Schleswig-Holstein Abitur English study guide
Schleswig-Holstein Abitur English · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
Das Abitur im Fach Englisch in Schleswig-Holstein ist die Abschlussprüfung im allgemeinbildenden gymnasialen Bildungsgang; sie richtet sich an Schülerinnen und Schüler der Oberstufe, die Englisch als Prüfungsfach (schriftlich oder mündlich) belegen. Zuständig für die Qualitätsentwicklung und die organisatorische Ausgestaltung der Abiturprüfung ist das Institut für Qualitätsentwicklung an Schulen Schleswig-Holstein (IQSH) als Einrichtung des Landes. The Schleswig-Holstein Abitur English study guide has 5 sections and about 2,300 words.
01Hörverstehen / Listening comprehension
Listening comprehension opens the written Abitur paper in English in Schleswig-Holstein: an authentic recording - interview, podcast, radio feature, speech or news report - is played (as a rule twice, with reading time before the first play), and you answer in English. Since Hör-Seh-Verstehen was added, the stimulus may also be a short video, so practise both.
462 words, about 2 min02Leseverstehen / Reading comprehension
Reading comprehension in the SH Abitur is not only a separate multiple-choice section: it underpins the text-based writing task. You receive a fictional extract (short story, novel, drama, poem) or a non-fictional text (speech, editorial, blog post, cartoon with commentary) and must first show that you have understood it - reproducing content (AFB I), then reorganising and analysing it (AFB II), then evaluating it (AFB III).
430 words, about 2 min03Sprachmittlung / Mediation
Sprachmittlung in the Schleswig-Holstein Abitur tests adressaten- und situationsgerechtes Übertragen, not translation. You receive a source text - usually German, to be mediated into English, though the reverse direction occurs - plus a scenario: an email to a partner school, a briefing for a host family, a summary for a blog, a message to a colleague.
431 words, about 2 min04Schreiben / Writing (Textproduktion, Analyse, Stellungnahme)
Textproduktion dominates the written Abitur and carries the most marks. Two task types dominate the SH format: an analysis task (a fictional or non-fictional text, a cartoon, or a combination, followed by a commenting task on a related statement) and an argumentative task (comment, letter to the editor, speech, essay).
475 words, about 2 min05Sprechen / Speaking (mündliche Prüfung)
The mündliche Abiturprüfung in English lasts roughly twenty minutes after about twenty minutes of preparation and is examined by your teacher and a second examiner. Part 1 is a monologue: you present and analyse a prompt (short text, cartoon, statistic, quotation) linked to a course topic.
502 words, about 3 min