The Cambridge IGCSE German (0525) May/June 2026 papers and mark schemes are out, and they’re free. Listening, Reading and Writing (0525/12, /22 and /42), plus the listening transcript and the Speaking role-play cards and teacher notes, can be downloaded and printed on the Tutopiya Learning Portal. Below is a breakdown of what each paper tested and how the mark scheme gave marks, taken from the papers themselves.

Key points from the 2026 0525 papers

• School life was the biggest theme. Two teenagers settling into new schools in Listening, a school holiday camp and a text on repeating a school year in Reading, a careers day in Writing, and a role play about online lessons in Speaking.
• Reading tested changing the person. Many Paper 2 answers had to be rewritten from “ich” to “er” or “sie”, with the right verb ending and possessive. The mark scheme marks these “MANIPULATION required”.
• Listening distractors used near-miss numbers and details. The sleep expert says we sleep a third of our lives, while one option says a quarter. In the zoo conversation, the figure in one option doesn’t match the one Maria gives.
• An umlaut decided marks in Writing. For future plans, “ich möchte” was accepted but “ich mochte” (I liked) was not.
• Speaking was set across German-speaking countries, with role plays in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, from an ice hockey club to a hotel restaurant.

All May/June 2026 0525 papers

Paper	Code	Duration	Marks	What it tests
Paper 1 Listening	0525/12	About 50 minutes (including 6 minutes’ transfer time)	40	37 multiple-choice and matching questions on recordings heard twice
Paper 2 Reading	0525/22	1 hour	45	Six questions: matching, multiple choice and short answers in German
Paper 3 Speaking	0525/03	About 10 minutes, plus 10 minutes’ preparation	40	A role play and two topic conversations
Paper 4 Writing	0525/42	1 hour	45	A form, an 80 to 90 word task and a 130 to 140 word task

Timings and marks are taken from the front cover of each 2026 paper and, for Speaking, from the candidate cards and teacher notes. Each written paper comes with its official Cambridge mark scheme. For the full list of syllabus content, see the Cambridge IGCSE German – Foreign Language 0525 syllabus.

Which variant is this? Cambridge sets different versions of each written paper (variants) for different time zones. The papers here are variant 2: 0525/12, /22 and /42. The Speaking test is component 0525/03. All variants cover the same syllabus at the same difficulty, so variant 2 is just as good for practice as the one your school sat.

Download the 0525 May/June 2026 papers →

What came up in 0525 Paper 1 (Listening), May/June 2026?

Paper 1 had 37 questions worth 40 marks. Every recording is played twice. You mark your answers on the question paper and then have six minutes to copy them onto the answer sheet. Questions 35 to 37 each need two boxes.

Questions	Format	What the recording was about	Marks
1–8	Short exchanges, picture choices (A–D)	Two parents at the breakfast table: a coffee, a dentist appointment and its time, a home-office day, what the children like to eat, their son’s sport, travelling to a conference in Berlin, where the car key is	8
9–14	Radio report, picture choices (A–D)	Six recommended podcasts: a couple’s camper-van trip round Europe, a vegetable-growing series, a debate about pet cats, two book lovers from different generations, an online cook’s family recipes, a podcast to help you fall asleep	6
15–19	Conversation, matching (A–F)	Martina reads her grandmother’s teenage diary to Julian; match five months to events such as a card, a birthday outing, a test, a row with her parents and a trip abroad	5
20–28	Two interviews, A–C	Paul, who moved from Hamburg when his father found work, and Oksana, who came to Germany a year ago: how they reacted, settling in, lessons and friendships	9
29–34	Interview, A–D	Sleep expert Karoline Rakers: why sleep matters, what scientists know, what to drink, exercise and the bedroom, screens and blue light, how much sleep people need	6
35–37	Conversation, choose two of A–E	Felix invites Maria to the zoo, and they argue about whether zoos are good for animals	6

What made it hard: Questions 29 to 34 were packed with facts and figures, and several wrong options reuse words you actually hear. In Question 34, for example, a claim about needing only three or four hours’ sleep is made by one group in the recording, while the option attributes it to another.

What came up in 0525 Paper 2 (Reading)?

Paper 2 had six questions worth 45 marks.

Question	Topic	Marks
1	Baking: match five sentences (apples for a recipe, eggs, washing hands, cold butter, eating the cake later) to pictures	5
2	Signs in a factory (car park, canteen, emergency exit, lift, reception, machine room and others): match five statements	5
3	Sabrina’s message about a week at a holiday camp organised by her school: transport, which year group went, where they slept, activities (multiple choice)	7
4	Peter, 18, learning to drive: the minimum age, theory lessons, an eye test, a first-aid course that helps in his restaurant job, his first lesson, starting the car, learning to park (answers in German)	12
5	Five people looking for a travel partner (city culture, staying like a local, South America, a wheelchair user needing help, low-budget camping); match each to one of eight adverts	5
6	Sitzenbleiben, repeating a school year: the German 1 to 6 grading scale, figures for Bavaria and Berlin, Michael’s positive experience, Angelika’s difficult one, a teacher’s view (answers in German)	11

Watch for: in Question 5, the adverts share themes. More than one mentions adventure or distant countries, so match the specific need (budget, help with travel, type of stay), not just the general topic.

What came up in 0525 Paper 4 (Writing)?

You answer Questions 1 and 2, then either Question 3(a) or 3(b).

Question	Task	Marks
1	Fill in an online order form for school sports kit: a sport, an item of sports clothing, a colour, other sports items and when the order should arrive	5
2	Mein Lieblingstag in der Woche (80–90 words): your favourite weekday and why, what you usually do then, school days or holidays and why, your plans for next week	12
3(a)	Email to a friend about a recent school careers day (130–140 words): how it went, your future job, money or interesting work, the job you wanted as a child, a holiday job you’d like	28
3(b)	Blog for the school website on the environment (130–140 words): problems in your region, what your family did recently, what your school will do, why it matters, the biggest problem for the planet	28

What made it hard: Question 3(a) needed three time frames, past for the careers day and childhood job, present for your preference and future for the holiday job. The mark scheme checks each one.

What came up in 0525 Paper 3 (Speaking)?

You get 10 minutes to prepare, without notes. The test then has a role play (about 2 minutes) and two topic conversations of 4 minutes each. Cards and topics are given out in a fixed order, so you can’t pick them.

The nine 2026 role-play situations were: talking to a coach at a German ice hockey club; chatting with a friend about online lessons at a German school; planning a long hike in Switzerland; talking to another passenger on a flight to Vienna; answering a police officer’s questions after seeing a car accident; discussing a cooking course in Vienna; visiting an uncle and aunt in Switzerland; planning a summer trip abroad with a German friend; and talking to a hotel guest while working as a waiter in Switzerland. Each has five questions, mixing present, past and future.

The seven conversation topics were healthy eating, home, friends, festivals and traditions, social media, travel, and music and art. Conversation 1 comes from the first three and conversation 2 from the last four. Expect each one to ask for an opinion with a reason and to cover the past and the future.

How the 0525 May/June 2026 mark scheme gives marks

The 2026 German mark schemes are detailed about grammar in the Reading and Writing answers. These are the patterns that matter most.

1. Listening is one mark per correct box. Questions 1 to 34 score one mark each. Questions 35 to 37 have two correct statements each, worth a mark apiece. The mark scheme simply lists the correct letters, so there is no partial credit beyond that.

2. Reading Question 4 is about finding the answer; Question 6 needs a precise lift. The 2026 scheme says Question 4 puts the emphasis on locating the answer, not on precise lifting, and allows harmless additions. Question 6 needs a precise lift. Both still need the subject to be clear, and any change you make to the language must be correct.

3. Change “ich” to “er” or “sie”, correctly. In Question 4(d), the eye-test answer had to become “Er muss jetzt eine Brille tragen”, not “ich muss”. In Question 6(e) and 6(f), Michael’s words had to become “er” and “seine Noten”. In Question 6(g), Angelika’s had to change to “sie”, and correct adjective endings were insisted on. A missing umlaut on “jünger” was accepted.

4. Word order and tense count where the question needs them. Question 6(a) needed “Man muss das Schuljahr wiederholen” with the right word order; copying the whole first sentence beginning with “Wenn” was refused. Question 4(h) required a past tense: “Der Fahrlehrer erklärt…” in the present was refused. Question 4(k) wasn’t a manipulation question, so a verb in the wrong position after “weil” was still accepted.

5. Writing Question 1 accepts any sensible word, with a few traps. The clothing item couldn’t be a T-shirt because it was already on the form. The sports item couldn’t repeat your sport from the first gap. For the arrival date, past times like “letzte Woche” were refused, and dates in figures had to be German style with dots, such as 20.06.2026.

6. Question 2 uses five numbered ticks across four bullets. The first bullet carries two ticks, one for naming the day and one for the reason. For next week’s plans, a future tense, “ich will” or “ich möchte”, or the present with a future time phrase all counted. “Ich mochte” did not. The answer is then marked out of 12 on one grid, and the top band needs all tasks in the required detail with a range of simple connectors.

7. Question 3 is marked on three grids: Task completion (10), Range (10) and Accuracy (8). Each bullet earns a numbered tick. In 3(a), the careers day needed an attempted past tense and the holiday job an attempted future. For Range, the scheme suggests looking for conjunctions, subordinate and relative clauses, negatives, adjectives and adverbs. For Accuracy, it names verb forms and tenses, capital letters on nouns, gender, case, adjective endings and word order. A very short answer with no errors can’t score more than 4 for Accuracy.

8. Speaking: 10 marks for the role play, 30 for the conversations. Each of the five role-play answers is worth up to 2 marks, and a short reply scores 2 if it fully communicates and is accurate. The two conversations share one Communication mark out of 15 and one Quality of Language mark out of 15. The top Communication band (13 to 15) needs you to develop ideas often and justify some answers; needing the alternative questions often places you in the 7 to 9 band.

Which papers should you sit?

Every 0525 candidate takes all four components: Listening, Reading, Speaking and Writing. There are no Core or Extended tiers. Your only choice is in Writing Question 3, where you answer 3(a) or 3(b). The scheme says that if both are attempted, the better mark counts, but writing both wastes time you need for checking.

How to use the 2026 papers as a mock

1. Do Listening under exam conditions first. Then read the transcript to see which wrong options borrowed words from the recording.
2. Rewrite your Question 6 answers in the third person. For every answer you lifted with “ich” or “mein”, change it to “er/sie” and “sein/ihr” and check the verb.
3. Plan Question 3 by tense. Before writing, label each bullet past, present or future, and use at least one “weil” or “dass” clause per bullet.
4. Check your nouns and endings last. Spend five minutes on capital letters, genders and adjective endings, which the Accuracy grid names.
5. Practise the speaking topics aloud for 4 minutes each. Use the seven topic areas above and give a reason with every opinion.

More IGCSE German resources

• IGCSE German past papers (Cambridge and Edexcel, all years)
• IGCSE past papers 2026: all subjects

🔍 Looking for a specific past paper? Use our free Past Paper Finder to search by subject, year and exam board.

Need help with a 0525 topic? Book a free trial lesson with an IGCSE German tutor →

Frequently asked questions

Are the 0525 May/June 2026 past papers free? +

Yes. The Listening (0525/12), Reading (0525/22) and Writing (0525/42) papers, their mark schemes, the listening transcript and the Speaking (0525/03) role-play cards and teacher notes are free to download and print on the Tutopiya Learning Portal.

What topics came up in 0525 Paper 2 Reading May/June 2026? +

Paper 2 had six questions: baking pictures, signs in a factory, Sabrina's week at a school holiday camp, Peter learning to drive, matching travellers looking for a travel partner, and a longer text on Sitzenbleiben, repeating a school year in Germany.

What were the 0525 Writing tasks in May/June 2026? +

Question 1 was an online order form for school sports kit, Question 2 was 80 to 90 words on your favourite day of the week, and Question 3 was a choice of an email about a school careers day or a blog about the environment, both 130 to 140 words.

How is 0525 Paper 2 Question 6 marked? +

It needs a precise lift from the text, and many answers must be changed from ich to er or sie with correct grammar. Copying a sentence without changing the person, or lifting a whole clause that starts with wenn, was refused in 2026.

Why can't I find 0525/21 or 0525/23 for 2026? +

Only variant 2 of the May/June 2026 written papers is on the portal at the moment. Cambridge sets different variants for different time zones; variants 1 and 3 test the same syllabus in the same format, so variant 2 prepares you just as well.

When will the October/November 2026 0525 papers be available? +

Cambridge usually releases the October/November papers in the new year. We add them to the Learning Portal once they are published.

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