The paper-based TestDaF Hörverstehen section has 3 audio texts with 25 items total and takes about 40 minutes including the final 10-minute transfer period. Hörtext 1 is a dialogue with 8 short-answer items, Hörtext 2 has 10 richtig/falsch statements, and Hörtext 3 has 7 short-answer items.

Hörtext 1 is a realistic university-life dialogue with two speakers. You hear it once and answer 8 short wh-questions. The answers are written as brief keywords or phrases, not long sentences. The official task tells you: "Notieren Sie Stichwörter."

Write the exact information asked for: a reason, document, date, place, task, example, or two required points. Do not write everything you hear. If the prompt says "Sie müssen zwei Punkte nennen", one correct point is not enough.

Common traps are old plan versus final plan, assumption versus correction, reason versus consequence, and examples that are not the answer. Listen for phrases such as "nicht", "sondern", "erst", "doch", "das hatte ich falsch verstanden", or "nicht verwechseln".

No. In the paper-based TestDaF, Hörtext 1 and Hörtext 2 are played once. Hörtext 3 is played twice. The official Hinweise describe Hörtext 3 as a scientific lecture or an interview with a researcher, so short notes are especially important.

You can receive one point for each correctly solved listening item, so Hörverstehen has a maximum of 25 points. Short-answer tasks are checked by trained raters before the final score is assigned to a TestDaF level.