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How to approach the Written Examination
Section II: Reading and responding
Examination specifications
Section II: Reading and responding is the second section of the written examination and is designed to assess your knowledge and skill in analysing information from written texts, and in analysing and exchanging information in response to a text.
Section II: Reading and responding is worth 40 marks. You are advised to allow about one hour and twenty minutes for this section.
The section is divided into two parts, Part A (25 marks) and Part B (15 marks).
Part A will consist of two texts in German of 500‑600 words in total. Questions on the text will be phrased in English for responses in English. You will be judged on the extent to which you demonstrate:
- capacity to understand general and/or specific aspects of texts, through, for example, summarising or evaluating
- capacity to convey the information accurately and appropriately.
Part B will consist of one short text in German of approximately 150 words, such as a letter, message, advertisement, notice, etc. The task will specify a purpose, context and audience. You will be expected to understand the written text and to exchange information by responding to information contained in the text. Your response should be 150‑200 words in German. You should demonstrate:
- capacity to understand general and specific aspects of a text by identifying, analysing and responding to information
- relevance of ideas, information or opinions
- accuracy of vocabulary and sentence structures
- variety of vocabulary and sentence structures.
There will be ten minutes reading time before the Written Examination. Reading time is for reading, and NO writing or highlighting may be undertaken during reading time. The presiding officer will advise you when you may start writing.
You may use monolingual and/or bilingual print dictionaries during the Written Examination, including Section II: Reading and responding. You may consult your dictionaries during reading time and during the examination.
Preparing for the Reading Section
You are advised to read as many texts as possible related to the themes studied in the Continuers course. You will find texts appropriate to the Continuers level in publications such as:
- course books
- past HSC Continuers examination papers at www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/hsc_exams/
- selected online material, e.g. www.juma.de
- material published by the Goethe-Institut.
You should familiarise yourself with a wide range of vocabulary that is relevant to the prescribed themes. This will be fundamental when dealing with this section of the examination.
There is no substitute for developing a sound vocabulary base and learning to recognise as many key words as possible. It is advisable to keep a record of new vocabulary, on paper or electronically. You should add new words as you come across them, identifying words and expressions that are commonly used in the material you read during your course work.
The dictionary is a very useful tool if there is a key word you do not know. In this instance, you should underline or highlight the key word for checking. However, you should not be tempted to rely on the dictionary for too many common words. You will not have time while reading the text to look up a significant number of words. You should regularly practise using a dictionary as much as possible to develop the skill of quickly and accurately looking up words.
During the examination
The following procedure may help you when approaching this section:
- Begin by reading the title of the text. This will give you a context and will often provide a clue to the content of the passage.
- Quickly read through the questions before reading the text. This may assist you in understanding the theme of the passage and may also provide you with unfamiliar vocabulary.
- Before attempting the questions, read the text once to gain an overall understanding.
- The questions (particularly the earlier ones) often follow the order of the passage. You may therefore find it useful to address the questions in groups of two. This will help you to avoid repeating information across questions. If you find yourself repeating the same information in another question, it is highly likely that you have overlooked or missed other important information.
- You should be guided by the number of marks allocated to each question. This will indicate how much depth is required in the response. Include all relevant information to answer the question, ensuring you can be awarded all the marks allocated to the question.
- Use your dictionary to look up unfamiliar key words where these are crucial to your understanding of the text. Avoid wasting time by trying to look up every word. Reading to understand the gist of a passage is a skill which takes practice and often requires you to overlook words which are unimportant to the overall meaning. You will have to use your judgement in deciding which words to look up and weigh this against the amount of time you have at your disposal.
- When answering questions requiring you to give an opinion, you should always support your answer by clearly linking your response to evidence from the text. You should link your response back to specific information, so that you can support your answer and relate your response, or any conclusions you have drawn, to the text itself. An answer which is comprised solely of vague assumptions or unsupported private opinions will not adequately answer the question.
- Some questions (particularly the later ones) may require an in-depth understanding of the text. This means that a global understanding as well as particular details could be required for the award of full marks. It is up to you to answer as clearly and as fully as you can.
The following tips may help you:
- Your answers can be written in point form, as long as the meaning is clear and all relevant details are provided.
- Do not paraphrase the question or answer in vague generalisations. Your answers must make sense and should contain as much relevant detail as possible.
- The number of lines provided for each response on the examination paper is a guide only, and is dependent on a number of factors, including the size of handwriting. You should always give the most appropriate response, even if this means writing beyond the lines provided.
- It is important to ensure that any additional information does not adversely impact on the correct answer.
- It is not acceptable to give alternative answers and expect the examiner to choose the correct response.
- Be aware of verbs which have a separable prefix. In a principal clause the prefix will be placed at the end of the clause and could be missed. A prefix can make a significant difference to the meaning of a verb, so if you are having difficulty understanding the meaning, look to the end of the clause to see if the verb has a prefix. For example:
- nehmen: to take, annehmen: to accept
- fahren: to travel, abfahren: to leave
- Be careful not to overlook the ‘little words’, as they may be important in conveying the correct meaning. For example: Höchstens zweimal bis dreimal pro Woche means “no more than twice or three times a week” and sets a definite upper limit, rather than being a general indication of time.
- If you do not know the answer to a question, make a sensible guess that will fit into the context of the passage. Never leave an answer blank. There is a chance you may be right. If you leave your answer blank, you will certainly receive no marks.
- If you have mistakenly provided information under the wrong question, clearly circle the information and arrow it across to where it belongs. Do not waste time by re-writing the information.
- As detailed information is not usually required more than once, you may find it useful to highlight the sections of the passage as you use them in your answers. This will identify the unused sections of the text and may help you to find the information required for the remaining questions.
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