The Goethe B1 Lesen section is 65 minutes, 5 Teile, 30 items. Get the exact breakdown, a worked matching example, and tactics to turn reading into points.
The Goethe B1 Lesen section gives you 65 minutes to work through 5 Teile and 30 items, and the task types are fixed, so nothing on exam day should surprise you. What separates a pass from a near-miss at this level is not vocabulary, it is knowing which reading skill each Teil demands: skimming a set of adverts to match them to people, or reading a comment closely enough to tell whether the writer is for or against something. This guide gives you the exact B1 reading structure, a worked example in real German, and the tactics that make the section reliable.
Exam format last verified July 2026 against the Goethe-Institut Durchführungsbestimmungen (Stand 1 September 2025) and the current interactive Modellsatz.
What the B1 Lesen section actually contains
The B1 reading module has five parts and 30 items in total, and each Teil tests a different way of reading. No single item is worth much on its own, which means your job is to keep moving and bank the easy points before the harder ones. Here is the full breakdown.
| Teil | Items | Task type | Text |
|---|---|---|---|
| Teil 1 | 6 | Richtig / Falsch | A personal blog entry or email |
| Teil 2 | 6 | Multiple choice (3 options) | Two press or media articles |
| Teil 3 | 7 | Matching (Zuordnung) | Short adverts or announcements |
| Teil 4 | 7 | Ja / Nein | Readers' comments on one topic |
| Teil 5 | 4 | Multiple choice (3 options) | A set of rules or regulations |
Notice how the reading skill shifts across the module. Teil 1 and Teil 2 ask you to read one text closely. Teil 3 flips to scanning: you match people to adverts. Teil 4 is about opinion, deciding for each comment whether the writer is in favour or against. Teil 5 drops you into the dry language of house rules or workplace regulations. If you want the wider picture of how reading fits with the other three skills, the Lesen reading section playbook covers the cross-level view, and this post zooms into B1.
A worked B1 matching example (Teil 3)
Teil 3 is the part candidates lose points on for a silly reason: they match on a keyword instead of the actual need. In this Zuordnung task you are given a person with a specific situation, and you scan a page of short adverts to find the one that fits. The adverts are written so that a wrong one looks almost right. Here is how the trap works.
Die Person: Frau Berger arbeitet tagsüber im Büro und möchte einen Deutschkurs machen. Sie kann nur am Abend lernen.
Now two of the adverts on the page:
Anzeige A – Sprachschule Aktiv: Intensivkurs Deutsch, Montag bis Freitag von 9 bis 12 Uhr. Schnelle Fortschritte in kleinen Gruppen. Jetzt anmelden!
Anzeige B – Volkshochschule: Deutsch am Abend. Kurse dienstags und donnerstags ab 18:30 Uhr, ideal für Berufstätige. Anmeldung jederzeit möglich.
Anzeige A is the near-miss. It says "Deutschkurs", it promises "schnelle Fortschritte", and the eye that is hunting for the word Deutsch lands on it and stops. But read Frau Berger's need again: she works during the day and can only study in the evening. Anzeige A runs "von 9 bis 12 Uhr", in the morning. It is disqualified by one detail. Anzeige B is the correct match, because "am Abend", "ab 18:30 Uhr", and "für Berufstätige" line up exactly with her situation. The lesson: in Teil 3, decide the one condition that must be satisfied before you read the adverts, then reject anything that fails it, no matter how many other words match.
Spotting for-or-against markers in Teil 4
Teil 4 gives you a topic and seven readers' comments, and for each one you answer Ja or Nein: is the writer for the idea or against it? The comments rarely say "ich bin dafür" outright. They signal their stance through opinion markers, and once you learn to spot those, the part gets much faster. Take this comment on a proposed mobile-phone ban in schools:
Ich halte ein Handyverbot an Schulen für übertrieben. Natürlich lenken Handys manchmal ab, aber die Schüler müssen lernen, verantwortungsvoll damit umzugehen. Ein Verbot löst das Problem nicht.
The writer is against the ban. The giveaway is "halte ich für übertrieben" (I consider it excessive) and "ein Verbot löst das Problem nicht" (a ban does not solve the problem). The middle sentence is bait: "natürlich lenken Handys ab" sounds like agreement, but "aber" turns it around. Watch for these signals:
- Against: "ich halte nichts davon", "das bringt nichts", "übertrieben", "ich bin dagegen", "das löst das Problem nicht".
- For: "ich finde es sinnvoll", "das ist eine gute Idee", "ich unterstütze das", "es ist höchste Zeit", "das hilft".
- The pivot word: "aber", "jedoch", and "trotzdem" often flip the real opinion. Whatever comes after them usually carries the writer's true position, so do not lock in your answer on the first half of the comment.
How to practise B1 reading
The reading you do to prepare should match the reading each Teil demands, not one generic style. For Teil 3, train scanning: give yourself a page of small adverts and a stopwatch, and practise reading only for the one condition that matters. You are not meant to understand every word in a Zuordnung advert, you are meant to find the deal-breaker fast. For Teil 4, read comment sections and opinion posts in German and force yourself to label each writer dafür or dagegen in three seconds, then check by finding the marker that proves it.
Teil 1 and Teil 2 reward close reading, so slow down on real blog posts and short news articles: read one paragraph, then say in your own words what it claimed. Teil 5 is the odd one out, written in the flat register of rules and regulations, so get comfortable with Hausordnung and workplace notices, where the meaning hides in words like "nur", "außer", and "verboten". Build all of this into full timed sets. The Goethe B1 exam guide shows how reading fits alongside the other three modules, and the B1 exam requirements page lays out what the certificate is used for.
Timing and the pass mark across five Teile
You get 65 minutes for 30 items, which works out to a little over two minutes per item if you spread it evenly. The point of a time plan is not to rush, it is to stop any one Teil from eating the whole clock. Give yourself a rough budget before you start, keep a few minutes at the end to transfer answers cleanly, and if a matching item in Teil 3 will not resolve, mark your best guess and move on rather than burning four minutes on it. There is no penalty for a wrong answer at B1, so never leave a box blank.
B1 is a modular exam: each of the four modules is booked and certified separately, so your Lesen result stands on its own and you can retake just that module if you need to. To pass Lesen you need 60 of 100 points. The grade you earn on the certificate follows the same bands as every other level: 100 to 90 points is sehr gut, 89 to 80 is gut, 79 to 70 is befriedigend, 69 to 60 is ausreichend, and 59 or below is nicht bestanden. Sixty points is the line, and because the module is 30 items, you have real room to miss some and still clear it.
Frequently asked questions
The B1 Lesen module lasts 65 minutes and contains 30 items across five parts. That is a little over two minutes per item on average, but the parts are uneven, so plan to move quickly through the matching in Teil 3 and give the close-reading parts a bit more time. Keep a couple of minutes at the end to transfer every answer.
You need 60 of 100 points to pass the Lesen module. Because B1 is modular, reading is scored and certified on its own, so a strong reading result is not dragged down by another skill. Grade bands are the same as every level: 90 and up is sehr gut, 60 is the pass line, and 59 or below is nicht bestanden.
Most candidates find Teil 3, the matching task, the trickiest, because the adverts are written so a wrong one looks almost right. The fix is to decide the single condition each person must have met, then reject any advert that fails it, even when other words match. Teil 4, deciding for or against, is close behind and depends on spotting opinion markers.
Yes. B1 is modular, so each of the four skills is booked and certified separately, and you can repeat only the Lesen module if that is the one you did not pass. Your other passed modules stay valid. Check your test centre's rules on how long results stay combinable before you rebook.
No, there is no penalty for a wrong answer, so you should never leave an item blank. If a matching item or a Ja/Nein comment will not resolve in time, mark your best guess and move on. A guess has a real chance of scoring; an empty box scores nothing.
