telc Deutsch B1 Schriftlicher Ausdruck gives you 30 minutes to write one semi-formal letter or email covering three given points, and it is marked on four criteria worth 45 points in total.
One writing task, 30 minutes, 45 points. You are given a situation - a complaint, a request for information, an apology, an invitation - and three content points that must all appear in your answer.
The format is a letter or email of the semi-formal kind: to a landlord, a language school, a company's customer service, or a colleague.
Task completion is the one that decides results. A candidate who covers all three points with mistakes outscores one who writes two points flawlessly.
Losing a point by paraphrasing rather than answering. If the prompt says "explain why you cannot attend", writing Leider kann ich nicht kommen does not address it
The second most common: running out of time because of planning. Thirty minutes is enough to write, not enough to draft and rewrite. Spend three minutes noting one phrase per point, then write once, carefully.
Salutation. One sentence saying why you are writing. Then one short paragraph per given point, in the order given - examiners are looking for them and putting them in order makes them easy to find. Closing line, sign-off.
Learn the fixed phrases: Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren, ich schreibe Ihnen, weil…, Könnten Sie mir bitte mitteilen…, Ich würde mich freuen, wenn…, Mit freundlichen Grüßen. These cost nothing to recall and score under communicative design.
Writing needs feedback to improve, which is what makes it hard to practise alone - you cannot see your own mistakes. In the simulator the AI marks against these same four criteria and tells you which one cost the points, rather than returning a single number.
There is no official word count, but a letter covering all three points properly lands at roughly 80 to 150 words. Length is not a criterion - coverage is. A short letter that addresses all three points scores better than a long one that addresses two.
This is the single most expensive mistake in the section. Task completion is a separate criterion, and an unaddressed point cuts it directly - usually more than several grammar errors would.
Follow the prompt. If the letter is to a company, an office or a stranger, use Sie throughout. If it is to a friend, use du. Switching between the two inside one letter costs marks under communicative design.
Yes, and you should. Opening, closing and linking phrases are worth memorising because they cost no thinking time in the exam. What cannot be pre-written is the content of the three points.
Drill this section on its own, with instant scoring and an explanation for every answer.