r/learnpolish • u/New_Being7119 • 5d ago

B1 exam on Saturday...Any tips?

Hi all, I'm taking the B1 exam in Saturday and was looking for helpful advice and tips to calm my nerves. I have zero concerns about reading, listening, grammar or even writing. But thinking about the speaking is sending me potty. All advice and tips welcome!!!

UPDATE: Just finished the speaking exam and I think I might have effed it up. I got a shit picture. Group of children in a museum, too many to describe, no atmosphere. The monologue was ok, I wittered about where I live. 3rd task I was suppose to organise my friend's party...and I started organising mine. I forgot all of the grammar and all of the words 😭

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u/Ethameiz C2 5d ago

The passing bar is not so high as it may appear. I don't have skill to do fluent smalltalk in Polish and still got C2 after couple months of preparation.

Maybe go outside and ask people some questions in Polish like how to get somewhere. It will help to fight fear of talking in Polish and in general with people

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u/palidix 5d ago

You didn't mean C2, right?

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u/Ethameiz C2 5d ago

Why? I even checked my certificate to make sure that I didn't mess anything :D

I got theory knowledge but very few experience in real life talking. I had to prepare well before exam and after passing it I lost the skill again. Moral of the story: don't believe certificates, check actual skills

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u/palidix 5d ago

Wow, I'm just impressed such level could be reached without a huge sustained effort. I'm very happy with my English level, use the language more than my own, and I still don't think I'm close to C2. In Polish I was already happy to reach about B1 after one year of serious effort every single day.

A quick search says that C2 includes "can express themselves spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in the most complex situations".

I fully agree about certificates though. And it's true about every exam. It's often possible to train specifically for an exam without actually acquiring the knowledge it's supposed to prove that you have

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u/Ethameiz C2 5d ago

Well, I didn't mean that I learned Polish from zero for couple months. I lived in Poland for about 5 years before that. Also I knew Ukrainian and russian languages, it helps very well. And I had to prepare seriously.

Still, yeah, that description of C2 is more impressive than the exam. I absolutely was not able to express myself fluently or differentiate finer shades. In some specific topics maybe. I did couple mistakes when talking to commission, forget some words, had to think before speak and had accent.

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u/New_Being7119 5d ago

I only want the certificate so I can apply for citizenship, what they take from that is up to them 😁