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AFTER THE COURSE

Goethe A1 Schreiben: the 30-word brief, with templates for every task

The Goethe A1 writing part decoded: Teil 1 form-filling and Teil 2's 30-word message — a reusable three-sentence skeleton with model answers.

VON GERMANIUM

Editorial desk — reviewed against Goethe A1–A2 frameworks

Schreiben is the most controllable part of the Goethe A1: no listening track, no partner, no rush. About 20 minutes, a pen, a form. And yet candidates regularly bleed points here on exactly two mistakes: not covering all three content points, and writing 60 words where 30 were asked for. Both are curable with a template.

Teil 1: filling the form (half your time)

The first task asks you to fill five gaps in a form (course registration, hotel booking, library card) from a short source text. Points die in the details: write exactly what the source says — if it says 14.34 Uhr, do not write Viertel nach zwei. Dates, times, prices, names: copy them, never paraphrase them.

Teil 2: the 30-word message

The second task: a situation and three content points, ~30 words. The scenarios rotate through one list: a note to a neighbour, an email to a hotel, a short announcement, an apology, an invitation. Every one of them closes with the same three-sentence skeleton:

  1. 01Sentence 1 — why I'm writing: Liebe Frau Klein, ich kann am Montag nicht zum Deutschkurs kommen.
  2. 02Sentence 2 — the content point(s): Ich habe einen Termin beim Arzt.
  3. 03Sentence 3 — a question or a wish: Können Sie mir die Hausaufgaben schicken? Danke! Anna
  • Hotel: Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren, ich möchte ein Einzelzimmer vom 3. bis 5. August buchen. Haben Sie ein Zimmer mit Frühstück frei? Mit freundlichen Grüßen, Ivan Petrov.
  • Apology to a neighbour: Lieber Herr Wagner, es tut mir leid, die Party am Samstag war laut. Ich habe nicht an Sie gedacht. Kann ich Ihnen einen Kuchen backen? Anna
  • Invitation: Liebe Maria, ich habe am Samstag Geburtstag und mache ein Essen. Kommst du um 18 Uhr zu mir? Bitte gib mir Bescheid. Max
  • Note at work: Liebe Kollegin, ich bin morgen krank und komme später. Bitte beginnen Sie ohne mich. Ist der Termin um zehn oder um elf? Danke, Pavel.

A template only works in the hands of someone who has drilled it: the full Start Deutsch 1 papers include the writing part in its original format, and the separate solution books show what a full-score answer looks like. Write ten messages before the exam — and on exam day, this one is number eleven.

How many words should I actually write?

Aim for 30–40: three to four sentences plus salutation and signature. Three content points mean three content sentences; the greeting and sign-off don't count as words but must be there. Writing 80 words burns exam time and raises the odds of a grammar mistake in the fourth sentence nobody asked for.

What if I don't know a word from a content point?

Content points are phrased simply (Why? What? Ask for…), not with hard vocabulary. Route around the word: instead of die Krankmeldung, write ich bin krank. The examiner checks content, not vocabulary. The one place this fails is numbers and dates: they cannot be paraphrased — they must be seen in the source and copied.