Edexcel GCSE German Past Papers & Mark Schemes | 1GN1
Prepare for the newest Pearson Edexcel GCSE German (1GN1) syllabus with past papers, specimen papers and official mark schemes for both Foundation and Higher tiers. This page covers the new 2024 specification, first examined in summer 2026, including Paper 1: Speaking in German, Paper 2: Listening and Understanding in German, Paper 3: Reading and Understanding in German and Paper 4: Writing in German. Use these resources to practise pronunciation, role plays, listening comprehension, dictation, reading, translation, grammar and extended writing. You can also jump to our examiner tips or read the frequently asked questions for clear guidance on the new Edexcel GCSE German exams.
June 2025 Edexcel GCSE German Past Papers
2025 Edexcel GCSE German (1GN0) | Question Papers | Mark Schemes |
Paper 1F – Listening and Understanding (Foundation) | ||
Paper 1H – Listening and Understanding (Higher) | ||
Paper 3F – Reading and Understanding (Foundation) | ||
Paper 3H – Reading and Understanding (Higher) | ||
Paper 4F – Writing (Foundation) | ||
Paper 4H – Writing (Higher) |
June 2024 Edexcel GCSE German Past Papers
2024 Edexcel GCSE German (1GN0) | Question Papers | Mark Schemes |
Paper 1F – Listening and Understanding (Foundation) | ||
Paper 1H – Listening and Understanding (Higher) | ||
Paper 3F – Reading and Understanding (Foundation) | ||
Paper 3H – Reading and Understanding (Higher) | ||
Paper 4F – Writing (Foundation) | ||
Paper 4H – Writing (Higher) |
June 2023 Edexcel GCSE German Past Papers
2023 Edexcel GCSE German (1GN0) | Question Papers | Mark Schemes |
Paper 1F – Listening and Understanding (Foundation) | ||
Paper 1H – Listening and Understanding (Higher) | ||
Paper 3F – Reading and Understanding (Foundation) | ||
Paper 3H – Reading and Understanding (Higher) | ||
Paper 4F – Writing (Foundation) | ||
Paper 4H – Writing (Higher) |
June 2022 Edexcel GCSE German Past Papers
2022 Edexcel GCSE German (1GN0) | Question Papers | Mark Schemes |
Paper 1F – Listening and Understanding (Foundation) | ||
Paper 1H – Listening and Understanding (Higher) | ||
Paper 3F – Reading and Understanding (Foundation) | ||
Paper 3H – Reading and Understanding (Higher) | ||
Paper 4F – Writing (Foundation) | ||
Paper 4H – Writing (Higher) |
June 2021 Edexcel GCSE German Past Papers
2021 Edexcel GCSE German (1GN0) | Question Papers | Mark Schemes |
Paper 1F – Listening and Understanding (Foundation) | ||
Paper 1H – Listening and Understanding (Higher) | ||
Paper 3F – Reading and Understanding (Foundation) | ||
Paper 3H – Reading and Understanding (Higher) | ||
Paper 4F – Writing (Foundation) | ||
Paper 4H – Writing (Higher) |
June 2020 Edexcel GCSE German Past Papers
2020 Edexcel GCSE German (1GN0) | Question Papers | Mark Schemes |
Paper 1F – Listening and Understanding (Foundation) | ||
Paper 1H – Listening and Understanding (Higher) | ||
Paper 3F – Reading and Understanding (Foundation) | ||
Paper 3H – Reading and Understanding (Higher) | ||
Paper 4F – Writing (Foundation) | ||
Paper 4H – Writing (Higher) |
Six Examiner Tips for Edexcel GCSE German
1. Answer the Exact Question in Listening and Reading
Students often hear or recognise a familiar German word and immediately write an answer without checking what the question actually asks. Others give vague answers, include irrelevant information or confuse details such as who, where, when and why.
Our advice: Underline the key question word before answering. If the question asks “when”, provide a time; if it asks “why”, provide a reason. Listen to or read the complete sentence before deciding, paying particular attention to negatives and contrasts such as nicht, nie, kein, aber and obwohl. Keep English responses concise, but include every detail needed for the mark.
2. Use the Five-Minute Listening Preparation Time Properly
Some students passively wait for the recording instead of using the five-minute reading period to prepare. This makes it harder to follow longer passages or distinguish between similar answer options.
Our advice: Read as far through the paper as possible before the recording begins. Underline names, timeframes and key details, and predict the type of information required. During the recording, do not stop listening after hearing one possible answer because the speaker may correct themselves or introduce a contrasting opinion later. Each extract is played three times, so use the first hearing for overall meaning and the later hearings to confirm precise details.
3. Treat Dictation as a Test of Both Listening and German Spelling
Students often understand the general meaning of the dictation but lose marks through inaccurate spelling, missing umlauts, incorrect noun capitalisation or omitted word endings. Some write what they expect to hear instead of the exact words spoken.
Our advice: Practise short German dictations regularly. Learn important sound-symbol relationships, including ei/ie, eu/äu, sch, ch, z, sp and st. Remember that German nouns require capital letters. Use the repeated recordings to check small grammatical details such as articles, plural endings and verb endings. Your final version should reproduce the spoken German accurately rather than paraphrasing it.
4. Develop Speaking Answers Instead of Reciting Memorised Monologues
Students often rely on long, pre-learned speeches that do not answer the teacher’s precise question. Others give one-word responses and wait for the teacher to prompt them repeatedly.
Our advice: Practise responding spontaneously with two or three connected sentences. Give an answer, add an opinion and explain it with a reason. Use connectives such as weil, denn, aber, obwohl and deshalb naturally. In the picture task, describe the people, location and activity clearly before adding further details. During the broader conversation, show that you can discuss past, present and future events without forcing irrelevant memorised material into your answers.
5. Complete Every Writing Bullet Point and Use the Required Timeframes
Students often produce accurate German but overlook one of the bullet points, misunderstand the required timeframe or fail to maintain the appropriate formal or informal register. Others write far beyond the recommended length, increasing the number of grammatical mistakes without adding useful content.
Our advice: Turn each bullet point into a separate section of your plan and tick it after covering it. Check whether the task requires facts, opinions, justifications, past events, future plans or advantages and disadvantages. Use a controlled range of tenses and structures that you can form accurately. For formal writing, use appropriate forms of address and avoid overly conversational expressions.
6. Prioritise Accurate Grammar and Complete Translation
Students often attempt impressive phrases but lose meaning through missing verbs, incorrect word order or inaccurate tense formation. Translation answers also lose marks when small words or entire parts of a sentence are omitted.
Our advice: Build sentences around secure German grammar. Check that:
The conjugated verb is normally in second position.
Weil, dass and obwohl send the verb to the end.
Modal verbs use an infinitive at the end.
Perfect-tense sentences include haben or sein.
Nouns begin with capital letters.
Cases, articles and adjective endings are as accurate as possible.
In translation, communicate every part of the original sentence. Do not simplify away negatives, time phrases, opinions or descriptive details. Leave a few minutes at the end to check verbs, word order, spelling and omitted words.
Edexcel GCSE German FAQs for the 2027 Exams
1. Which Edexcel GCSE German specification will students take in 2027?
Students taking Edexcel GCSE German in summer 2027 will follow the new 2024 specification, with the qualification code 1GN1. This specification was first taught from September 2024 and first examined in summer 2026.
When downloading Edexcel GCSE German past papers, sample assessments or revision resources, check that they refer to 1GN1 or the 2024 specification. Resources produced for the previous 1GN0 course may still help with general German practice, but they do not accurately reflect every task in the new exam.
2. What is the Edexcel GCSE German exam structure for 2027?
The new Edexcel GCSE German course has four assessments:
Paper 1: Speaking in German – 25%
Paper 2: Listening and Understanding in German – 25%
Paper 3: Reading and Understanding in German – 25%
Paper 4: Writing in German – 25%
Each paper is available at Foundation or Higher tier. You must take the same tier across all four papers. Foundation tier targets grades 1–5, while Higher tier targets grades 4–9.
3. What topics are covered in the new Edexcel GCSE German syllabus?
The vocabulary and grammar are organised around six broad thematic contexts:
My personal world
Lifestyle and wellbeing
My neighbourhood
Media and technology
Studying and my future
Travel and tourism
These contexts can include family, relationships, equality, food and drink, physical and mental wellbeing, sport, school, employment, social media, gaming, transport, environmental issues, accommodation and tourist attractions.
Do not revise each topic in isolation. Vocabulary such as transport, food or technology may appear across several different contexts.
4. What happens in the Edexcel GCSE German speaking exam?
The speaking examination contains three tasks completed in this order:
Read aloud: Read a German passage aloud and answer two unprepared questions.
Role play: Complete a transactional role play in German.
Picture task and conversation: Describe one of two pictures, answer two compulsory questions and participate in a broader conversation.
You receive 15 minutes of supervised preparation time. The assessment lasts approximately 7–9 minutes at Foundation and 10–12 minutes at Higher.
Practise pronunciation, spontaneous answers and conversational follow-up questions. Avoid memorising long monologues that may not answer the question you are actually asked.
5. When is the Edexcel GCSE German speaking exam in 2027?
Pearson’s 2027 speaking assessment window for the new Edexcel GCSE German qualification runs from 15 April to 20 May 2027. Your school will select your exact assessment date within this period.
For the picture task, students select a thematic context from two options generated by Pearson. They then choose one of two pictures to describe during the assessment.
Prepare for all six thematic contexts throughout the course. Even when you know your selected context, the follow-up conversation remains partly unprepared and requires you to respond naturally.
6. What is included in Edexcel GCSE German Listening Paper 2?
The listening examination is worth 50 marks:
Section A: Listening comprehension – 40 marks
Section B: German dictation – 10 marks
Foundation students have 45 minutes, while Higher students have 60 minutes. These timings include five minutes of reading time. Each recording is played three times.
Use the five-minute reading period to underline question words, identify required details and predict likely vocabulary. During dictation, pay close attention to German sound-symbol relationships, capital letters for nouns, umlauts, verb endings and word boundaries.
7. What is included in Edexcel GCSE German Reading Paper 3?
The reading examination contains:
Section A: Reading comprehension – 40 marks
Section B: Translation from German into English – 10 marks
Foundation students have 45 minutes and Higher students have 60 minutes. Reading questions are written in English, and open-response answers must also be written in English.
For translation, communicate every part of the German text accurately. Do not omit small words such as nur, schon, noch, immer or nicht. If an exact English translation sounds unnatural, use natural English that preserves the original meaning.
8. What writing tasks appear in Edexcel GCSE German Paper 4?
The Foundation writing paper lasts 1 hour 15 minutes and includes:
Four short sentences describing a photograph
A 40–50-word formal response
An 80–90-word informal response
Five sentences translated from English into German
The Higher writing paper lasts 1 hour 20 minutes and includes:
An 80–90-word informal response
A 130–150-word formal response
A short passage translated from English into German
Read every bullet point carefully and cover each one. Use the required past, present and future timeframes, but prioritise accurate communication over unnecessarily complicated expressions.
9. Can students use a dictionary in the Edexcel GCSE German exams?
No. Dictionaries are not permitted in the speaking preparation period or in the listening, reading and writing examinations.
The new specification includes prescribed vocabulary and grammar lists, so these should form the foundation of your revision. Learn vocabulary in complete phrases rather than as isolated words. For example, learn Ich interessiere mich für Musik rather than memorising only interessieren.
Regularly practise genders, plural forms, cases, separable verbs, modal verbs, word order and common irregular past participles. Accurate high-frequency German is more valuable than a collection of difficult phrases that you cannot use correctly.
10. How can I achieve a Grade 9 in Edexcel GCSE German in 2027?
A Grade 9 requires consistent performance across speaking, listening, reading and writing. Your revision should therefore include all four skills every week.
To work towards the highest grades:
Learn the prescribed vocabulary thoroughly.
Practise German pronunciation and phonics for the read-aloud task.
Complete regular dictations.
Listen for opinions, negatives and changes of timeframe.
Practise translating in both directions.
Use past, present and future timeframes confidently.
Justify opinions with phrases such as weil, da and obwohl.
Check verb-final word order in subordinate clauses.
Complete timed 1GN1 sample papers and past papers.
Keep a record of recurring grammar and spelling mistakes.
Do not rely entirely on memorised paragraphs. The strongest students can adapt familiar vocabulary and structures accurately to unfamiliar questions.