Polish B1 exam writing: grading criteria explained

Examiners don't grade your work on gut feeling. The writing part ("Pisanie") of the Polish as a Foreign Language state certificate exam (B1) has a clear scoring system. Here's how many points you can get and exactly how you lose them.

How many points is writing worth?

The whole writing module is worth 30 points.
You write two texts: a short one (e.g. wishes, a notice, a note) and a longer one (e.g. a letter, an email, a story).
Each text is scored from 0 to 15 points.
To pass the module you need at least 50%, i.e. 15 points. The 50% threshold applies to every module separately — a great reading score won't save weak writing.

More about the format in our Polish B1 writing guide.

The 3 criteria

Each text is graded on three criteria, 0–5 points each:

1. Task completion — Wykonanie zadania (0–5)

The most important criterion. A beautiful text that's off-topic loses a lot of points.

What's assessed? Relevance, covering all task points, the right format (e.g. an email has a greeting and sign-off) and the word count.
Tip: if the task asks you to "describe the trip, the problems at the airport and your plans for tomorrow", your text must include all three.

2. Range of language — Środki językowe (0–5)

Here the examiner checks whether your vocabulary and syntax really are B1 level.

What's assessed? Vocabulary range, variety of structures, and a style that fits the situation (formal / informal).
Tip: instead of writing "bardzo fajnie" five times, use "wspaniale", "ciekawie", "niesamowicie". Join sentences with conjunctions: ponieważ, dlatego, chociaż, kiedy, jeśli.

3. Accuracy — Poprawność językowa (0–5)

Grammar, spelling and punctuation.

What's assessed? Cases (e.g. Jestem lekarzem, not Jestem lekarz), verb forms, adjective endings, spelling.
Can I make mistakes? Yes. At B1, mistakes are acceptable as long as they don't get in the way of understanding. But repeated mistakes in declension clearly lower your score.

Example: how points are lost

Situation	Criterion	Effect
One task point missing	Task completion	significant loss
Text half as long as required	Task completion	significant loss
Same words in every sentence	Range of language	lower score
"Szanowna Pani" and "Buziaki" in one email	Range of language (style)	lower score
Nominative instead of instrumental, wrong endings	Accuracy	lower score

Typical mistakes of English speakers

Cases after prepositions and verbs: idę do sklepu (genitive), jadę na plażę (accusative), jestem w pracy (locative).
The vocative: Cześć Marku!, Droga Kasiu!
Verb aspect: codziennie piszę (imperfective, habit) vs jutro napiszę (perfective, one-off result).

Official sources

The exam description, sample papers and regulations are published by the State Commission for the Certification of Proficiency in Polish as a Foreign Language: certyfikatpolski.pl.

How to practise

Write a text on paper, take a photo and upload it to Oceń Tekst. You'll get a 0–15 score split into the same 3 criteria, a list of mistakes with corrections and explanations in English.