Modern European Languages

moriz

Anyone know how much I should allocate per question in an European language paper? I believe all the papers go by the same format so if anyone has done an European language in their leaving or is doing one this year, how are you allocating your time for the 3 hours it is on for?

kingcobra

My complete plan for the French exam is:

35 min on each (2) comprehension
30 min on question 1 (compulsory)
20 min on each (2) of the remaining essay topics
10 min to spare

The 2 hours 30 allotted is more than enough time though, during the mocks I had enough time to do all 8 essays so I don't think time management is totally essential for French. Just having a rough grasp of what point you are in in the exam does fine

peekachoo

I don't think the papers are the same format! In French there seems to be a lot of essay writing whereas in German, there's 2 comprehensions, a grammar q, a 160 word letter and writing like 6 sentences on a given picture.
I find I finish German quite early each time and there isn't that much learning involved. Eg. In the letter you only have to write 2-3 sentences on each given topic.

But I agree with the above poster, around 30min per comprehension.
What language are you doing?

kingcobra

Overall the languages aren't the exact same because I know for the German Oral they have picture series (Sraith Pictiúr!) whereas in French they don't and also Spanish students have to do a role play but French students do not.

dcam

I did French and German for my Leaving and no the formats are not the same at all. Anyway for French this is what I did:
Question 1: 35 mins-40 mins
Question 2: 35 mins-40 mins
Written Section: Section A (Compulsory Question):30 mins
Section B: Twenty minutes for each question chosen.
It is actually very important to stick to your timing in French. If you start with the comprehensions and spend too long on them your written section will really suffer.

I would strongly advise you to only do 3 written questions, as that's all that is required and any additional time you have should be spent making sure your spelling and grammar is accurate, especially your verbs. If you're spending twenty minutes on a written question you should be spending about 10 minutes thinking about what you're going to say, as it is very important that your answer reflects exactly what is asked in the question, and not merely something you've learned off. i.e. the content as well as the accuracy is very important and the marking scheme reflects this.

For German I would spend half an hour on the letter, and about 40-45 minutes on each comprehension and 15-20 minutes on the grammar/Ausserung zum Thema.

Hope this helps. Feel free to PM me if you have any more questions

moriz

Oh sorry guys, maybe I didn't make it clear enough, I was talking about the non-curricular exams like Norwegian, Swedish etc.
Sorry for the confusion