Goethe B1 Hören Teil 4: why you lose points

It's a radio discussion: a host and two guests debate a contested question — working from home, school uniforms, city versus country life. Before the recording starts, you get time to read eight statements. For each one you mark who said it: the host, guest A, or guest B. The recording plays twice. Eight points out of thirty.

The guests are introduced at the start: name, profession, and why they're taking part. Those twenty seconds are the most important in the whole recording, because from then on you're telling people apart by voice and by position.

Waiting for exact wording

The statement in the task never repeats the speaker's words verbatim. The task says „Man arbeitet zu Hause effektiver", the recording says „Ich schaffe in meinem Arbeitszimmer viel mehr als im Büro." Anyone waiting to hear the word „effektiver" misses the answer. While you read the statements before the recording starts, paraphrase each one in your own words: what is it about, and is it for or against?

Mixing up the guests

The two guests usually take opposite positions, and that's what saves you: once you know who's for and who's against, half the tasks solve themselves on meaning alone. Note it down as soon as they're introduced — "A: for, B: against." The trap is that a guest can concede a point to their opponent — „Da haben Sie recht, aber…". A statement about that point belongs to whoever raised it first, not whoever agreed with it.

Forgetting about the host

The host doesn't just ask questions. They sum up, cite facts, and sometimes give their own opinion. One or two of the eight statements are usually the host's. If neither guest fits a statement, think back to what the host said.

Use the first listening to map positions. Don't try to answer all eight tasks: listen for who stands where, and mark only the statements you're sure of. That's usually three or four.

Use the second listening for the rest. You already know where each topic sits in the conversation, so you're listening for specific moments. There's a pause between the two plays — use it to re-read the statements you haven't answered yet.

Don't change an answer you were confident about on the first listening unless you hear a clear contradiction. In this part, your first impression is usually right.

A quick look at where points get lost in Teil 1–3:

• Teil 1 — five short texts played twice, two tasks each. The mistake is answering the second task (the a/b/c choice) before the text has played a second time. Use the first play for richtig/falsch, the second for the choice.
• Teil 2 — a talk or guided tour played once, five tasks. The mistake is not reading the questions beforehand. The tasks follow the order of the text, and while you're still reading question two, the speaker is already answering question three.
• Teil 3 — a conversation played once, seven richtig/falsch statements. The mistake is planning to listen first and remember later. Mark answers as you go; there's no reconstructing seven points from memory after the conversation ends.

Practise listening under exam rules: play Teil 2 and Teil 3 once, with no pausing or rewinding, and Teil 1 and Teil 4 twice. Training with unlimited replays only makes the single play on exam day a shock. In doch!, each part plays exactly as many times as the real exam allows, and after you submit your answers you can check where in the recording each one was said.