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GCSE/iGCSE German Oral Advice

Hi, I recently did my German Oral mock for my iGCSE AQA German mock. Listening went well, just about got an A*. I haven't got reading or writing back, neither have I got my Speaking back. But after my speaking exam I did get feedback. Prior to the exam I must say that I did not do enough revision as I would've liked to, but I tend to be a bit of a perfectionist, so it's hard for me to tell when enough is genuinely enough :frown:
I got the stimulus card with a Christmas market, and I rambled on about the card. The problem is, I did not include the content, I was too busy trying to incorporate fancy phrases etc... And i spoke so slow I was preventing myself from being asked further questions. I am typically an A* student (I want to take German for A level), and as I also take French for iGCSE right now, when I did my oral there I had no problems whatsoever. I'm pretty sure it's down to the verb inversion, which I need to brush up on (if you know any good sources to help me with brushing up on verb inversion, then I'd be very thankful :h: ) The teacher said I probably got an A, but I should be getting an A*. Any tips on how to get all those marks on the stimulus card, with incorporating clever phrases? Thanks so much, I really appreciate all feedback, it means a lot that people are willing to help me :smile: <3
Reply 1
My advice would be to practice speaking in the mirror at home (using possible questions that could be asked) and time yourself. See which questions you're spending too long on answering and try to cut down your answers. Keep repeating this until you've learnt as many possible responses as you can/need to, so that you won't spend so long coming up with an answer in the exam.

@Dewpider
Reply 2
BUMP!
Hi there,
I'm doing AQA IGCSE German in the summer as well (which suddenly seems quite soon...!). Here's what I'm doing at the moment:
- Writing a load of 'stock phrases' and memorise them: use loads of good grammar and then you can rattle these off whilst you're thinking about the question (ich würde sagen, dass ich ziemlich gesund bin... Ich... Er... Esse gern... Errr... Obst...!)
- Play games like taboo in german, so you get used to talking fluently and also useful for when you forget a word
- Picking apart loads of the pictures they put on the website - colours, emotions, things you can 'deduce' (there is an adele poster on the wall so i think the girl likes adele), prepositions in nice cases, etc.
- Predict the questions and practice answers, chances are there'll be something similar in the exam
Good luck - do you have any revision ideas for the writing?
Reply 4
Hey, can you give me a list of good A* phrases for me to ace my German speaking exam? I've heard of "Ich würde sagen dass," but that's about it.
Sure, okay. Here's various things they like to see:
I'll add a few later if they come to mind

- Modals
Chuck a few of these in for general good marks: es (könnte/muss, etc) sein, dass... ; ich könnte mir vorstellen, dass...; and even any plain old ich darf/soll/muss/kann... etc all get a tick in the grid!

- Tenses
Contrast tenses in single sentence - früher habe ich x ge..., jetzt..., nächstes Jahr...
Conditional can do ich würde... Denken/sagen/glauben etc, also - ich würde das empfehlen (I would recommend it)
Subjunctive because why not...! Es wäre (gut/schlecht etc.)..., wenn ich mehr Zeit/Geld hätte,... Wenn ich älter wäre... All good phrase

- Opinions
Photo card mark scheme practically just requires '2 or more explained opinions' for the top band, so make sure you get a good sprinkling of them. Reasons can branch out from 'weil', but if not that's fine too!
Get some infinitives in here: Es ist entspannend, (Fußball zu spielen) or ich mache Sport, um fit zu bleiben. Comparatives and superlatives go down well: x ist besser als y, x ist am besten

- General
Relative clauses (especially when not in nominative), prepositions taking akk/dat/gen correctly, pluperfect, linking words like 'deswegen' and 'leider', reflexive/separable/inseparable verbs, and even passive because why not :smile:

Good luck - when's your exam? Mines May 8th (only a few weeks now... argh!)
(edited 6 years ago)
Reply 6
Original post by labrador716
Sure, okay. Here's various things they like to see:

- Modals
Chuck a few of these in for general good marks: es (könnte/muss, etc) sein, dass... ; ich könnte mir vorstellen, dass...; and even any plain old ich darf/soll/muss/kann... etc all get a tick in the grid!

- Tenses
Contrast tenses in single sentence - früher habe ich x ge..., jetzt..., nächstes Jahr...
Conditional can do ich würde... Denken/sagen/glauben etc
Subjunctive because why not...! Es wäre (gut/schlecht etc.)..., wenn ich mehr Zeit/Geld hätte,... Wenn ich älter wäre... All good phrase

- Opinions
Photo card mark scheme practically just requires '2 or more explained opinions' for the top band, so make sure you get a good sprinkling of them. Reasons can branch out from 'weil', but if not that's fine too!
Get some infinitives in here: Es ist entspannend, (Fußball zu spielen) or ich mache Sport, um fit zu bleiben. Comparatives and superlatives go down well: x ist besser als y, x ist am besten

- General
Relative clauses (especially when not in nominative), prepositions taking akk/dat/gen correctly, pluperfect, linking words like 'deswegen' and 'leider', reflexive/separable/inseparable verbs, and even passive because why not :smile:

Good luck - when's your exam? Mines May 8th (only a few weeks now... argh!)


Thanks! These are really useful. My exam's a bit later than yours (May 16th). Hopefully I can get an A* in German and never touch that subject again lol... I hate it so much!!
Reply 7
Original post by labrador716
Sure, okay. Here's various things they like to see:
I'll add a few later if they come to mind

- Modals
Chuck a few of these in for general good marks: es (könnte/muss, etc) sein, dass... ; ich könnte mir vorstellen, dass...; and even any plain old ich darf/soll/muss/kann... etc all get a tick in the grid!

- Tenses
Contrast tenses in single sentence - früher habe ich x ge..., jetzt..., nächstes Jahr...
Conditional can do ich würde... Denken/sagen/glauben etc, also - ich würde das empfehlen (I would recommend it)
Subjunctive because why not...! Es wäre (gut/schlecht etc.)..., wenn ich mehr Zeit/Geld hätte,... Wenn ich älter wäre... All good phrase

- Opinions
Photo card mark scheme practically just requires '2 or more explained opinions' for the top band, so make sure you get a good sprinkling of them. Reasons can branch out from 'weil', but if not that's fine too!
Get some infinitives in here: Es ist entspannend, (Fußball zu spielen) or ich mache Sport, um fit zu bleiben. Comparatives and superlatives go down well: x ist besser als y, x ist am besten

- General
Relative clauses (especially when not in nominative), prepositions taking akk/dat/gen correctly, pluperfect, linking words like 'deswegen' and 'leider', reflexive/separable/inseparable verbs, and even passive because why not :smile:

Good luck - when's your exam? Mines May 8th (only a few weeks now... argh!)

Thanks for the advice, I really appreciate it. My exam is on 5th May, i'm so nervous
Original post by Dewpider
Thanks for the advice, I really appreciate it. My exam is on 5th May, i'm so nervous


Good luck - you'll be fine :smile: , i'm more annoyed that the hardest exam is a full month before the other three :unimpressed:
Original post by Dewpider
Thanks for the advice, I really appreciate it. My exam is on 5th May, i'm so nervous


How did your exam go today? Any hints on the photo cards... :wink: they've probably made it punishable by death to talk about it
Reply 10
Original post by labrador716
How did your exam go today? Any hints on the photo cards... :wink: they've probably made it punishable by death to talk about it


Yeah the exam went well. I'm sure that I'd get hunted down if i told you anything but I can give you some reassurance. The cards are not difficult and to be honest they are straight forward. Best of luck!
Reply 11
Crap I know I am 3 years a bit too late lol! But where are you now? 1st year of Uni or sth

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