Writing: Producing Purposeful German Texts
What the Writing paper tests
The MATSEC SEC German Writing paper asks you to produce texts for a purpose and reader: usually a short informal message or email and a longer text such as a letter, article or description. Marks are awarded for task achievement (all content points), range of language, accuracy and organization.
Core rules
- Plan for five minutes: identify the reader, the register (du or Sie), and every bullet point you must cover.
- Cover each bullet explicitly; a missing point loses task marks even if the German is perfect.
- Structure the text: greeting, opening, body paragraphs, closing. Use connectors: zuerst, außerdem, deshalb, trotzdem, weil.
- Vary sentences: main clause + weil/dass/wenn clause (verb final), um ... zu, time phrases.
- Check verb second position, separable verbs, cases, adjective endings and capitalization of nouns.
Worked example
Prompt: Write an email to a German friend inviting them to visit, saying when, what you will do, and asking a question. Sample: “Liebe Anna, wie geht es dir? Ich möchte dich nächsten Monat besuchen. Wir könnten am Samstag wandern gehen, weil das Wetter dann besser sein soll. Hast du Zeit? Schreib mir bald. Viele Grüße, Maria.” Reasoning: the greeting and closing fit an informal friend (du). The email invites, gives a time (nächsten Monat), suggests an activity (wandern), gives a reason with weil (verb at the end: sein soll), and asks a question. “Ich möchte” is polite; “Ich will” would sound demanding.
Traps that cost marks
Mixing du and Sie; forgetting one bullet; translating literally from English (“Ich habe 18 Jahre” instead of “Ich bin 18 Jahre alt”); putting the verb in the wrong place after weil; not capitalizing nouns; writing one long paragraph with no structure.