IB German B SL

Youre either reading this right now because you either take German
B SL, or youre wondering how difficult the German language will be.
Some people say German is difficult because of its three genders:
feminine, masculine and neuter. But grammatically, the Germans
are very systematical and everything makes sense once you know
the rules!
In order to know what these rules are and how you can improve
your German to a 6 or 7 level, you can follow the tips below.
As you might know already, the exam is split into reading, writing
and oral. If youre in Y13, youve done your orals already, so Ill
concentrate on reading and writing tips first.
Paper 1: Reading (1h30)
What it is:
Youre given 4 texts from the core topic and an answer booklet
There will be multiple-choice questions, fill-in-the blanks and
short answer questions which can be found in the text

Preparation:
1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Dont just read the textbook you should accept the fact
that the reading paper is harder than textbook material, but
please make sure you know the vocabulary in the textbook first.
You must learn to walk before you run.
Find something interesting to read what youre essentially
doing here is reading widely. Type in Verwandschaft or
Gesundheit or any words in the related to the core topic in the
search bar. By clicking on any link that pops up and READING it,
you have stepped up from boring textbook and is reading
something interesting!
Note down Vocabulary - If you want to further improve your
German, note down vocabulary that you dont know from these
articles you find and use an online dictionary(guys, google
translate will seriously get you a 4 or below at IB) to find the
meaning of the words. Some words will have multiple meanings,
so just choose the one that you feel fits the sentence best.
Memorize Vocabulary How? Theres no easy way, routelearning is the best way as this is still a foreign language. But
many complex German words are just a mash-up of small words
which you know already, so that will help you memorize new
vocabulary.
(If youre still reading this, and think that there is no way that
youre going to ace the exam, how bout watching cartoons in
German? I recommend Pumuckl, as it was quite a famous series
back in the 70s. Its about this invisible Kobald called Pumuckl

where only his owner can see him because the owner caught
the Kobald with glue in the first episode. Oh, and surprise,
surprise, Pumuckl trinkt gern Bier.)
On

the day:
Realise that you cant cram vocabulary in the morning
Be proud of yourself of what youve done already
Remember that You can guess what some words mean from the
context
Answer every single question in the test, even if you dont
understand something. (You dont get a penalty for getting
something wrong!!!)
Paper 2: Writing (1h)
This is a writing test, which will be asking you to write anything from
a blog, newspaper, diary to short story(dont try the story, trust me)
Preparation:
1. Do practice paper questions https://sites.google.com/a/kgv.hk/year-12-ib-german-2010/pastpapers <-- this is our very own website; these are old past
paper, but doesnt mean you shouldnt try them.
2. Use textbook vocabulary AND Wort fr Wort phrases in
fact, memorise some of these phrases. With your Wort fr Wort
book, pages 1-9 will definitely give you some pretty darn good
phrases (the English translations are sufficient for English A
courses)
3. Find facts online You should have some knowledge and facts
about the Freizeit and Gesundheit when you walk into the exam
no excuses here!
Here are some examples:
In den vergangenen 40 Jahren hat die Zahl der stark
berwichtigen weltweit deutlich zugenommen (Spiegel
Nachrichten)
In Deutschland liegt der Durchschnitts-BMI der Frauen bei 25,6,
der der Mnner bei 27,1. (Spiegel Nachrichten)
Whrend ein Kind liest, konstruiert es sich die Realitt in
seinem Kopf, das bedeutet, dass verschiedene Informationen
verarbeitet (neuronation.de)
4. Use linking words and prepositions heres a Checklist for
writing
5. Learn your articles! Your der, die, das tables at the end of
your KGV German exercise book for 7 years! This is the time to
learn them!

6.

Practice! You cant do well in the writing without practicing.

Period.

On the day:
Do something that soothes you, but still makes you alert (yes,
get that balance between yin and yang) whether its listening to
music or some moderate exercise
In the exam, 1st thing Plan your essay. Whats your thesis?
What are you arguing in this piece? Whats your message?
Use linking words and prepositions heres a Checklist for
writing (note to SC: could you help making a button which links
to the checklist document? Thanks!)
Remember to be proud of what youve achieved
Heres a link to the syllabus:
https://sites.google.com/a/kgv.hk/german-language-b-new-syllabus/?
pli=1
Did you know? People who learn a second language or more
languages are less likely to get dementia than those who only know
one language?
If youre planning to take German B at SL, this is an extremely good
course to ensure that your German level is good. You can end up
being able to read German newspapers fluently and be able to
communicate with Germans at conversation level!
Other links:
http://slowgerman.com/ - listen to authentic radio with the script at
a slower pace
http://derstandard.at/
http://www.spiegel.de/
http://web.ard.de/radio/radionet/ - B5 aktuell has news at the start
of every hour