The onSET-Deutsch placement test is a cloze test, which is a scientifically designed tool for assessing language proficiency. It is a written cloze test, consisting of eight short gap texts on a variety of topics and at different levels of difficulty. You have precisely five minutes to complete each gap text, so the entire test takes a maximum of 40 minutes.

There are twenty gaps in each text. At the beginning and end of each text, there are complete sentences without gaps, which are intended to help in solving the task. In the remaining sentences, the second half of every second word has been deleted, so the missing letters have to be provided. It is important to determine the grammatically correct form within the context of the entire text.

For example, if you see a word for which two letters are given, such as Bu___, then 2 or a maximum of 3 letters are missing. Possible answers here could be Buch, Burg, Busse, or Bulle. Each gap has exactly as many letters as are already given, or a maximum of one additional letter. For the word Mei___, 3 or 4 letters are missing. In this case Meilen (3 + 3) or Meinung (3 + 4) could be right. The correct answer depends on the context.

Example:

Kommunikation

In Sachen Kommunikation heißen die Zauberwörter E-Mail und Handy. Die Deut______ lieben ih_____ Mobiltelefone. Ab_____ natürlich wi_____ auch no_____ ganz nor_____ telefoniert – u_____ Briefe bri_____ auch im_____ noch d_____ Postbote. …

Solution:   … Die Deutschen lieben ihre Mobiltelefone. Aber natürlich wird auch noch ganz normal telefoniert – und Briefe bringt auch immer noch der Postbote. …

You can find a sample test here: www.onset.de.