Interpersonal and Presentational Writing
Domain 3, Interpersonal and Presentational Writing, tests your ability to write purposeful German for a reader: usually an interpersonal message (email or letter) and a presentational text (essay, description, or report). Raters weigh task completion, comprehensibility, range and accuracy of vocabulary and grammar, text organization, and register.
Register and conventions
Formal writing opens with „Sehr geehrte Frau Dr. Schmidt,“ or „Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren,“ and closes with „Mit freundlichen Grüßen.“ Keep Sie consistent, write full forms, and avoid contractions. Informal writing uses „Liebe Anna,“ or „Hallo Tim,“ and closes with „Viele Grüße,“ „Liebe Grüße,“ or „Bis bald,“ with du/ihr throughout. Semi-formal messages may use „Guten Tag Herr Weber,“ but the pronoun decision still controls every possessive and verb ending.
Structures that earn credit
Use Konjunktiv II for polite requests and hypotheticals: „Könnten Sie mir bitte ...?“, „Ich würde mich freuen, wenn ...“. Distinguish „sich freuen auf“ + accusative (future event) from „sich freuen über“ + accusative (present or past event). Subordinate clauses require verb-final order: „weil ich keine Zeit habe,“ „obwohl es regnet.“ Connectors such as außerdem, deshalb, trotzdem, allerdings, and einerseits ... andererseits make cohesion visible. A reliable frame is Einleitung (purpose), Hauptteil (details and reasons), Schluss (request, proposal, or thanks).
Worked example
Task: informal email declining a cinema invitation and proposing Saturday instead. Draft: „Liebe Anna, vielen Dank für deine Einladung! Leider kann ich am Freitag nicht ins Kino kommen, weil ich bis spät arbeiten muss. Hast du am Samstag Zeit? Dann könnten wir den Film zusammen sehen. Liebe Grüße, Lena“ Reasoning: „Leider ... weil“ supplies a reason with correct verb-final order; „könnten“ softens the proposal; the question back keeps the exchange interpersonal; deine, du, wir stay consistently informal. The draft hits every prompt point, so it earns task-completion credit before accuracy is even judged.
Traps that cost marks
- Mixing Sie and du in one text, including possessives (Ihr/dein).
- English word order after connectors: „..., weil ich habe keine Zeit.“
- Literal translations: „Ich bin gut“ (I am a good person) for „I'm fine“; „Ich habe 20 Jahre“ instead of „Ich bin 20 Jahre alt.“
- Omitting the comma before a subordinate clause.
- Ignoring bullet points in the prompt, which caps task completion.
- Reaching for advanced vocabulary you cannot inflect, turning a small idea into an error cluster.