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How to approach the Written Examination

Section III: Writing in German

• Examination specifications
• Preparing for the Writing Section
• During the examination

Examination specifications

Section III: Writing in German is the third section of the Written Examination and is designed to assess your ability to express ideas through the production of original texts in German. It relates to Objective 2, and the following outcomes, where you:

2.1 apply knowledge of language structures to create original text
2.2 compose informative, descriptive, reflective, persuasive or evaluative texts appropriate to context, purpose and/or audience
2.3 structure and sequence ideas and information.

Section III: Writing in German is worth 15 marks and you should allow approximately one hour for this section.

You will be required to respond to two tasks graded in difficulty. The first task is worth 5 marks and requires a response of 50‑100 words in German. This task will be informative or descriptive. The second task is worth 10 marks and requires a response of 150‑200 words in German. This task will be reflective, persuasive or evaluative and could require you to explain or justify a point of view.

The tasks will be phrased in English for a response in German.

You will be required to produce texts which have been taken from the text types prescribed in the syllabus. These are:

• article (e.g. for a school magazine)
• diary entry
• email
• letter
• message
• note
• notice
• postcard
• recount
• report
• script of an interview
• script of a speech/talk.

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 III: Writing in German. You may consult your dictionaries during reading time and during the examination.

Preparing for the Writing Section

The following advice may assist you in your preparation for this section of the examination:

• Practise allocating time to each of the tasks. This will ensure you allow yourself adequate time to respond appropriately within the given time frame.
• Practise planning and writing appropriate texts of 50‑100 words and 150‑200 words and familiarise yourself with the skills required to communicate effectively in each text type. This will also assist you in recognising what a set number of words looks like in your own handwriting.
• Practise writing responses drawn from across all themes and topics listed in the syllabus, so that you have a comprehensive bank of vocabulary at your disposal. Some text types lend themselves to shorter responses, e.g. a note, message, short email or postcard. Others lend themselves to longer, extended responses, e.g. an article, diary entry, email, letter. You should, however, be practised in writing both short and long responses for all text types.
• Correspond with a German penfriend, either by mail or on the internet. This will assist you in developing your writing skills in an authentic context. However, it is very important that you practise writing in the modern standard version of German. Even when writing shorter texts, it is important to note that abbreviated forms or non-standard versions of the language are not acceptable in the examination situation.
• Pay attention to verbs. Verbs are the cornerstone of most sentences and it is important to take care with endings, conjugations (strong verbs), past participles, the past tense, etc. You will create a more positive impression in your written texts if your verbs are consistently correct.
• Learn from your mistakes. Always carefully review corrected work handed back by your teacher, noting mistakes and corrections and asking for clarification when necessary.
• Avoid the temptation to learn prepared answers off by heart and expect them to fit any question. It is highly unlikely that a pre-prepared answer will be relevant, and responses that are not written specifically for the examination question will be immediately obvious to the examiners. Remember that relevance to all aspects of the question is vital in your response.
• Practise using a dictionary effectively. Cross-checking a word can be a good idea if you are uncertain whether you have chosen the correct alternative.
• Practise writing on every second line. This will help you to review and edit your work legibly.

A valuable resource is the Notes from the Marking Centre. These are available for all HSC examination papers published since 1995 and provide advice for students given by Supervisors of Marking and HSC markers. For links to the Notes, past examination papers, HSC syllabuses and specimen papers, visit the website of the NSW Office of the Board of Studies: http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/

During the examination

You should:

• take time to plan your answers, even if it means simply noting down a few key words or phrases before you begin writing.
• write at least the minimum number of prescribed words. Remember you may write more than the suggested number of words, although this will not be essential for gaining full marks if your response is of a high quality. An accurate, interesting, well-crafted response, written in the specified number of words, will make a more positive impression than one which is significantly longer, but is disjointed and full of mistakes.
• use a variety of tenses and sentence structures.
• decide whether a du, Sie or ihr form of address is appropriate and keep to this.
• avoid using your own name, suburb, school, etc., even though you may be writing from a personal viewpoint. This will ensure the anonymity of your response.
• avoid repeating phrases and vocabulary across the texts you write. You only have a limited opportunity to show the examiners what you know, and a more positive impression will be made if the vocabulary, expressions and structures you use are not repeated in each text.
• aim to make your answers as interesting as you can, ensuring that the development of your ideas is logical. Try to avoid jumping from one idea to the next in a disjointed fashion.
• write a relevant response and avoid the temptation to rely on slabs of pre-learned material. Your written text will not flow logically if you insert blocks of material learned by heart from somewhere else. Remember that your text must be relevant and must clearly address every aspect of the question.
• avoid experimenting with the language. In an examination you should always write what you know to be correct. Do not invent your own phrases and expressions or take a guess at what you think may be correct, simply because you are determined to make a particular point. If you are uncertain, you should write something different instead. A good student can always find ways of adapting what they know to suit the question.
• avoid any temptation to lift passages from Section II: Reading and responding of the examination, as this is plagiarism and will be easily identified.
• keep in mind that the first task is informative or descriptive and that the second task is reflective, persuasive or evaluative and could require you to explain or justify a point of view. Ensure each text is appropriate for the purpose, context and audience.
• remember that it is advisable to write on alternative lines. This will assist you in presenting your response as legibly as possible, even if you have had to edit or amend it. However, writing on alternative lines is not a stipulation, and you should not waste time re-writing your text if you have forgotten to do so.
• allow enough time to review your work. Be sure that verbs have correct endings, German word order and not English word order has been used, nouns have capital letters, spelling is accurate, the choice of tense is correct, etc.