Platform 4 or 9? The Correction That Comes After the Number
At a Maltese secondary school, a Year 11 candidate is practising a MATSEC SEC German listening item. The recording is a station announcement: 'Der Regionalexpress nach Salzburg fährt heute ausnahmsweise von Gleis 9, nicht wie angekündigt von Gleis 4. Der Zug hat 12 Minuten Verspätung. Reisende nach Rosenheim bitte beachten: Der Anschlusszug entfällt; ein Schienenersatzverkehr fährt ab 14:35 Uhr vom Busbahnhof.' The candidate's notes read: 'Gleis 4, 12 Minuten, Bus 14:35'. In the answer box they write 'Gleis 4' and 'Anschlusszug nach Rosenheim fährt'. The teacher marks the platform wrong but the delay right. The candidate insists they heard 'Gleis 4' clearly. They have 90 seconds before the recording is played a second time. The candidate has dyslexia-friendly extra time but no transcript, and this item is worth two marks; their target grade is a 3.
1. What most likely caused the platform error, and what should the candidate do with the 90-second gap before the second playing?
Read the worked answer
The candidate did hear a real number, but attached it to the wrong part of the message. In 'nicht wie angekündigt von Gleis 4', the number 4 is old information being cancelled; the new information is 'ausnahmsweise von Gleis 9'. The correction markers are 'ausnahmsweise' before the new number and the negation 'nicht wie angekündigt' before the old one.
In the 90-second gap the candidate should not rewrite everything. They should mark the note as a correction pair, e.g. '4 (alt) / 9 (neu!)', and prepare to confirm on the second hearing. They should listen specifically for 'Gleis' plus a number, and for signals such as 'ausnahmsweise', 'nicht wie angekündigt' and 'statt'. They should also check the second error: 'Der Anschlusszug entfällt' means the connection is cancelled, so their note 'fährt' is wrong. On the second playing, write 'Gleis 9' and 'Anschluss entfällt'; keep '12 Minuten' but label it clearly.
2. The candidate's notes are terse and mix up 'fährt' and 'entfällt'. Design a note-taking routine for the second playing and explain why it fits a two-mark item.
Read the worked answer
Use a three-column grid: 'Was?' / 'Zahl oder Zeit' / 'Signalwort'. For this announcement the notes would be:
- Gleis | 9 | ausnahmsweise, nicht 4
- Verspätung | 12 Min. | hat
- Anschluss | entfällt | bitte beachten
- Ersatz | 14:35 | Busbahnhof
Abbreviate nouns, but keep verbs that change the meaning: 'entfällt' and 'fährt' are not interchangeable. The routine fits a two-mark item because the item rewards the corrected platform and the correct connection status, not a full transcript. The candidate should spend the gap checking the correction pair and the verb of cancellation, rather than adding adjectives or rewriting the whole announcement. This also reduces cognitive load: the grid separates the fact from the signal word that tells you whether it is old or new information.