How to Study for a German Language Placement Test

The placement test for the Fall 2008 German course is coming up in a few days, and I've been studying. They told me you shouldn't study for a placement test, but I really don't want to be stuck going over basics for a whole semester.

Here's what I've been doing to prepare:

Listening
Listen to Austrian talk radio. Ö1 Inforadio is a great news channel with lots of information and talk, you can click through and start streaming it right now if you want.

I need to listen more. In addition to good practice, it's a good gauge of my ability. I listened to it a few months back and didn't understand as much as when I tune in now.

Reading
I've been reading a children's book in German called Der kleine Nick. It's a German translation of the original French childrens' book called Le Petit Nicolas. It's simple, and funny, and the chapters are short. The German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zietung called it, "Das beste Kinderbuch der Welt." Good enough for me!

Sure, even at this level the German is formidable. On a first read, I can only understand about 40% of what's going on. But my strategy for unpacking each chapter is simple and works really well: first, I note down each vocabulary word I don't know, about 70-90 words per chapter. Then I blow through my vocabulary list using the online German dictionary Leo.org, writing down all the definitions in my notebook. Then I study and try to memorize all the words. Then I read the chapter again and understand almost everything, at least 90%. It is very, very gratifying.

Plus, there's pictures. So click here to pick up a copy on Amazon.com right now and you'll be reading German in no time at all.

Grammar
I found excellent online charts of the four German cases and copied them into my notebook. I learned these in college but really need to freshen up, and About.com's charts are the best ever.

Speaking
I've been speaking to locals in German a little, but there are two reasons I don't think it will be so helpful for my placement test. First, the German dialect in Austria is so different from the high German that will be taught and tested at the university. Second, my grammar is really bad and while it's good to improvise and practice speaking, people don't correct my mistakes and worse yet I could be reinforcing some bad habits.

Now, my test is on Wednesday. If anyone has any more study tips please drop them in the comments below, and don't be shy!