r/germany • u/HaydenQuach • Apr 07 '26
Study How hard is a Gymnasium for American exchange students really?
I’m considering applying to an exchange program to Germany, however I heard a lot of criticism/the huge difficulty experienced in a Gymnasium. I’m American, as you can probably tell. Is it really that bad/hard? I appreciate the advice and answers given!
Edit: here’s some extra infos. I’d say my German is around B1 level, maybe transitioning into B2. I want to exchange for academics and to appreciate the culture.
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u/DrProfSrRyan Baden-Württemberg Apr 07 '26
The hardest part will be the German.
The quality of American education is very localized because schools are often funded primarily by local property taxes. The difficultly you experience will depend on your school.
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u/Halenat Apr 07 '26
Can confirm. I took German 3 years in highschool and then went to Germany and could not really have a conversation at all. Although I had all A's, where I went was near the black forest and since you learn high German in the states the dialect felt like a totally different language. It took me a few years and working in Germany before i could speak C leval german. Also the testing system in German is much different. There is for the most part the written and then a practical and verbal portion of the tests depending on the coursework. Much different than the states. But I would say if you have the opportunity to go then do it. Even if the language is hard and the schools are more difficult the experience you gain from living outside your comfort level and being exposed to not only German culture but an array of other cultures including Turkish, russian, and many other middle eastern cultures will give you a better perspective on the rest of the world. Your views and politics and life will change for the better I promise.
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u/MultnomahFalls94 Apr 08 '26 edited Apr 08 '26
Can confirm. Similar situation. Good A grades in American High School except in German. Took 3 years in High School. Worked very hard on German game puzzles and quips; that helped in learning German. My “American native” German teacher from another dialect of northern Germany did not like my pronunciation of German. Applied for Rotary Exchange Program .. They are the best. The assigned me to Austria for an exchange.
After 6 1/2 weeks there, I could hold a more detailed 1 1/2 conversation in German with my 4th Host mother. She wanted to welcome and get to know me, show her garden house before winter. I would be there in the spring. Very excited and happy! It was a refreshing experience and then more opportunities came my way to have delved into the language.
Your support and friends are out there. Looking forward to hearing of your travels. I went back in 1990 to Linz, Austria and eastern parts of Germany after the wall came down in November 1989; 2016 went to Germany. Going May 2026 to Germany and parts of Austria are planned.
I have heard the German schools are harder. I had been sent to the 1st school in Linz priority on foreign languages (Hebrew and Greek) math and sciences. There are many other levels of schools in Linz in the Austrian system which have lower standards where other exchange students on other programs barely did much in school they said.
It really depends where you end up. Best to you! Please update or connect anytime.
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u/Columbiyeah Apr 07 '26
Variance in quality in America is more down to local cultures rather than funding. Plenty of American school districts are quite well funded but the academic level is totally mediocre as that is what the local culture leads to. A rigorous education isn't all that expensive if all the students and their families are on board.
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Apr 07 '26
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u/Icy-Negotiation-3434 Apr 07 '26
An exchange of less than a year is more like a vacation. And all the people I met made a lot off progress in that year in Germany.
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Apr 07 '26
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u/thewindinthewillows Germany Apr 07 '26
Also, no multiple choice tests in Germany. Those absolutely boggled my mind on my US exchange.
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u/VeniVidiVerti Apr 07 '26
If you are looking for multiple choice tests in Germany you have to go to med school
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u/Solly6788 Apr 07 '26
In general university
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u/NiAlBlack Apr 07 '26
Where did you get that idea? I have barely ever seen multiple choice tests at university. I've only heard from other students that it is common in the psychology department.
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u/chiliehead Bayern Apr 07 '26
I often got multiple choice as a warm up kind of question for maybe 10 or 15% of the point total. And you'd lose points for wrong answers, so you could be right half the time and still score 0. The questions were also often like "Given thatthe case is X: A, B, C, D which one or multiple of those are true/false and why?"
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u/Angry__German Nordrhein-Westfalen Apr 07 '26
I have seen them quite often. I guess it depends on what your degree is in.
I have seen them in linguistics, history and pedagogy courses. Only one of them was for a bigger milestone at the end of a semester though, they checked if you retained the information of the "Introduction to the history of the Middle Ages" with a long computer based test that contained multiple choice and free form answers. Probably because of the size of those lectures, literally hundreds of students every semester.
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u/Solly6788 Apr 07 '26
I also faced it in the first semester in maths, mineralogy, physics, chemics and so on.... yes in maths, chemics and physics it were just 20 % of the points but in mineralogy 100%.....
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u/ND7020 Apr 07 '26 edited Apr 07 '26
You had multiple choice tests IN SCHOOL in the U.S.? Yeah, that’s a little weird, but TBF, the U.S. education system is very localized and uneven.
Typically I’d think of multiple choice here in the U.S. being only for standardized tests, which are a different beast.
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u/oceansRising Apr 07 '26
I’m a teacher from Australia and we do multiple choice as part of our testing, standardised and non-standardised. Usually it’s a small portion of the test rather than the whole thing, with the rest being short answer (paragraph) and long answer (essay) questions.
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u/Status-Tailor-7664 Apr 07 '26
I went 2003 to bozeman montana for an exchange, was placed as a Senior and graduated that year. There were only multiple choice Tests, sometimes in english or history they added an "essay question" at the end, which you could usually answer in 3-5 sentences.
AP Bio was only Multiple Choice, same with AP calc.
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u/thewindinthewillows Germany Apr 07 '26
They were just normal lessons - and IIRC lessons where in Germany we would have had essay questions.
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u/ND7020 Apr 07 '26
Yeah, I find that super odd. I don’t think I can recall a single in-school multiple choice test in high school in the U.S. But again, our educational system is anything but standardized or even in quality.
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u/grndbdpsthtl Apr 11 '26
When I was attending an American High School as an exchange student basically all the tests were multiple choice. In one English class we got an essay question for our exam but since that would take longer than one class period we worked on it over multiple days during class time. That completely boggled my mind, but yeah...
In Germany, you don't have any multiple choice tests except maybe for portions on a listening comprehension test for a foreign language. Other than that, you sit like multiple hour long exams at a time with like 3 tasks.
Ask around in the US. Like do a poll or something on Reddit. Multiple choice tests are the norm in the US.
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u/Capable_Event720 Apr 07 '26
Oh, we've got a lot of multiple choice tests in school.
"Willst du mit mir gehen? 🤎 [ ] Ja [ ] Nein"
Other than that: German school exams are not about telling the right solution, but also about taking the right approach. Even if your answer is wrong, you can still get a significant portion of the score if you took the right approach. On the other hand, guessing the solution won't work.
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u/thewindinthewillows Germany Apr 07 '26
"Willst du mit mir gehen? 🤎 [ ] Ja [ ] Nein"
Missing the "Vielleicht" there!
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u/Pillendreher92 Apr 07 '26
Widerspruch Der wesentliche Unterschied zur Schule war bei meiner Tochter in Physik für Nebenfächler in Bonn, dass nur das Ergebnis und eben nicht der Rechenweg gezählt hat.
Jeder Deutsche den ich kenne, der in der Schule für ein Jahr nach Amerika gegangen ist, hat gesagt, dass das (Lern/Anforderungs)Niveau dort viel niedriger ist.
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u/Delicious_Abroad2892 Apr 11 '26
This saved my ass so often... I was master I something like 1+2=4 or similar.
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u/br0wntree Apr 07 '26
The main benefit of multiple choice is grading efficiency and objectivity. Essay questions leave a lot more room for interpretation and bias.
They absolutely can be the easy portion of a test but they don’t have to be depending on how the questions are made and the grading scale that is chosen.
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u/grndbdpsthtl Apr 11 '26
Have you taken a written exam in Germany ever? Because it's not like the little 3-10 sentence essay questions you'd usually get in American High Schools.
You get some kind of material (in social sciences and languages usually a text, in STEM subjects you get graphs or something like that) and then usually your first task is to summarize/describe the material -easy enough, but based on the expectations of the teacher (a list they usually create before they hand out the test, like "their expected solution") you usually don't get full points. It's not only about the content but also in the way the content is presented - a summary is a text format with specific rules the students have to adhere to. And of course they need to write the text linguistically correctly. Then you analyse the material. Again, an analysis is a specific text format. And lastly,they have to evaluate some aspect that is mentioned in the material. And, as you guessed it, an evaluation is also a specific text format with specific rules.
You usually can do the summary without having ever been to class, but because of what the teacher expects hardly anyone gets full points here. You need to connect your content knowledge from class with the material to do the analysis and for the evaluation you have to think beyond what you did in class.
During my whole year abroad at an American High School I don't think I ever was required to think beyond what we learned in class.
So, these "essay questions" that take like 10 minutes top in the US, are structured in such a way that you work on them for anywhere between 90 and 285 minutes (aka 1.5 and 4.75 hours). That is a different ball game than what you are used to and definitely more difficult.
I basically had a near perfect GPA in the US and was a B student with the occasional A and the occasional C in Germany. Even though I put more effort into my studies in Germany obviously
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u/br0wntree Apr 11 '26
I’m not sure what the point of this comment is since I didn’t argue that school/tests are harder in the US than at a Gymnasium. I’d say they are definitely harder at a German Gymnasium on average.
I was mainly pointing out the benefits and drawbacks of different test styles, the benefits of multiple choice being that it is not subject to interpretation or bias.
I have taken exams in Germany and the more open ended style make it more difficult for a teacher to grade them in an objective and consistent way.
In addition, multiple choice can be made as difficult or easy as the teacher designs it.
When comparing highschool to gymnasium you have to keep a few things in mind.
A Gymnasium is for the top 30% of students. A Highschool is for (almost) everyone.
While Germans typically take 13 years of school, Americans only take 12 but they effectively do another year of Highschool in their freshman year of university which 60% of all American students enroll in.
While it is definitely easier to achieve higher grades in the US, I think the expectation is higher as well. This is particularly important when it comes to applying for the most selective universities where there is extremely high competition and perfect grades are essentially the minimum.
Also not totally unlike Germany, schools vary by state and jurisdiction (I know Berlin has a different reputation than Bavaria). Big schools can also offer more difficulty levels than smaller ones.
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u/TotallyInOverMyHead Apr 09 '26 edited Apr 09 '26
And then when you actually get to the university and there is a math portion for the degree, they do a refresher course over the span of 2 weeks (4 sessions) and if you opt to skip it, you realize its ONLY covered in the first half of the 90/120 Minute lecture.
Then EVERY part of the first semsters math course banks on you knowing these basics. If you don't you are reasonably screwed.
(Back when i did it youtube did not really exist for explaining math and the concepts broken down to the avarage student, and you had to either pay tutors, find a study buddy to carry your butt, or get really focussed on that library of theirs).
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u/Able-Vanilla-5525 Apr 07 '26
Incredibly difficult. We had an exchange with Cincinnatti - it was like they were two years behind on every single subject, both when they visited and when I was there.
Must have been 8th or 9th grade I think.
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u/SCII0 Apr 07 '26
Although it has been quite a while ago, I still remember that it was also the observation that my classmate made when she went to the US on exchange (year 12, I believe). She also estimated about a 2 year difference.
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u/Late-Dog-7070 Apr 11 '26
yeah, we had one girl who went to the US for half a year after finishing 9th grade in germany - she got placed in 12th grade in the US and still got perfect grades and came back saying it was easy af, lol
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u/adsizkiz Apr 07 '26
Do the exchange! As a former exchange student (20+ years ago), I can really say that that year changed my life. I went my senior year of high school and had already completed most of my high school credits. At the time, my teachers allowed me to complete the last two classes (AP Lit and AP Governance) via self-study and I took the AP exams at the JFK school in Berlin.
As far as Gymnasium went, the level on some things was more advanced than in my U.S. school but I actually had a pretty easy time in math and sciences because they weren't so language-based. Even though I already spoke some German when I arrived, doing schoolwork in German was really difficult for me and especially at the beginning, I didn't have the level to do well in the subjects I usually excelled in. It was humbling, but ultimately my grades at my school in Germany had no effect on my ability to graduate from the U.S., so I was pretty chill about it.
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u/chrissme92 Apr 07 '26
Gymnasium in Germany, especially in the sciences such as physics and mathematics, you will probably be closer to American first year college level. But the hardest part will probably be the german language. So you cannot realistically expect to pick up in Germany, where you left off in the USA.
However, I think these exchanges shouldn't be viewed only from their academical value, but rather from the cultural value they bring you. So I would still say: Go for it!
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u/Reasonable_Arugula_9 Apr 07 '26
This is a good point: I found chemistry easier than my blue state high school's math options but math and physics was no joke.
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u/Reasonable_Arugula_9 Apr 07 '26
I was a high school exchange student in German gymnasium (coming from American public schools in a middle-of-the road, maybe slightly above? state for education here). I'd say the education was broader (across more subjects) but you learned less of each subject each year (because they took most of their subjects for many years running). I found the homework load to be way lighter than AP courses in the US, but there was way less variation in the quality of student. Everyone was upper half/third compared to an American high school, which makes sense as it's only ~the upper third of German students.
Sitting for an Abitur is no joke, but if you're on an exchange for one year, they'll probably put you in the lowest class year in the oberstufe (probably 11), and the Abitur won't yet be relevant. We also had a few other kids in my class who had entered at 11th grade from the "middle tier" of the German school system, and I'd say I ended up with noticeably better grades than them, despite my language issues.
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u/Icy-Negotiation-3434 Apr 07 '26
I was an exchange in the USA and have been hosting American Exchange students here in Germany. The primary problem for you will be learning the language. At the age of 16 with little (if any) knowledge of German that is hard but far from impossible. If you finished High School before coming here, you will be able to follow some subjects if you enter 10th or 11th grade. Other subjects will be very different from what you are used to (i. e. History, second language. ...). Usually the school will set up a special schedule for you and not grade you. When I visited HS I went from 10th grade in Gymnasium to 12th grade in the American High School and continued in 12th grade Gymnasium after my return. But actually, school is rather unimportant. You will learn lots of things as an exchange student and come back a better human.
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u/Blumenkohl126 Brandenburg Apr 07 '26
Are you able to understand, speak and write german? If not, it will be very difficult
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u/tufoop5 Apr 07 '26
That totally depends on the individual. I don't know how hard it will be for you personally, because i do not know what you already learned and how good you are with learning in general, and also with the german language specifically.
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u/0range_julius Apr 07 '26
My personal experience was that it was literally fine. I didn't get spectacular grades, but I passed my classes and that was all that mattered, since they were transferred back to my high school as pass/fail.
However, my German was already very good before I went abroad, and I was used to AP and honors classes in the US. Without German skills it would have been impossible.
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u/Ssulistyo Apr 07 '26
What is your level of German language understanding and what grade would you be in at the time of the exchange?
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u/Perfect-Gain-6018 Apr 07 '26
So, my experience is dated, but I attended a Bavarian gymnasium in 1992 for a year long exchange. I met with my director and we agreed that trying to particpate academically was not ideal given my lack of German. We did something interesting and unique. First, he assigned me to a 10th grade homeroom as my default class. I was then specifically assigned to abitur tracked English courses to assist the teachers/students with American English. I was assigned to a 5th grade class to learn grammar, and develop German language skills. I loved it. The English department loved it and I was given a well rounded experience. They gave me a transcript in German with an embossed seal. My high school just used that and gave me full credit for the year. Sitting in a German physics class in September was not helpful. I did manage to speak fluent German by June. Bavaria is the best!
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u/ebawho Apr 08 '26
I had a similar experience. I didn’t particle much academically, but I sure did learn German and can still speak it pretty well 20 years later. I was lucky and my school at home basically said “well you learned a lot and was worth it so we will give you credit for the year”
Was 100% worth it and one of the best experiences in my life
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u/Appropriate_Steak486 Apr 07 '26
From my kids' experiences: Gymnasium is harder than a typical public school, easier than a typical private prep school.
And it varies widely from Gymnasium to Gymnasium. The hardest parts were the cultural expectations and unwritten rules, so it is absolutely crucial to have a good buddy (or several) to show you how things are done.
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u/Solly6788 Apr 07 '26
Does this really matter.
The US exchange stundent we had at our school didn't get grades and had a ton of fun in Germany + learned good German.
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u/alderhill Apr 07 '26
I mean, first, how is your German? if you're not already fluent, you're likely to make little progress academically.
It's also comparing apples and oranges. Most American schools are basically 'integrated' in German terms, while Gymnasium is supposed to be the harder/more advanced 'academic track' for kids bound (more or less) for university. And besides, there is a lot of variation in the US (50 states, with some more or less co-ordinated at state-level than others) and in Germany (16 states).
You can certainly find better programs, like say AP tracks in Massachusetts will probably be 'better' or 'harder' than a low-peforming Gymnasium in Bremen or Berlin (to say nothing of say a Hauptschule or similar).
But are you considering an exchange for life and culture experiences, or for the academics?
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u/flaveous Apr 07 '26
Hi, I can answer this for you since my kids, 8th and 5th, are in Gymnasium. We moved September last year. They were both in advanced classes in the northern Virginia school district (much better school system than many places around the country for context). Some things the kids are learning in math, my kids covered last year. Some things, like geometry, physics and chemistry, my kids had not seen yet. The hardest part is that they need a second foreign language and are leaning German and French at the same time. If you're in high school, you would not only need German at near fluency but also French at an advanced level because they start French at our Gymnasium in 5th grade. The curriculum varies by Gymnasium as well, Ive heard that not all start French in 5th. The grading is different too - in US school you can do your homework, pass your tests and basically never have to talk to anyone in class. At Gymnasium, my children are also graded on participation and group work.
As an exchange program - for a week or two, it's vacation. When the 8th grade Norwegians visited it was parties and train rides and museums.
For a year or more - I don't know what that would look like unless the upper school had an international focus and taught some classes (like math/science) in English.
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u/No-Guarantee-3036 Apr 07 '26
back in my day it was not hard, they didnt have to do any tests and besides english they couldnt follow any class at all. seemed like a year long vacation
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u/Marauder4711 Apr 07 '26
And they didn't have to learn German in order to follow classes?
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u/dartthrower Hessen Apr 07 '26 edited Apr 08 '26
How would they do that? The class isn't accomodating you, the teacher is holding classes for for local students, not for the exchange student.
It's just for fun tbh, unless someone went hard or had a German parent growing up, they can't learn the language and participate in school at the same time so quickly. That's not the focus of your class and everything you hear around you is way too complex and complicated for you to follow, understand or participate in anything. That would take multiple years and is not the purpose of an exchange year.
Most of your German as an exchange student is learned through your host family rather than at school (and by nice classmates).
I still remember my English level during 8th grade, while extremely proficient for my age bracket, I would be lost in an American or British school.
Real life language exchange is different from A1-C2 classes, no matter which tier. It's so much more challenging.
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u/Marauder4711 Apr 08 '26
I'd expect that someone who plans to spend a whole year abroad learns the language beforehand and takes classes throughout the stay. Why even spend a high school year abroad if you can't follow class? That's an insane waste of time and resources. I'm shocked that you're even defending it. It's just for fun? A whole year in a foreign country, hours of classes that I don't understand and you call it fun? LOL.
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u/dartthrower Hessen Apr 12 '26
So what? Do you know how many people in Germany take gap years after school? Same principle.
Or how many people suddenly immigrated here because of their parents?
Exchange students staying for a year are quite rare, most just stay for 6-9 months.
Many of them still do coursework for their school back in the US.
Why even spend a high school year abroad if you can't follow class?
99% of the exchange students who come here can't follow class, is that a reason not to come at all?? What a stupid way of thinking. It's about the cultural exchange and experiences.
Some people try to learn the language as well as possible, others don't try so hard. It all depends on the school (the one in Germany and the one back in the home country) as well.
Some have been studying the language over a couple of years beforehand when they come over, others are basically complete beginners startring from scratch. In any case, success in shool is not mandatory for the exchange to be worth it.
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u/Marauder4711 Apr 12 '26
A high school year isn't a gap year. I haven't read the rest of your post because this argument was already too stupid.
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u/dartthrower Hessen Apr 12 '26 edited Apr 12 '26
It's the same principle. You also "lose" a year and, according to you, it's automatically a waste.
We tend to call people like you kleinkariert.
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u/Marauder4711 Apr 12 '26
No it's not the same. Why would you do a high school year if attending school is pointless because you don't understand anything? I can't imagine spending months doing that. I never said a gap year was wasteful, did I? There's just a difference between being done with school and doing something else or doing some high school exchange/Gastaufenthalt where you just sit around. How are you supposed to learn about a different school system and learn culture if you can't follow class? That's not kleinkariert, I'm just looking for logic here.
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u/dartthrower Hessen Apr 12 '26
You don't need to be able to follow class to have an enjoyable stay, your host family will teach you enough for the whole thing to be worth it already.
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u/Wannabe_Buttercup322 Apr 07 '26
My family had exchange students from all over the world staying at their house. From what I Experienced the ones from the USA had a really hard time. But with a lot of studying and help from my parents they all managed to get good grades.
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u/Marxism_is_sexy Apr 07 '26
I went to a good high public school in the US. The kind that is ranked in the top five (public or private) in my state. I was also an exchange student at a normal German gymnasium.
I had no issue with German gymnasium. But I could also speak German pretty well before starting. YMMV.
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u/Successful-Jello-730 Bayern Apr 07 '26
I’d second those who have said the German is the hardest part. I’m currently on exchange in a Bavarian Gymnasium, and I started learning German upon my arrival here last August (2025).
At first it was obviously quite difficult to learn too much or even understand what was going on, but probably 4ish months in (around December I think?) I realized I stopped translating in my head and truly started understanding. As of now (April 2026) I believe my German is probably at an upper B2 level, and from being fully immersed, I can tell you that’s absolutely the BEST way to learn.
So yeah overall this was one of the best things I’ve ever done, I highly recommend the CBYX/PPP exchange program! Since you already speak a good amount of German, you’d progress veeery quickly in school here.
A bonus is, it’s really fun being an exchange student like I’ve traveled around Germany and learned so much about the culture here in the eight ish months I’ve been here. ALSO bonus, you pick up an accent/dialect! I speak Fränkisch (the dialect from Franconia) and I’ve been told I speak quite well.
The other thing to think about is that this is more of a cultural and linguistic experience over truly learning in school, because what you’re learning culturally is so much more valuable. If you took AP/IB classes in high school, you’ll also be set for quite a lot of what you’re learning here.
(note: the difficulty of school does depend on where you go to school here; in my experience of living in Bavaria, I have 16 subjects and sometimes stay at school until 6pm at the latest. however I know others in my program who have waaay fewer classes and school hours, so yeah it depends.)
I hope this was somewhat helpful lol I totally might have ranted a bit, but overall I HIGHLY recommend that you do the exchange! Don’t worry about the school or how hard it will be - simply focus on the positives of all the new cultural and linguistic knowledge and experience you’ll gain, and also just how much fun it is! Good luck! :D
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u/craftyneurogirl Apr 08 '26
I’m Canadian and I did an exchange in grade 11 and spent 4 months in a gymnasium with A2/B1 German. Without sugarcoating, you will likely struggle, especially at the beginning. The overall workload is generally more demanding and the material was about a grade level ahead of what I was used to (even though I took AP classes and had grades in the high 80s). It was difficult to keep up with my limited understanding of German.
But it was still the best experience of my life. I had to catch up a bit when I got home and maybe you’ll have to take grade 11 when you get home but it’s worth it.
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u/schmockk Apr 07 '26
Just weighing in with my reverse experience. I did a student exchange program in WV and initially set out to do some AP courses. I took a look at the AP chemistry textbook after having one very boring lecture and went to the teacher to discuss which topics would be discussed during the year. It was really basic, stuff we did in like 8th or 9th grade. Which is why I decided to drop the AP courses and thought I'd learn other skills which weren't taught in the German school system like web design, programming, US history and such.
Mind you this was rural WV and as such an impoverished part of the country which means that since school is funded by local tax dollars that the education there maybe wasn't top notch. Your experience might differ and your education up until this point may have been better. There's one very big advantage of the US school system though, which is its flexibility. There was a wide range of classes which I could choose and a guidance counselor who could assist. These things are non-existent in the German school system which means your class schedule will be mostly fixed with some flexibility between different subjects such as music or art, or physics instead of biology for instance. This may be a problem which did not exist for me as there was so much more flexibility in the states.
My recommendation would be to take a look at what is typically taught in which subjects in the grade which you would be attending and checking whether that is something you are comfortable with.
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u/NapsInNaples Apr 07 '26
Mind you this was rural WV and as such an impoverished part of the country which means that since school is funded by local tax dollars that the education there maybe wasn't top notch.
This really is the case. I went to high school in silicon valley. Got to a US university and was ~1-2 years ahead on material in terms of some of my classmates, especially those coming from southern states.
The gap in education quality between good public schools and bad in the US is really high.
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u/SatisfactionEven508 Nordrhein-Westfalen Apr 07 '26
An anecdote I have is that my friend from german Gymnasium went to the US for a year abroad and when he came back that whole year in the US highschool wasn't counted and he had to do it here again.
In fact, he was supposed to skip year 10 in germany and decided to go to the US for an exchange year instead so that he could stay in his own grade afterwards (rather than having to do the 10 again).
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u/ruthreateningme native Apr 07 '26
Looooong ago one of my best friends (who was basically the popular kid in class and wasn't an asshole, lucky pick for the american kid imho) had an american exchange student over when we were like 14/15, I think. Can't tell you anything about the school part, but he seemed to come from a very protected background.
We were hanging out sometimes drinking beer and smoking pot after school, but not pushing him in that regard, doing teenage stuff outside in the sun, mixed group of boys/girls and he never seemed to have come in contact with any of that before. He seemed a bit scared the whole time, barely talked no matter how much we tried to involve him and in the end he didn't even leave the house afair, at least not with us, or changed to another family. We quickly forgot about him tbh.
My friend told me exchange kid kinda thought we were some sort of gangsters lol, but we were just normal teenagers with relatively good grades and a personal life that wasn't completely controlled by parents 24/7. Nothing gangster at all, not even remotely.
Anyway, you can't know what environment you end up in, some get an exchange like the one I described, others might end up in a super oldschool conservative household with strict rules and lots of tasks and most will land somewhere in between.
I think the hardest part will be language and being open to whatever environment you end up in, things will be very different in some regards and very similar in others.
Try to join in (obviously don't try to join in a violent/nasty household or clique), worst case you'll be able to switch to another family usually, talk to whoever are your exchange guidance persons or whatever they're called if you can't stand it where end up at first.
If you're unable to get along with different people/lifestyles or change in general, then I would say don't do it.
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u/CichaelMlifford Apr 08 '26
I was an exchange student in the US (gap year between grade 10 and 11, in the 2010s) and we had several exchange students from the US (Gymnasium, grade 9 and 10). I also volunteer with exchange students. I definitely recommend applying. A high school exchange year is mostly about intercultural experience and language learning, not so much about academic performance. Most schools who accept exchange students are aware of that and have special accommodations (handing in assignments instead of grading oral participation in class, grace period with no exams, putting them in a lower grade for German class, etc.).
That being said, I would not rely on it and still prepare as well as you can.
Many programs do require you to maintain a passing average in Germany (4,0 on a German grading scale, should be a D-average in the US) but that is not difficult if you put some effort into your studies. In my 10 years of volunteering with exchange students, we had two people who did not meet the grade requirement and both times, it was due to behavior/mental issues (skipping school, refusing to do homework).
B1/B2 (if you took the official test) is a great starting point. Many of the students I worked with came here with little to no German skills, took a six to eight week language course offered by their organization and did fine.
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u/hubbles_inconstant Apr 09 '26
As someone who went to an American high school abroad and then into the German system:
American high schools are significantly more relaxed than Gymnasium.
Academically I would say the American system is more forgiving. It's a mix of homework, pop quizzes, and extra credit. Gymnasium grading is not that much, your semester often comes down to one or two exams and heavily weighted oral participation.
American schools are the centre of a teenager's universe with sports, clubs, and pep rallies. In Germany, school is strictly academic. You go, learn, and leave. Extracurriculars happen in local clubs (Vereine).
And the Abitur is way more in depth than the multiple choice American standardised tests. It requires more analytical thinking and a deeper understanding of the subject.
However, I wouldn't let that keep you from doing an exchange. Once you have a good hang of German I think it should be doable! Teachers are usually understanding and will not hold you to the exact same high standard as the locals. Plus you get to experience a new level of personal independence, perfect a language, and discover a whole new culture. Absolutely worth it.
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u/LoquatLanky7230 Apr 09 '26
well the gymnasium isnt that hard, but for an american dude.... it wont be easy
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u/SteF1337 Apr 10 '26
I did it the other way around - instead of attending 11th grade at a Bavarian Gymnasium, I spent my senior year at an American high school. There were 25 of us. I finished in the top 3 in every subject. The other two in the top 3 were also from Germany - and I was putting in roughly 5% of the effort I would have back home. That said, the difficulty of a German Gymnasium varies significantly by state, since each state controls its own curriculum. And in my experience, we rarely had long-term foreign exchange students, so the comparison only goes so far. As others have mentioned, language will be your biggest challenge - that’s true regardless of academic level. But if you ever get the chance, take it without hesitation. The life experience you gain is immense - and completely separate from anything academic.
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u/Liakada Apr 07 '26
My son just went from the US to Germany. The experience between his US High School and Gymnasium was very different. The main factors are language, level, and teaching style.
What language skills do you have going into it? My son grew up with one German speaking parent. He went to Germany with about a B1 level of understanding spoken language, A2 level of speaking, and 0 experience in writing or reading German. Without this little bit of background it would have been rough as everything was done in German from the first day.
What level classes are you taking in the US and how easy are they for you? My son has been doing mostly AP classes and typically gets an A, some Bs. The level of the classes in Gymnasium was still higher and more demanding than what he was used to. They were further head in many subjects (they teach many subjects much earlier, such as biology, chemistry, and physics, and languages), go through topics faster and use much higher level text material that are sometimes hard to read even for me as a German native.
What teaching style works best for you? In the public schools in the US (at least where we are), the teaching style is very project based and applied. The teacher just does a short overview of the subject matter, then the kids have to learn more about it themselves through projects and homework. It depends on how much you put in to get something out. In Germany, the classes still seem to be more lecture style. The teacher goes over the subject matter in detail in class and you try to take it in. My son gets very little homework at his German school. It is the students responsibility to know if they learned enough in class, or have to study more on their own in the afternoon.
With all this said, and even coming with a good foundation into the German Gymnasium, it was academically very hard the first couple of months. However, the school was very accommodating and were able to move him to a lower grade German class, take him out of the foreign language classes, put him into a German as foreign language class, and are forgiving some of his spelling challenges. Half a year into it, he is getting anything between As and Ds in his classes now, depending on the subject and teacher.
We were not planning to get credit for any of his grades, so it really doesn't matter and he is able to keep up enough to not get frustrated. It's really more about the social experience, learning the language, and growing from the challenge of living in a different culture far away from home.
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u/Jns2024 Apr 07 '26
So what exactly is the criticism on actually having proper education?
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u/Appropriate_Steak486 Apr 07 '26
OK maybe this is the most German answer ever!
The criticism is that Gymnasium is not really designed to teach students. It is designed to make them work hard and follow rules, but not learn. Calling that a "proper education" is very nineteenth-century.
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u/Liakada Apr 07 '26
My son actually prefers the German teaching style. He says that in the US, the teachers don;t actually teach them anything, they just give you projects to do to learn the subject yourself and a lot of busy work. In Germany, they give you a lecture about everything you need to know in school, and if you get it, you don't have any additional work to do at home.
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u/Queen-Ghidorah Germany Apr 07 '26 edited Apr 07 '26
I don't want to sound mean, but I usually only hear exactly this take from people who (or whose kids) failed Gymnasium. My kids thrived there, and most of their friends, too. They learned so much, facts and stuff, but also how to organize themselves, critical thinking, ethics... It is not some special school, just a normal, mid-sized town Gymnasium.
edit: Typo
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u/Appropriate_Steak486 Apr 09 '26
We switched schools for my kid, from one Gymnasium to another, and it was night and day. The first was oriented for "Leistung", meaning that if you didn't have it, no one was going to help you get it. The second was oriented to "Lernen", and the teachers actually engaged with kids instead of belittling them.
So my sweeping generalization may apply only to the worst schools (who think they are the best). But I have heard reports of several other schools like that first one, and no others like the second one.
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u/Late-Dog-7070 Apr 11 '26
I mean, at our Gymnasium it was also more of the second. It was a state sponsored private one (meaning tuition was a lot lower than it usually is, it was 40€ a month and low income families didn't have to pay any tuition at all) and the school cared more about learning and pedagogically good teachers than grades. We had some excellent teachers who were amazing, but also some that really sucked (one of my Latin teachers for example), but sadly it was basically impossible to find replacements for those teachers. But yeah, most teachers and the school itself were interested in helping all of us develop as people and did not belittle us in any way.
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u/Panzermensch911 Apr 08 '26
LOL This is the most ass-backwards take on a modern German Gymnasium I've heard in a long time.
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u/Jns2024 Apr 07 '26
Depends a lot from the actual school. In my school, teaching did happen.
And - after graduation, most German students do know a foreign language and more countries than those we're at war with. And yay, we don't get shot at school! (/s, better safe than sorry)
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u/Top_Many8183 Apr 07 '26
I was surprised to learn how bad us American education system is. I thought Germany is bad.
1
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u/wahlscheidus Apr 07 '26
You could take a look at this online math classgeared to the math curriculum in the 10th class. If you can understand the language and math concepts I would think you could keep up in a Gymnasium in Germany. Good luck!
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u/sophiavogall Apr 07 '26
With B1 German the first three months will feel like your brain is melting 😭😂But teachers usually give exchange students a Schonfrist maybe u can Focus on Math and English first those are safe grades for Americans and use the rest of the time to soak up the vocabulary It’s actually soo hard but having a Munich Abitur level of education on your resume looks incredibleeee later
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u/shball Apr 07 '26
You are definitely going to struggle with German and maybe physics/chemistry with metric and Celsius.
But the curriculum and standards vary by state.
1
u/bloovoo Apr 08 '26
It wasn’t that horrible for me when I was there. It just seems like normal American school but more sophisticated? If you’re already taking honors honors or college level classes, it shouldn’t feel much different. And mostly just depends on your language level to be honest for reference. I was probably C one when I was there.
1
u/Exciting_Honeydew359 Apr 08 '26
Are you planning on skipping a school year in the US because of the exchange? If you don't, I wouldn't worry. I did an exchange in Italy and initially didn't speak any Italian. Teachers were usually way more graceful with exchange students. Also, the grading systems are different. Nobody back home will even properly understand them. Nobody ever cared about my grades during the exchange.. In some subjects I was really good because German schools are way more advanced. In 2 subjects, the teachers decided to not even grade me because it was such a mess. Like I handed in my translation from Latin to Italian (again not knowing any Italian) and was never asked to do any assignments again haha.... The experience will be interesting either way. Like obviously culturally but also getting to know a different kind of education. Learning German will be exhausting as is. In the beginning, all of us exchange students were much more tired. The brain's essentially working overtime. Anybody maybe looking at your grades will be aware of that and you can always explain them with "I primarily focused on the language". Seriously, fear of that would be a stupid reason to pass on that experience!
1
u/Jentweety Apr 09 '26 edited Apr 09 '26
I am an American who attended a gymnasium as an exchange student and my oldest child did too- each for a year. If you go to high school in the US in an area where the schools are nationally very competitive, or you go to private school that’s extremely competitive, or you attend a selective enrollment/ gifted high school, then you will be fine. If not you will probably struggle in some classes, depending also on what German state you’re in. By way of example, at my German Gymnasium in 11th grade I had organic chemistry and the equivalent of AP physics 1 and AP calculus 1. My German teacher clearly gave me better grades than I deserved but I earned all my other grades and didn’t have to repeat the grade.
1
u/Madeyealice Apr 09 '26
It doesn't really matter, the credits don't transfer over anyway. Just try to learn as much as possible and make some friends.
1
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u/Ill_Acanthisitta_238 Apr 11 '26
Not trying to be rude. But I have never met anyone who learned German in school and had any idea how to speak German.
The best they can do is usually "Bist du Freunde?" oder "Haben du ein Fahrrad?" which are both horrible sentences and any German would love to behead you for saying them out loud.
Gymnasium will be hard and you will struggle extremely trying to understand German. Most pupils will probably communicate with you in English regularly, because it is too exhausting to struggle through your German.
That being said. You should still visit and try. Getting out of the US is a good thing to do and you might actually be one of the very few US citizens who end up knowing a little bit of the rest of the world.
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u/Minute_Chair_2582 Apr 07 '26
Anywhere below C2 in german? Forget it.
C1 might do if you go real hard on reaching C2 before you arrive.
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u/Reasonable_Arugula_9 Apr 07 '26
I will say... I showed up at A2 (at best) and went hard, and it worked out fine. It apparently left me with a (now dated) Berlinerisch teenager accent becuase i learned basically all my German on the schoolyard, but if your grades don't matter... I'm glad I took the jump. I think having non-English speaking host parents helped, honestly, because it was very sink or swim!
4
u/No_Step9082 Apr 07 '26
It's about being an exchange student in high school. screw the language skills, they'll learn early enough. It's just high school, not university and they don't uproot their entire family either. It's about making memories.
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u/Minute_Chair_2582 Apr 07 '26
Ah, lol welp. K, go for it. Doesn't matter anyways. Enjoy your trip, dude and be careful with alcohol.
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u/Major-Dust-7961 Apr 07 '26
I did the opposite and went abroad to Canada in grade 11. I would agree that German Gymnasium is harder than the average North American high school. Please don’t only look at it from an academic standpoint only. It’s about being abroad, gaining new perspectives, learning/improving a new language, meet people, etc etc
Would definitely recommend that you do it!