Goethe B1 Schreiben in 60 minutes: full model answers for the email, opinion post, and formal message, plus B1 Redemittel. Start your writing practice.
The Goethe B1 Schreiben (writing) module gives you 60 minutes to complete three tasks: an informal email of about 80 words, an opinion contribution of about 80 words, and a short formal message of about 40 words. You pass with 60 of 100 points, and nobody counts your words toward the score. Examiners grade what you produce against four criteria, so a clean, well-organised B1 text beats a long one full of mistakes. This guide shows you exactly what each task asks, gives you a full model answer for all three, and hands you the set phrases to reuse on the day.
Exam format last verified July 2026 against the Goethe-Institut Durchführungsbestimmungen (Stand 1 September 2025) and the current interactive Modellsatz.
What the Goethe B1 Schreiben section actually contains
The B1 writing module is three separate tasks in 60 minutes, and each one asks for a different kind of text and a different register. There is no reading passage to react to line by line; you get a short situation and produce a text from it. That is why it is called free production. Your score does not come from counting items or ticking boxes. It comes from four criteria: task fulfilment, coherence, vocabulary, and grammar.
| Teil | Length | Task type | Register |
|---|---|---|---|
| Teil 1 | about 80 words | Informal email to a friend | du, personal and warm |
| Teil 2 | about 80 words | Opinion contribution or forum post reacting to a topic | neutral, semi-formal |
| Teil 3 | about 40 words | Short formal message, for example apologising or cancelling to a teacher or a doctor's office | Sie, formal and polite |
The word counts are targets, not limits you are penalised for crossing. Write clearly to roughly the length given. What decides your result is whether you cover every point the task lists, connect your sentences, and keep your grammar under control at B1. If you want the whole module in context alongside listening, reading, and speaking, the Goethe B1 exam guide lays out how the four parts fit together.
Model answers for the three B1 writing tasks
The fastest way to see what B1 writing looks like is to read a full answer at exactly this level. The three models below are the length, register, and grammar the examiners expect. They are deliberately simple: correct B1 German that stays inside what you can reliably produce beats reaching for structures you cannot control.
Teil 1: the informal email (about 80 words)
A friend invites you to their birthday. You have to thank them, say whether you are coming, offer to bring something, and ask a question. Notice the du form throughout, the warm opening and closing, and the way each of the four points gets its own short section.
Liebe Sabine,
vielen Dank für deine Einladung zu deinem Geburtstag. Ich freue mich sehr und komme natürlich gern. Am Samstag habe ich Zeit, also passt der Termin gut für mich.
Ich möchte gern einen Kuchen mitbringen. Magst du Schokoladenkuchen? Sag mir bitte, ob das eine gute Idee ist.
Eine Frage habe ich noch: Soll ich noch andere Freunde mitbringen, oder feierst du lieber im kleinen Kreis?
Ich freue mich schon auf das Fest.
Viele Grüße
Deine Lena
Every point from the task is answered, the tone is friendly, and the grammar stays within B1: present tense, modal verbs, a simple weil would fit but is not forced. That is enough for full marks on task fulfilment.
Teil 2: the opinion post (about 80 words)
You read a short article or forum topic and add your own view. Here the topic is whether online shopping is better than shopping in a store. A strong B1 answer states an opinion, gives reasons, shows the other side, and closes with a conclusion.
Ich habe den Artikel über Onlineshopping gelesen und möchte meine Meinung dazu schreiben.
Meiner Meinung nach hat Onlineshopping viele Vorteile. Man kann zu jeder Zeit bestellen und muss nicht in die Stadt fahren. Das spart Zeit und Geld.
Auf der anderen Seite finde ich es schade, dass die kleinen Geschäfte weniger Kunden haben. Außerdem kann man die Produkte vorher nicht anfassen.
Ich denke, beide Möglichkeiten sind wichtig. Am besten kauft man manche Dinge online und andere im Geschäft.
The post opens by naming the topic, gives a clear opinion with reasons, balances it with a drawback, and ends with a conclusion. The connectors (meiner Meinung nach, auf der anderen Seite, außerdem) are what push the coherence score up.
Teil 3: the formal message (about 40 words)
This one is short and formal. You write to a teacher, a doctor's office, or another formal contact to apologise or cancel. The register switches to Sie, the greeting becomes Sehr geehrte, and the closing is Mit freundlichen Grüßen. Say why, and say what you want to happen next.
Sehr geehrte Frau Weber,
leider kann ich am Montag nicht zum Deutschkurs kommen, weil ich einen Termin beim Arzt habe. Ich möchte den Unterricht gern nachholen. Bitte sagen Sie mir, wann das möglich ist.
Mit freundlichen Grüßen
Maria Sanchez
Forty words is not much room, so there is no space for a chatty opening. State the reason, make one polite request, and sign off correctly. The single most common mistake here is slipping back into du or a casual Hallo, which costs you on register.
B1 Redemittel you can reuse in the exam
Set phrases (Redemittel) are the fastest win in B1 writing, because they are the same in every exam. Memorise a small stock and you spend your 60 minutes on content, not on inventing how to open and close. Match the register to the task: informal for Teil 1, opinion phrases for Teil 2, formal for Teil 3.
Informal openings and closings (Teil 1):
- Open with Liebe Sabine, / Lieber Tom, / Hallo Anna,
- Warm up with vielen Dank für deine E-Mail or ich habe mich sehr über deine Nachricht gefreut.
- Close with Viele Grüße, Liebe Grüße, or Bis bald, then Dein / Deine and your name.
Formal openings and closings (Teil 3):
- Open with Sehr geehrte Frau Weber, / Sehr geehrter Herr Müller,
- State the point directly: leider kann ich ... nicht ... / ich muss den Termin leider absagen.
- Close with Mit freundlichen Grüßen and your full name.
Giving an opinion (Teil 2):
- Meiner Meinung nach ...
- Ich finde, dass ... / Ich denke, dass ...
- Ich bin der Meinung, dass ...
Structuring and connecting (all tasks):
- Add a point: Außerdem ... / Zusätzlich ...
- Show two sides: Auf der einen Seite ... auf der anderen Seite ...
- Give a reason: ..., weil ... / ..., denn ...
- Conclude: Zum Schluss ... / Am besten ...
How the 60 minutes and the scoring really work
You get 60 minutes for all three tasks together; the exam does not give you a separate clock per task, so you manage the time yourself. A workable plan is to give the email and the opinion post the bulk of your time because they are longer, keep the short formal message brief, and save a few minutes at the end to read everything back. The formal message is the one people run out of time for, so do not leave it until you are already tired.
Scoring is where B1 writing surprises people. Each task is judged on four things: whether you cover the task (task fulfilment), whether your text hangs together (coherence), your range of vocabulary, and your grammar. Word count is a guide, not a graded item, so padding to hit 80 words with filler does not help and often hurts coherence.
B1 is modular, which means Schreiben is booked and certified on its own and you get a separate result for it. You pass a module with 60 of 100 points. The grade bands are the same across all Goethe levels:
- 100 to 90 points: sehr gut
- 89 to 80 points: gut
- 79 to 70 points: befriedigend
- 69 to 60 points: ausreichend
- 59 to 0 points: nicht bestanden
Because the module stands alone, a weak writing result does not drag down a strong reading or listening one, and you can retake writing on its own. If you are mapping which level you actually need, the B1 exam requirements page shows where the certificate is asked for.
How to practise B1 writing
Reading model answers is the start; the score comes from writing your own under the clock. Work through the three task types until the openings, closings, and connectors come without thinking, so on exam day your attention goes to the content and the grammar.
- Take one real task type at a time and write to the target length. Do not look up every word as you go; write first, then check.
- After each text, check it against the four criteria yourself: did you cover every point, does it connect, is the register right, and are the verbs and cases correct?
- Build a personal Redemittel list from the phrases above plus any your corrections keep suggesting, and reuse it.
- Once single tasks feel steady, sit all three under 60 minutes so the formal message never gets squeezed.
The habit that separates a pass from a near-miss is writing to time, not writing more. When you are ready for full conditions, a timed B1 mock test puts all three writing tasks under the real clock so you can feel where your minutes actually go. The same discipline carries across the other production skill, and the broader Schreiben writing section guide covers the habits that hold from A1 all the way to C1.
Frequently asked questions
The B1 writing module lasts 60 minutes for all three tasks together. There is no separate time limit per task, so you decide how to split the hour. Because the two 80-word tasks need the most room, keep the 40-word formal message short and leave a few minutes at the end to read everything back before you hand it in.
Teil 1 and Teil 2 are each about 80 words, and Teil 3 is about 40 words. These are targets, not hard limits, and word count is not a graded criterion. Writing far under the target usually means you have missed a required point, and padding to reach it tends to weaken your coherence, so aim for roughly the given length with real content.
You pass the writing module with 60 of 100 points. B1 is modular, so Schreiben is scored and certified separately from listening, reading, and speaking. The grade bands are 100 to 90 sehr gut, 89 to 80 gut, 79 to 70 befriedigend, 69 to 60 ausreichend, and 59 or below nicht bestanden. You can retake a single failed module.
Each task is judged on four criteria: task fulfilment, coherence, vocabulary, and grammar. It is free production, so there is no answer key and no item count. That means a shorter text that covers every point and hangs together scores better than a long one full of errors. Cover the task, connect your sentences, and keep your grammar inside what you control at B1.
Teil 1 is an informal email to a friend in the du form, warm and personal, at about 80 words. Teil 3 is a short formal message of about 40 words to a formal contact such as a teacher or a doctor's office, written with Sie, Sehr geehrte, and Mit freundlichen Grüßen. Mixing the two registers, for example using Hallo in the formal message, is the most common mistake.
