The Deutsches Sprachdiplom (DSD) is a collaborative effort offered by the Conference of German Cultural Ministers, the Foreign Service, and the Central Agency for Schools Abroad (ZfA). This program consists of two major parts.

  • Level I (A2/B1) qualifies a student to apply to a Studienkolleg at a German University.
  • Level II (B2/C1) is normally administered to students in their final years of high school. It is, according to the Office of the Culture Ministers, the certificate and level of German required to apply at a German University.

As part of this exam four subject areas are tested:

  • Listening Comprehension
  • Reading Comprehension
  • Written Communication
  • Verbal Communication

The execution of this exam takes two Saturdays and is graded in Germany by the DSD. The DSD evaluates each subject area separately and the student is then given a personalized language profile indicating the student’s proficiency in each subject area.

Some costs may incur for this exam. The exam itself however is free of charge. For the verbal portion of the exam, students are required to travel to given exam locations to be tested by German language experts from Germany.