Goethe B1 2027: Pass Mark, Fees, Dates, Words
Facts last checked on 21 October 2026 on goethe.de. Format and marking follow the Goethe-Institut's exam regulations (Durchführungsbestimmungen, 1 September 2025) and the official model paper; fees and dates come from the pages of the Goethe-Institut in Germany, Poland and Turkey. There is no central 2027 calendar: every exam centre sets its own dates and fees, so confirm yours before you plan.
The Goethe-Zertifikat B1 is the German certificate most people take for naturalisation, a settlement permit, an Ausbildung visa or a job, and it is built differently from most language exams: four independent modules, a pass mark of 60 in each, and the right to resit one module on its own. This post walks through each module, how the points work, what the exam costs at three Goethe-Instituts, how to find a 2027 date, and the German that decides the writing and speaking marks.
Who needs the Goethe B1
- Naturalisation and a settlement permit. The Goethe-Institut describes the B1 as the language proof for the Niederlassungserlaubnis and for Einbürgerung. Our post on which German level you need for citizenship covers the rules.
- Training and work. Vocational training (Ausbildung) visas and many employers ask for B1, and the Goethe-Institut lists a Studienkolleg place among the reasons to take it.
- A certificate that does not expire, recognised worldwide, developed jointly by the Goethe-Institut, the University of Fribourg and the ÖSD.
The B1 has three siblings, and the right one depends on where you are and why you need it. The telc Deutsch B1 is the same level with a different format, including gap texts on grammar, and is accepted for the same purposes in Germany. The DTZ is the test at the end of the integration course, with an A2/B1 result on one paper. The ÖSD Zertifikat B1 is the Austrian twin of the Goethe B1: the two were developed together and share the format below.
The four modules
| Module | Time | What you do |
|---|---|---|
| Lesen | 65 min | 5 parts, 30 items: a blog post, two press articles, adverts to match, forum opinions, rules or instructions |
| Hören | 40 min | 4 parts, 30 items: short announcements and messages, a talk, a conversation, a radio discussion |
| Schreiben | 60 min | 3 tasks: an informal e-mail (about 80 words), a forum post with your opinion (about 80), a short formal e-mail (about 40) |
| Sprechen | 15 min, in pairs, after 15 min of preparation | Plan something together, present a topic from five slides, give feedback and ask a question |
Lesen is paced part by part in the official paper: 10 minutes for the blog post (6 true/false items), 20 for the two press articles (6 multiple-choice items), 10 for the adverts (seven situations, ten adverts, one situation with no match), 15 for the forum (seven opinions, for or against) and 10 for the rules text (4 items). You may move between parts, but those timings are the exam's own idea of what each one needs.
Hören plays five short texts twice (10 items), a talk once (5), a conversation once (7) and a radio discussion twice (8 items, who says what). Reading the questions in the pause before each text is most of the skill.
Schreiben gives 20, 25 and 15 minutes to the three tasks. Each is marked on fulfilling the task, coherence, vocabulary and structures, and the marking sheet has one hard rule: if the task is not fulfilled, the whole task scores zero, however good the German. Write to all the points, in the right form, to the right reader.
Sprechen is a pair exam. Part 1 is planning together from four prompts (about three minutes), part 2 a presentation on a topic from five given slides (about three), part 3 feedback on your partner's presentation and one question each (about two). The introductory small talk is not marked.
How it is marked
Each module is marked out of 100, and a module is passed with 60. The modules do not compensate each other: 59 in Hören is a failed module even with 95 in Lesen. In Lesen and Hören every item is one point and the 30 points are scaled to 100, so 18 of 30 items is the pass. Schreiben and Sprechen are marked by two assessors and averaged.
The certificate shows the points for each module and a grade on the back: sehr gut from 90, gut from 80, befriedigend from 70, ausreichend from 60. Because the modules are independent you can take them together or one at a time, and a failed module can be resat alone, as often as the centre has places. You get a certificate per module; if you pass all four at one centre in one session you get a single overall certificate, and on request a centre can combine the best results from different sessions within one year (at Goethe-Instituts in the EU across institutes, elsewhere within one country or at the same centre).
Fees and dates
There is no single fee. Each Goethe-Institut and each licensed exam centre sets its own price, and most charge per module, so a resit costs a fraction of the full exam. What three institutes charged on 21 October 2026:
| Centre | Full exam (4 modules) | One module |
|---|---|---|
| Goethe-Institut Germany (Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt and others) | EUR 259 | EUR 104 |
| Goethe-Institut Warsaw | 770 zł (740 zł for its course participants) | 280 zł (265 zł) |
| Goethe-Institut Krakow | 720 zł (690 zł) | 250 zł (235 zł) |
| Goethe-Institut Turkey (Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir) | TRY 17,280 | TRY 5,730 |
Dates are set the same way. The Goethe-Institut in Germany lists B1 sessions several times a week across its institutes, on paper or on a laptop, and at the time of writing the list ran into January 2027; Turkey's ran into March 2027. Warsaw holds a September session with a two-day registration window about two weeks before and 20 places, first come first served; Krakow runs the whole exam in one day, roughly 9:00 to 16:15, with online booking. To find your date:
- On goethe.de, open Deutschprüfungen, choose Goethe-Zertifikat B1 and your country or city; the date list shows the price, the medium (paper or laptop) and a Details link with the registration deadline.
- Outside the institutes, search the licensed exam centres (Prüfungszentren) in your country; they publish their own calendars and prices.
- Plan backwards from the registration deadline, not from the exam day, and book early at small centres: Warsaw's 20 places go in the order of registration.
The words that decide the grade
Lesen and Hören reward a broad B1 vocabulary on everyday topics: family, housing, shopping, health, work and training, offices and forms, transport, media and free time, the environment and opinions. Schreiben and Sprechen reward something narrower and more learnable, and the marking grids name it: Textaufbau and Verknüpfung in writing, Interaktion and Register in speaking. The examples below are real cards from our kit.
- Connectors with the word order attached. Weil and obwohl send the verb to the end ("..., weil meine Eltern zu Besuch sind"); deshalb, trotzdem and außerdem fill position 1, so the verb comes next ("trotzdem habe ich die Prüfung bestanden", never "trotzdem ich habe"). Zwar ... aber is the B1 way to concede a point before making yours: "Ich spreche zwar schon ganz gut Deutsch, aber beim Telefonieren habe ich noch Probleme." Using them correctly is what the Verknüpfung criterion measures.
- E-mail frames for Schreiben. Lieber Tobias or Liebe Anna and Liebe Grüße for task 1; Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren or Sehr geehrter Herr Wagner, Ich schreibe Ihnen, weil ..., Leider muss ich Ihnen mitteilen, dass ... and Mit freundlichen Grüßen for task 3. Mixing the two registers is the fastest way to lose the Register points. For the forum post: Meiner Meinung nach sollte man ..., Ich finde es wichtig, dass ..., Es stimmt zwar, dass ..., aber ..., and a closing Was meint ihr dazu?
- Negotiating phrases for Sprechen. Proposing: Wie wäre es mit einem Picknick? or, for a whole action, Wie wäre es, wenn wir ...; Ich schlage vor, dass wir .... Reacting: Damit bin ich einverstanden, Das finde ich nicht so gut, weil ..., Da bin ich anderer Meinung, Hast du eine andere Idee? Part 1 is marked on interaction, so a rejection followed by a question scores better than a long monologue. For part 3: Das finde ich sehr interessant, weil ... and Ich würde noch ergänzen, dass ....
- Word families and fixed pairs. sich bewerben, die Bewerbung, das Bewerbungsschreiben; eine Entscheidung treffen (never machen); einen Termin vereinbaren; sich Sorgen machen um; Interesse haben an but sich interessieren für, a mix-up examiners see constantly.
- The grammar that is tested. Konjunktiv II for anything polite or hypothetical: Ich würde gern ..., Es wäre schön, wenn ..., Ich wäre Ihnen sehr dankbar, wenn ..., and hätte with the umlaut, because hatte is a real past. Two-way prepositions: position verbs take the dative (Die Butter steht im Kühlschrank), movement takes the accusative (Ich stelle die Butter in den Kühlschrank). And in every weil or dass clause in the Perfekt, the auxiliary goes last: "..., weil ich den Bus verpasst habe".
A realistic plan
Twelve weeks is a comfortable runway from a solid A2. Our count of the official word lists, in how many words you need for German B1, comes to about 3,200 headwords, of which an A2 learner already has roughly 1,300, and it turns the gap into a number of new words a day. A good split: the first eight weeks on vocabulary and phrases with spaced repetition, 15 to 20 minutes a day; from week four, one timed part a week from the official model paper; the last two weeks on full modules and the speaking phrases, out loud with a partner.
Start with the exam's own shapes. Our free practice task in the shape of Lesen part 3 gives you the seven situations and ten adverts with the clock running, and if telc is your exam there is a free Sprachbausteine part 1 too. Then run the free German B1 word check: it estimates how many of the exam words you already know, which is the number the plan starts from.
The German B1 Exam Kit is the full set: 3,881 cards in 17 decks, eleven topic decks of 239 to 329 cards each (Person & Familie, Wohnen, Alltag & Einkaufen, Essen & Gesundheit, Arbeit & Ausbildung, Behörden & Formulare, Verkehr & Reisen, Medien & Freizeit, Umwelt & Gesellschaft, Gefühle & Meinungen, Grundwörter) and six that follow the exam: Redemittel Schreiben (85 cards), Redemittel Sprechen (69), Konnektoren (100), Feste Verbindungen (62), Grammatik im Kontext (120) and Prüfungstag & Behörden (120). Every card has an exam-style sentence, a translation, a short German definition, a note like the ones quoted above and audio in a natural-sounding German text-to-speech voice, and the plan ends before your exam date. The explanations come in English, German or Polish, whichever you choose. With less than two months, start with the six exam decks, 556 cards between them, because they feed the two modules where phrasing wins marks.
Words on Repeat is not affiliated with the Goethe-Institut, telc, the ÖSD or the BAMF.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I take the Goethe B1 modules separately?
Yes. The four modules are independent exams. You can sit all four in one session or spread them out, and you receive a certificate for each module you pass. A single overall certificate is issued when you pass all four at one centre in one session, or on request when all four are passed within one year.
What happens if I fail one module?
Only that module. The other three stay passed, and you resit the failed one alone, at the per-module price, as often as the centre can offer a place. Centres may set a waiting period before a resit, which they tell you with the result.
How many points do I need in Lesen and Hören?
18 of the 30 items. Each item is one point, the 30 points are scaled to 100, and 18 items give 60, the pass. 17 items give 57 and fail.
Is the Goethe B1 the same as the ÖSD Zertifikat B1?
The format is the same: the two were developed together with the University of Fribourg, and the exam is offered as the Goethe-Zertifikat B1 or the ÖSD Zertifikat B1 depending on the centre. Check which certificates your authority accepts before you choose; the ÖSD page covers the Austrian side.
Where are the 2027 dates?
On your exam centre's page, not on one central list. The Goethe-Institut in Germany had dates into January 2027 published in October 2026 and adds more as the year goes on; other countries and licensed centres publish on their own schedule. Register by the deadline shown in the date's details, and at small centres as soon as registration opens.