What are the requirements on the German language skills for the overseas study in Germany?

The applicants for overseas study in Germany shall have very sound basic knowledge in the German language and rather good listening, speaking, writing and reading capability. Before entering the college or university, he or she must pass the examination for German to prove his or her language skills. At present, many language examinations and language certificates are recognized by the German colleges and universities.
TestDaF = the test of German as a foreign language for foreign students who apply to study in a German college or university. The test questions are all chosen by TestDaF Institute in Hagen of Germany and the examination is held for several times each year around the globe.
DSH = the university entrance examination of German for foreign students who apply to study in a German college or university. The test questions are chosen by the respective German colleges or universities and DSH is held twice a year.
ZOP = the Central Advanced Level Examination Certificate of the Goethe Institute.
GSD/KSD = the GSD and KSD of the Goethe Institute and the examinations are held irregularly.
Even if the applicant chooses to attend the International Degree Programmes taught in English, he or she also needs to learn German and accumulate as much basic knowledge in the German language as possible to reduce the difficulties he or she might encounter in the life in Germany and get to know better about Germany and the people in German.

Except for the International Degree Programmes and some specific majors, it is generally required that the applicant shall have finished at least 800 class hours of study at the time of submitting the university entrance application. Starting from 2000, many colleges and universities clearly specifies in the entrance notice that the applicant is required to directly attend the DSH or present other valid “Language Certificates” such as a TestDaF certificate at the time of entering the college or university. That means the applicant must have finished at least 1 to 1.5 years of study in a formal intensified German class (with at least 20 class hours per week) in order to successfully cope with the examination.
The requirements on language skills can be lowered to some certain degree for applicants with special talents who are applying to such pure art majors as painting and music (not including music education and designing).

The non-abbreviated term for TestDaF in German is Test Deutsch als Fremdsprache für ausländische Studienbewerber, that is the Test of German as a Foreign Language for Foreign University Applicants.
TestDaF is a kind of standard global examination with the test questions chosen and the examination papers reviewed all by TestDaF Institute (TestDaF-Institut) of “Society for Academic Test Development” (Gesellschaft für Akademische Testentwicklung e.V.) of Germany.

What is the aim to hold TestDaF in China?
The aim of holding TestDaF in China is to provide convenience to the students from China who intends to apply for the overseas study in German. Before submitting the university entrance materials the applicant can apply to attend this examination in China. If he or she has fulfilled the university entrance requirements and obtained the corresponding language certificates, the applicant can then submit a complete set of application materials to a German college or university. If not, the applicant can also know what his or her drawbacks are and continue to study German with a clear goal. This not only saves the applicants from the various kinds of inconveniences they might encounter in case they fail in the DSH once they have been in Germany, but also saves them from the loss in time and money.
Students from China usually present a kind of language certificate of 600 to 800 class hours when submitting the university entrance application to a German college or university and hope that they can be allowed to study in the free of charge language classes provided by the college or university. However, the quota in such free of charge language classes are limited and cannot meet the increasingly growing needs of the applicants. Now many colleges and universities require the applicants to attend the DSH immediately after they arrive when issuing university entrance notice. However, the language skills of many of the applicants are far from meeting the requirements of DSH and their passing the examination would be delayed considerably. This not only wastes the time and the money of the applicants but also causes great mental pressure to the applicants. If the applicant has attended TestDaF and verified their language skills in German before going abroad, he or she can submit the university entrance application with an assured mind. Its benefits are very obvious.

Where can we attend TestDaF? How can we be enrolled?
TestDaF in China is organized by the Examination Center of the Ministry of Education. At present the examination is held twice a year (on the first Saturday of April or November). The Examination Center of the Ministry of Education is responsible for the enrollment for the examination. The applicants are required to enroll through the internet by visiting www.etest.edu.cn and the applicants need to pay the examination fee. An applicant does not need any language class hour certificate to be enrolled, there are no restrictions on how many times an applicant takes the examination and there are no restrictions on the valid period of the language certificate of TestDaF.
The specific time, the sample test questions and other detailed information of TestDaF can be obtained on the above website or you can visit the website of TestDaF, http://www.testdaf.de.
You can attend TestDaF in TestDaF centers in the following cities in China:
• Beijing: Examination Center of Peking University
• Chongqing: Training Center of Chongqing Sichuan Foreign Languages University
• Guangzhou: Examination Center of Guangdong University of Foreign Studies
• Nanjing: Overseas Study Examination Center of Nanjing University
• Qingdao: International Programs of Qingdao University
• Wuhan: Examination Center of Wuhan University
• Shanghai: Examination Center of Shanghai International Studies University
• Xian: Examination Center of Xi’an Foreign Languages University

What are the contents of TestDaF? What kinds of certificates are granted?
The contents of TestDaF is composed of 4 parts, the reading comprehension (Leseverstehen), the listening comprehension (Hörverstehen), the writing expression (Schriftlicher Ausdruck) and the oral expression (Mündlicher Ausdruck). The final level is evaluated according to the test scores for these 4 parts. Certificates of three TestDaF levels (TestDaF-Niveaustufe, TDN) are granted according to the test scores for these 4 parts, TDN5, TDN4 and TDN3, with TDN5 being the highest one.

What kind of person is allowed to attend TestDaF?
Anyone who wants to study overseas in Germany, whether he or she is still a student or has finished the study in a college or university in China can apply to attend TestDaF. Persons who have no plans to study overseas in Germany yet can also attend this examination to test their language skills in German in all these aspects. In consideration of the level of difficulty of TestDaF, it is recommended that the applicants shall have finished more than 1000 class hours’ of study in German before attending the examination and they had better attend the preparation class for TestDaF.

What kind of TestDaF scores can ensure an applicant to be directly accepted by a German college or university?
According to the decision made on the June of 2004 on the German Rector’s Conference, in principle anyone who has got TDN4 in all the 4 parts of TestDaF can be directly allowed to a German college or university without any additional language examinations. Different colleges and universities have different requirements on the TestDaF scores for different majors. Please be sure to find out the requirements on the TestDaF scores for the different majors from the college or university.

How can we prepare for TestDaF?
TestDaF is a kind of standard language test and it mainly tests the examinees to see whether they have the language communication capability needed to finish the study in Germany. There are no changes in the amount, the sequence and the types of the test questions. All the articles are selected within the scope of the higher education materials and the scientific research materials. You can take various kinds of ways to prepare for TestDaF, learn by yourself with the help of the text book and the information provided on the website of the TestDaF Institute, attend language classes (like Beijing Goethe Institute) or take the internet classes (www.uni-deutsch.de/testdaf). To prepare for the examination, you can also download one of the model test papers from the website of the TestDaF Institute. It can also help you with TestDaF if you can attend the ZMP examination held by the TestDaF Institute, for the test questions of ZMP are in some degree similar with those of TestDaF.

Which is more difficult, TestDaF or DSH?
This question is very difficult to answer because DSH is not a kind of standard examination. DSHs held by different colleges and universities differ from each other greatly in term of difficulty and it is very hard to compare it with TestDaF. Both the two kinds of examination are used to test whether the examinees have the language capability required to finish the study in the college or university, so both of them require that the examinees shall have a high level of language skills in German.

How is the difficulty level of DSH?
DSH is very difficult. It requires that the examinee shall have finished 1000 to 1200 class hours, firmly grasped and can fluently use of the basic knowledge in the phonetics, the vocabulary, the grammar, the syntax and the article structure of German, developed rather strong skills in listening, speaking, writing and reading, and capable of “understanding the processes, the situations, the continuous thoughts, ideas and intensions of the things and matters as well as expressing his or her own ideas and intensions. Even after successfully passing the DSH, he or she can only cope with the preliminary needs during the study, work, living and communication in the campus.

How can we successfully pass DSH?
The best method is to select and attend a high quality training class with a clear educational goal that can provide training in all such areas as listening, speaking, reading and wiring. The training program shall have at least 20 class hours each week and the student shall engage in earnest and persistent learning with good and suitable learning methods to accumulate a sound basic knowledge in the German language. The test results of DSH are evaluated as three different levels, DSH1, DSH2 and DSH3 with DSH3 being the highest level. In principle, an applicant can be registered and allowed the university entrance directly if he or she has got a DSH score of DSH2 and applicants with test scores of DSH1 are also accepted for some special majors.

When is the DSH in German colleges and universities held?
Generally the test is held at the beginning of a semester. The time and place of DSH will be clearly specified in the university entrance notice mailed to the applicant. Many colleges and universities have preparatory classes for DSH. Please apply to such preparatory classes as needed.

Can a language certificate of 800 class hours prove that the applicant has the ability to attend DSH?
No, it cannot. This is only the minimum requirements on the applicants at the time of submitting the university entrance application. With this language certificate the applicant can apply to attend the language class to prepare for DSH when submitting the major selection application.
The applicant must attend the entrance examination before attending the free of charge language class of the college or university or a charged language class. Then he or she has to study for 1 to 2 months to accumulate about 1200 class hours before the applicant can attend DSH.
Please note that preliminary courses are not available in most of the language classes. If you fail in the entrance examination, you would have to try to attend a charged language class.
And most of the free of charge language classes have quota limits and the college or university usually would ask the applicant to arrive at the place and attend DSH directly.

Most of the majors of Postgraduate Courses are taught in German. The applicant shall pass DSH or the corresponding TestDaF or present the “Language Certificate” granted by the Goethe Institute. For a few majors taught in English, the “TOFL” certificate (at least 550 to 580 as appropriate) shall be presented.

Can anybody attend the university entrance language classes? Are these classes charged?
The prerequisites for attending the university entrance language classes are: the applicant shall have met the academic background requirements of the corresponding major as audited and have obtained the university entrance notice(Zulassungsbescheid). Applicants who cannot provide certificates of sufficient valid class hours or language certificates are usually rejected.
Language classes for the preparation of DSH are not available in all the German colleges and universities. And because there are too many applicants who apply to attend the language classes, not all the applicants can be given the change of attendance. And applicants with better academic scores in German would have better chances to obtain the position.
There are fewer and fewer free of charge language classes for the preparation of DSH or TestDaF in German colleges and universities. In most cases there would be charged language classes available.

Is it possible to go to a language school in Germany at one’s own expenses first and then apply the university entrance there?
In principle, it is possible to do so. However, the following issues shall be considered. Firstly, good language schools are generally with high charges. Secondly, you cannot enjoy the various rights and favorable policies for undergraduates. Thirdly, you shall pass the audition by the German Overseas Study Auditing Department at the same time or before applying to study in a language school. It is possible for you to obtain a language improvement and overseas study visa and avoid the trouble of changing your visa only if you have passed the audition.

What kind of attentions shall be paid in selecting a language school in Germany?
There are about more than 200 formal charged language schools in Germany, distributed in more than 70 cities in all its states. Because of the differences in their tenets and target students, they differ greatly in the educational courses, the study periods, the teaching quality as well as the charge rate.
The most ideal Germen language schools shall be:
1. With a certain popularity and scale
2. With a rather strong teaching force and sufficient dedicated teachers
3. With all kinds of education programmes ranging from preliminary, medium and advanced, with preparatory classes for DSH or TestDaF, and the class hours shall be no less than 20 per week
4. With special considerations on the learning habits and the capability in learning German of students from Asia
5. Capable of organizing sightseeing tours at weekends
6. Capable of providing or assisting in finding appropriate lodging
For the detailed information concerning the learning of German please visit the website www.deutsch-als-fremdsprache.de and browse under the link Daf-Links.

According to the education plan and the training contents of the German as a Foreign Language program (Deutsch als Fremdsprache) of the Goethe Institute of Germany (Goethe-Intsitut), there are three different levels, the preliminary, the medium and the advanced.

The level of Kleines Sprachdiplom (KSD) is slightly higher than that of ZOP and that of Grosses Sprachdiplom (GSD) is even higher.

If you want to apply to attend the preliminary level German examination (ZD) in Germany, you only have to accumulate the required class hours, reach the specified level. Different examination fees shall be submitted for different examination levels.
Only two kinds of examinations, ZD and ZMP, are held in the Beijing Goethe Institute. You must submit the application and the examination fee before you can be allowed to attend the examinations if you are not a student of this institute.
Please visit the following websites for the detailed information:
For the examination information in Goethe Institute: http://www.goethe.de
For the examination information in Beijing Goethe Institute: http://www.goethe.de/beijing

Can a language certificate be taken as a kind of academic certificate?
German language classes and language schools are only facilities for the learning of German. They are not formal education institutes, to say nothing of higher education institutes. The certificates obtained from the Goethe Institute or any of the intensified German classes or language schools can not be considered as formal academic certificates of higher education.

What are the language schools in China that can grant a language certificate that can be recognized by German Overseas Study Auditing Department?
All the standard conforming German class hour certificates granted by the foreign language colleges, foreign language departments, training departments for overseas study or foreign language training classes in a formal college or university or the foreign language training classes organized by a legal education institute can be recognized by a German college or university.