Practice DTZ Reading Comprehension: Understand and train Parts 1 to 5

Reading comprehension in the DTZ covers five very different formats. From short directories to longer information texts, everything is included. If you know how each part works, you can approach each task purposefully and don't have to figure it out first.

Part 5 looks like a grammar task at first glance. In reality, it's reading comprehension: You read a coherent letter with six missing words. For each gap, you choose the most suitable option from three.

Important: You are not supposed to check grammar in isolation. You have to read the text in context — which word fits the tone, the context, the rest of the sentence? Those who don't read the letter as a whole, but only compare the three words, often make mistakes here.

And one more thing: There are no separate Sprachbausteine in the DTZ. Part 5 is the only task that looks grammatical — and it is part of reading comprehension, not grammar.

45 minutes for five parts sounds generous, but time passes faster than many think. A rough guideline: seven to nine minutes per part, plus one to two minutes at the end for transferring to the answer sheet and a quick check.

Not every task requires the same type of reading. For Part 1 and Part 2, quick skimming is enough — you specifically look for signal words. In Part 3 and Part 4, you have to read more carefully, but still don't need to understand every word. In Part 5, you read sentence by sentence.

A good trick: First read the task description, then the questions, and only then the text. This way you know what to look for and don't have to read the text multiple times. This saves a lot of time.

Memorizing vocabulary lists is tedious and relatively ineffective for the DTZ. What really works: building vocabulary in context. When you read an everyday text — an advertisement, a letter from the health insurance company, a brochure from an office — you automatically learn the words that appear in exactly these situations. And it is precisely these situations that are tested in the DTZ.

A simple trick: Note down two or three new words or expressions from each practice text — not thirty. Two words a day are ten a week, forty a month, several hundred by the exam. And because you learned them in context, you will recognize them in the exam.

Just as important as new words is becoming more confident with old words. Small words like "obwohl" (although), "deshalb" (therefore), "außerdem" (besides), or "trotzdem" (nevertheless) often determine whether you understand a sentence or not. If you master these connecting words, reading becomes significantly easier.

Finally, a tip for the last few weeks before the exam: Read at least one real everyday text in German every day — a news article, an advertisement, a short article. Ten minutes are enough. This routine incidentally builds exactly the reading confidence that makes the difference in the exam.