Hören in the exam: less guessing, more understanding

In Hören you can't turn back the page: the recording plays once or twice and then it is gone. So what you do before and while listening matters all the more — and so does knowing how often each part is played.

Updated 16 October 2026 · 4 min read · Rilke editorial team

How often is each part played?

This is fixed for every part of the exam — and it is the first thing you should know about yours. In a part played only once, you have to decide while you listen. In a part played twice, the second hearing is your chance to check.

Exam	Teil 1	Teil 2	Teil 3	Teil 4
Goethe A1	2×	1×	2×	—
Goethe A2	2×	1×	1×	2×
Goethe B1, ÖSD B1	2×	1×	1×	2×
Goethe B2	1×	2×	1×	2×
telc A1	2×	1×	2×	—
telc A2	2×	1×	2×	—
telc B1	1×	2×	2×	—
telc B2	1×	1×	1×	—
ÖSD A1	1×	2×	1×	—
ÖSD A2	1×	2×	1×	—
ÖSD B2	2×	1×	—	—

These figures come from the exam boards' own sample papers. The details for each exam — task type and number of items per part — are on the pages of the individual exams.

Before listening: read the tasks

Before each part you get time to read the tasks. Use all of it:

Underline the key words in each item: who? when? where? how much? What exactly is being asked?
Predict what you will hear. If the item asks for a time, you will probably hear several times — only one is right.
Read all the options a, b, c, not just the first one that sounds plausible.

While listening

The recording almost never uses the same words as the task. If the item says Der Termin wird verschoben (the appointment is postponed), the speaker may say Wir machen das lieber nächste Woche. Listen for meaning, not for the word.
Watch out for corrections. A classic trick: Der Zug fährt um 14 Uhr — nein, Moment, um 14 Uhr 30. The right answer is often in the second half.
If the part plays only once, decide straight away and move on. Get stuck on one item and you miss the next.
If it plays twice, listen for the overall picture the first time and mark a provisional answer. The second time, check the items you are unsure of.

Task types and their traps

Task type	What to watch for
Richtig/Falsch (true/false)	A statement is only true if everything in it is right. One wrong detail — day, person, number — makes it false.
Mehrfachauswahl a/b/c (multiple choice)	Often all three options are mentioned in the recording. The right one is the one that answers the question.
Zuordnung (matching)	With opinions, listen for words like eigentlich, aber, trotzdem — they often turn the statement round.
Notizen ergänzen (completing notes)	Write only the missing word or number — short and legible. Full sentences cost time you need for the next cue.

How to prepare

Listening can be trained — but not by hours of background listening. What works better:

Practise close to the exam: tasks in the real format, with the real number of hearings. If you always rewind, you are training for a situation the exam does not have.
Work through the transcript afterwards: after each task, read along and find the exact spot where the answer was. That is how you learn what paraphrase sounds like.
Listen to different voices: in the exam you hear men and women, young and older people, sometimes with a regional colour — at ÖSD Austrian German too.

Numbers and times

They appear in almost every listening test and easily sound alike: siebzehn (17) and siebzig (70), halb drei (2:30 — not 3:30!) and Viertel nach drei (3:15). Practise them until you understand them without thinking.

And in the exam?

At all three exam boards, Hören is marked with points per correct answer. A wrong answer earns no point but loses none either — so never leave an item blank. If you are unsure, choose the option that best fits the question and focus on the next one.

In the Rilke app you practise Hören in your exam's format: each part plays as often as in the exam, with the reading time before it, and afterwards you see the transcript.