Telc B1 appeal results

Language Corner
1
Hi,

I have recently taken the Telc B1 Deutsch prufung and got the results last week. although i got more than 70% (even 90% in speaking) marks in all the sections, i failed because i got a 0 in writing section. while i agree that my writing skills are not so great i cannot imagine that i could get a zero. does anybody have experience with appealing the results with Telc? the book i used for my preparation explains how the writing is evaluated and according to it, i should atleast get some marks (>0) and these little marks will help me to pass the whole exam and get me the B1 certificate.

i wrote the starting and ending sections correctly along with place, date and covered nearly 3 points that are asked in the letter. due to lack of time, i think i did not understand the 4th point clearly, so i may have gone wrong there in understanding what is being asked. but i believe the other points in the letter should fetch me atleast some points (which should be enough to get the certificate). otherwise i have to take the whole writing section again (that involves reading, listening, grammar and writing). any thoughts please?

cheers

happycreature

2
why not write them a letter and ask?

3
... in German, in case the implication was unclear...

4
There is a minimum level in all levels if you stuffed up in writting then tough luck enrol and do a resit

5
You cannot be B1 on speaking only, so, if you made too many mistakes in writing, you fail. And yes, you can get zero if there are too many errors showing that you are clearly not on level B1 and probably even below (in writing)

6
Same applies at other levels also, just the expected level varies.

7
Does this mean you have to retake only the speaking part and you get a certificate for the other parts or have to redo the whole thing again?

8
For failing the written part? No, s/he would have to retake the written part.

No, you don't get a partial certificate. (What would that be, German B0.67?) It's all or nothing.

9
Do you really want a certificate with bad scores on it? It is not something that will help you to get anywhere, rather damage your chances.

All parts of the test are mentioned on the certificate along with the scores you got for each individual part of the test. Effectively your certificate will certify is that you cannot write in German, even if you get 3/10. Not something I would want to show to anyone.

10
Nobody cares. Passing the test is important.

11
Sounds to me like this could be an admin error.

Might be different from the Deutsch exams I've done (A1 and A2) but the 'writing part' consisted of having to write a passage e.g. a letter or similar in German. I can't imagine how it's possible to get a 0 unless you failed to take that part at all, or did something really dumb like write the passage in English, having misunderstood the instructions, and thought that the test was to translate the German question, or prove that you understood its nuances. (Very highly unlikely, I know.)

Even if your writing is fairly bad, your 90% in speaking tells me that you are very familiar with the basics of the language so I can only imagine this is a computer error, or that part of your paper got lost.

Definitely query it. Something is wrong here.

12
I agree. Short of writing nothing at all I'd say it's pretty impossible to score zero in the written exam.

13
Well, it's difficult to score zero, but it can be done. See the exact criteria on page 79 of the enclosed link.

https://www.telc.net/fileadmin/user_...fungsziele.pdf

The nice German word here is "Bewertungskriterien". By the time someone can understand and create such a word and use it on Google as well, he's no more in need to go to a B1 test

14
Did you complete the writing part on the correct section of the exam paper? My friend did her writing on the practice sheet and didn't copy it into the exam booklet. She scored 0 for writing.

15

Being familiar with basics of the language is not what B1 exam is about.

I can very well imagine getting a zero. One has to write the content to cover the topic at B1 level (i.e.vocabulary-spelling), half points or points are taken away for all grammar mistakes. Articles and personal pronouns in N/A/D/G, verb conjugation, etc.

Hope this is of help http://germanforenglishspeakers.com/

16
Important for what?

17
lol if you pay to make an exam passing that will grant you a certificate?

Important for what? lol

Many jobs have a Language requirement, Visa applications have language requirement lol do you even live in Switzerland?

From what I remember B1 written test is no longer about writing date, address or greetings in the right order but you have a task normally make a complain and ask about something if you missed it you could get 0 even if you wrote correctly. If they ask you to make an order but you write making a complain it is a fail but always worth to query.

18
You pay for sitting the exam, not for passing it.

Do you think that submitting a B1 certificate with poor results will increase your chances of getting the job?

How old are you?

19
If they start at, say 10 marks for the written section, and knock off half a mark for each mistake then they could easily get a zero.

20
Nonsense.

The OP was awarded 90% for speaking ability at B1 level, which means their grammar is pretty solid. It's inconceivable that the written part was so bad that they didn't get a single point. Even if German writing is relatively poor, someone regarded as highly competent for speaking will know enough about vocabulary, word order and grammar to muddle through with a low-scoring pass.

There's clearly another explanation. If this isn't simply an admin error, the suggestion about not using the correct answer sheet sounds fairly plausible to me.