Guides

Articles about the exam, about each module, and about where candidates most often lose points.

How to learn Polish

• How to Start Learning Polish

  A practical plan for your first three months of Polish: grammar, vocabulary, review, and mistakes worth avoiding.

• Polish pronunciation and sounds for the exam

  A practical plan for practicing Polish pronunciation: ą, ę, sz and ś, soft consonants, stress and assimilation.

• Polish cases (przypadki) without tables

  A practical plan for learning the seven Polish cases (przypadki): order, control questions, functions, endings and typical mistakes made by foreigners.

• Verb aspect (aspekt czasownika) in practice

  Get a practical guide to verb aspect: choosing forms, aspect pairs, common mistakes and a study plan before the certificate exam.

• How to study the past and future tenses

  A practical study plan for the past and future tenses: gender, compound forms, perfective aspect, and typical B1-B2-C1 mistakes.

• Learning prepositions and verb government in Polish

  Get a practical plan for learning Polish prepositions, cases and verb government at B1, B2 and C1, with common mistakes to avoid.

• Word order in Polish: how to move words around

  A practical study plan for Polish word order: where „się” goes, new information at the end, movement limits, and common mistakes.

• Vocabulary and collocations: how to learn words

  Learn Polish words in natural combinations: collocations, case government, fixed phrases, false friends, and B2 and C1 vocabulary.

• Listening comprehension: how to practice effectively

  A practical plan for practicing Polish listening: choosing recordings, repetitions, numbers, proper names, and fast speech.

• Reading in Polish without translating

  Learn how to read Polish texts faster by guessing from context, working with press and official texts, and recognizing paraphrase.

• Writing in Polish from a note to an argument

  A practical plan for writing in Polish: paragraphs, linking words, style, text length, and checking errors before you submit your work.

• Speaking for the B1, B2 and C1 Polish certificate

  How to break the speaking barrier, build longer answers and respond to questions in the Polish certificate exam.

Grammar and topic areas

• Noun Cases and Declension for B1, B2 and C1

  A practical guide to noun cases (przypadki): functions, endings, difficult forms, proper names and typical exam mistakes.

• Adjective and pronoun declension for B1, B2 and C1

  A practical guide to adjective (przymiotnik) and pronoun (zaimek) declension for the Polish B1, B2 and C1 exam.

• Grammatical Gender (rodzaj) and Plural (liczba mnoga) at B1-B2

  Recognize masculine-personal gender (rodzaj męskoosobowy), form nominative plurals (mianownik) and match verbs for B1 and B2.

• Numerals and their syntax (składnia) in the exam

  How to decline cardinal (główne), ordinal (porządkowe), collective (zbiorowe) and fractional (ułamkowe) numerals and combine them with nouns and verbs.

• Tenses and conjugations for B1 and B2

  A practical guide to Polish tenses, the four conjugations and verb forms required for the B1 and B2 exams.

• Perfective and imperfective aspect (aspekt) in the exam

  Practical rules for using perfective (aspekt dokonany) and imperfective (aspekt niedokonany) aspect at B1, B2 and C1, with examples and common mistakes.

• Imperative and conditional moods in the Polish exam

  Learn how to form the imperative (tryb rozkazujący), the conditional (tryb przypuszczający) and conditional sentences, plus common B1-C1 mistakes.

• Passive Voice (strona bierna) and Impersonal Forms at B2 and C1

  How to form the passive voice, -no and -to forms, and się constructions for the B2 and C1 Polish exam.

• Participles (imiesłowy) in the B2 and C1 exam

  Practical rules for forming and using adjectival and adverbial participles (imiesłowy przymiotnikowe i przysłówkowe) in the B2 and C1 exam.

• Comparison (stopniowanie) of adjectives and adverbs for the exam

  Form the comparative degree (stopień wyższy) and superlative degree (stopień najwyższy), use bardziej, lepiej, gorzej, and avoid B1-C1 mistakes.

• Polish Word Formation at B2 and C1

  Learn practical rules for forming nouns, adjectives, names of people and places, and diminutives for the B2 and C1 Polish exam.

• Prepositions and their case requirements in B1, B2 and C1 exams

  How to choose the case after a preposition, when to use "w" and "na", and how to avoid typical mistakes in the Polish exam.

• Verb Government (Rekcja): Case After a Verb

  Verb government for B1, B2 and C1: cases after verbs, prepositions, and common mistakes by Ukrainians, Russians and English speakers.

• Verbs of Motion and Prefixes in the Exam

  Learn how to use iść and chodzić, jechać and jeździć, nieść and nosić, and prefixed forms at B1, B2 and C1.

• Negation and the genitive of negation at B1 and B2

  Learn when Polish negation takes the genitive, how double negation works, and how to spell "nie" with different parts of speech.

• Conjunctions and compound and complex sentences at B1, B2 and C1

  Conjunctions, types of compound and complex sentences, commas and common B1, B2 and C1 mistakes, with examples for exam preparation.

• Reported speech at B2 and C1: rules and common mistakes

  Reported speech at B2 and C1: how to change questions, commands, pronouns and adverbials, and what to avoid in the exam.

• Syntax and word order at B2 and C1

  How to master word order, pronoun placement, infinitives and sentence transformations in B2 and C1 grammar tasks.

• Spelling and punctuation in the B1-C1 exam

  Spelling and punctuation for B1, B2 and C1: ó/u, rz/ż, ch/h, capital letters, one-word spelling and commas in texts.

• Listening Comprehension Tasks and Strategies

  How to handle listening in the B1, B2 and C1 exams: task types and what to do before, during and after the recording.

• Reading in the Polish exam - task types and strategies

  How to read texts in the B1, B2 and C1 Polish exam: task types, work order, strategies and common language traps.

• Writing in the Polish exam: forms and marking criteria

  How to write short and longer texts in the B1-C1 exam: text types, structure, useful phrases, word limits and marking criteria.

• Speaking in the exam: format and strategies

  How to speak in the B1, B2 and C1 exam: presenting, describing material, discussing, disagreeing, pacing yourself and coping with vocabulary gaps.

• Home, family and everyday life at B1 and B2

  How to learn vocabulary for family, housing, shopping, food, free time, weather and nature for the B1 and B2 Polish exams.

• Work and Career Vocabulary for the Exam

  Work vocabulary for B1, B2 and C1: jobs, positions, contracts, pay, job interviews and typical exam mistakes.

• Offices and formalities vocabulary for B1, B2 and C1

  Practical official vocabulary: wniosek, decyzja, meldunek, bank, ubezpieczenie, najem and formal correspondence.

• Health and the Body in the B1 and B2 Exam

  Health vocabulary: body parts, symptoms, doctor, pharmacy, prescription, insurance and common B1 and B2 mistakes.

• Educational vocabulary for B1, B2 and C1 Polish exams

  Practical vocabulary for school, university, exams, diplomas and language learning at B1, B2 and C1.

• Native-language interference in the Polish certificate exam

  The most common calques from Ukrainian, Russian and English: government, prepositions, aspect, word order and false friends.

• Tips for candidates: rules in the examination room

  What you may bring into the room, when the committee invalidates the exam, how long the break is, and why you must not write in pencil.

• Exam papers from previous years: where to find them

  Organized archive of Państwowa Komisja: 181 exam papers, keys, transcripts and 58 recordings by level and session, with source links.

• Where to Take the Polish Certificate Exam in 2026

  A list of cities and exam centers for 2026 sessions: 23 cities in Poland, levels, and registration addresses from official State Commission lists.