B1 exam result calculator

How each provider counts

Every threshold the calculator uses is printed below, so you can apply the same rules on paper. The German names are the ones on your answer sheet.

Deutsch-Test für Zuwanderer (DTZ)

The DTZ does not have a pass mark. It certifies a level, A2 or B1, and it gives each part its own level first. Listening (Hören) and reading (Lesen) are added into one score out of 45; writing (Schreiben) is scored out of 20 and speaking (Sprechen) out of 100.

The overall level follows one rule, and it is the rule most summaries get wrong: you reach a level overall when you reach it in speaking and in at least one of the two other parts. Speaking is therefore the gate. Below A2 there is no certificate, only a notification of your result. The bands are published in the g.a.s.t. description of the DTZ, and the BAMF page on the final exam states the same rule for both A2 and B1. BAMF is the Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge, the federal office that runs the integration courses. The DTZ practice test guide lists every combination of the three part results that produces a certificate.

Goethe-Zertifikat B1

Four modules: Lesen, Hören, Schreiben and Sprechen. Each is worth 100 points, each is passed at 60 points or 60 per cent, and each is booked and retaken on its own. There is no combined pass mark. When all four are passed within a year, the exam centre can issue one certificate covering the whole exam.

Reading and listening have 30 items each and one point per item, but the module score is not a percentage of 30. The Durchführungsbestimmungen, the rules for running the exam, publish a conversion table: your correct items are multiplied by 3.33 and rounded. That makes 18 correct items exactly 60 points, so 18 of 30 is exactly a pass. Fifteen correct items is 50 points and 20 correct is 67.

Writing and speaking are already scored out of 100 on the grading form, by two independent assessors whose scores are averaged. In writing, a third assessment is carried out when one assessor is below the pass mark, the other above, and the average still falls under 60. The point bands on the certificate are 90–100 sehr gut, 80–89 gut, 70–79 befriedigend, 60–69 ausreichend, and 0–59 nicht bestanden. Free practice sets are on the Goethe exam-training page.

telc Deutsch B1

One exam in two parts. The written exam is worth 225 points and the oral exam 75, for 300 in total. You need 60 per cent of each part separately: 135 of 225 and 45 of 75. Both are required, and the grade is only calculated once both are reached.

Inside the written part the items are not equal, which is where hand-counting goes wrong. Reading (Leseverstehen) parts 1 and 2 are worth 5 points an answer and part 3 only 2.5. Listening (Hörverstehen) parts 1 and 3 are worth 5 points an answer and part 2 only 2.5. Both Sprachbausteine parts are worth 1.5 points an answer. Sprachbausteine is the grammar and vocabulary subtest that only telc has. The letter (Schriftlicher Ausdruck) is graded on three criteria of up to 5 points each, and that sum is multiplied by three for a maximum of 45.

Because the 60 per cent applies to the whole written part, a weak letter can be carried by strong reading and listening. Once both parts are reached, the two subtotals are added and graded on 300: 270 and above is sehr gut, 240 to 269.5 gut, 210 to 239.5 befriedigend, 180 to 209.5 ausreichend. A part you failed or did not sit can be repeated in the same calendar year or the next one, and the repeat result replaces the earlier one for good. The full points table is printed in telc Übungstest 1, the free practice test, which you can also reach from the telc Deutsch B1 page.

What this calculator cannot tell you

It applies published arithmetic to numbers you typed. It does not issue a result, and it cannot predict one. Reading and listening can be marked exactly against the answer key in the practice set, so those numbers are as reliable as your marking. Writing and speaking cannot be marked reliably at home: all three providers use two trained assessors, Goethe adds a third assessment in a defined borderline case, and telc lets the second assessment override the first. A number you invented for a letter produces arithmetic about an invented number.

Before you book a retake, read the rule at the source and ask your exam centre what applies to your booking.

Where the numbers come from

1. Sit a free official practice test under the published timing, then mark it against the answer key in the same PDF. The practice-test guide explains where each free set is, what it contains, and how to run it.
2. Or copy the section scores from a result sheet you already have. The section names on the sheet are the German ones used above.
3. Enter them here. Then take the weakest section into the guide for it: reading, listening, Sprachbausteine, the letter task, or speaking, which splits into the shared planning task and what to say when you get stuck.