Never in two years of Leaving Cert German had I contemplated doing Ordinary Level. But this morning I learned that several of my friends were dropping down to Ordinary level and these were people that did better than me in their mocks. Suddenly, doubts were cast in my mind but I knew that I couldn’t even contemplate dropping - I needed to pass German to get into university, but without the points of honours I wouldn’t have enough points to get a university course - so honours it would have to be!
The first of the two comprehensions was quite difficult. It was about a woman who loved the language of music. I spent close to an hour trying to decipher the meaning of the story. I was at a particular disadvantage having not looked at music vocabulary since the Junior Cert! I was only able to manipulate the text in a small number of places so I’m certainly not entitled to full marks there. The second text was much easier and I certainly made up for my lack of manipulation in the first text here as I was able to substitute words in many areas as I was well prepared in the topic.
My Ausserung Zum Thema was a hastily put together 86 word piece which is slightly shorter than the recommended amount but I was under a pit of time pressure to move on. The letter was the final task on the paper. I was asked to respond to my German penpal who was telling me all about their gap year in Africa, their class project, their “Abi Ball” and Reality TV. I enjoyed writing it and it came in at about 200 words in length although I didn’t really include any phrases that implied fluency but I’m hopeful of a good honours mark on the paper!
After a quick 5 minute break, we were subjected to the aural exam. It was generally quite easy , at times it was unbelievably easy, but there were a few difficult parts I found to Part 4 - The News Bulletins - one being a UN announcement which I now know was to do with dolphins but I wrote down that it was the “Year of the Fisherman”. Also as I’ve been doing since 5th year, I answered the only part of the exam that’s meant to be in German in English before realising my mistake upon the second listening!
Before the exams started, I was openly dismissive about being able to get my first choice in college, but now, with only one exam left, I’m starting to feel as if I may just be in with a decent shout should the points happen to drop. My remaining exam is Economics - my strongest subject. I hope to spend the next few days putting in the work required for an A1. If I manage that then who knows how my college offers will pan out…
Yeah i ran out of time in the end. The first comprehension i actually understood but id say i spent about an hour on it! Overall i thought the aural was fair and they wern’t speaking too quickly! Very funny though when the daog barked at the start…gave me a good giggle to dispell the nerves!
hey i love german and i didnt think it was too hard at all!!!the funniest thing was then i saw my friend doing second comprehension first and i thought she was really ahead of me and then i finished both comprehensions before she even started her second one!!!!haha!letter was great!!!and aural was ok too!!dog’s barking made it so lustig!!!
omg my leaving cert is coming up this year nd im so worried…….im doing honours bt its not goin well……..nervous bout de mocks any tips!!!!!!!!!