Leaving Certificate German

Rob - Higher Level

My final language exam! I had prepared what I could going into the exam, revising some vocabulary for each topic. German has a habit of being notoriously difficult to predict, and this year was no different by any means.The first comprehension was surprisingly accessible, describing an old woman who has a dream of flying. Usually this is where I lose marks, however I was quite happy with it. On reading the second comprehension I was surprised to find it harder than the first, I couldn't translate all the vocabulary for the English questions. The grammar question was straightforward enough and a repeat of what we've seen in previous years.I chose the Außerung sum Thema about your friend wanting to be a pop star. I said he should follow his dream but maybe get a part time job too! The follow on questions I linked into what I had learned about engineering for my oral, so I'm happy enough with how I did here.The letter. Where did those topics come from? I found myself borrowing a lot of vocabulary and verbs from the letter itself, especially about the second hand clothing. The SEC really did choose random topics, bringing in a bit of feminism to the sports question and asking which country out of Germany, Austria and Switzerland I'd prefer a language assistant from and why. I have never seen a written paper like that before, and so am not sure how well I did.The listening test was completely different to what I've heard before too. I was shocked to find myself with just 3 answers written down in Section 1 after the second listening. Thankfully the other parts were a bit easier than this one, but overall I'm a little disappointed with the aural.It'll be interesting to see how they vary the marking scheme!Please note: Blog posts reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union.