UNIVERSITY OF MALTA
THE MATRICULATION CERTIFICATE EXAMINATION
INTERMEDIATE LEVEL
GERMAN
MAY 2007
EXAMINERS’ REPORT
MATRICULATION AND SECONDARY EDUCATION CERTIFICATE
EXAMINATIONS BOARD
IM Examiners’ Report – May 2007
IM GERMAN
MAY 2007 SESSION
EXAMINERS’ REPORT
Of the 31 candidates registered for Intermediate Level Examinations, 1 candidate was absent.
The following results were achieved:
Table 1: Distribution of Grades May 2007
Grade
A
B
C
D
E
F
Abs
Total
N
5
8
7
4
4
2
1
31
16.1
25.8
22.6
12.9
12.9
6.5
3.2
100
% of Total
Table 2: Distribution of Grade – May 2006
Grade
A
B
C
D
E
F
Abs
Total
N
3
4
4
5
3
3
-
22
13.6
18.2
18.2
22.7
13.6
13.6
-
100
% of Total
All scripts were seen by three markers. A marking scheme was used. Both the new and the
old orthography were accepted.
Candidates having achieved an A or B Grade – totalling about one third of the total number of
candidates - showed adequate handling of German for the Intermediate Level. While
candidates achieving lower grades lacked more and more knowledge of vocabulary, spelling,
syntax and grammar. Often it appeared as if they had not understood the questions. Again, it
has to be pointed out that definitely no question was asked which could not be answered
straight out of the book “Dreimal Deutsch”, which they had been studying for one or more
years.
Out of the choice of six titles for essays all titles were used, though 23 candidates chose
“Meine Pläne für die Sommerferien” (My plans for the summer holidays). Some essays were
quite good for Intermediate Level. However, one candidate surely misunderstood the concept
of ”Aufsatz” (essay). He/she had also chosen “Meine Pläne für die Sommerferien” and
undertook to offer three pages of scheduled day by day plans, even including the times for
sleep.
In “Landeskunde” special attention should be given to the fact that some questions do NOT
require the answers in full sentences, which is time consuming for the candidate. However,
where FULL SENTENCES were required a number of candidates replied simply with one
word.
A very common mistake is related to the German word “Industrieprodukte” (industrial
products). While the word “Produkt” in German refers mostly to industrial output, the obvious
English translation “product” refers often to agricultural goods. Therefore questions on
“Industrieprodukte” were often answered with “milk, meat and corn”.
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IM Examiners’ Report – May 2007
A question asking to state the special / prominent sites of a city was answered a few times
with “Museen”. Every city has one or numerous museums and churches. Therefore an
answer like “Museum” or “Kirche” is not acceptable, unless the specific name for that specific
city is stated like “Liebfrauenkirche” (a very famous church in Dresden).
One funny answer may be quoted:
Question: Was bezeichnete man nach dem zweiten Weltkrieg mit “Käfer“? (What was called
„beetle“ after the second world war?) ((the book even shows a drawing of the car))
Answer: Otto von Bismarck.
As far as handling the actual examination papers is concerned – and this refers to Advanced
Level as well as Intermediate Level – it was noted that quite a number of students replied to
the questions in a self chosen sequence. In these cases it is of great importance that they
adhere properly to the numbering in the paper, as searching for the right question to fit a
certain badly numbered answer should definitely not be the norm. This habit also lends itself
for a pupil to simply overlook one question, giving no answer, consequently resulting in no
mark. Only one candidate used the undesired red pen. No smudgy correcting fluid was used
at all.
A few further points are of general nature and apply to Advanced Level as well as
Intermediate Level of May 2007 and candidates should be made aware of the following items:
a) Although handwriting is a personal matter, candidates should be made aware of the fact
that an official exam paper should be legible by the official examiners. Badly written text
may lead to misinterpretations and lower / no marks. One candidate’s writing was larger
than the space of two of the printed lines of the script paper, while a few others wrote in
miniature with most letters well under 2 millimetres. Both are equally disturbing.
b) Candidates should number their answers strictly and clearly in accordance with the
questions.
c) Candidates should be encouraged to make sure that they have answered all the
questions. Some students seemingly forgot to answer a question, or skipped part of a
question, consequently losing the respective marks.
d) Certain questions regarding history are asked “in which century…” or “name an important
…personality of the twentieth century”. Wrong replies were given by 70 to 80% of the
candidates for the simple reason that they obviously cannot handle the word “century –
Jahrhundert”. If reference is made to e.g. the 19th century in the text, they reply with
events of e.g. 1939.
e) Candidates should be urged NOT to copy from the given German texts (Leseverständnis),
but use their own words and expressions.
f)
As pointed out in last year’s report, the provided booklets for the candidate’s scripts
contain an ample number of pages. Therefore, it is not necessary at all that students
squeeze their answers of a Section onto one page. They may leave some lines of
spacing at least between Sections and the individual chapters.
As was the fact last year, the Oral Examinations showed good results. Of the obtainable 15
marks three candidates achieved full 15 marks, while 16 students achieved between 10 and
14 marks.
Chairperson
Board of Examiners,
July 2007
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