In written expression you reply to a personal or semi-formal email – most learners call it the “letter” – covering four guide points. Here are the structure, useful phrases (Redemittel), an example and the official assessment criteria.
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Key takeaways
Written expression is the part of the telc B1 exam where you produce text yourself: a personal or semi-formal email, commonly called the “letter”. You have 30 minutes and can earn 45 points. You get a short situation and four guide points (Leitpunkte) that you must all address. telc sets no word count.
It is assessed on three official criteria: Aufgabenbewältigung (task achievement – are all four guide points covered appropriately?), Kommunikative Gestaltung (text logic, connectors, register and vocabulary – salutation and sign-off count here) and Formale Richtigkeit (grammar, spelling, punctuation). More important than perfect grammar is that your text can be read and understood easily.
Work in three steps: plan, write, check. First decide whether you address the person with “du” or “Sie”, and note one sentence per guide point. Then write with a clear structure – salutation, opening, body (all guide points), closing – and use fixed phrases. Leave time to check at the end.
Very doable with fixed phrases and a clear structure. The most common hurdle: not covering all four guide points, or mixing the register (du/Sie).
| Part | Task type | Focus | Tasks | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Write the letter / email | Letter / email | Written expression | 1 | 45 |
Take two minutes: do you address the person with “du” or “Sie”? Note a keyword for each of the four guide points. Then you write more fluently and forget no point.
Criterion I measures exactly this: four points covered appropriately give an A, three a B, two a C, one or none a D. A single short sentence can be enough for a point – but none may be missing.
Semi-formal (a course leader, a company, someone you don’t know): “Sehr geehrte Frau …” and “Sie” throughout. Personal (friends and acquaintances): “Liebe/r …” and “du”. Stay consistent – a wobbling register rules out an A in Kommunikative Gestaltung.
Set phrases for the salutation, opening, request, apology and closing save time and look confident. Learn one set by heart.
Salutation – opening (reason) – body (all guide points) – closing. These email features count towards Kommunikative Gestaltung. Classic letter elements such as sender address, date or a subject line are explicitly not required by telc.
Quickly check: all four guide points covered, one consistent register, salutation and closing present. Fix obvious mistakes.
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Learn a fixed set of phrases – with them you can build any letter quickly (kept in German):
The writing task is usually one of these situations:
Read this guide and look at an official practice test: what do the situation and guide points look like, and how is it graded?
Learn a fixed set of phrases for the salutation, opening, request and closing – personal and semi-formal.
Write a semi-formal email (e.g. complaint, enquiry) with “Sie” throughout and all four guide points.
Write a personal email (e.g. invitation, cancellation) with “du” and suitable phrases.
Practice different task types: invitation, complaint, request for information, apology.
Write a complete email in 30 minutes – no aids, exactly as in the exam. Then check that all four guide points really are in there.
Have your text assessed – by a teacher or via a Prepliq mock whose automatic assessment is modelled on the published telc assessment criteria.
telc sets no word count. What is assessed is whether all four guide points are covered appropriately – under the official criteria a guide point already counts as covered if you deal with it sensibly in one, possibly short, sentence. The 30 minutes cap the length anyway.
All four. That is exactly what Criterion I (Aufgabenbewältigung) measures: four points covered appropriately give an A, three a B, two a C, one or none a D.
On three official criteria: I Aufgabenbewältigung, II Kommunikative Gestaltung (text logic, connectors, register, vocabulary) and III Formale Richtigkeit (grammar, spelling, punctuation). Each criterion gets A, B, C or D – worth 5, 3, 1 or 0 points. The sum is multiplied by three, for a maximum of 45. Example: A/A/B is 5 + 5 + 3 = 13, times three = 39 out of 45.
The recipient decides: to friends and acquaintances you write personally with “du” (“Liebe/r …”). To a course leader, a company or someone you don’t know you write semi-formally with “Sie” (“Sehr geehrte …”). At B1 the task is always a personal or semi-formal email.
Often invitations, complaints, requests for information, apologies or enquiries – always everyday situations.
Write short emails on different topics regularly and have them checked – the PDF answer key doesn’t cover writing. At Prepliq a mock checks your text automatically, and its assessment is modelled on the published telc assessment criteria. Prepliq is independent of telc gGmbH: the automatic assessment is a practice assessment, not an official telc exam assessment – in the real exam two licensed telc raters mark your text.
No. No aids such as dictionaries are allowed in the telc German B1 exam.
Practice this exam section in the official format and see what needs more attention before the real test.
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