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Most efficient way to study for C1 test | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| patrickwilken Senior Member Germany radiant-flux.net Joined 4327 days ago 1546 posts - 3200 votes  Studies: German | Message 9 of 21 22 October 2014 at 5:07pm | IP Logged | |||||
Yeah. I am completely into the idea that this is as much (or more) preparation for the test as it is about getting to C1 level. Any thoughts about how long or when to use a tutor? I was thinking of hiring someone for Jan-Feb, and working mostly on my own (with the help of my wife's corrections) up until then. Or do you think that would be leaving things too tight for a mid-March exam? The exam book is an excellent idea. I am very open to suggestions if any one has had good experiences with a particular publication. I trust you, really I do, but is it absolutely true that preparatory classes are always completely a waste of time? I was thinking that the Goethe Institute one-month C1-preparation classes in Berlin might be a good investment, under the assumption that since they were holding the exam, they would be able to give good advice about how to prepare. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4803 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 10 of 21 22 October 2014 at 5:55pm | IP Logged | |||||
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The trouble I heard about from everyone I know to have taken the classes is always the same (and my own brief experience confirms the trend). Lots of time spent on things you can easily do on your own (lengthy explanations of the exam structure which usually just takes a page or two in a coursebook, multiple choice tasks completed together and "discussed", listening tasks from the cds you can do on your own as well) and too little time left for speaking. And the speaking time is divided between you and several (or more) other students. Wriing corrections can be useful but there are fewer than needed, as many students tend to dislike homework even under such conditions, and you are limited when it comes to just bringing in more pieces of writing than assigned, which is something an individual tutor shouldn't have trouble with. Quite the opposite, mine (preparing for dalf C1) encourages me to write more and bring it in, especially since my writing is significantly worse than my speaking.
I'm afraid the only way to find out whether the Goethe class is different is to try it and take the risk, unless you know some of their former students to interrogate on the matter. If I were you, I wouldn't trust much any info about the courses provided by the institution itself. 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| patrickwilken Senior Member Germany radiant-flux.net Joined 4327 days ago 1546 posts - 3200 votes Studies: German | Message 11 of 21 22 October 2014 at 6:08pm | IP Logged | |||||
This sounds like every other language class I've tried out. The problem I have is then finding a competent tutor. As you would expect in Berlin there are a ton of people offering to tutor German, but it's hard to differentiate those who are really good for exam preparation and those who are not. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4803 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 12 of 21 22 October 2014 at 6:20pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Sure it is. I have been recently solving the same issue with finding a French tutor. In the end, I chose a small language school that specializes in individual teaching (so it is more like a tutor appointing agency than a language school) and in just several languages and asked for a tutor that would fit my criteria. The advantages: had I found the tutor bad or different from my needs during the sample session, I could have just asked for another. And should there be any trouble, it is easier to require money back from a language school than individual tutor and the school knows it, so they try to make sure you are going to be content with the service.
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 emk Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5326 days ago 2615 posts - 8806 votes Speaks: English*, FrenchB2 Studies: Spanish, Ancient Egyptian Personal Language Map | Message 13 of 21 22 October 2014 at 7:47pm | IP Logged | |||||
Standard tutor-finding advice: Try iTalki's German tutor page. Plan on trying a half-hour session with 3 or 4 tutors before picking somebody. Dig through the list and look to see if anybody specializes in the exam you're taking, and if so, make sure they're one of the people you try. Online tutoring works great, especially using Skype or another application with high-quality audio. Plus a good tutor can type corrections quietly in the background while you talk. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4501 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 14 of 21 22 October 2014 at 8:01pm | IP Logged | |||||
I even sometimes type in my own stuff if it's new material or hard for the student to recognise. This gives them new vocabulary. Some of my students actually make flashcards from the stuff I type during class! If someone actually specifically asks for certain exam preparation I have to usually turn them down - other iTalki tutors do this better than I do. However someone recently actually passed an exam based on my help, so maybe I should change that policy. Edited by tarvos on 22 October 2014 at 8:06pm 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| patrickwilken Senior Member Germany radiant-flux.net Joined 4327 days ago 1546 posts - 3200 votes Studies: German | Message 15 of 21 23 October 2014 at 10:34am | IP Logged | |||||
I had never thought of using Itaki (the virtues of living in the country of your L2). Unfortunately I have had trouble with Skype on my Linux setup for last six months (something wrong with the microphone) so I will probably end up trying Cavesa's advice and approach some smaller language schools. Edited by patrickwilken on 23 October 2014 at 10:34am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4803 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 16 of 21 23 October 2014 at 5:32pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Big ones could work as well, and have even wider choice of tutors available, just choose one that really knows what the individual tutoring is about and doesn't treat it just as a way to use the free hours of teachers experienced only in class teaching. That's why I didn't like offer of one of the biggest language schools in Prague. Their website and emailed info looked like they tended to treat individual learners just as one student classes.
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