FAQ

The main date is Tuesday, 11 May 2027, for AHS and BHS. The autumn date is Friday, 17 September 2027, and the winter date is Wednesday, 12 January 2028. These dates are on the official list at matura.gv.at. Your school tells you the start time and the room.

Each of your two texts is rated on four criteria from 0 to 10. That makes eight band scores and 80 points at most. They are converted into the 25 points of the Writing section: your total ÷ 80 × 25. The Klausur has four sections of 25 points each. To pass, you need at least 60 of 100 points, and at least 25 points in each area: reading + listening, and language in use + writing. From 90 points you get a Sehr gut, from 80 a Gut, from 70 a Befriedigend and from 60 a Genügend. Example: band 6 on all eight criteria gives 15 of 25 points in Writing, which is 60%.

You can be 10% under or over the target. For a task of about 250 words, that means 225 to 275 words. For about 400 words, it means 360 to 440. If your text is shorter or longer than that, Task Achievement drops by one band. This rule is part of the official assessment scale. Inside the range, a longer text does not score higher. After each task, the exam paper asks you to count your words and write the number down. Practise estimating: count the words in one full line, count your lines and multiply.

No. Everything on your sheets is marked unless you cross it out. So cross out your notes and plans before you hand in. Each task also has a box for notes, and that box is not marked. Use the time you save for proofreading.

Some schools hold the written Matura on computers. Ask your teacher how your school does it. If you write on a computer, the exam paper tells you to set up a header with your name, class and page number before you start, and to copy the layout template into your document. Internet, messaging and AI tools are blocked or not allowed.

It depends on your school type. At AHS, no dictionaries or reference books are allowed in any part of the exam, and that includes electronic ones. At BHS, dictionaries (also electronic ones) are allowed, but only in the Writing section. The tasks are written so that B2 vocabulary is enough. If a word does not come, describe it in other words. The assessment scale rewards that.

No. The official rules for the written Matura forbid any AI-based application, online or offline. For practice at home, AI can help: the self-check on this site builds a prompt that asks an AI tool for feedback on your text. If your school has its own rules about AI, follow them.

Not automatically. The scale checks whether your register fits the text type. In a blog or an informal e-mail, contractions are right. In a report or a formal e-mail they make your register too casual. One contraction will not cost you a band, but a text full of them shows that you do not notice the difference. Decide before you write: formal or informal? Then stay with it.

The real danger is a text that does not answer the task at all, for example an off-topic text or one you clearly prepared in advance. Then the veto rule applies: Task Achievement gets 0 and the other three criteria are not marked. Writing the wrong text type does not trigger the veto on its own, but it costs a lot of marks in Task Achievement. Protect yourself in one minute: read the task twice and underline the text type, the reader and the three content points.

Yes. This is a language exam. The official guidance counts content as relevant when it serves the task, even if it is not what the examiner expected. An invented survey or a made-up summer job in Italy is fine, as long as it sounds realistic and develops a content point. Content that has nothing to do with the task does not help.

Both are generally accepted, although the official rules do not say so directly. Colour or color, organise or organize: either is fine. Do not mix the two systems in one text, because that looks like guessing. Use the one you know best (for most Austrian students that is British English). If you want to be sure for your school, ask your teacher.

An unfinished text does not get an automatic zero. It is marked with the same scale, and what is on the page counts. But it usually loses marks in Task Achievement (content points not developed) and in Coherence (no ending). Plan your time before you start writing: decide when each task must be finished. If time runs out, a shorter complete text is better than a long one without an ending.

You can, and extra relevant ideas are not punished. But the scale rewards developing all three content points in about the same depth. Every sentence you spend on a fourth idea is missing from the three content points, and it uses up your word count. Build your text around the three content points and add extras only when those are done.

There is no clear public rule, and schools may count differently. A title is only a few words, so it rarely makes a difference. If you are close to the limit, cut repetition instead. If you want to know how your school counts, ask your teacher.

You decide. The exam paper does not set an order. Plan a time slot for each task before you start, begin with the text type you feel most sure about, and keep about 15 minutes at the end to proofread everything. Decide your order before exam day.

At AHS, yes. The tasks come centrally from the BMB, and all AHS candidates get the same paper on the same day. At BHS, the writing tasks are written for each school type (HAK, HTL, HUM and others), so a HAK paper differs from an HTL paper. Either way, the official past papers at matura.gv.at are good practice material.

You can take an oral compensation exam (Kompensationsprüfung). You have to register for it within three days after you hear your grade. You get at least 30 minutes to prepare, and the exam takes at most 25 minutes. After a compensation exam, the best possible grade is Befriedigend. If you do not pass it, you can repeat the written exam at a later date. Your teachers explain the details if it comes to that.