Czech A1 study guide
Czech A1 · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The Czech A1 exam is an entry-level proficiency test in Czech as a foreign language, aligned with the CEFR A1 descriptor: you can handle simple, routine exchanges, introduce yourself, ask and answer basic questions about home, family, work and shopping, and read short notices and messages. It is typically taken by newcomers to the Czech Republic, applicants preparing for citizenship or residence procedures that require documented language ability, university applicants in preparatory Czech courses, and learners who want an external benchmark before moving to A2. The Czech A1 study guide has 5 sections and about 2,382 words.
01Listening comprehension (Poslech s porozuměním)
The listening paper tests whether you can pull one concrete fact - a price, a time, a place, a reason - out of short, slowly delivered standard Czech: dialogues in a shop or at a doctor's, station and shop announcements, phone messages, and minute-long monologues about work, family and daily routine. The recordings are played twice and the tasks are recognition tasks: tick the picture, choose one of three options, decide true or false, or match a speaker to a situation.
500 words, about 3 min02Reading comprehension (Čtení s porozuměním)
The reading paper gives you short authentic-style Czech texts: notices on doors, opening hours, advertisements, menus, timetables, SMS and e-mail messages, simple forms and one or two short descriptive paragraphs. The tasks ask you to find the main idea, to locate one specific detail, or to match a short text to a situation ('Které oznámení platí pro studenty?').
456 words, about 2 min03Writing (Psaní)
The writing paper normally has two tasks: filling in a form or registration sheet with personal data, and producing a short functional message - an SMS, an e-mail, a note or a postcard - of roughly 25–40 words that must cover three or four points given in the instructions. Marks come from task fulfilment, from grammar and spelling including diacritics, and from choosing the right register.
471 words, about 2 min04Speaking (Ústní zkouška)
The oral exam is a short face-to-face interview with an examiner, usually in three moves: personal questions about you (bydlení, práce, studium, rodina, volný čas), a short monologue where you describe a picture or a familiar topic, and a role-play in which you must ask and answer questions - buying something, ordering in a restaurant, asking for directions, making an appointment. The examiner is testing whether communication succeeds, so a simple accurate sentence beats a complicated broken one.
459 words, about 2 min05Language structures and vocabulary (Jazykové prostředky)
This paper is a set of short discrete items - multiple choice, cloze sentences with gaps, and matching - testing grammar and vocabulary in isolation from any long text. Each item has one clearly correct form, so the paper rewards knowing the paradigm rather than guessing by ear.
496 words, about 2 min