German
Sophia
Higher Level
St. Mark’s Community School
Jane
Higher Level
St. Mary’s Secondary School, Wexford
Auf Wiedersehen, Deutsch!
The written paper today couldn’t have been nicer if it tried. The changes meant we were required to do either Leseverständnis A and the Angewandte Grammatik, or Leseverständnis B and the Äußerung zum Thema, alongside the normal choice within the Schriftliche Produktion. I generally do quite well on the Leseverständnis, particularly if I’m not tight for time, so I chose A and the Grammatik. Despite its bonkers premise (a former child star robs a spear from a statue of Athena in the town square.…), the questions were very welcoming, as was the accompanying Grammatik.
When the time came to tackle my letter, I was thrilled with the given topics. Some years, you’d see questions about racism and climate change - this year, one was whether you preferred Netflix or YouTube. Other topics included your thoughts on online shopping, and how your friends or siblings annoyed you. It was almost eerily straightforward, to tell the truth - I imagine the marking scheme will be quite tough to compensate.
After a ten-minute break, the Achilles’ heel of every student - the aural - began at 12:10. I definitely found it tricky, with some unfamiliar vocabulary and nasty accents, but on the whole it was doable and I’m just happy to have made it through!
I’ve only got one exam left now, Economics on the 25th, so I’m delighted to be done with German, and even more so to be satisfied with how it went. Overall, it was a lovely paper and I think most students will have done really well on it.
Aisling
Higher Level
Athboy Community School, Meath
If I learned 1 thing about the person who took the German exam, it would be that they LOVE social media. Every single section today had a mention of Skype, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram- you name it, the examiner wanted to know about it. Strong COVID theme throughout too with the Äusserung, based on video calls and online shopping in 2020 in the Brief.
With the changes I managed the dreaded grammar, and instead did Text 2, a socially distanced love story, which was very doable. The theme question was between video calls or an exchange. I chose the exchange and wrote the classic 'Es macht viel spaß' at least three times but I swear it really IS fun!
I loved having the option to leave out a paragraph in the letter, it meant I could really pay attention to sentence structure and grammar on what I did write- which ranged from my love for TikTok to Galway cycling tours.
I find it so hard to focus on the listening section of the exam any day, but it was exacerbated today with it being 12:00. All I could think about was lunch, not a wedding dress explosion (I definitely heard that wrong!)
German is the second choice on my CAO so this could well not be my last time having the joy of figuring out the cases, but I'm so excited to be finished with all exams now! Tschüss:)
