***2015 LC German - June 12th***

DigACharmander

So I've been writing up notes for German letter topics the past few days and every few years there's something topical that is quite difficult to prepare for on the paper e.g. 9/11 or Wassergeburen (this year's pre). Anyone do anything particular with their class that they'd be willing to share? I have water charges which I reckon has a decent chance of coming up if anyone wants it. I was thinking the 1916 Rising might come up but I have no idea where to start making notes for that!

dalta5billion

DigACharmander wrote: »

So I've been writing up notes for German letter topics the past few days and every few years there's something topical that is quite difficult to prepare for on the paper e.g. 9/11 or Wassergeburen (this year's pre). Anyone do anything particular with their class that they'd be willing to share? I have water charges which I reckon has a decent chance of coming up if anyone wants it. I was thinking the 1916 Rising might come up but I have no idea where to start making notes for that!

I hate to get into predictions but the fall of the Berlin wall was in the news last year - they'd have to frame it in a "do you also have a historic anniversary coming up?" question though.

DigACharmander

I don't mean it in a predictions sort of way (Although I guess it is) it's just more of a 'what's relevant?' way. I'm not trying to predict as much as much as I'm trying to cover all grounds. Yeah, that's a clever one. Maybe the 1916 rising could come up from that! Cheers.

Peregrine

Might as well use this thread for all German 2015 discussion.

brooksyy96

anyone know how to study german?

Peg14

Would love to know how to get good marks in the Auberung Zum Thema (HL)? I do well in my letters but I seem to always fall in this section!

Troxck

This thread is dead, oh well... Anyway, what would ye reckon as a good time scale to follow? How long should I spend on each section? Any advice for the grammar, my worst section...

Anonymagician

Troxck wrote: »

This thread is dead, oh well... Anyway, what would ye reckon as a good time scale to follow? How long should I spend on each section? Any advice for the grammar, my worst section...

I just work through the paper and take as much as I need for everything. Always seem to have time to spare at the end but this strategy is not recommended for everyone!

God I hope we get a nice grammar section. If it's relative pronouns or the subjunctive or something I will just lie on the floor in protest.

Troxck

Anonymagician wrote: »

I just work through the paper and take as much as I need for everything. Always seem to have time to spare at the end but this strategy is not recommended for everyone!

God I hope we get a nice grammar section. If it's relative pronouns or the subjunctive or something I will just lie on the floor in protest.

I didn't run out of time in the mocks but I sort of gave up in the mocks, really want/need a B3.

The grammar is my downfall, would be the reason for going down a grade or two

Peg14

I spend 40 minutes on the reading comprehensions - give as much detail as you can don't just limit it to the points they state. They could be wrong.
Then I do the Auberung. I think its around 15-20 minutes for this.
Then the letter which is 35 minutes.
And finally the grammar. Depending on what it is, I would say you could do it in between 10-15 minutes.

That's what I think is my plan anyway!!
That's 150 mins which is two and a half hours exactly. If you want to read back over what you've written I suppose you could just spend 15mins in the Auberung and 10 on the grammar if it is easy enough.

vamos!

It's nigh on impossible to predict themes for German. The nature of the Äußerung and letter means that a lot of the key vocab is actually given to you in the question and it's a question of manipulating correctly. Word order is key. Obviously more complex aspects like correct adjectival endings are great but word order and verb endings are the ones to focus on.
The Äußerung is actually fairly straightforward. There are usually 3 sections which need 3 points each. There are then 2 discretionary marks for content. I would try to make 4 points per section and your content mark should be high. Modal verbs usually prove useful here. Revise describing pictures- that's a really easy way to ensure a high content mark for the first section. Remember that the Äußerung is only worth 25 marks. 13 of these are for content so it is a good idea to write anything you can think of. Keep is simple with correct word order and verbs and it should be fine from an expression point of view. The same applies to the letter. Answer each and every little question and try to give one extra point of information per theme. Again focus on word order.

Don't panic about the grammar section. There will be 2 different questions. The most lets say relative pronouns could be worth is 15 marks. Even guess work will get some of the 15. Revise your verb lists, especially haben/sein/werden and modals and know your 3 tables and prepositions off and you should be able to make a good attempt at the grammar Q.

The key to the comprehension is detail. They generally don't tell you how many details they want so the more the better. Don't neglect the English question at the end. Last year for text 2 thins question was worth 16 of the 60 marks and was generally generally poorly attempted or even left blank!

The listening is generally fairly straightforward. Look over your vocab lists and maybe look over emotions and phrases connected to anger, disappointment etc for Teil 2, but again it's not worth that many marks.

ozymandiusm8

Would it be at all possible to pass purely on the Oral, Aural and Comprehensions? I don't particularly mind what grade I get as long as it's a pass but I have my doubts, I've been doing my best to understand the grammar but it's such a weak point for me that I'm going to be relying a lot on the comprehensions to get me over the mark.

Solomon Pleasant

Anyone care to explain the relative pronoun to me? Would be very much appreciated!

sfitzknott

Does anyone have any good paragraphs/phrases for the letter they'd be willing to share

DexterXX

Are we allowed write as many answers as we wish for the comprehension(even if it says "give 4") and as much as we want for the letter?

Troxck

DexterXX wrote: »

Are we allowed write as many answers as we wish for the comprehension(even if it says "give 4") and as much as we want for the letter?

It is generally a good idea to write as much information as you can for the comprehension, if it says give 4, give 5/6.

You can of course write as much as you want for the letter. The problem is that you're more likely to make mistakes. It's better to have short simple German with nice phrases thrown in.

EoghanIRL

When I viewed my scripts I managed to get full marks in the comprehension..
The key was bullet pointing my answers..
Also sometimes one sentence can be separated into two bullet point where as alone it would merit less marks than when separated.
I'd say the biggest mistake is copying and pasting info. Only write what is necessary. Simple German is all they are looking for in the german questions.
Again , bullet point your answers!! The german teachers I had were examiners and said repeatedly how examiners love clear bullet points for the comprehension and listening.

Anonymagician

I loved that paper!

Jijsaw

Sound enough paper, a lot of people found it difficult in my year though.

Leitrim96

Nice enough paper but I've a feeling that my grammar was disgusting. Really felt rusty with my german. Literally didn't understand a word of the first 5 sentences on the aural. Think that may have been linked to nerves though. How did everyone else do?

DexterXX

Written paper was fair. I felt the aural was very tough in comparison to previous years though.

Peregrine

Sorry, Jijsaw This thread is small enough, might as well stick to it.

Jijsaw wrote: »

Sound enough paper, a lot of people found it difficult in my year though.

sfitzknott

The comprehensions were really easily, thankfully, so hopefully I'll get near full marks in that. I hadn't revised the relative pronouns, so I'll hope for maybe 15 for my grammar. Ausserung was grand as well, I'd hope for at least 18. I had to rush the end of my letter, but overall it was decently wrong and I don't think my grammar was too funny at any point. I'd be happy with 35+. Aural was pretty good as well, and I'm usually terrible at it. Only got 36 in the mocks for it. Part 1 and 2 were easy enough, the last half of 3 was a bit awkward, and 4 was only okay.

I need a B in German for my course, and I think I've gotten it so I'm fairly chuffed.

Jijsaw

Nim wrote: »

Sorry, Jijsaw This thread is small enough, might as well stick to it.

All my life, I've wanted to start a Leaving Cert thread and you spoiled it Nim, now I'll never get another chance :mad:


:pac:

Peregrine

Jijsaw wrote: »

All my life, I've wanted to start a Leaving Cert thread and you spoiled it Nim, now I'll never get another chance :mad:


:pac:

Aw, that was your last one. Now I feel bad

Troxck

The comprehension were easy but I felt that the letter balanced it out. Not difficult topics but definitely ones you couldn't totally prepare for. The aural got easier as it went along too. Happy enough, it went better than the mocks so hopefully I've gotten a C1/B3 :-)

Peg14

It was all right. Don't know what to think really. I agree the listening was harder than usual, but maybe that's just because we're all really tired after doing a written paper.

gracew

Lovely paper the comprehensions and grammar was easy enough, the ausserung was decent and a few questions threw me off in the letter which I also ran out of time in too but overall I'd say I did ok! The aural was difficult the accents were a little off putting in comparison to previous, all in all I'm happy with it!

Anonymagician

I actually liked how the letter didn't really allow for people to slot in reams of learned off tripe. It was kinda fun to apply my vocab and knowledge to the questions.

The first comprehension warmed my heart. The last line "but she held mine" almost had me in tears! Grammar was the section I was terrified for but it was very accessible I thought.

Lots of people complaining about the aural being harder than others but I reckoned it was similar to the rest of the years and didn't seem as fast as some of them.

EoghanIRL

I don't think there has ever been a year where "it was harder than last years x/y/z.." hasn't been said.

KatieHennessy

Paper was grand! First comprehension was lovely and second was a little more tricky but of course, they want to challenge us! Letter was fine too. Listening wasn't too bad, harder than other years but as EoghanIRL says, that's something that everyone says haha. Had quite the fangirl moment when they mentioned 'City of Bones' cause I'm reading the series right now :P

I'm just so happy to have made it through the leaving cert alive! Personally, I don't think it's as bad as everyone says it is! Yes, the stress is but the actual thing could be a lot worse. (For the future leaving cert people who may be reading this for some reason...)