Writing (Schreiben)
What Schreiben tests
The writing task asks you to produce a coherent text for a specified reader and purpose. In the Realschulabschluss this is usually an email or letter, sometimes an article, report or short narrative. Marks come from task achievement (all content points covered), communicative design (text type, register, paragraphing, opening and closing) and language (range, accuracy, spelling and punctuation). A short text that answers every bullet point scores better than a long text that ignores one.
Core rules
- Read the prompt twice and number the bullet points. Tick each one off in your plan and again in your check.
- Decide the register before you write: Hi + first name + contractions for a friend; Dear Mr/Ms + surname + no contractions for a formal contact.
- Use a clear frame: greeting, opening sentence stating why you are writing, one paragraph per content point, closing sentence, sign-off.
- Link ideas with because, so, although, however, in addition, finally. Do not just list sentences.
- Vary sentence length and structure. Include one complex sentence with a relative clause or a conditional if it fits naturally.
- Leave time to check verbs, articles, plurals and the spelling of common words.
Worked example
Prompt: Write an email (about 120–150 words) to your English friend Sam. Tell Sam about your school trip to a museum, say what you liked and what you did not like, and invite Sam to come next time. A weak opening: ‘I write you because I was in a museum.’ Problems: wrong verb pattern (write to), wrong tense for a finished trip (I went), no link to the reader. A stronger opening: ‘Hi Sam, how are you? I’m just back from a school trip to the history museum, and I wanted to tell you about it.’ Reasoning: informal greeting, present perfect for recent news, clear purpose, direct address. The paragraph then covers the three bullets in order.
Traps
- Missing a bullet point - usually the last one, such as ‘ask a question’ or ‘give a reason’.
- Writing below the word range. The task’s range is a guide, but a very short text cannot show range.
- Copying phrases from the prompt instead of developing them.
- Forgetting the sign-off or using Yours faithfully when you know the reader’s name.
- One long block of text with no paragraphs.