The Federal Ministry of the Interior has announced that it will be introducing tighter rules for the German Test for Immigrants (DTZ). It added that amid an increase in cheating attempts during exams, the changes would increase the reliability of the tests. The "writing" section of the examination will now become a key focus area to pass the DTZ — unlike the previous version of the test.
As of November 1, Germany's Federal Ministry of the Interior will be tightening the rules for passing the German Test for Immigrants (DTZ). In Germany, migrants need to pass the test as part of an integration course, when they are applying for citizenship, or if they want to acquire permanent residence permits.
Usually, applicants are expected to reach a B1 language level. From November 1, the rules will be expanded and will include greater linguistic competence in all three skill areas which are assessed during the German Test for Immigrants DTZ test. The course assesses reading and listening competency, speaking skills and German writing abilities.
The German interior ministry justified the changes by stating that in recent months, there had been an increase in cheating attempts during the administration of the DTZ.
"In most cases, exam questions and answers were illegally acquired over the internet," the ministry said.
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High level of 'speaking' skills needed
To receive a certificate showing that applicants passed the DTZ, they must achieve an overall result of B1; in certain cases, an exception of reaching A2 level will remain accepted.
The three areas of the test consist of a bloc of "listening and reading," another bloc of "writing," and finally a bloc of "speaking" skills.
As of the beginning of November, however, those taking the test will have to reach the B1 level in at least two of those areas, while a lower A2 level result will be accepted for their weakest skill area.
Furthermore, according to the specifics of the new regulation, a minimum level of A2 will have to be achieved in the "listening and reading" or the "writing" sections of the exam in order to pass the DTZ.
This means that "speaking" skills will now have to reach a minimum level of B1.
New requirement of partaking in 'writing' skills
Until now, the exam consisted only of a test in three parts, in which one bloc could be completely skipped if the other two areas were up to the B1 level.
In practice, this meant that many immigrants undergoing the DTZ entered only the "listening and reading" and "speaking" sections, leaving the "writing" section completely blank in many instances, which is considered to be the most difficult part of the test.
The exam could therefore previously be passed at the overall B1 level solely through success in those two sections.
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Only about half of all test subjects pass DTZ
The DTZ is a language exam which is used to determine the German language skills of immigrants coming to the country.
It serves as the main language exam in a series of integration courses; in most cases, it marks the completion of the integration course.
Many migrants, refugees and foreigners in general, however, notoriously find the test difficult on account of the German language sharing few or no similarities with the language of their country of origin.
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According to the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF), 318,550 immigrants took the German test last year, with only 55 percent succeeding at reaching the B1 level.
Just over 32 percent managed to pass at the lower A2 level, while nearly 13 percent remained below that, mastering only the A1 level or failing at that level too.
The DTZ language courses and their corresponding tests are in line with the requirement of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, and are structured in a similar way to comparable tests in other EU countries.
with dpa