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Polish, eighth-grade exam

Topic revision, sample questions with explanations and tests. The questions are our own; official papers are on the CKE website.

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Date
10 May 2027, 9:00
Working time
150 min
CKE trial paper
14 December 2026

Standard time; it can be longer with special arrangements. CKE: komunikat o harmonogramie egzaminów w 2027 r. (20 sierpnia 2026) · CKE: informacja dyrektora o arkuszach przed egzaminami w 2027 r. (30 września 2026). Data checked: 2026-11-04.

Topics and revision

Grammar and spelling

  • The present adverbial participle ends in -ąc (czytając), the past one in -łszy or -wszy (przeczytawszy, wróciwszy).
  • A participial phrase is correct only when both actions are performed by the same subject.
  • In reported speech the quotation marks disappear, a conjunction appears (e.g. że) and the verb's person changes to fit the speaker.
  • You find the type of a subordinate clause by asking a question from the main clause.
  • Polish stress usually falls on the second-to-last syllable, but on the third-to-last in words such as fizyka and czytaliśmy.
  • Nie is usually written separately with verbs and joined with adjectives in the base form.
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Vocabulary, idioms and language varieties

  • An idiom is a fixed group of words whose meaning cannot be read literally.
  • Homonyms sound the same but have different meanings, e.g. zamek as a door lock and zamek as a royal castle.
  • The wider a word's range, the more things it covers and the less specific it is: roślina (plant) is wider than róża (rose).
  • The styles you must recognise are colloquial, official, artistic, scientific and journalistic.
  • Archaisms are old words, colloquialisms are informal, and loanwords come from other languages.
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Reading comprehension

  • Part I of the paper is based on two texts, one literary and one non-literary, up to 1,000 words together.
  • Justify your answer with what is in the text, not with what you know from elsewhere.
  • Tell apart a fact, which can be checked, from an opinion, which is someone's judgement.
  • A question about the author's intention asks why the text was written: to inform, persuade or move the reader.
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Required reading, grades 4–6

  • A footnote in the guide limited tasks on these books to an extract in the paper only in the school years 2024/2025 and 2025/2026.
  • The list contains Akademia pana Kleksa, Kajko i Kokosz. Szkoła latania, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Paul Street Boys and The Hobbit.
  • Before the exam, revise the characters' names and the main events: in the essay, mistakes cost points.
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Required reading, grades 7–8

  • The books read in full are A Christmas Carol, Zemsta, Kamienie na szaniec, Dziady part II, The Little Prince and Balladyna.
  • From Pan Tadeusz, Part I of the paper covers books I, II, IV, X, XI and XII.
  • The reading list is printed at the start of the paper, but that does not replace knowing the content.
  • Zemsta is a comedy and Balladyna a Romantic drama: be ready to justify these genres.
  • In the essay factual accuracy matters: do not confuse names or add events.
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Stylistic devices and literary kinds

  • An epithet describes a noun, a simile usually contains the word jak (like), and a metaphor joins words into a new meaning.
  • Personification gives things human features, and an apostrophe is a solemn address to someone or something.
  • An invocation is an apostrophe at the start of a work, e.g. in Pan Tadeusz.
  • The three literary kinds are epic, lyric and drama.
  • Irony means that words mean something different, often the opposite, from what they literally say.
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The essay and short forms

  • In Part II you choose one of two topics: creative (a story) or argumentative (an argumentative essay or speech).
  • The work must have at least 200 words, and the essay is worth 20 of the 45 points.
  • An argumentative essay has an introduction with a thesis, a body with arguments backed by examples, and a conclusion.
  • If a pupil does not refer to the work named in the instruction, the whole essay gets 0 points.
  • Short-answer tasks may include an announcement and an invitation: they must give the key information.
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Sample questions

Question 1 · Grammar and spelling

Jaką częścią mowy jest wyraz „szybko” w zdaniu: „Kot szybko pobiegł do domu”?

  1. rzeczownikiem
  2. przysłówkiem
  3. czasownikiem
  4. przymiotnikiem

Answer: przysłówkiem

"Szybko" answers the question "how?" and describes the verb "pobiegł", which is what an adverb does.

Question 2 · Vocabulary, idioms and language varieties

Co znaczy frazeologizm „wziąć nogi za pas”?

  1. kupić nowe buty
  2. uciec
  3. przewrócić się
  4. bardzo się zmęczyć

Answer: uciec

This set phrase means "to run away quickly". It cannot be taken literally.

Question 3 · Reading comprehension

Bursztyn to skamieniała żywica drzew, które rosły przed dziesiątkami milionów lat. Zanim stwardniała, spływała po pniach i zatrzymywała to, co napotkała: owady, pyłki, kawałki liści. Dzięki temu naukowcy mogą dziś oglądać stworzenia sprzed milionów lat. Na polskie plaże najczęściej wyrzuca go Bałtyk, zwłaszcza po silnym sztormie. Bursztyn jest lekki, więc łatwo unosi go woda, a potarty o wełnę przyciąga drobne skrawki papieru. Moim zdaniem nie ma piękniejszej pamiątki znad morza.

Czym, według tekstu, jest bursztyn?

  1. twardym piaskiem
  2. skamieniałą żywicą drzew
  3. minerałem z dna morza
  4. skamieniałym owadem

Answer: skamieniałą żywicą drzew

The first sentence says so: "Bursztyn to skamieniała żywica drzew".

Question 4 · Required reading, grades 4–6

Kto jest głównym bohaterem Akademii pana Kleksa Jana Brzechwy?

  1. Adaś Niezgódka
  2. Mateusz
  3. Anatol
  4. Filip

Answer: Adaś Niezgódka

The book tells the story of Adam Niezgódka, a pupil at the academy. Mateusz is the learned starling, Filip the barber and Anatol his son.

Question 5 · Required reading, grades 7–8

Kto jest autorem Zemsty?

  1. Henryk Sienkiewicz
  2. Adam Mickiewicz
  3. Aleksander Fredro
  4. Juliusz Słowacki

Answer: Aleksander Fredro

Zemsta is a comedy in four acts by Aleksander Fredro.

Official CKE papers

The page for each year has the papers and marking rules for every subject. We only link to them; CKE publishes the materials.

All years on the CKE website ↗

CKE trial papers appear on the CKE website on the day of publication.