Cambridge IGCSE German 0525/22 is the May/June 2026 Paper 2 (Reading), variant 2. It lasts 1 hour, is worth 45 marks and is sat by every 0525 candidate. There are six compulsory questions that build from picture matching to a longer article, and the two short-answer questions in German, on learning to drive and on repeating a school year, carry 23 of the 45 marks. This guide goes through every question, gives the answer key for the letter questions and shows what the mark scheme accepted and refused in the written answers. The paper and its mark scheme are free on the Tutopiya Learning Portal.

For an overview of all the 0525 papers from this series, see IGCSE German 0525 May/June 2026 past papers: what came up and how it was marked.

0525/22 at a glance

Question	Text	Format	Marks
1	Baking: six pictures	Match five sentences to pictures (A–F)	5
2	Eight signs in a factory	Match five statements to signs (A–H)	5
3	Sabrina’s message about a school holiday camp	Multiple choice (A–C)	7
4	Peter, 18, from Kassel, learning to drive	Short answers in German	12
5	Five people and eight travel-partner adverts	Match each person to an advert (1–8)	5
6	Article on Sitzenbleiben, repeating a school year	Short answers in German	11
Total			45

All six questions are compulsory. Dictionaries are not allowed.

Question-by-question walkthrough

Question 1: baking pictures (5 marks)

Five short sentences from someone baking a cake, each matched to one of six pictures: apples for the recipe, eggs on the table, washing hands, butter that is too cold and eating the cake later. Key: (a) C, (b) F, (c) B, (d) A, (e) D. One picture is spare.

Question 2: signs in a factory (5 marks)

Eight signs (car park, canteen, emergency exit, conference room, reception, lift, toilet and machine room) and five statements. Key: (a) H, (b) B, (c) A, (d) F, (e) E. None of the statements uses the word on the sign, so you have to make the link: mechanics and technicians work in the machine room, fish on Fridays means the canteen, a parking space means the car park, getting to the fifth floor fast means the lift, and a visitor’s pass comes from reception.

Question 3: Sabrina’s holiday camp (7 marks)

Sabrina writes to her friend Meghan about a week at a holiday camp her school organised. Key: (a) B, (b) B, (c) A, (d) A, (e) B, (f) C, (g) C.

The distractors all come from the text. “Letzten Monat” and “letzten Sommer” both appear, but the stay lasted a week (a). The bus and car are mentioned only as less fun than the train (c). Only the four Year 10 classes went, so the “4” in option C of (d) is a trap. She says they didn’t camp in tents and that the big house was for billiards and films, so they slept in camper vans (f). Swimming is the activity that matches the open-air pool (g).

Question 4: Peter learns to drive (12 marks)

Peter describes the steps towards his driving licence: the minimum age, theory lessons, an eye test, a first-aid course, his first lesson and what comes next. You answer eleven parts in German, one with two answers.

The scheme’s rules for this question:

• Finding the right information matters more than copying it exactly, and a few added words are a harmless addition if they don’t change the answer.
• The subject must be clear, and any change you make to the language must be correct, even in words the question didn’t need.
• Tense errors may be accepted, depending on the question.

What the answers needed:

• 4(a) the age: 18, or “im Alter von 18 Jahren”. “Von 18 Jahren” on its own was refused.
• 4(b) what he’ll soon be allowed to do: drive a car himself.
• 4(c) two things from the theory lessons (2 marks): about the car, and the traffic rules. “Peter hat viel über das Auto”, without “gelernt”, was refused.
• 4(d) the eye-test result: he now has to wear glasses. This needed manipulation from “ich muss” to “er muss” or “Peter muss”; “Peter braucht eine Brille” was also accepted.
• 4(e) why he earns more: because he knows some first aid. Again “ich” had to become “er”, with the verb at the end of the “weil” clause. Saying he had to do a first-aid course was also accepted, with correct word order insisted on.
• 4(f) how he felt before the first lesson: nervous.
• 4(g) what he did first in the car: adjust the seat or check the mirror.
• 4(h) what the instructor explained: how to start a car. If you write a full sentence, it must be in the past: “Der Fahrlehrer erklärt…” in the present was refused, while the perfect or imperfect was accepted.
• 4(i) where the first drive went: along a small country road.
• 4(j) next week’s lesson: parking.
• 4(k) why he won’t sleep: because parking is difficult. This was not a manipulation question, so “Weil Parken ist schwierig”, with the verb in the wrong place, and the plain statement “Parken ist schwierig” were both accepted.

Question 5: travel partners (5 marks)

Five people describe the travel partner they want, and you match each to one of eight adverts. Key: (a) 5, (b) 8, (c) 2, (d) 6, (e) 3.

Each correct match turns on one specific need. The city-culture traveller (a) matches the person who prefers a culture-packed city stay to a beach holiday (5). The traveller who wants everyday life, not a luxury hotel (b), matches the one who stays privately with families (8). The adventurer heading for South America (c) matches the one whose next trip is to South American countries (2), not the climber who wants another continent (1). The wheelchair user (d) matches the person who helped a traveller who could no longer see and would do it again (6). The low-budget camper (e) matches the camping fan who travelled the world without money or hotels (3). Adverts 1, 4 and 7 were not used.

Question 6: Sitzenbleiben (11 marks)

An article on repeating a school year in Germany: how the 1 to 6 grading scale works, how many pupils repeated last year in Bavaria and Berlin, a positive experience from Michael (16), a difficult one from Angelika (15), and a teacher’s view.

The rules are stricter than in Question 4. The scheme says a precise lift is needed, not just the right place in the text. Extra information that doesn’t contradict the answer is harmless, but anything that contradicts it invalidates the mark.

• 6(a) what happens: you have to repeat the school year. This needed a change of word order: copying the whole first sentence starting with “Wenn” was refused.
• 6(b) what many teachers think: it is a second chance. Giving their reason (you repeat what you didn’t understand) was refused as not answering the question directly.
• 6(c) which grades: two fives or one six. Both were required.
• 6(d) the Bavaria figure: 4.1 per cent. Writing “4,1 Prozent der Schüler sitzengeblieben” was refused, because the auxiliary verb is missing.
• 6(e) why Michael’s homework took so long: he couldn’t understand anything, with “ich” changed to “er”.
• 6(f) why he could hardly sleep: his grades were very bad (with “meine” changed to “seine” or “Michaels”) or he was worried (with “er”).
• 6(g) Angelika’s two problems (2 marks): she didn’t know the people in the new class, and everyone was younger than her. Both needed “ich” changed to “sie” with correct endings. “Sie fühlte sich sehr deprimiert” was also accepted, but only with the reflexive “sich”. A missing umlaut on “jünger” was tolerated.
• 6(h) how pupils like Angelika find it: not easy psychologically, and “psychisch” was required. Saying it is linked to fear and uncertainty was also accepted.
• 6(i) two things the teacher says (2 marks): any two of three: it costs schools a lot of money, it isn’t the best solution for every pupil, and helping weaker pupils individually would be a better alternative.

Where the marks are on 0525/22

• Letter and number answers carried 22 marks: Questions 1, 2, 3 and 5. No German writing is needed, so these should be close to full marks.
• Short answers in German carried 23 marks: Question 4 (12) and Question 6 (11).
• Seven marks were flagged “MANIPULATION required”: 4(d), 4(e), 6(a), 6(e), 6(f) and both parts of 6(g). A further mark, 4(h), needed a past tense if you wrote a full sentence.
• Three parts are worth two marks, with two answer lines: 4(c), 6(g) and 6(i), 6 marks together. 6(c) also needed two elements, both grades, but for a single mark.
• The difficulty rises through the paper. Question 6 is the last and hardest, so leave enough time for it.

How to self-mark 0525/22 with the mark scheme

1. Check the letter questions first. Questions 1, 2, 3 and 5 are one mark each. If you ticked two boxes and didn’t cross one out, the scheme gives no mark.
2. Mark Question 4 for the right information. Small additions are fine as long as the subject is clear and anything you changed is correct.
3. Mark Question 6 more strictly. The answer must be a precise lift, and anything that contradicts it cancels the mark.
4. Look for the word MANIPULATION in the guidance column. For those items, check that every “ich”, “mein” and verb ending has been changed for the third person. A copied “ich” scores nothing.
5. Apply the spelling rule. Accept a misspelling if it looks or sounds like the right word, but not if it makes a different German word.
6. For two-line answers, two correct answers on one line with the other line blank still score 2. If the other line has a wrong answer, you score 1.
7. Log each lost mark as not found in the text, found but copied without changing the person, or a grammar slip in the change.

Sit 0525/22 as a timed mock

The paper allows 60 minutes for 45 marks, a little over one minute per mark. A workable plan:

Block	Marks	Time
Question 1	5	3 minutes
Question 2	5	4 minutes
Question 3	7	7 minutes
Question 4	12	15 minutes
Question 5	5	10 minutes
Question 6	11	17 minutes
Check verb endings and pronouns in Questions 4 and 6	–	4 minutes

For Question 5, underline one key need in each person’s text before reading the adverts. In Question 6, read the question, find the sentence, then decide whether it needs changing from “ich” before you write.

Other May/June 2026 0525 papers

• 0525 Paper 12 (Listening)
• 0525 Paper 42 (Writing)

Practise and download

• Download 0525/22 and its mark scheme on the Learning Portal →
• All 0525 May/June 2026 papers: overview and marking patterns
• Try a free IGCSE German quiz

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

Frequently asked questions

What texts were on 0525 Paper 22 Reading May/June 2026? +

Six questions: baking pictures, signs in a factory, Sabrina's message about a school holiday camp, Peter, 18, learning to drive, five people matched to eight travel-partner adverts, and an article on Sitzenbleiben, repeating a school year in Germany.

How many marks is 0525/22 and how long is it? +

It is out of 45 marks and lasts 1 hour. Questions 1, 2, 3 and 5 (22 marks) need only a letter or number; Questions 4 and 6 (23 marks) need short answers in German.

What does MANIPULATION required mean in the 0525/22 mark scheme? +

It means you can't copy the text unchanged: you must change the language, usually from ich to er or sie with the right verb and possessive. Seven marks on 0525/22 were flagged this way, in 4(d), 4(e), 6(a), 6(e), 6(f) and both parts of 6(g).

What was the answer to Question 5 on 0525/22? +

5, 8, 2, 6 and 3 for people (a) to (e). Adverts 1, 4 and 7 (mountaineering, a luxury cruise and cycling) were not used.

Do spelling mistakes lose marks on 0525/22? +

Not usually. The scheme marks for communication: a misspelling is accepted if it looks or sounds like the right word and a native speaker would understand it, but not if it makes a different German word.

Where can I download 0525/22 May/June 2026 and its mark scheme? +

Both are free to download and print on the Tutopiya Learning Portal, on the Cambridge IGCSE German 0525 past papers page.

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