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GERMAN

so for my GCSE german IGCSE i got..

writing 48/50 (9)
readin 29/45 (7)
orals 94/100 (9)
listening 23/45 (5) :frown:

(((

i really struggle with listening does anyone have any tips to improve my german listening or reading.

does anyone have any extra tips for orals because I have my actual GCSE on 19th of March!!!

Reply 1

heyitsmika

Original post by Qwasdz5

so for my GCSE german IGCSE i got..

writing 48/50 (9)
readin 29/45 (7)
orals 94/100 (9)
listening 23/45 (5) :frown:

(((

i really struggle with listening does anyone have any tips to improve my german listening or reading.

does anyone have any extra tips for orals because I have my actual GCSE on 19th of March!!!

I'd say for reading: get the German version of a book that you know in English and just read. That's the best way to practice, or just do lots and lots of practice papers.
For the listening: watch a German TV show (actively listen) and that will help as well. Or again: do past papers

Reply 2

HakunaMyTatas

Assuming you’re in the CIE gang, there’s a defined vocab list. It’s not fun at all, but what I did was find a cie vocab list on quizlet, and then star all the vocab that I both didn’t know and wouldn’t be able to guess (so Apfelsine would get starred but Butter wouldn’t). When you do that, you’re probably left with about 500 words, which is manageable in one day with no breaks. Remember that you don’t need to know English to German, you just need to have a reasonable idea of what the word means.

For listening, it’s all about exam technique. As soon as you are allowed to open the paper, head to question 16 (or whichever one the ‘tick six and only six boxes’ is) and translate every question from there onwards. When you do that, you’ll have more time to make educated guesses about what words mean, and you’ll be able to figure out the emotion you’d expect from the speaker for true/false questions. (For example, if the question asks if their car broke down on the way to the beach, you’ll know that if they sound sad, it’s probably true). This helps you make quick instinctive judgements on difficult questions, which allows you to keep your concentration for the next question. If you really have no idea, just write down any of the words you hear them say.

For the speaking, it sounds like you’re doing very well. I’d say that there are 2 different strategies you can take- you can either learn every single answer to the conversation questions and learn the answers to your presentation questions, or you can build up your skills to the extent that you can just make up a coherent-sounding response on the spot. Only you know if you’re good enough to do the second one, but it sounds like you are. For the general conversation, try to come up with the blandest response possible and then justify it by really zoning in. For example, on “was machst du für die Umwelt,” give a dumb response like “in meiner Freizeit helfe ich Tieren” and then follow it up with “indem ich freiwillig in einem Naturschutzgebiet arbeite, um gegen das Aussterben zu kämpfen.” That way, if you screw up the fancy bit (which is not unlikely), you haven’t completely failed to convey your meaning.

Bit rambly but I hope it helps all the best mate

Reply 3

Kallisto

Entertainment Forum Helper

Original post by Qwasdz5

so for my GCSE german IGCSE i got..

writing 48/50 (9)
readin 29/45 (7)
orals 94/100 (9)
listening 23/45 (5) :frown:

(((

i really struggle with listening does anyone have any tips to improve my german listening or reading.

does anyone have any extra tips for orals because I have my actual GCSE on 19th of March!!!

In terms of listening, watch German TV shows and even films with English subtitle. For reading, use books or even novels in German language. Those things are the best to learn a foreign language at a high level in my opinion.