and comparisons. You also begin to give reasons for an opinion in simple sentences, rather than only supplying information.
German citizenship and many professional purposes usually require B1, not A2. If that is your goal, A2 is the stepping stone – the structure of the next level is set out in the telc B1 exam overview.
It has four parts: listening (approx. 20 minutes), reading and writing (50 minutes combined) and speaking (approx. 15 minutes, usually in pairs). The written section therefore runs for 70 minutes, and you are in the exam for around 85 minutes in total.
60 points are available and you pass from 36 points, which is 60 per cent. Unlike B1 and B2, there is no minimum score for individual parts – a weak part can be offset by a strong one, because only the overall total counts.
No. Until 2016 there was a joint exam called “Start Deutsch 2”. Since then the Goethe-Institut has run its own Goethe-Zertifikat A2 with a different structure (100 points instead of 60, four parts instead of three in reading and listening, separate pass marks). This page is about the telc exam.
Two tasks: you fill in a form and write a short personal letter of about 40 words. Four prompts are given for the letter; you pick three and write one or two sentences on each. A suitable opening and closing are part of the task.
In three parts and usually in pairs: first you introduce yourself, then you hold an everyday conversation on a given topic, and finally the two of you negotiate something together – arranging a date or a meeting, for example.
Usually not. Naturalisation normally requires evidence at B1 level, and A2 is the level below. If citizenship is your goal, the structure of the next level is set out in the telc B1 exam overview. What applies in your case is confirmed by the responsible authority.
At licensed telc examination centres – usually language schools, adult education centres or providers of integration courses. You can find the nearest centre on telc.net. HeyFlinko prepares you; the exam itself can be taken at our affiliated examination centre.
You can retake the exam. Unlike B1 and B2 there are no separately passed part-exams that carry over at A2 – only the overall total counts, so you sit the whole exam again. Deadlines and fees are set by your examination centre.
See how preparation with HeyFlinko works – no credit card, no risk.
