Leseverständnis
Overview
| Marks Going | 120 marks |
| Percentage of Final Grade | 30% |
| Timing | 75-80 minutes |
There are two reading comprehensions at Higher Level: Text I and Text II. Since this element has the highest weighting of all sections in the Leaving Cert exam, students should practice past papers regularly, build up their vocabulary and expose themselves to idiomatic German where possible.
Text I
- The first text is generally from a literary source. It could be a short story or an extract from a novel.
- It is therefore important you have a good understanding of the Präteritum to enable you to understand this text well.
- This text is worth 60 out of the 120 available marks for the Reading Section and you should aim to spend 40 minutes on it.
- The first set of questions on the text will require you to write sentences in German. Therefore, keep your language clear and concise. Be sure to change pronouns and verb endings from the text to fit the question asked – you cannot directly take text from the passage or you will lose marks. For example, if the text is in the ‘ich’ form, then in your answers change this to ‘er/sie’ etc.
- Be sure to read all questions carefully and identify what is being asked. Revise the List of ‘W-Fragen’ to help with this.
- Always give as many details as you can for the open questions.
- Answer the question in the language it is asked in (i.e. if the question is in German, answer in German. If it is in English, answer in English).
- You must take your answers from the lines indicated in the question in order for your answer to be accepted.
- Question 4 will ask you to provide examples of language and/or content to illustrate some feature or emotion in the text. In doing this, you should provide a statement and an example from the text illustrating such in English. Split your answers into ‘Content’ and ‘Language’ using headings. Always add an extra point to ensure you gain full marks. Give evidence to support your answer by giving the line numbers relevant to your example.
Check out the H1 Grade Sample Answers available for this topic in the resources section below.
Text II
- The second text is generally something journalist and often deals with a current or youth-orientated theme from a newspaper or magazine.
- It is therefore important you have a good understanding of the Konjunktiv I (used for reported speech) to enable you to understand this text well.
- This text is worth the remaining 60 out of the 120 available marks for the Reading Section and you should aim to spend 35-40 minutes on it.
- The first set of questions on the text will require you to write sentences in German. Therefore, the same tips go for this text as with Text I.
- Be sure to read all questions carefully and identify what is being asked. Revise the List of ‘W-Fragen’ to help with this.
- Always give as many details as you can for the open questions.
- Answer the question in the language it is asked in (i.e. if the question is in German, answer in German. If it is in English, answer in English).
- You must take your answers from the lines indicated in the question in order for your answer to be accepted.
- Be careful in the final matching exercise – it is worth a substantial amount of marks (10 in recent history) and should be tackled carefully.
Free Resources
Exam Papers and Marking Schemes
Text 1 Exam Papers HL
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Text 1 Marking Schemes HL
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Text 2 Exam Papers HL
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Text 2 Marking Schemes HL
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