5 Tips for telc B2 Business German in 2026: Strategies, DIN 5008 & Assessment Criteria

Systematic decoding of 12 gaps: Part 1 (6 gaps, words a–j) and Part 2 (6 multiple choice)

In Language Elements (they count towards writing, 12 × 0.5 = 6 points, and share one 35-minute section with the forum post), guessing by feel easily costs marks. Each gap targets a concrete grammatical signal: prepositional verb government (dative vs accusative), paired conjunctions, genitive relative pronouns or workplace noun-verb collocations. Never look at a gap in isolation; always check the words right before and after it.

Writing (60 points) is made up of four parts: complaint reply, forum post, phone memo and language elements

In writing you produce two texts: a reply to a complaint (“Reading and Writing”, 20 minutes together with 2 reading items) and a forum post on topic A or B (“Language Elements and Writing”, 35 minutes). Together with the phone memo and the language elements they make up the 60 writing points. Texts are assessed on four criteria: task completion, communicative design, formal accuracy and range of language. No word count is set. LexDeutsch tip: about 150 words per text, covering every point of the task fully – a forgotten point costs task-completion points.

Listening (60 points): every recording played once; the phone memo in “Listening and Writing” counts towards writing

In Listening (20 minutes, 4 parts) every recording is played only once. It is followed directly by “Listening and Writing” (5 minutes): you identify the reason for a call (1 multiple-choice item) and fill in a phone memo – name, contact/phone, further information and “to do”. This message, too, is played only once. The fields are marked right or wrong and together give 6 points in writing. So practise taking down names spelled with the German spelling alphabet and long strings of digits.

60 points, a paired exam of about 16 minutes, no preparation time

The oral exam (60 points) is a paired exam of about 16 minutes with no preparation time. Part 1: you speak for about 2 minutes on one of two topics (1A), answer the examiners’ questions (1B) and explain one aspect of your partner’s talk (1C). Part 2: a relaxed chat with colleagues during a break (about 3 minutes, informal “du”). Part 3: you solve a workplace problem together and clarify what needs doing and who takes on which task (about 4 minutes). The biggest myth is that you must talk over your partner. How you respond to your partner is assessed too – monologues waste points.

How to split the time of each written section and transfer every answer in time

Besides knowledge, time management decides a lot in the written part. The written part takes 125 minutes without a break: reading 45 minutes, reading and writing 20, listening 20, listening and writing 5, language elements and writing 35 minutes. Reading and “reading and writing” run as one 65-minute block. In every section, keep the last minutes for transferring your answers to the S30 answer sheet.