My A-level results

I found out my A-level results almost three weeks ago, and they were:

Biology: A

Psychology: B

German: B

Chemistry: A*

I was satisfied with the Biology and German results; I got a B in BIO4, so an A* was out of reach, and although I got an A in the German paper, my speaking was slightly weaker this year, so I'm still pleased with the result.

At first I was disappointed about the B in Psychology, but in hindsight I think there was a trade-off between Psychology and Chemistry, and ultimately, rather than revising to an A standard for both subjects, Psychology lost out while Chemistry gained. Before the start of the exam period I was hoping for an A* in Chemistry, but the horror of the F334 exam really dented my confidence, so this achievement was a brilliant surprise.

Thankfully, my UCAS Track status had been updated by the time I logged on at 8:03 am, so I knew that I'd been accepted by the University of Bristol before I found out my results. This was an immense weight off my mind, and now that I will definitely be studying pharmacology, it makes sense for this blog to undergo the same transformation, from bio-chem-psych-deutsch-student to something like pharmacology-student!

Deutsche Enthüllungsbericht

Im Moment versuche ich, meinen Enthüllungsbericht vorzubereiten. Ich hoffe, dass dies mir hilft!

German lesson notes 06/01/14

In the first lesson back we practised translation skills.

verletzt wurden - was injured
getragen is the past participle of tragen
der Rassismus - racism
tausende von Deutschen - thousands of Germans
der Angriff - attack
in dem/in der - in which
mit den Worten... darauf
tolerant is a cognate
Angst haben
aus anderen Ländern - from other countries
hierherkommen - to come here

One of my main issues is choice of prepositions, which I could improve by researching each preposition individually to collate their precise uses.

Wider Reading: Bangen um Michael Schumacher

Vokabel:
der Zustand - state/condition
die Verletzung - injury
voraussagen - to predict/prognosticate
sich ereignen - to take place/occur
der Felsen - rock
das Hirn/ Gehirn - brain
geschehen - to happen
der Hubschrauber - helicopter
künstlich - artificial
sicherstellen - to assure
der Sauerstoff - oxygen
erfolgreich - successful
sich verbreiten - to spread (things)

Summary:
This article is about the skiing accident suffered by Michael Schumacher in France. No other skiers were involved and Schumacher fell and hit his head on a rock. Despite wearing a helmet, he sustained a serious brain injury and was taken to hospital by helicopter. After an emergency operation, he was put into an induced coma, and doctors can only say for certain that his brain is receiving enough oxygen. The final paragraph summarises Schumacher's achievements: he is the most successful F1 driver, having been the world champion seven times, and has millions of fans who have been posting "get well soon" wishes on his website.

Frohes Neues Jahr!

I haven't made any proper resolutions this year, but if I had resolved to use this blog more, this would be a good start! I've created a study planner on Get Revising and during this session I'm going to read at least one German article from sowieso.de. Guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr!

German Word Order

Here are a few handy hints for getting word order correct in the main clause of a sentence:

• The basic rule is time, manner, place, which means any time phrases are written first (after the verb), and information about location comes at the end of the sentence, but still before the second verb, if there is one.
• For example: Mein englischer Brieffreund hat letzten Sommer mit seiner Familie eine Ferienwohnung direkt in Füssen gemietet.
• Subject verb time manner place verb
• I also noticed that mit phrases always seem to come before other manner phrases, such as the object of the sentence, as we can see in the example above.
• Phrases can be moved to the front of the sentence to add emphasis.
• For example: Direkt in Füssen hat mein englischer Brieffreund letzten Sommer mit seiner Familie eine Ferienwohnung gemietet.

German lesson 09/11/12

After relative pronouns last lesson, today we studied separable verbs, for example, "aufstehen". In this case, the separable part is "auf"; in a present tense sentence, it moves to the end:

Ich stehe um 7 Uhr auf.

In the future tense, the separable verb sticks together and goes to the end of the sentence:

Am Montag sollte ich um 7 Uhr aufstehen.

In the past tense, the verb parts are joined but with -ge- in the centre, and it goes to the end:

Gestern bin ich um 7 Uhr aufgestehen.

EDIT: After lesson on future tense, 14/11/12

In future tense sentences in which "zu" is required, the -zu- is placed in between the verb parts:

Am Montag hoffe ich, um 7 Uhr aufzustehen.

EDIT: After starting year 13, 15/11/13

If the verb is sent to the end in a present tense sentence, the verb parts are joined, but the present tense verb ending is retained.

Wenn ich um 7 Uhr aufstehe, fühle ich mich müde.