Free B1 exam tool
Timed B1 mock exam runner
You have the free official practice set open in front of you. What you do not have is the exam room: the order the parts run in, the clock on each one, the break rule, and the moment the recording stops whether you are ready or not. This runner supplies that and nothing else. It holds no questions, no audio and no answer key. You bring the paper, and it keeps the time the provider publishes.
Everything stays in this tab. Nothing is saved, submitted, added to the address bar or included in analytics. That also means closing this tab ends the run, and there is no way to get it back.
The clock needs JavaScript. Every published order, time, break rule and play count it uses is written out further down this page, so you can run the same sequence with any timer.
Step 1 of 3
Ready to start the clock?
Before you press start
- Open or print the candidate sheets from the official practice set. This runner holds no questions, no audio and no answer key.
- Cue the audio file so you can start it the moment the listening module begins.
- Put your phone in another room, and keep a pen and the answer sheet in front of you.
- The clock keeps running while you are in another tab, and it stops for good if you close this one.
The free official material for your exam:
Waiting to start
0:00
Skip ? It goes down as skipped on the summary, and the clock moves straight to whatever comes next.
Run finished
Your run
| Part | Published | You took | How it ended |
|---|
What to do with the paper in front of you
- Mark it with the provider's own rules. The practice-test guide prints the point rules for all three exams, including the ones people usually get wrong.
- Turn the numbers into an outcome. The B1 result calculator measures your section scores against each provider's published threshold and shows the margin either way.
- Decide what to practise next. The practice planner puts your weak sections in order using the published point weights and the weeks you have left.
- You skipped at least one part. Sit that one on its own before you conclude anything from this paper: a module you did not sit is an unknown, not a result.
Speaking still needs a person
Rehearse it with a partner using the prompts in the same practice set, then work on the shared planning task and the repair phrases for the moment you freeze.
What this run does not tell you
It tells you that you sat these parts under their published time. It tells you nothing about the answers on your sheet: the runner holds no questions, no audio and no answer key, and it never sees what you wrote.
Listening is the one part a clock cannot govern. The published allowance is what this timer counted. In the real exam the module ends when the recording ends, and the recording is not interrupted.
Where to get the practice set
All three providers publish a complete practice test free, with the audio and the answer key in the same download. The practice-test guide lists what is in each one and how to mark it afterwards. The short version:
- Goethe-Zertifikat B1. Two complete sets for adults with audio on the Goethe exam-training page, plus a click-through online version.
- telc Deutsch B1. One free Übungstest with its audio, as a ZIP download from the telc Deutsch B1 page.
- Deutsch-Test für Zuwanderer. Two free Übungssätze with audio on the g.a.s.t. DTZ page, and interactive DTZ tasks that mark themselves.
The published order and timing, in full
Every figure the runner uses is printed below, so you can run the same sequence with a kitchen timer and check that the tool is telling you the truth. The German names are the ones on your candidate sheets.
Goethe-Zertifikat B1
Lesen, Hören, Schreiben is the order the Goethe rules recommend when all three written modules run on one day. The rules also say your exam centre may change it for organisational reasons, so check your invitation.
| Module | Published time | Shape | Plays and answer sheet |
|---|---|---|---|
| LesenReading | 65 minutes | 5 parts, 30 items | About 5 minutes of this time is for copying your answers onto the Antwortbogen, the answer sheet. Only the answer sheet is marked, so do the copying in the practice run too. |
| HörenListening | about 40 minutes | 4 parts, 30 items | Part 1 plays twice. Parts 2 and 3 play once. Part 4 plays twice.About 5 minutes of this time is for copying your answers onto the Antwortbogen, the answer sheet. |
| SchreibenWriting | 60 minutes | 3 tasks | No separate transfer time is published. |
Breaks. The Goethe rules require a break of at least 15 minutes between each written module. This clock counts that published minimum down, and you can start the next module whenever you are ready.
Written total. about 165 minutes of exam time, plus at least 15 minutes between each module.
Speaking. Sprechen (speaking) is about 15 minutes as a pair or about 10 minutes alone, with 15 minutes of preparation. It is a conversation with a partner and two examiners, so this runner does not try to reproduce it.
Source: Durchführungsbestimmungen (the rules for running the exam), in force since 1 September 2025, and the published practice set for adults.
telc Deutsch B1
Reading and Sprachbausteine share one block, then listening, then the letter. That is the order the published practice test administers them in.
| Module | Published time | Shape | Plays and answer sheet |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leseverstehen und SprachbausteineReading and language elements | 90 minutes | Reading in 3 parts and Sprachbausteine in 2 parts, in one block | No separate transfer time is published. |
| HörverstehenListening | about 30 minutes | 3 parts | Part 1 plays once. Parts 2 and 3 play twice. |
| Schriftlicher AusdruckWriting | 30 minutes | 1 letter | No separate transfer time is published. |
Breaks. telc publishes no break inside the written exam. This pause exists only so you can cue the audio or pick up the next sheet; in the real exam you continue straight on.
Written total. 150 minutes, with no break published between the modules.
Speaking. Mündlicher Ausdruck (speaking) is about 15 minutes as a pair with 20 minutes of preparation. It is a conversation with a partner and two examiners, so this runner does not try to reproduce it.
Source: The telc Deutsch B1 exam page and the free Übungstest 1, 13th edition 2020.
Deutsch-Test für Zuwanderer
Hören, Lesen, Schreiben is the fixed order printed in the practice set, and each part may only be worked on inside its own time.
| Module | Published time | Shape | Plays and answer sheet |
|---|---|---|---|
| HörenListening | about 25 minutes | 4 parts, 20 items | Every text plays once. |
| LesenReading | 45 minutes | 5 parts, 25 items | Copying your answers onto the Antwortbogen, the answer sheet, happens inside this time. g.a.s.t. states it against the 75 minutes that reading and writing take together, and the practice set adds that you may not work on a part whose time has not started. |
| SchreibenWriting | 30 minutes | 1 letter, chosen from 2 prompts | No separate transfer time is published. |
Breaks. The DTZ practice set states that there are no breaks during the written exam. This pause exists only so you can cue the audio or pick up the next sheet.
Written total. 100 minutes, with no breaks.
Speaking. Sprechen (speaking) is about 16 minutes with no preparation time at all, as a conversation with a partner and two examiners, so this runner does not try to reproduce it. Speaking also decides your DTZ certificate.
Source: The g.a.s.t. description of the DTZ, DTZ-Übungssatz 1 and the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees page on the final exam.
Where these figures come from
The Goethe order, timings, break rule and answer-transfer allowances are in the Durchführungsbestimmungen, the rules for administering the exam, in force since 1 September 2025; the module headers and the listening play counts are printed in the published practice set for adults. The telc structure comes from the telc Deutsch B1 page and the exam-day procedure and play counts from Übungstest 1. The DTZ figures come from the g.a.s.t. description of the exam and the exam-day rules page inside Übungssatz 1; the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, in German the Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge, confirms the 100-minute written exam.
One tension is worth naming, because you will meet it if you read both DTZ sources. g.a.s.t. describes the answer-sheet copying as part of the 75 minutes that reading and writing take together, while the current practice set says each part may only be worked on inside its own time and prints a stop notice at the end of each one. The runner follows the practice set: reading 45 minutes, writing 30, no borrowing between them.
What this runner is not
It is not a test and not an exam. There is no question, no recording and no answer key in it, so finishing a module here says nothing at all about what is on your answer sheet. It is a clock that knows the rules.
Listening is the one part a clock cannot govern. In the real exam the module ends when the recording ends, and the recording is not interrupted. The runner counts the published allowance and says so on the screen.
Nothing is stored. Your exam, your choice of modules and every time the clock recorded live in this tab only, and closing it ends the run for good. Nothing is sent anywhere.
After the clock stops
Mark the paper with the provider's own point rules, which the practice-test guide sets out for all three exams. Then put the numbers into the B1 result calculator to see them against the published thresholds, and take the weakest section into the practice planner, which orders your practice by the published point weights and the weeks you have left.
Speaking is the module this runner leaves out, because a countdown cannot reproduce a conversation with two examiners. The B1 speaking practice tool takes it from there: one part at a time, under the preparation time and the speaking time your provider publishes for it.
Still choosing an exam? Start with the B1 exam guide, then compare Goethe and telc or the DTZ and telc. Working on one part in particular? There is a guide for reading, listening, Sprachbausteine and the letter task. Before you start the writing module, plan the task with the B1 letter planner, which prints what your provider requires of it.