German in Year 12 (1 Viewer)

[rambam92]

Hey im about to finish year 11 German - and i was wondering if someone could give me an insight into the difficulty of the course, whether it is better than the prelim.

I havent enjoyed german at all this year
At my school there is only like 6 of us doing german and there is no real competition or people striving to get the marks - rather everyone tries to study on the night before, not fussed about what happens because everyone else hasnt done anything either. So although im ranked 2 it doesnt really reflect on how i am against the state - as there is nothing i can measure myself again to see whether im a band 5 or 6.

Does getting good marks in german refer to good knowledge of grammar or use of good structures, complex vocab and good analytical skills

BAsically i wanna know wat the course demands to get the highest marks

 

[Peartie]

well to learn a language cramming the night before isnt the way to go about it - you need to do AT LEAST 15mins a day kind of thing so that it sinks in.

Like in any subject to be able to "get the highest marks" you have to be prepared to actually work, with languages this does require a little bit more. You not only need to be able to study but also do exercises - even those outside what the teacher gives you - just in order for it all to sink in.

Basically to be able to get good marks one doesnt just need to know the grammar, syntax etc but how to apply it. If you try putting in lots of complicated structures but keep getting them wrong then you will do ALOT worse than someone who does simple structures but makes no mistakes. So yes, you need to know grammar and syntax but you also need to be able to make sure what you are writing is correct - not absolute B/S.

After all that though - it may seem hard but it is a worthwhile skill to have - Australia needs more people that are able to speak in a fremdsprache!

 

[alcalder]

I havent enjoyed german at all this year

Getting good marks in German is about being able to speak it and write it, listen and understand. So grammar and everything comes into it. BUT there is also having the passion for the language, the want to use it, actually using it and having fun with that.

If you don't enjoy it, don't do it just for marks. I did it to HSC because I LOVED it. I was dreadful at it, but it was my "fun" subject, at the time. Many years later I did it at Uni because I was using it when talking to friends overseas and feeling very inadequate. My marks at Uni were ordinary to good but I still loved it. That was the key. Not the marks. Doing something just for marks means your heart is not in it and you won't do it with the intensity it needs to succeed.

Hope that helps.

 

[xeuyrawp]

Getting good marks in German is about being able to speak it and write it, listen and understand. So grammar and everything comes into it. BUT there is also having the passion for the language, the want to use it, actually using it and having fun with that.

If you don't enjoy it, don't do it just for marks. I did it to HSC because I LOVED it. I was dreadful at it, but it was my "fun" subject, at the time. Many years later I did it at Uni because I was using it when talking to friends overseas and feeling very inadequate. My marks at Uni were ordinary to good but I still loved it. That was the key. Not the marks. Doing something just for marks means your heart is not in it and you won't do it with the intensity it needs to succeed.

Hope that helps.

Genau!

German's been my worst subject at uni mark-wise by around 10 marks, but I love it and I know that it's an important skill, especially given what I want to do. It's great to finally be able to use a language to speak with living people, too.

So yes, 100% agree.

 

[Borbor]

Hi, I'm doing German through OHS. I also haven't put in as much effort as I should have - heh.

Aber es ist nicht so schlecht.
Ich finde es ganz richtig, in Australian Fremdsprachen zu lernen, weil wir so weit von anderen Landeren sind. Ich will vielleicht in Deutschland studieren. Ich finde Deutsch eine sehr wichitge and nützliche Sprache. Man kann in vielen Landern Deutsch sprechen z.b. in der Schweiz, in Osterreich, in Frankreich, naturlich in Deutschland und auch in viele anderen Landern.

Deutsch macht Spas!


(sorry no umlauts or s sets)

 

[rambam92]

THanks for ur help guys looks like im gonna have to lift my game (15 minutes every night it is). Also i was woondering how german does in terms of scaling - relative to other subjects?

 

[Borbor]

Pretty badly, I have to admitt .

From Table A3 for 2007 (changes every year),

if your HSC mark is 91, it gets scaled down to 79.4

German Continuers 91 -->79.4
French Continuers: 91 --> 83.6
Physics: 89 --> 83.4
Modern History: 89 --> 80
Eco: 91 --> 84.6
Chem: 90 -->85

 

[alcalder]

THanks for ur help guys looks like im gonna have to lift my game (15 minutes every night it is). Also i was woondering how german does in terms of scaling - relative to other subjects?

Meh! Scaling, schmaling. If you love it, it doesn't matter. For me, it was the 2 units I knew wouldn't count and I did it because I wanted to do it - not for the marks.

 

[rambam92]

why does it get scaled so bad comparitive to other subjects - i mean its still pretty hard i reckon

 

[Peartie]

when i did german it got well scaled - but as has been said dont worry about scaling if u do well u do well...if u do poorly u do poorly....I got into my degree with a UAI lower than was required but unis these days dont particularly care about that they also look at WHAT subjects you did, if they are relevant to the degree and how you did in the subjects that are relevant.

That being said i think it is worth doing ANY fremdsprache in school and then continuing on with it, meiner meinung nach is that australia is stupid in not making it compolsury to learn a language. Thats my view anway

 

[Borbor]

Hear Hear!

Learning a foreign language no matter what is it should be made compulsory ! I mean, if you compare the average year 10 Australian student to a European student, the European student would most likely know at least three languages. (English, native language and foreign language)

 

[Ezzzgi]

Whaa? I thought it scaled well! Oh well, I love it, so I'm doing it anyway - now I'm trying to figure out whether to do Ext or not...

rambam92 (omg that feels so corny... like in movies where they call people by their screen names out loud) I know what you mean about small classes. I'm one of 2 people in my grade doing German this year, and the other girl's dropping it next year. Lucky me! Anyway, so there's no competition, and pretty much no support either. I'm also finding it harder to motivate myself because of Open High and all the problems it's causing me - but I'll go over to the Open High thread now and complain over there =P (btw Borbor, I'm finding 99% of the German stuff you said strangely familiar )

If you're not enjoying it, think about whether you enjoyed it before. I'm not really enjoying it as much this year either because all my "lessons" are so repetitive, but in Yr 7 and 8 I'd work weeks ahead in my workbook and be the biggest German nerd. And I LOVED it. So if you enjoyed it before, you'll probably be able to enjoy it again... somehow. Dunno, maybe by dicussing how awesome it is?

And if you do that you'll be able to motivate yourself. So, when you figure out the secret to that, tell me, because right now I'm only doing my work right before I have to send it in

 

[theajane]

im currently doing german (well...the exam is in.....16 days)....
i do extension as well and got 99% assessment mark for both courses....
to do well at german you need first of all to have a good grounding in grammar and vocab (dont waste time in exams looking up words, whether verbs are separable etc.).
also you need to be able to express yourself well in english, for the listening+responding and reading+responding sections....these sections require analysis, as well as understanding of what is said/written.
as for scaling...if you do very well you'll do very well...a girl in our school last year did german and german ext. and got 99.90!! dont stress too much about scaling in general anyway...it changes from yr to yr, depending on how hard the exam was, strength of the cohort etc.
also, you have to love german!! for me, its my fav. subject, esp. compared to boring maths and english.

 

[xxstef]

actually im pretty sure it scales pretty well, according to the '07 stats.
well, it sclaes better than eng adv and chem anyway