Intensive courses for preparing for the grammar school (Gymnasium) entrance exam usually take place during the holidays and are suitable for other exam candidates depending on the timing of the course.

The following article will tell you which intensive course is suitable for preparing for grammar school.

The most important points in brief:

Intensive courses for grammar school preparation are offered during the spring break, summer break, autumn break, Christmas break and sports holiday.
The intensive courses during the spring holidays are suitable for students in the 4th and 5th grade of primary school or the 1st grade of secondary school who want to start preparing for grammar school early and in particular want to contribute good preliminary grades to the overall grade of the grammar school entrance exam via good school grades.
The intensive courses during the summer holidays are also suitable for early starters in preparing for grammar school, i.e., students who have completed the 5th grade of primary school or the 1st or 2nd grade of secondary school and who, in particular, want to incorporate good preliminary grades into the overall grade of the Gymnasium entrance exam through good school grades.
The intensive courses for grammar school preparation during the autumn holidays and the Christmas holidays are suitable for consolidating and deepening the school material of the current year, but also for late starters, busy people and self-learners. In addition, students gain experience in tackling the specific exam questions on the grammar school entrance exam.
The intensive courses during the sports break are ideal for reviewing exam material or, in the case of more comprehensive courses, for gaining a deeper understanding of the subject matter. In particular, however, the grammar school entrance exam intensive courses during the sports break are designed to equip students with exam strategies and to give them another opportunity to practice the typical types of questions found on the grammar school entrance exam.
In addition to the intensive courses for Gymnasium preparation, students should also attend separate essay-writing courses if essay writing is not covered in the intensive vacation courses. Furthermore, students should take at least one mock exam to round out their Gymnasium preparation by building up their exam routine.
Self-learners who prepare for the grammar school exam on their own during the school year should take advantage of the fall break, Christmas break, and winter break courses to get an external assessment of their progress.

Table of contents

Preparatory courses during the spring holidays as an intensive course for grammar school preparation
Intensive Foundational Course during summer break for early starters
Intensive Basic Courses during fall break for regular students, late starters, and busy students
Christmas break crash course to prepare for grammar school entrance exams
Sports break exam prep course to prepare for grammar school entrance exams
Conclusion

Preparatory courses during the spring holidays as an intensive course for grammar school preparation

The year of intensive courses for grammar school preparation essentially begins with spring break. This is because preparatory courses for grammar school entrance are already offered during the spring break—for example, preparatory courses in the 4th and 5th grades of elementary school to prepare early for the long-term grammar school entrance exam, and preparatory courses in the 1st grade of secondary school to prepare early for the short-term grammar school entrance exam.

The main goal of this early Gymnasium preparation is for students to earn good grades early on in school so that they stand out to teachers as promising Gymnasium candidates. After all, students who don’t stand out early on with good grades will have a hard time shaking off the label of a low-performing student. Consistently good grades are so important because a portion of the student’s school grades are factored into the overall exam score as preliminary grades during the grammar school entrance exam.

Intensive Foundational Course during summer break for early starters

Certain providers offer intensive courses to prepare for the grammar school entrance exam during the summer break, known as “foundation courses”. These courses are designed for students who have completed the 5th grade of elementary school and wish to prepare for the long-term grammar school exam. For students preparing for the short-term Gymnasium exam, these courses are intended for students in the first year of secondary school if they plan to take the exam during their second year of secondary school, or for students in the second year of secondary school if they plan to take the exam during their third year of secondary school.

Specifically, the foundation courses are suitable for students who wish to begin preparing for the grammar school entrance exam early. These courses lay the foundation for the grammar school entrance exam while also reinforcing the material covered so far for the upcoming school year, with the goal of achieving good grades in German and mathematics. This is because the preliminary grades in these subjects are factored into the overall entrance exam score; in the short-term grammar school exam, the prior grades in English, French, and Science & Technology are also included.

For the grammar school entrance exam, reinforcing knowledge is particularly important even for students who already have good to very good grades, mainly because exam stress can cause students to perform below their usual level during the test. A solid foundation of knowledge can help prevent mental blocks in such situations.

Learn more about the intensive grammar school prep course now

Intensive Basic Courses during fall break for regular students, late starters, and busy students

The so-called “basic courses” held during the fall break are intensive courses designed to prepare students for the grammar school entrance exams. They are aimed at 6th-grade elementary students as well as 2nd- and 3rd-grade secondary students who are preparing for the Gymnasium entrance exams.

These foundation courses are designed to reinforce and deepen students’ understanding of the topics covered in the current school year, helping them become more comfortable with the grammar school exam format—particularly to offset any decline in performance caused by exam stress.

In addition, students who participate in intensive grammar school preparation courses during the fall break can further improve their grades in the exam-relevant subjects of German and mathematics, which count as preliminary grades toward the overall Gymnasium exam score.

The fall break course is also suitable as an intensive grammar school preparation course for “late starters”—that is, students who began preparing for the gymnasium late and need to catch up.

In addition, the fall break course is suitable for students who do not have time to attend a grammar school preparation course during the regular school year—perhaps because they have a time-consuming hobby, such as learning a musical instrument intensively or participating in competitive sports.

Both late starters and busy students should also attend the intensive courses during the Christmas break and winter break.

Christmas break crash course to prepare for grammar school entrance exams

Intensive courses to prepare for the grammar school entrance exams, offered as crash courses during the Christmas break, generally take place on the days before and after Christmas. Like the fall courses, these intensive courses are designed for 6th-grade elementary students as well as 2nd- and 3rd-grade secondary students who are preparing for the grammar school entrance exams.

Like the fall courses, the intensive Christmas break courses are ideal for students who want to solidify their knowledge to earn better grades and gain more practice with the actual entrance exam.

On the other hand, the intensive Christmas break courses are ideal for late starters who need to make up for lost time in their grammar school entrance exam preparation. These intensive grammar school entrance exam prep courses during the Christmas break are also well-suited for busy students, since these test-takers don’t have time for exam preparation during the regular school year.

If any gaps in knowledge are still apparent during the Christmas break course, there is still enough time to fill them before the grammar school entrance exam in early March.

Sports break exam prep course to prepare for grammar school entrance exams

Since the intensive grammar school preparation courses during the sports break take place shortly before the grammar school entrance exam, the main focus here is on putting the finishing touches on exam preparation. Depending on the scope of the course, the exam material is either simply reviewed or even explored in greater depth.

Above all, however, the sports break courses are also designed to equip students with appropriate test-taking strategies and to provide practice with the typical types of questions found on the grammar school entrance exam. In this way, students can use practice and strategy to mitigate any decline in performance caused by exam stress during the entrance exam. For example, many students underestimate the complex word problems in the math exam, which can quickly lead to time pressure and careless mistakes if they lack the necessary problem-solving routine and test-taking strategy.

The sports break courses are therefore ideal for anyone who has already prepared sufficiently for the grammar school entrance exam and now wants to practice applying their knowledge to the specific question formats of the centralized entrance exam.

Conclusion

Intensive courses for grammar school preparation often do not include essay training or essay writing in German. For essay training, you must therefore attend separate essay courses during the school breaks, which is highly recommended since the essay grade accounts for half of the German grade. In addition, students taking the Gymnasium entrance exam have only 60 minutes to complete the essay, which is why developing a certain routine in essay writing is extremely important.

To fully round out their preparation for the grammar school entrance exam, students should also take at least one mock exam so they can get a feel for how the actual exam will proceed. Taking a mock exam helps students gain further practice and thus reduces exam stress and test anxiety.

The fall break, Christmas break, and sports break courses are also suitable for students who are otherwise preparing for the grammar school exam on their own—so-called self-learners—for example, by using old grammar school exams. By participating in the intensive courses during the breaks, these students receive an external assessment of their progress, allowing them to fill any knowledge gaps and catch up on missing practice problems.

Another advantage of intensive break courses for grammar school preparation is that students are better rested during the breaks and therefore more receptive than during the regular school year outside of the breaks.

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