How the writing test is graded

Two examiners read your text independently, without knowing who you are. If they disagree, a third reads it. They grade against HK-dir’s assessment form.

Five criteria

• Communication (formidling): whether you answer what the task asks, in an understandable way. This is assessed for each task.
• Text structure (tekstoppbygging): whether the text hangs together and has a structure that is easy to follow.
• Spelling and punctuation (rettskriving og tegnsetting): whether words are spelled correctly, and whether you use full stops, commas and capital letters correctly.
• Vocabulary (ordforråd): how broad and precise your choice of words is.
• Grammar (grammatikk): inflection, word order, and how varied and complex your writing is.

The four language criteria are assessed across everything you write on the test together.

The level rule

«For å plasseres på et nivå må kandidaten være på det nivået på alle kriteriene.» To be placed at a level, the candidate must be at that level on every criterion.

This means the weakest criterion decides. If you have B2 on everything except spelling, where you’re at B1, you get B1. That’s why it pays to find out which criterion is holding you back, and practise exactly that.

What doesn’t count

• Your opinions. The examiners assess your language, not what you think or how much you know.
• Email formalities. Greetings and sign-offs are often learnt phrases and say little about your level.
• Writing a lot. Word counts are guidance. You aren’t marked down for writing more, but you must write enough for the examiner to see your level.
• Idioms. The examiners don’t give weight to whether you use set expressions.

Not enough to assess

If you don’t answer every task, or write about something completely different from what the task asks, you get “not enough basis for assessment” (ikke nok grunnlag for vurdering) on that part of the test. A text that is a little off topic isn’t marked down hard.

Memorised text is cheating

Text you have memorised or that others have written counts as cheating. It can lead to all your results from the test being cancelled, and to a ban of up to one year.

Sources (in Norwegian): HK-dir, about the writing test; HK-dir, the written production test; HK-dir’s assessment form and explanation of the criteria (2023).