Reading (Leseverstehen): gist, detail and distractors
The Reading paper presents authentic-style German texts - notices, advertisements, letters, emails, newspaper and magazine articles - with multiple-choice, matching, or true/false-plus-justification tasks. It rewards two different speeds: skimming for the overall message, then scanning for the exact line that proves an answer.
Core rules
- Justify with the text, not with plausibility. If the answer is not on the page, it is wrong.
- Watch limiting words: nur, ausschließlich, spätestens, außer, danach, ab, bis.
- Separable verbs split across the clause: "Der Kurs findet am Montag statt" = stattfinden (take place).
- Distinguish look-alike pairs: anmelden/abmelden, mieten/vermieten, leihen/borgen, stellen/stehen, bieten/bieten an.
- In a justification task, quote the shortest decisive phrase rather than the whole sentence.
Worked example
Notice: "Die Anmeldung ist bis spätestens 30. April möglich; danach nur in Ausnahmefällen." Question: Kann man sich am 5. Mai anmelden? Answer: Ja, aber nur in Ausnahmefällen. Reasoning: "bis spätestens 30. April" closes normal registration; the semicolon introduces an exception clause; "danach" refers to everything after 30 April; "nur in Ausnahmefällen" restricts rather than forbids. "Nein" would over-read the text; "Ja, ohne Einschränkung" would ignore the restriction.
Traps that cost marks
Choosing an option because it reuses words from the text while changing the meaning; missing a negation placed late in the sentence ("... ist nicht mehr möglich"); confusing cause and consequence in a weil/deshalb pair; guessing at an unfamiliar compound instead of reading its parts (die Anmeldung = an + melden); and spending so long on one item that later, easier items are left blank.