There is no central list of exam dates for telc Deutsch B2. Every Prüfungszentrum (exam centre) sets its own dates, prices and registration deadlines. That is written into the telc Prüfungsordnung (exam regulations). So you find your date in two steps: first the official telc centre search shows you the centres near you, then each centre's own page shows you its dates.
By Ela Zakrzewska. For over 20 years she has prepared learners for telc exams and marked their exam papers against the telc criteria.
You search for "telc B2 exam dates 2026" and find no list. No calendar, no overview, nothing official. Just a few language schools with a handful of dates.
That is not a flaw in your search. It is how the system is built.
And because hardly anyone explains it, candidates lose weeks. They wait for a list that never comes. They miss registration deadlines they never saw anywhere. They book a date three weeks before their residence permit deadline and only then learn that the result takes eight weeks.
The rules behind all this are in the telc Prüfungsordnung. It is public, and almost nobody reads it.
Why is there no central list of dates?
Because telc develops and marks the exam, but does not run it. Licensed exam centres do that, and they decide for themselves.
The telc Prüfungsordnung says so word for word:
„Jedes Prüfungszentrum ist dazu berechtigt, Voraussetzungen für die Anmeldung zu einer telc Prüfung, Preise und sonstige Konditionen für die telc Prüfungen festzulegen.“ (Every exam centre is entitled to set the requirements for registering for a telc exam, the prices and other conditions for telc exams.) telc Prüfungsordnung §3.3
And the AGB (terms and conditions), written for the centres, put it like this: „Der Lizenznehmer organisiert Prüfungstermine und bietet diese Prüfungsinteressierten an.“ (The licensee organises exam dates and offers them to people interested in the exam.)
That is why everything varies for the same exam: the price between roughly 150 and 220 euros (some centres also charge a registration fee on top), the registration deadline between seven days and seven weeks, the frequency between six times a year and several times a month.
The proof that it could be done differently: for telc Deutsch C1 Hochschule, telc does publish a central list of dates. For B2 it does not. So if someone offers you an "official telc B2 date overview", it is a private collection, not an official document.
How do I find a telc B2 exam date?
The order matters, because the first step does not give you any dates yet.
Step 1: find centres, not dates. The official telc centre search at telc.net searches by country, postcode and a radius between 5 and 500 kilometres. It gives you centres, not dates. Expect that not every listed centre offers B2; telc itself points out that some centres only run part of the programme.
Step 2: open each centre's page. That is where you find dates, price, registration deadline and format. Allow half an hour for this and take at least five centres in your area, not just the nearest one.
Step 3: call before you pay. It sounds old-fashioned, but it saves real money. I have seen centre pages that listed three different registration deadlines, on the same page. What they tell you on the phone is what counts.
We have put together a selection of licensed centres with their exam rhythm under exam centres.
How often is telc B2 offered?
Most candidates assume a big city means frequent dates. But the real divide is not between big and small, it is between private language schools and Volkshochschulen (public adult education centres).
| Type of centre | Typical rhythm |
| Private language schools in big cities | two to four dates a month |
| Private language schools, smaller locations | roughly every six to seven weeks |
| Volkshochschulen, even in cities of millions | often only six times a year |
| Centres in small towns | sometimes a single published date |
One Berlin exam centre offers B2 six times a year, in a city of 3.8 million people. Two kilometres away, a private school in our sample offered fourteen dates between August and December 2026 alone. Same exam, same certificate, a completely different calendar.
And one more thing hardly anyone knows: telc itself writes that centres can also offer exams on request. If you have a deadline and nothing fits, ask for it. Some centres will set up a single date with three to four weeks' notice, usually for an extra fee.
Written and oral do not have to be on the same day
The telc Richtlinien (implementation guidelines) say:
„Die Mündliche Prüfung darf am selben Tag wie die Schriftliche Prüfung oder bis zu sieben Kalendertage danach stattfinden.“ (The oral exam may take place on the same day as the written exam or up to seven calendar days later.) telc Richtlinien zur Durchführung §3.2
Some centres put both on one day, which means about four hours in one go. Others split them. Ask before you book, and plan the day accordingly.
How far ahead do I need to register?
There is no telc-wide deadline for candidates. Each centre sets its own.
What I found in real centre information ranges from seven days to seven weeks before the exam. Seven days for a digital exam in Cologne, seven weeks at the Volkshochschule in Düsseldorf, and in between everything from 15, 16, 17 and 31 days.
The often quoted rule "four weeks before" did not appear on a single one of the centre pages we checked. Don't rely on it.
Why many deadlines still sit at around two weeks
Because there is a telc rule behind it that does not apply to you directly but still shapes your date. The exam centre itself has to register the exam with telc in time; that is in the Richtlinien zur Durchführung. The table of deadlines in the annex to the Richtlinien sets it at 14 calendar days before the date of the written exam.
That is why registering one week before the exam is the exception, not the rule. The table of deadlines is addressed to the centres, but it is part of the publicly available telc Prüfungsregularien (Richtlinien zur Durchführung, Annex 1).
A late registration surcharge, by the way, is not common. Of the centres we checked, one charged 20 euros for late registration, one charged nothing, and the rest simply close.
Why you often can't find anything for spring 2027 yet
Because dates for the following year are usually only published between October and December, often tied to the Volkshochschulen's term programmes.
In our sample in August 2026, exactly three of thirteen centres had published any date at all for 2027, each a single one in January or February. In Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Frankfurt and Stuttgart there was nothing to be found for spring 2027 at that point. When we rechecked on 13 October 2026, a private language school in Munich had already published B2 dates up to December 2027. The Volkshochschulen in Berlin, Hamburg and Düsseldorf, by contrast, did not yet show a single B2 exam date for 2027.
If your centre does not show any 2027 dates yet, that does not mean there won't be any. Publication runs into December. Set yourself a reminder and check again every two to three weeks instead of searching every day.
What happens if you get ill?
Almost nobody asks this before registering. It decides 150 to 220 euros.
Your exam fee is not automatically refunded if you are ill. The telc AGB say:
„Treten Prüfungsteilnehmende von der Prüfung zurück oder brechen sie ab, wird das volle Prüfungsentgelt in Rechnung gestellt. […] Lediglich wenn eine Arbeitsunfähigkeitsbescheinigung vorliegt, wird das Durchführungsentgelt für die somit prüfungsunfähige Person erlassen.“ (If candidates withdraw from the exam or break it off, the full exam fee is charged. [...] Only if a doctor's certificate of incapacity is presented is the administration fee waived for the person who is therefore unable to sit the exam.) telc AGB §11.4. The omitted sentence concerns exams that cannot be marked because of disruption or attempted cheating.
What matters is what it does not say. Only the Durchführungsentgelt (administration fee) that telc charges the centre is waived. The Meldeentgelt (registration fee) is due in every case. That is exactly why almost every centre keeps part of your money even with a valid sick note.
What I found at real centres:
- One Berlin provider refunds nothing at all once the free four-week cancellation period has passed, sick note or not
- Another rebooks you once, for a 20 euro handling fee, and does not accept a second sick note
- Two schools charge a cancellation fee of 80 euros
- One Volkshochschule refunds the exam fee minus a 20 euro registration fee
- Four centres say nothing at all about illness
The deadline that really costs you
Almost everywhere, the sick note must be in on the exam day or the next working day. Not within a week. If you are ill in bed and plan to deal with it on Thursday, you missed the deadline on Monday.
Two questions you must ask before you register: what happens if you are ill, and by when does the sick note have to be in? In writing, by email. The answer decides 150 to 220 euros.
The trap on exam day itself
This rule applies telc-wide to the written exam, without exception, and it is in the Prüfungsordnung:
„Die Schriftliche Prüfung beginnt zu einer zuvor festgelegten Uhrzeit mit der Belehrung. Wer erst nach Beginn der Belehrung erscheint, darf nicht mehr an der Prüfung teilnehmen.“ (The written exam begins at a set time with the briefing. Anyone who arrives after the briefing has started may no longer take part in the exam.) telc Prüfungsordnung §4.3
Not after the exam starts. After the Belehrung (briefing) starts, the explanations before it. If you are late, you are out and you still pay. Plan your journey so that a cancelled S-Bahn does not cost you the fee.
You also need to bring a valid official photo ID. Without it you will not get into the exam room. And your name later appears on the certificate exactly as it was reported to the centre: corrections are only possible within four months and, at the centres we checked, cost between 40 and 50 euros.
If you retake only one part: the 12-month deadline
If you failed, telc B2 lets you retake one part and have the part you passed credited. Three rules apply, and all of them are about dates.
The deadline runs from the Ergebnisbogen (results sheet), not from the exam. The Prüfungsordnung says: „innerhalb von zwölf Monaten nach Ablegen der ersten Prüfung (Datum der Ausstellung des Ergebnisbogens)“ (within twelve months of taking the first exam, date of issue of the results sheet). Because the Ergebnisbogen only arrives four to six weeks after the exam, you effectively have a little more time. Still count from the date on the sheet.
You have to request the credit when you register. Not afterwards. If you forget, crediting it later costs 40 euros.
You cannot retake individual subtests. Only the complete oral or the complete written exam. And at several centres you still pay the full fee, even if you only sit one part.
All the rules on crediting in detail: retaking part of the telc B2. How a retake succeeds in terms of content: Anna's case study.
When does the result come?
telc's own FAQ says four to six weeks. On top of that comes a second deadline from the Richtlinien: „Das Prüfungszentrum hat die Ergebnismitteilungen innerhalb von zwei Wochen nach Erhalt an die Teilnehmenden zu übergeben.“ (The exam centre must pass the results on to candidates within two weeks of receiving them.) The two deadlines add up.
In practice I have seen figures from four to ten weeks; one Cologne provider itself states eight to ten. Count on eight weeks if a deadline depends on it.
Since the first quarter of 2026, digital results have been the telc standard: certificate and Ergebnisbogen arrive as a PDF by email. If your professional recognition, university place or residence permit depends on a date, count backwards: deadline minus eight weeks for the result minus the registration deadline. That is your latest possible exam date, and it is usually much earlier than candidates think.
The deadlines after the exam that hardly anyone knows
Once the result is in, three more deadlines start running. All three are in the telc Prüfungsordnung, and all three expire quietly.
Result review: six weeks, 40 euros. You can have your result reviewed once, in writing, using the form on telc.net. Careful, because the Prüfungsordnung says it word for word: „Demzufolge ist auch eine schlechtere Bewertung der Prüfungsleistung möglich.“ (Consequently, a lower assessment of the exam performance is also possible.) A re-marking is final, even if it comes out lower. If your result changes, you get the 40 euros back.
Viewing your answer sheets: three months. You may look at your own answer sheets in person, after booking through telc.net. Copies are not allowed, there is no advice session, and only you yourself may come.
Name correction on the certificate: four months. Your name appears exactly as it was reported to the centre. Corrections are only possible within four months of issue, through the exam centre. Check your name as soon as the certificate arrives and compare it letter by letter with your ID.
What you can do right now
- Today: Pick out five centres in your area, not one. Dates, price and registration deadline side by side in one note.
- Before you register: Ask by email about the illness policy and the sick-note deadline. Keep the answer.
- If you have a deadline: Count backwards, with eight weeks for the result.
- If nothing fits: Ask for a date on request. Many centres do it.
- While you wait: Find out where you stand. Your first exam at Knaxx is free, no credit card and no account: Start free at app.knaxxdeutsch.de.
Don't search for the list that doesn't exist. Search for the centre.
FAQ: telc B2 exam dates
Is there an official list of all telc B2 exam dates?
No. telc does not publish a central overview of dates for telc Deutsch B2. Every exam centre sets its own dates and publishes them on its own page. A central list exists only for telc Deutsch C1 Hochschule.
How do I find a telc B2 exam centre near me?
Through the official telc centre search on telc.net, with country, postcode and radius. It shows you centres, not dates. The dates are then on each centre's own page. Not every listed centre offers B2.
How far ahead do I need to register?
Each centre decides. Deadlines we actually found range from seven days to seven weeks. Under two weeks it gets difficult, because the centre has to register the exam with telc 14 days in advance.
Do I get my money back if I get ill?
Usually not in full. With a doctor's certificate of incapacity, telc waives only part of the centre's costs; the registration fee is always due. Some centres refund minus a fee, some rebook once, some refund nothing. The sick note usually has to be in on the exam day or the next working day.
How long does the result take?
telc says four to six weeks, and the centre may take two more weeks to pass it on. Some centres themselves state eight to ten weeks. If a deadline depends on it, count on eight weeks.
Can I retake only the oral or only the written exam?
Yes, with telc B2 this is possible after failing, within twelve months of the date on the Ergebnisbogen. You must request the credit when you register. You cannot retake individual subtests such as only Hören or only Schreiben.
Sources and status
The rules in this article come from the telc Prüfungsregularien (AGB, Prüfungsordnung and Allgemeine Richtlinien zur Durchführung, valid from 15 April 2025) and from the telc FAQ for candidates. All quotations are verbatim in German, with our English translation in brackets; the paragraph numbers are given below each one.
The information on prices, registration deadlines, exam frequency and illness policies of individual centres does not come from telc but from a sample of 13 exam centres in various German cities, collected on 15 August 2026. On 13 October 2026 we checked prices, registration deadlines and 2027 dates at four centres: the Prüfungszentrale of the Berlin Volkshochschulen, the Volkshochschulen in Düsseldorf and Hamburg, and a private language school in Munich. It shows the range; it is not a complete overview, and it can change at any time. Only your centre can tell you what applies at your centre.
What we deliberately do not do: we give no specific exam dates, because they change too quickly. The 14-day deadline for the centre's registration with telc is in the table of deadlines in the Richtlinien zur Durchführung (Annex 1).
Status: October 2026. This article is reviewed every autumn.
About the authors
Ela Zakrzewska has taught telc B2 for over twenty years and corrected hundreds of letters against the official telc criteria. She was born in Lithuania and has lived and worked in Poland, Germany, Belgium and the UK. Those five countries, five languages and the networks she has built worldwide shape the Knaxx approach: exam knowledge that accounts for every first language, and a strategy that works for immigrants in Germany because she is one.
Tu-San Pham holds a PhD in AI and data science and is co-founder of Knaxx. She translates Ela's two decades of exam expertise into systems that reach hundreds of learners at once without losing the marking logic. She and Ela met as exam partners in a language exam. Now they are building the exam partner they both wish they'd had.
