WACE ATAR German: Background Language cheat sheet

The written examination is weighted at 70% of the ATAR German: Background Language pair of assessments; the oral examination contributes the remaining 30%.

Written paper structure: Section 1 Listening and Responding, Section 2 Reading and Responding, Section 3 Written Response (text production in German).

Listening passages are played twice in the WACE languages written paper; answers may be given in German or English unless the question specifies the language.

Reading texts are authentic-style German sources (articles, advertisements, blogs, letters); responses must show comprehension of gist and detail, not verbatim copying.

Written Response requires production of 250–300 words in German in a specified text type, with register, audience and purpose stated in the prompt.

Text types examinable include email, letter, article, report, blog entry, diary entry, speech, review, notice and short story; each has conventional layout features.

Assessment criteria for the written response: relevance to task, content and ideas, range of vocabulary and expression, grammatical accuracy, and text-type conventions.

German nouns are always capitalised; umlauts (ä, ö, ü) and ß must be written correctly - spelling errors affecting meaning reduce marks.

Word order rules: verb second in main clauses, verb final in subordinate clauses introduced by weil, dass, obwohl, wenn; time-manner-place ordering in the middle field.

The oral examination is worth 30% of the overall mark and is conducted by two examiners; it is recorded for moderation.

Oral structure: a general conversation (approximately 5 minutes) followed by a discussion of a chosen/investigated topic (approximately 7–8 minutes), totalling around 12–15 minutes.

The discussion topic must be drawn from the syllabus themes (e.g. the individual, the German-speaking communities, the changing world) and prepared in advance.

Assessment criteria: communication and interaction, content and ideas, range of language, accuracy, and pronunciation/intonation/fluency.

Examiners may ask follow-up or probing questions; candidates must sustain the interaction rather than deliver a memorised monologue.

Candidates should be prepared to express and justify opinions using structures such as meiner Meinung nach, ich bin der Ansicht, dass…, einerseits… andererseits.

Useful interaction strategies: asking for clarification (Wie meinen Sie das?), paraphrasing unknown vocabulary, and self-correcting without long pauses.

Pronunciation focus areas: umlauts (schön vs schon), ich-Laut [ç] vs ach-Laut [x], final devoicing (Tag → [taːk]), and consonant clusters (sch, sp-, st-).