UNIVERSITY OF MALTA
THE MATRICULATION EXAMINATION
ADVANCED LEVEL
GERMAN
MAY 2013
EXAMINERS’ REPORT
MATRICULATION AND SECONDARY EDUCATION CERTIFICATE
EXAMINATIONS BOARD
AM Examiners’ Report – May 2013
AM GERMAN
MAY 2013 SESSION
EXAMINERS’ REPORT
Of the 27 candidates registered for the German examination at Advanced Level, all were present for
the written examinations and only one was absent for the oral examination. The results achieved by
the candidates are as follows:
Grade
A
B
C
D
E
F
Abs
Total
No.
of
candidates
% of Total
8
4
4
4
6
1
0
27
29.6
14.8
14.8
14.8
22.2
3.7
0
100
All scripts were seen by three markers. A marking scheme was used. Both new and old German
orthography were accepted.
The examination consisted of three papers (I-III) and an oral component.
In general, the good percentage of grades between A and C shows that there are a number of
candidates who have a good to very good command of German at the level required. It also
demonstrates that candidates were well prepared for the questions on German culture, history and
literature as well as for the specific types of grammar, writing, listening and oral exercises which form
part of the syllabus.
The following is an assessment of the overall performance in the different sections of the written
examination:
Paper I consists of two parts, Essay and Communicative Writing. In general, this is one of the more
demanding parts of the examination since it requires skills in free composition. However, the essay
topics allow for a wide range of answers, and the types of essay recurring in each exam (descriptive,
narrative and argumentative) can be practised. In this session, the two more creative narrative topics
were chosen by more than half of the candidates; the argumentative topics were chosen by a
considerable number of candidates while the more general descriptive topics proved least popular.
In the second part, there was a higher number of candidates who chose to write a letter to the editor,
but a considerable number also chose the article. It proved helpful if candidates could show that they
were aware of typical phrases used in the types of communicative writing mentioned in the syllabus,
for instance, of typical beginning and ending phrases of letters. In this context, it is important to insist
on the fact that candidates should not sign these letters with their real names.
Typical mistakes in this paper were related to the use of prepositions, cases and gender, tenses, and
spelling (capital or small initial letters, umlaute).
A good range of vocabulary was used by many candidates, as well as creative approaches to the
questions set.
Paper II also consists of two parts, Listening Comprehension and Reading Comprehension.
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AM Examiners’ Report – May 2013
In general, the performance in the listening component was good. In the second section questions
have to be answered in full sentences, which is more challenging than the multiple choice and
true/false questions in the first part.
The Reading Comprehension part of the paper consists of different types of questions, which are all
related to one text (400-500 words), and include questions on understanding and summarising the
text, grammar and vocabulary. Overall, candidates were able to understand the basic issues of the
chosen text well; mistakes ranged from problems with vocabulary to general grammatical errors:
questions on finding a synonym for words used in the text were answered with varying results as well
as those on finding the opposite of a word from the text, this section was the one where most errors
and unanswered questions were found; in the grammar questions the use of indirect and direct
speech posed some difficulties. Questions asking for answers in full sentences proved challenging as
they combine reading comprehension with skills in paraphrasing.
Paper III is designed to test knowledge on Landeskunde, i.e. ‘area studies’ of Germany, Austria and
Switzerland, including feasts and traditions in Germany, modern history of Germany, Germanspeaking personalities as well as a whole section on literature (questions on the literary texts listed in
the syllabus). For this paper, preparation according to the syllabus is essential to be able to obtain
good results. The section the candidates found most challenging, according to the results, was that on
‘Modern German History’, where some general knowledge of the historical developments and events
listed in the syllabus is required. In the section on literature, most candidates chose the text “Ich fühl
mich so fifty-fifty” by Karin König, closely followed by “Maya und Domenico” by Susanne Wittpennig;
fewer candidates chose “Drei Männer im Schnee” by Erich Kästner, and “Fast ein bisschen Frühling”
by Alex Capus was not chosen by any candidate. Candidates were well prepared for this section.
The following points are of a general nature:
a) Candidates should be encouraged to double check that they have replied to all the questions
to avoid getting a zero when in fact they would have known the answer.
Furthermore,candidates should make sure to reply in full sentences where required. Students
should remember to include the exact number of the question answered.
b) In the section on communicative writing, students should be reminded not to sign the letter
with their real names or to write down their real postal or email address in the letter head.
Students are meant to sign with the name indicated in the respective section or should sign
with XXX.
Chairperson
2013 Examination Panel
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