Exam Tips

1 Be aware of the syllabus topics and revise vocabulary thematically in regular small doses.

2 Borrow a GCSE revision course complete with a tape from the library.

3 Get a good night's sleep the night before the exam, so you have a clear head.

4 On the day check the points and vocabulary on these sheets.:

Listening:

1 Listen to some German on a tape on the way to the exam.

2 Sit with your best ear to the machine.

3 Maintain concentration in the long pauses so you don't miss the first words. Use the time wisely to read all the questions for the next section.

Listening and Reading

1 In the 5 minutes reading time check to see how many marks there are for each question and make the required number of points. Remember that in the last exercise you will need to give as full an answer as possible as there are no half marks. Eg "Wo genau" implies more than one detail is required as does "Sowohl als .... auch" = "both ... and"

2 When you think you have finished make sure you have not turned over 2 pages at once or have not left any answers blank.

3 Check which language each question has to be answered in. Writing in the wrong language will lose you marks unnecessarily.

4 Look carefully at the wording and watch for items in bold such as "apart from" or "kreuze nur vier Antworte"

5 Higher tier questions look at opinions and mood. You may have to deduce these. Eg key pointers like "Leider" mean bad news to come and "Zum Glück" mean good news. "Doch" means disagreement but "Genau" or "Gute Idee" means they agree.
6 Watch for distracters (words easily confused):

kein / klein
Bauernhof / Bahnhof
Ei / Eis / Reis
Bauer / bauen
Schwester / Geschwister
Schinken / Hähnchen
feiern / Ferien / im Freien
Kirche / Kirsche
schon / schön
Dienstag / Donnerstag
waschen / wachsen
interessant / interessiert
langweilig / gelangweilt
zwei / drei
vierzehn / vierzig

7 Watch for the key qualifiers:
kaum = hardly (any)
nur = only
erst = not until
aber = but
ganz = fairly/quite or completely (depending on the tone of voice)

mehr als = more than
weniger als = less than
viel = a lot
wenig = few
eine(r) der = one of the
über 9 Jahre = over 9 years
zirka = ungefähr = approximately
gleich groß = equally tall

gegen 9 Uhr = about 9 o' clock
äußerst = extremely
völlig / total = completely
unheimlich = exceptionally
genug = enough
Riesen- = huge
wohl / wahrscheinlich / vielleicht = perhaps / probably

8 Be sure of numbers! Watch especially for:

anderthalb / eineinhalb = one and a half
eine Million = a million
eine Milliard = a billion
die Hälfte = half
jede zweite = every other

9 Here are some key expressions of time:
um 9 = at 9
ab 9 = from 9
vor 9 = before 9
nach 9 = after 9
halb 9 = half past 8!!!
gegen 9 = about 9
zwischen 8 & 9 = between 8 & 9
von 8 bis 9 = from 8 to 9
seit 2 Jahren = for 2 years
für 2 Jahre = for 2 years
vor 2 Jahren 2 years ago

10 Money should be in Euro & Cent or Franken und Rappen

11 Watch for nass = wet
bedeckt = cloudy
Gewitter = thunderstorm
Herbst = autumn
Frühling = spring

MCG Phillips

HTML - by WHJC