The Foreign Service Institute (FSI) trains American diplomats to go from zero to ILR 3+ (roughly equivalent to C1) level in German in less than one year. I was lucky to give extra lessons to some of the recipients of this program. Here’s what we did, and what they will have to do in the exam. If you have no idea how to reach ILR 3+ / C1 level, try this approach with your teacher or language partner, it seemed to be effective.
First, teacher and student should agree on a long list of topics beforehand. The FSI uses social and cultural topics such as human rights, the environment, tourism, the school system, military service, the role of technology/women/religion/family in society, differences between rural and urban life, holidays and holiday traditions, the labor market and finding a job, drug trafficking, nationalism and patriotism, unemployment, immigration and integration, and so on.
Speaking exercise: Student talks. The teacher gives a choice of 5 of the topics from the list, the student picks one, has 5 minutes to prepare and then gives a short talk about it, also answering questions at the end. The teacher doesn’t interrupt except if invited; corrections are discussed at the end.
Listening comprehension / conversation exercise: Interviews. The teacher gives a choice of 5 of the topics from the list, the student picks one and then has to interview the teacher about it and to try to understand what is said (taking notes). The teacher will keep talking until interrupted, because this is also an exercise in controlling the flow of information. The student is supposed to stop him before it becomes too much information to handle, or ask further questions if anything was unclear. At the end, the student summarizes what he learned in his native language, and the teacher will let him know if he misunderstood or forgot anything important.
Reading comprehension exercise. The teacher suggests a newspaper article. The student gets enough time to read it through twice and then has to summarize each paragraph, as well as translate any sentences indicated by the teacher, to prove his ability to understand most if not all of of the article.