Total Dictation 2025: date, registration, author and popular mistakes

Next month, a large-scale educational event "Total Dictation" will be held, registration for it has already opened. In 2025, an educational campaign aimed at checking the literacy level of the population will be held for the 21st time. Traditionally, Russians will be able to test their proficiency in Russian by writing dictated excerpts from the works of famous writers, critics and journalists. For the first time this year, the participants of the campaign will be able to test their knowledge in the format of a test part from the Unified State Exam in Russian. Prominent cultural figures, as well as employees of educational institutions, will act as announcers of the event. For more information about when the "Total Dictation" will take place in 2025, see the Izvestia article.

"Total dictation": the goal when it appeared

Total Dictation is an annual educational event organized in Russia and around the world to promote literacy. For the first time, an educational event was held on March 11, 2004 at Novosibirsk State University as part of the Days of the NSU Faculty of Humanities. The works of Russian classics were selected for dictation, excerpts from which were copied by students under dictation.

Subsequently, the organizers began to create unique texts for the event. The author of the first essay written specifically for "Total Dictation" was science fiction writer Boris Strugatsky. At first, the texts were read by NSU teachers, then cultural figures and artists began to be involved in the educational event.

Over the past few years, many Russian cities and even other countries have joined the campaign. With the spread of Internet technologies, it has become possible to participate in the event from anywhere in the world. In 2024, the "Total Dictation" was written by volunteers from 55 countries or 722 cities.

Total dictation is conducted to solve several key tasks that combine educational, social and cultural goals:

— popularization of the Russian language and literacy. The project aims to increase interest in the Russian language as an element of world culture, as well as to draw attention to the importance of literate writing. The campaign's motto, "Writing competently is fashionable!", underlines its mission.;

— Improve skills. Participants have the opportunity to evaluate their knowledge, identify weaknesses and work to eliminate them. After the dictation, philologists explain difficult points and discuss mistakes, which helps to systematize knowledge.;

— educational activities. The project identifies the hard—to-learn rules of language, which helps improve teaching methods, and promotes the idea that learning a language is an exciting and important process.

Anyone can participate in the "Total Dictation", regardless of gender, religion, political views, profession or education. The event is organized by activists and volunteers of the Total Dictation Foundation.

The date of the "Total Dictation" in 2025

In 2025, the "Total Dictation" will be held on April 5. In Moscow and the time zones adjacent to the capital, the event will begin at 14:00, and in remote regions much earlier.: in Vladivostok at 8:00, in Novosibirsk at 10:00.

At 14:00 Moscow time, the text will be read by Marina Moskvina, the new author of the educational campaign from the capital of Total Dictation. In 2025, as a result of a popular vote, the Sirius Center was chosen as the capital of the event.

You can also test your knowledge of the Russian language online by connecting to the webcast on the official website of the event. In addition, for the first time this year, the participants of the action will be able to test their knowledge in the format of a test part from the Unified State Exam in Russian.

Registration for the event is already open. To do this, open the official page of Total Dictation and select a city.

Marina Moskvina: what is the author of the dictation known for?

Every year, a new author is selected for the educational event. In 2024, the author of the text was the writer, editor and journalist Anna Matveeva. In 2025, Marina Moskvina, a talented writer, screenwriter, journalist and TV presenter, was chosen as the author of Total Dictation.

Moskvina is a finalist for the Yasnaya Polyana Award, winner of the Andersen International Honorary Diploma, author of several dozen books for children and adults, including "My Dog Loves Jazz," "The Genius of Unrequited Love," "Romance with the Moon." About 20 cartoons were shot based on the scripts and stories of the writer, including "What happened to the crocodile?" and "The Blokhness Monster."

How does the "Total Dictation" go and how long does it last?

The dictation participants will write the text prepared by the organizers on April 5 at the same time, but adjusted for time zones. Before the dictation begins, participants receive brief instructions and an analysis of spelling or punctuation rules that may occur in the text.

Next, the speaker will start reading the text that the participants will need to write down. After recording the listened material, participants can listen to the text again. After that, the work is submitted for review. The total time of the "Total Dictation" is about 60 minutes. It is recommended to come to the event in advance — about 15 minutes before the start.

The remote dictation format provides two options. One of them is listening to text on a computer with automatic verification. The other is on a paper form with the possibility of self-checking by online analysis.

Total Dictation: how to register

To participate in the "Total Dictation", participants need to log in to the project's website. You need to create a profile, fill in your personal information, select the appropriate city and venue for the event, and then click on the "Register" button. The exact time of the dictation will be indicated on the project's website. You must take a pen and an identity document to the event.

In case of online participation, you need to go to the project's website, click on the "Online dictation" block and enter the necessary data. Registration for participation in the "Total Dictation" will begin on March 29.

How to find out the results of "Total Dictation"

The organizers of the Total Dictation will announce the results of the event when the verification of all the works of the participants is completed. The results of the "Total Dictation" will be published on the official website of the event. To view them, you will need to log into your personal account and go to the "Find out the result" tab.

The most common mistakes and difficult words

In 2024, dictation was written by about 1.3 million people from all over the world. The works are evaluated on a five-point scale. A participant can get the highest score, a five, if he writes a paper without mistakes or makes only one punctuation error. A four is given for two or four mistakes, a three is given if no more than eight mistakes are made.

In last year's dictation, mistakes were most often made when writing the adverbs "sideways" and "in a flash." It turned out to be difficult to write "not" with the participle in combination with "newspapers that no longer exist." Also, the participants often made mistakes in the verb endings — they wrote "-eat" instead of "-eat" ("when you grow up, you will read," the father said). Many people have difficulty putting dashes, commas in the introductory constructions "in her own words" and "strictly speaking", as well as before "how".

Year after year, participants have difficulty spelling words with "N" or "NN", "O" or "E" after sibilants. Also, many people do not know when the Sun, Moon, and Earth are written with lowercase letters and when they are written with uppercase letters. The most difficult words to write are the following: "from childhood", "radically", "from the outside", "philosophical", "intellectual", "periphery", "too much".

How to prepare for "Total Dictation"

Preparing for dictation in advance will help improve the results. On the event's website, in the "Write dictation" section, you can find texts from previous years. To practice, you need to register and turn on a video recording where the speaker will read the text. You will need to enter the text you have heard in a special window.

After the dictation is completed, the user submits the work for auto-verification and you will immediately find out the result. Online dictation reviews are also available on the official website of the project, which can be used for preparation.