How to ace the German IB interactive oral exam

Some background knowledge

If you have chosen to study German IB, either at standard level (SL) or higher level (HL), you will focus on different topics throughout the two-year course that sit within three core groups: Communication and the Media; Global Issues; Social Relationships.

These three core topics are compulsory at SL and HL and all students are required to study at least two sub-topics from each.

Furthermore, if you have chosen to do the SL course, you will work on 2 further topics which your teacher will choose from the following: Cultural Diversity; Customs and Traditions; Health Leisure; Science and Technology.  Among these topics, you will also study at least two different aspects.  At HL students will also read two works of literature.

(Note that Language B at SL and HL is differentiated by the recommended number of teaching hours, the depth of syllabus coverage, the study of literature at HL only, and the level of difficulty and demands of assessment and assessment criteria.)

The coverage of these various topics will help you to expand your vocabulary quite well as you read numerous different texts.  As your vocabulary grows, you will increasingly begin to be able to form – and voice – an opinion on the various different aspects of these topics. 

Amassing a good range of vocabulary will be vital for your oral expression as you will have to participate in a few oral assessments.

The IB exam is composed of a written element, which counts for 70% of your final grade and an oral component, which makes up 30% of the final mark.  The oral component splits itself into an interactive oral activity which counts 10% of the 30% and an individual oral which counts for 20% of the overall oral mark.

Often students fear the oral interactive exam as they feel like they are being put on the spot. During the interactive oral exam students have to think on their feet as they have to answer quickly to their classmates’ comments.

For you to pass the IB course, you will have to develop your oral skills in order to achieve a great mark on the interactive oral exam which is a group task and which will be conducted in class together with your classmates.

In total there will be three interactive oral activities. The best one of three interactive oral activities, which is based on the core topics, will be internally assessed by your teacher.

How can you prepare for the interactive oral assessment?

1. If you are working with the IB textbook, you will have realised that the book contains a few pages with boxes which are labelled with “Schlüsselausdrücke”. These so-called key expressions can help you to answer to your classmates’ comments before adding more of your own comments.  For example, you should learn expression like “Meines Erachtens nach, ist das richtig/falsch”, “Das ist ein guter Punkt, jedoch denke ich, dass…”, etc. Once you throw in such an expression, it gives you a few more seconds to add to this answer and you will feel much more confident already having said a few words.

2. Your teacher will name the topic prior to the oral assessment. Once you know what topic you will have to discuss with your classmates, you should look through the pages in your textbook that cover this topic and write out all topic related vocabulary. Once you have done so, you should find three or four more newspaper and magazine articles in order to expand your vocabulary but also your topic knowledge.  There are plenty of good, free websites to choose from. Just to name a few: www.faz.com; www.welt.de; www.spiegel.de, www.stern.de; www.bpb.de, www.sueeddeutschezeitung.de, and many more!

3. Prepare some questions, which you think might come up and write out some short answers for these. Not only is this a good way to familiarise yourself with the key vocabulary but you will also gain confidence prior to the real oral assessment as you will have prepared some good answers which you can reuse in the exam.

Learning plenty of information in a foreign language and being able to answer quickly can seem like a very difficult task to do. However, with a few simple tricks, like knowing some key expressions and reading articles in order to expand your vocabulary and topic knowledge, will allow you to approach the oral exams with confidence.

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