telc exam: what to bring, what is banned, how the day runs

For the telc exam, telc Deutsch B1 or B2, you bring a valid official photo ID, plus pens, an eraser, a sharpener and, if you like, a drink in a clear bottle without a label. Phone, wrist watch, jacket and bag are handed in before the exam. And you arrive on time: whoever turns up after the briefing has started may not take part, under the telc exam rules.

What do you need to bring?

The exam rules list what is allowed; everything else stays outside:

• ID: a valid official photo ID. It is checked against the participant list before you go in and lies visibly at your seat during the exam.
• Writing things: pencils, other pens, pencil sharpeners, erasers.
• A drink: only in a clear bottle without a label.
• Hygiene items: tissues, for example.

The rules recommend bringing nothing else to the exam centre at all. Whatever you do have with you is handed in before the exam.

What is banned?

Everything not on the list above, and there is no exception for devices. Any device that can store, show or transmit information counts as a forbidden aid: a phone, a smartwatch, glasses that record, even with nothing stored on them. So do dictionaries, textbooks and your own notes.

Under the exam rules, carrying a forbidden aid is cheating even if you never use it. The consequence is exclusion; the whole exam is not marked. telc can also find cheating afterwards: at 60 % matching wrong answers with other candidates, or with an e-mail pieced together from model texts, which gets zero points at least. Photographing tasks and recording listening texts are banned too. Disturbing the exam can also lead to exclusion, at once or afterwards; the rules name repeated questions to the invigilator and refusing to hand in the answer sheet as examples.

How does the written exam run?

It starts at a fixed time with the briefing, and from then on nobody is let in. In the briefing the invigilator explains the timetable and how to fill in the answer sheet. That is the moment for questions: afterwards the invigilator answers none.

Then the parts follow in a fixed order:

1. Reading and language elements, 90 minutes together. Then that page of the answer sheet is collected.
2. Listening, with the recording running without a break, about 30 minutes at B1 and 20 at B2.
3. Writing, 30 minutes. At B2 you first copy the number of your writing task onto the answer sheet; without it the writing gets zero points.

How you split the 90 minutes between reading and language elements is up to you: the invigilator controls time only by collecting the sheets, and within a block you may manage your time as you choose. So you can start with language elements, or with the part that earns you the most points.

Only the answer sheet counts: answers in the task booklet are not marked. You may go to the toilet one at a time, and every absence is logged. If you finish early and the room allows it, you hand everything in and leave; you may not come back during the exam. How many points each part carries is on the telc Deutsch B1 exam page.

And the oral?

It takes place on the same day or another one, at most seven days after the written exam; the centre sets the date. You wait in a waiting room with no contact outside. In the preparation room your ID is checked again, and you have 20 minutes with the task sheets. You make notes on stamped sheets; only these go with you, the task sheets stay in the room. The exam itself takes about 15 minutes for a pair. The centre decides who your partner is; if only one person has registered, one of the two examiners takes that role. How it is marked is in the speaking exam: how the oral is marked.

What happens after the exam?

Nothing you will hear about at first. The exam centre may not tell you anything about your performance afterwards; only telc sets the result and sends it after 4 to 6 weeks. The centre gets no answer keys it could use to check the result itself. More in telc results: when do they come?.