Writing in the B1 exam: tasks and assessment
6 min read
In the writing part of the B1 exam you produce short everyday texts, not essays. In the Goethe-Zertifikat B1 (the Goethe-Institut certificate) you have 60 minutes for three tasks: an informal email (approx. 80 words), a forum post giving your opinion (approx. 80 words) and a short semi-formal email (approx. 40 words). In the telc Deutsch B1 you write one letter or email on four guide points in 30 minutes. What is assessed is not only what you write but also whether you hit the right text type.
Data checked: 3 September 2026. The sources are the Goethe-Institut implementation rules (as of 1 September 2023) and the telc gGmbH practice test. Task formats can change — check the current position with your provider before the exam.
The tasks compared
| Goethe-Zertifikat B1 | telc Deutsch B1 | |
|---|---|---|
| Time | 60 minutes | 30 minutes |
| Number of texts | 3 | 1 |
| Part 1 | informal email to friends, approx. 80 words | email or letter on four guide points |
| Part 2 | forum post giving your own opinion, approx. 80 words | — |
| Part 3 | semi-formal email, approx. 40 words | — |
| Points | max. 100 in the module, passed from 60 | 45 points = 15 % of the whole exam |
The difference looks bigger than it is: in both cases these are short, clearly structured functional texts — a refusal, an invitation, a complaint, a request for information, an opinion on an everyday topic.
How is it assessed?
In the Goethe-Zertifikat B1 a maximum of 100 points is available in the writing module, and it is passed from 60. Two points from the implementation rules are worth knowing:
First: it is marked by two independent people. The arithmetic mean of the two assessments is taken. If one assessment is above and the other below the pass mark and the mean is below 60 points, a third assessment is added. So a single strict judgement does not decide your result on its own.
Second — and this is the most practically important sentence in the whole document: “What is assessed is the fair copy on the writing answer sheet.” What is on your rough paper does not count. Anyone who first drafts their text on scrap paper has to allow the time to copy it out themselves — that time is part of the 60 minutes. An excellent text that stays half on the rough paper is marked half.
In the telc Deutsch B1 the Schriftlicher Ausdruck (written production) counts for 45 of the 225 points of the written exam. It therefore carries weight but does not decide on its own: anyone who is weak here can offset it with reading and listening — unlike in the modular Goethe format, where every module needs 60 % on its own. Which model suits you better is set out in telc B1 or Goethe-Zertifikat B1.
At heart, both exams assess the same things:
- Task fulfilment — did you deal with all the points of the task? Does the text type fit?
- Structure and cohesion — salutation, introduction, main part, closing, sign-off; sentences sensibly linked.
- Vocabulary — does the choice of words suit the situation, and is it varied enough?
- Grammar and spelling — mistakes are allowed as long as the text stays comprehensible.
The one mistake that costs the most
A forgotten guide point. The task names four points you are meant to write about. Anyone who handles three of them beautifully and overlooks the fourth loses heavily in the task-fulfilment category — however good the German is.
The countermeasure takes ten seconds: number the guide points on the question paper and tick them off as you write. At the end, count them.
The second most expensive mistake is a text that is too short. The word counts are guide figures, not upper limits — but anyone who writes only 40 words where 80 are expected cannot fit the required content in at all.
Structure: the framework that always holds
Informal email (to a friend or family)
- Salutation: Liebe Anna, / Hallo Tom,
- Opening: vielen Dank für deine E-Mail! Schön, dass du dich meldest.
- Main part: the guide points in order, each in one or two sentences
- Closing: Ich freue mich auf deine Antwort. / Melde dich bald!
- Sign-off: Liebe Grüße / Viele Grüße
Semi-formal or formal email (company, public office, landlord)
- Subject line: short and factual — Anfrage zum Deutschkurs im Oktober
- Salutation: Sehr geehrte Frau Weber, / Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren,
- Reason for writing: ich schreibe Ihnen, weil …
- Your request: polite and concrete — Könnten Sie mir bitte mitteilen, ob …
- Closing: Vielen Dank im Voraus. Über eine kurze Rückmeldung würde ich mich freuen.
- Sign-off: Mit freundlichen Grüßen
Forum post with an opinion
- Reference to the topic: Ich habe den Beitrag über … gelesen.
- Your own opinion: Meiner Meinung nach …
- A reason with an example: Bei mir war das so: …
- Taking up the counter-argument: Natürlich kann man auch sagen, dass … Trotzdem finde ich …
- A short closing: Deshalb bin ich der Meinung, dass …
Do not mix registers. A “Hallo Tom” in a complaint to the property management, or a “Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren” to your best friend, costs points in task fulfilment even if there is not a single grammar mistake in it.
Phrases you should know by heart
Thanking and referring back: Vielen Dank für Ihre E-Mail. · Ich beziehe mich auf Ihre Anzeige vom …
Declining: Leider kann ich nicht kommen, weil … · Es tut mir sehr leid, aber …
Suggesting: Wie wäre es, wenn wir …? · Ich schlage vor, dass …
Asking politely (Konjunktiv II): Könnten Sie mir bitte …? · Ich wäre Ihnen sehr dankbar, wenn …
Complaining: Leider muss ich Ihnen mitteilen, dass … · Ich bitte Sie, das Problem bis zum … zu beheben.
An opinion with a reason: Ich finde …, weil … · Ein wichtiger Grund dafür ist, dass … · Auf der anderen Seite …
These building blocks are the reason why writing improves faster than any other part of the exam: they can be reused. The content changes, the framework stays.
How to practise effectively
Writing only improves with correction. A text without feedback entrenches your own mistakes instead of removing them.
On this site you can train exactly the text types of the exam free of charge: writing with AI assessment — informal and formal email, forum post and the letter with four guide points. Your text is assessed for task fulfilment, linguistic means and accuracy, you get a list of your mistakes with corrections and a model text to compare with. This is a training format with its own points scale — not the marking of the real exam, but feedback against the same criteria.
A suggestion for four weeks:
| Week | What to do |
|---|---|
| 1 | an informal email every second day, every text corrected |
| 2 | formal emails and complaints — consolidate register and set phrases |
| 3 | forum posts: opinion, reason, counter-argument |
| 4 | writing against the clock in a complete practice pack, text on paper |
The last point is often forgotten: in the exam you write by hand, not on a keyboard — without autocorrect and more slowly than you think. Practise at least twice on paper before you sit it. Any grammar gaps that show up there can be closed in the German course.
What is binding is your provider’s task formats and assessment criteria in their current version. Our practice tasks are our own material in the format of the exam, not real exam papers.