telc B1 Leseverstehen: 3 Parts, Task Types and Timing

Last updated: August 2026 · 7 min read

Leseverstehen is the first subtest of the written telc Deutsch B1 exam: three parts, 20 items (1–20) and 75 points — 25% of the exam's 300 points. One crucial detail: reading has no time slot of its own. Leseverstehen and Sprachbausteine share 90 minutes, and how you split those 90 minutes is entirely up to you.

Structure at a glance

Source: telc gGmbH, telc Deutsch B1 Übungstest 1 — "Testformat" and "Punkte und Gewichtung".

Part 1: Five texts, ten headlines

You get ten headlines (a–j) and five short texts (1–5). Find the matching headline for each text; every headline may be used only once. Five headlines are never used — in other words, half of them are distractors.

The texts are typically short newspaper or magazine items. The reliable method: read the text first and summarise its main idea in your own words, then look for the headline closest to that summary. Working the other way round — reading headlines first and hunting for words in the text — walks straight into telc's favourite trap: two headlines contain the same keyword, but only one describes what the text is actually about.

Part 2: A longer text with five multiple-choice items

One longer text and five multiple-choice items (6–10) with options a/b/c. This tests Detailverstehen: each item is anchored in a specific statement in the text.

The items usually follow the order of the text, so the answer to item 7 sits below where you found item 6. When eliminating options, do not ask "does this appear in the text?" but "does the text say this?" — the favourite distractor is a statement that is true in the text but does not answer the question asked.

Part 3: Situationen and Anzeigen – where most points are lost

You get ten situations (11–20) and twelve adverts (a–l). Find the advert that fits each situation; each advert may be used only once.

The telc-specific rule here: for some situations no advert fits at all. In that case you mark x on the answer sheet. With ten situations and twelve adverts the arithmetic never works out neatly — x is part of the format, not an exception. The most common mistake is forcing a "close enough" match, which burns the correct advert for a later situation and turns one error into two.

A practical method: note two distinguishing conditions per situation (e.g. "sitting outside" + "restaurant") and only accept an advert that satisfies both. An advert matching just one condition is almost certainly a distractor.

Scoring and time management

All three parts are worth 25 points each. So an item in the five-item Part 1 is worth 5 points, while an item in the ten-item Part 3 is worth 2.5. That is counterintuitive for most candidates: Part 3, which takes longest, is the cheapest per item.

A workable split of the 90 minutes: ~65 minutes for Leseverstehen (Part 1: 15, Part 2: 20, Part 3: 30) and ~20 minutes for Sprachbausteine, leaving 5 minutes to transfer and check answers. Sprachbausteine is short and mechanical; getting stuck in Part 3 and leaving it unfinished is the most expensive timing mistake in the exam.

Conclusion

In telc B1 reading, method matters more than vocabulary: build the main idea in your own words in Part 1, work in order in Part 2, and do not fear the x answer in Part 3. Once those become automatic across a few practice sets, the whole subtest speeds up noticeably.

For the subtest that shares the same 90 minutes, see our telc B1 Sprachbausteine guide.