If your prior education was fully in English (many Indian universities issue a medium-of-instruction certificate confirming this), some universities will waive the English test requirement entirely — but this must be confirmed with the specific university, never assumed.

Sworn translation means translated by a translator officially certified in Germany (a ‘beeidigter Uebersetzer’) or, for documents from India, by a translator whose certification is accepted by the German mission. A translation done by a regular translation agency without this certification is often rejected outright.

Attestation is a separate step from translation: it means having the original document authenticated, sometimes by your school/university, sometimes by a notary, and for some purposes by the German embassy or a chamber of commerce. Universities vary widely in what they require here, so always check the individual programme’s document page rather than assuming one rule applies everywhere.

Keep both the original document and a certified copy separate at all times during your application and later your visa process — some offices return your original after verification, others do not, and running out of original copies mid-process is a common and avoidable delay.