Felix, the AI examiner — for Schreiben
Felix marks Schreiben and Sprechen on the assessment criteria of the Goethe-Zertifikat B2. Here you write a Forumsbeitrag (a forum post) or a Nachricht (a message to a named person) and get a grade from A to E on each of the four criteria, backed by your own words, the points worked out from the exam’s table, and a plain answer on whether it would pass.
Felix does not mark Aussprache: for Sprechen he works from a transcript, and a transcript cannot show how you sound. The result is an estimate, not an official result of the Goethe-Institut. Only the examiners at your exam centre award your points, and Felix does not replace them.
The first two exercises of each task type are free to write, no account needed, and an account gets you one preview of the marking. Felix’s full marking comes with Exam Prep and Complete Prep — compare the passes.
A mark sheet, not a “good job”: your text with the passages marked, the four criteria each with a grade and its points, and a check of every Inhaltspunkt — the four content points each task sets. The comments come in the language you use the site in; every correction is in German.
Every marked passage quotes your exact words. Mistakes come with the correct form, correct-but-plain wording with a stronger German alternative — and, only where it is earned, the phrases that show B2.
Erfüllung (task fulfilment), Kohärenz (coherence), Wortschatz (vocabulary) and Strukturen (grammar) each get one grade — whole grades, nothing in between — and the points that grade is worth in the exam.
For each of the four Inhaltspunkte you see whether it was covered, only touched on or missing — the Erfüllung grade follows from that. Then yes/no checks on the form: an introduction and a conclusion and no greeting in the Forumsbeitrag; a greeting, a sign-off and the Sie-Form in the Nachricht.
The task’s points — out of 60 for the Forumsbeitrag, out of 40 for the Nachricht — and how many are missing to the 60 % line. A Prädikat (the grade word on the certificate) comes only with a whole module: on a single task it would claim a module result nobody sat.
A short comment leads with the problem that limits the grade, then gives the verdict. Then what worked — only if something did — the changes that would lift the grades, most important first, and a model answer to the task.
Revise your text and send it again: the new result shows how many points you gained or lost against the last attempt.
In a whole Schreiben Modellprüfung (a timed mock of the full module), Felix marks the Forumsbeitrag and the Nachricht in one pass — and lists the mistakes you make in both.
The Forumsbeitrag and the Nachricht are marked on the same four criteria, weighted differently: in the Forumsbeitrag Wortschatz and Strukturen count for more, in the Nachricht all four count the same. Felix gives the grade; our code works out the points from this table.
| Criterion | A | B | C | D | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Erfüllung | 14 | 10.5 | 7 | 3.5 | 0 |
| Kohärenz | 14 | 10.5 | 7 | 3.5 | 0 |
| Wortschatz | 16 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 0 |
| Strukturen | 16 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 0 |
| All four at this grade | 60 | 45 | 30 | 15 | 0 |
| Criterion | A | B | C | D | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Erfüllung | 10 | 7.5 | 5 | 2.5 | 0 |
| Kohärenz | 10 | 7.5 | 5 | 2.5 | 0 |
| Wortschatz | 10 | 7.5 | 5 | 2.5 | 0 |
| Strukturen | 10 | 7.5 | 5 | 2.5 | 0 |
| All four at this grade | 40 | 30 | 20 | 10 | 0 |
C is not a fail — it is the edge of the level. But C in all eight grades (four criteria, two tasks) comes to 50 of 100 points, and the module is passed at 60. B throughout comes to 75.
One rule sits above the table, as in the exam: if Erfüllung gets an E, the whole task scores 0 — however well the other three criteria did.
Felix applies these rules before he judges the language — however fluent the text sounds. The first is written that way in the exam’s assessment criteria; the others follow from the task instructions and the grade descriptors, and how hard a slip counts is set in Felix’s brief.
Under half the required length — under 75 words for the Forumsbeitrag, under 50 for the Nachricht — or off topic: Erfüllung E, and the task scores 0. Felix treats a text that is not in German, or only copies the task back, the same way.
Felix checks the four Inhaltspunkte one by one. A point mentioned in half a sentence counts as touched on, not covered — and the Erfüllung grade follows from that count exactly: three of four covered is a B, however good the German.
A Forumsbeitrag is public and addressed to no one in particular. Without an introduction or a conclusion, Kohärenz is capped at B; a greeting or a sign-off is a register error and caps Erfüllung at B.
A Nachricht goes to a named person. Without a greeting or a sign-off, Erfüllung is capped at B. Writing to a manager, a landlord or a teacher in the du-Form throughout misses the register: Erfüllung at most D, even with every point covered. A single “du” in an otherwise formal text: at most B. When the task sets up a friend, “du” is right.
Stock phrases that fit any topic (“Heutzutage ist das ein sehr kontroverses Thema”) earn nothing for Wortschatz or Erfüllung on their own. If they make up much of the text, Erfüllung is C at best, and linkers that link nothing earn no Kohärenz. A text built only from them that develops no Inhaltspunkt: D.
Going over the word count is not penalised in itself — but padding and digressions lower Erfüllung and Kohärenz. In the exam, an overlong text also costs time the other task needs.
Felix runs on a large language model, the same kind of AI as the well-known assistants. Left to itself in a chat window, a model like that tends to praise. The difference is the frame around it: an examiner brief written out in full — the published grade descriptors, the rules above and a clear stance: mark, don’t coach.
For each of the four criteria, the brief spells out what A, B, C, D and E mean, following the published assessment criteria of the Goethe-Zertifikat B2. Without them, a model marks by its own feel — and that feel is generous.
Felix is briefed to give the grade an experienced examiner would give: no cushioning phrases, no praise the text has not earned, every remark tied to words you actually wrote. A strong text still gets its A — accuracy cuts both ways.
Some things are not a request to the model but fixed in code: the points come from the table, a task under half the length gets E and with it 0 points, a task scored 0 shows no green praise — and a mark sheet with a grade missing is requested again, never filled with an invented zero.
Felix is tested against a set of German sample answers whose weaknesses are known in advance: a text in the du-Form, one off topic, one under half the length, one missing an Inhaltspunkt, texts in another language — and a strong one. Where a case shows a gap, the rule is tightened; that is where the D cap for a Nachricht in the du-Form came from.
Write first, see a preview, then — if you want it — the full marking.
The first two exercises of each task type are open without an account: Forumsbeitrag and Nachricht, with a word counter and the recommended time.
With a free account and a confirmed email address you get one preview for Schreiben: Felix marks one of these tasks in full, and you see the colours on your text, Erfüllung and Kohärenz and the Inhaltspunkte check. The points, the corrections and the comments stay hidden.
With Exam Prep or Complete Prep, Felix marks every Schreiben task in full — up to 20 markings in 30 days, at most 6 a day, Schreiben and Sprechen together. One payment, nothing renews. If you take a pass after the preview and send the same text again, that very marking opens — not a second one with different numbers.
The Vortrag and the Diskussion, on the exam’s criteria — from what you say.
Pick a task and write your text. Felix marks it and shows you what to change.
DeutschCertPrep is an independent preparation service. We are not affiliated with, authorised by or endorsed by the Goethe-Institut, telc gGmbH, ÖSD or the BAMF, and we do not issue certificates. “Goethe-Zertifikat”, “telc” and “ÖSD” are trademarks of their respective owners and are used here only to name the exams our material prepares for. Felix’s marking is a practice estimate, not an official exam result.
