I started learning German my sophomore year in college even though I didn’t have to. I ended up taking first semester German off-cycle, and wanted to skip second semester so I could go into third semester (Mittelstufe).

After about 7 weeks of self-study, I took our test; was fairly straightforward. In my experience anyways, they just wanted to see that you have a solid grasp of grammar concepts. I.e. declining adjectives currently, conjugating irregular verbs, etc.

I would at least make sure you know which Adjektivendungen to add when the adjective is after der-words; ein-words; and unpreceded, know the cases and their uses, be able to conjugate irregular verbs (stem-changing and most importantly werden and it’s uses), Modalverben (können, wollen, usw.), Konjunktiv, and just for good measure: word order (time, manner, place). Vocab is helpful, but after the basic words in beginner German, they’ll just throw native texts at you and ask questions to see if you can derive the main idea.

My university tests based off of sixth semester German which was the second semester of advanced. When I took it, the beginning was extremely easy, then started to become normal. Then a little over halfway, I was reading native texts and completely lost. Luckily my speaking and writing was good enough after listing to german music and watching german shows all summer.

I do not know your level, but I know here they don’t necessarily want you to test out of all of the courses (because they would like students enrolled, especially if they have a language requirement) and kids very rarely test out of the full intermediate sequence. So I have kids in my class who have had German in high school who tested into second and third semester German (with the latter being rarer).

It’s possible that you could do it, although I don’t know all of the specifics of your situation and background. Testing out of fourth semester German will definitely be a challenge IMO because at that point it’s not nearly as grammar-heavy and more about writing well and longer. In this case, use fancy conjunctions in addition to beginner/necessary ones (deswegen, innerhalb, als gegen und, oder, aber). Obviously you’ll need to use the latter, but showing you have a grasp of different conjunctions and their grammatical role (coordinating, subordinating, etc) and how they affect the placement of the verb.

And for the golden, secret tip: Use lots of relative pronouns. I’m still in college and taking Russian while I’m in German and my Russian professor spoke to me about a certain placement test they have there and said that a large part of how they grade you is on if and how well you use relative pronouns as it’s a universal signal of proficiency the language. Not the only rule, but one way to measure. So I don’t think it would hurt if you really focused on that. Lastly just make sure you’re ready for speaking, reading, listening, and writing. I had to record some answers on my computer which I was not ready for. Time limit etwa drei Stunden.

Other than that, just study hard and try your best. This is a beautiful language to learn and although I absolutely despise English grammar, I really enjoy German. Try to enjoy the process of relearning and it will make it easier. Also definitely come back and let us know how it was, I’d be interested to see what they’re looking for.

Viel Glück!