German | A2 Listening

Hello, I have finished A2 listening so far. I am excited about starting B1 level listenings. I actually did for once and it was hard for me as I expected. However no problem because I know it that I can do it by practicing daily.

When I moved up to the A2 listening level, I immediately noticed that the listening tasks had become much more difficult. The 15-question tests were increased to 20 questions, and in two sections, five questions began to be asked from a single listening passage. At the start, I was making a lot of mistakes in both the multiple-choice sections and the passages. In fact, I began with scores of around 7 mistakes out of 20 questions. Although my accuracy rate in multiple-choice questions improved rapidly because I was used to A1 listening, I spent about two weeks trying to reduce the number of mistakes I made in the passages, which were given as a single piece each day. However, towards the end, I managed to stabilise my score at around 17 or 18 correct answers, and I decided it was now appropriate to move on to B1 listening. The listening process was, of course, harder than I’d imagined. I spent 45 to 50 minutes each day working on 20-minute listening tests. But the fact that I’ve shown some progress makes me happy. I know I’ll find the B1 exams even more challenging, but so be it.

Everything happens in this world; if I work at it, it will happen. Thanks to the IB programme, my outlook on life has been changing quite rapidly of late. What matters is that I enjoy the work I do. I think I’ve learnt that if I don’t enjoy the work I’m doing, there’s no point in doing it or wearing myself out over it. I’ve grown to love this work, and because I love it, I sit down every evening to practise, and of course, I’m currently experiencing the joy of that. Realising this has significantly changed my daily habits, and I’ve started spending more time on hobbies that draw me into my own world and make me happy, such as the violin, basketball and German. I think the CAS journey, even if only in a small way, played a part in helping me develop this mindset by bringing me face to face with these activities. See you in the next blog post!