How to need stress relief very much so...

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I have my German exam tomorrow, and I am so afraid I am going to fail the exam hardcore. I just wish I could have a meltdown or something and pass out so I don't have to write it. I've heard it is an easy exam, but I feel sick just thinking about writing it. Plus if I do fail... it could mess up my program potentially. And that just makes the sick feeling worse... I am actually shakey right now outa fear for this exam. Plus I have to finish up food left in my suite before I move back home for the break between semesters, and I am sick of having the same 2 meals.

Just don't care. Even if you fail the exam you still have us and WrongPlanet. What are you taking in school, anyway? Even if you fail it if you lecture others on here about your obsession (if it's that) we'll be very impressed with you and you won't need NTs to be impressed with you passing your course.


That might help some, anyway.

Do you know anybody you can chat up in German, to grease the mental wheels? When I was in school I used to like to get my mind ready for exams by doing some exercises in the subject.

Maybe read something in German, if you aren't friends with anybody from your class? (Not something challenging, so you don't discourage yourself ) When I was studying a foreign language there was a newsstand in a nearby city that offered a newspaper in that language. I used to pick that up whenever I was in that town.

I took german to fill a hole in my schedule... I regret that now. Unfortunatly, If I don't pass it, I might be considered "not progressing fast enough" towards my degree... I had to drop a couple of other courses due to not being properly prepared for them, and I am ready for them next term with arrangments made through my office for persons with disabilities... I am afraid I might have to use being AS and disabled as an excuse for the lack of progression, and say that now that I have the proper help in place, I shouldn't do as bad again.

Yeah, maybe you could attribute any difficulties you have with German by blaming the social problems of AS, saying they made it too difficult to practice speaking German with anybody or to make friends with anybody you could practice with?

I wouldn't give up hope yet, though - you said the exam is supposed to be easy, you might breeze through it and be wasting all this worry on nothing.

I know I won't breeze through it, I'm behind on material. TY AS, I couldn't keep up with what the profs were saying in class half the time, and notes were not put on the board because it was too small.... damn takes too long to interperit what someone is saying to take in a whole lecture... and not finding a good study group....

My undergraduate degree had a lot of German. You can pick my brain if that would help.

Mind explaining when to use accusative form.... my mind hurts from thinking about it.

Nouns take accusative case mainly when they are directly receiving some action (they are direct objects).

"Ich habe dich lieb." Yes, it's an idiom, but the accusative "dich" is consistent with the general concept of the accusative.

Dative is mainly for when something or someone receives an indirect action (is an indirect object).

"Wie geht's dir?" Also an idiom; nevertheless consistent with the dative concept. In English, a literal rendering might be "How's it going (for/with) you?" Modern English has no special morphology for accusative and dative, unlike German. English uses words like "to", "for", and "with" to represent the dative.

"Es steht mir, er hat mich geschlagen." It seems to me (dative), that he struck me (accusative).
"Ich möchte dich auf ein Bier einladen." I'd like to buy you (accusative) a beer.
"Ich kann ihm nicht glauben." I can't believe him (dative).
"Es gehört zu mir." It belongs to me (dative).

Most of the time it makes sense. There are a few situations, like "I can't believe him" above, in which English speakers don't necessarily think of believing as something dative. We probably conceive of it as more of an accusative flavor in English.

Even native speakers occasionally experience uncertainty about when to use accusative or dative. Most of the time, it's clear enough, but there is a trend in some dialects to conflate the two cases, at least when it comes to personal pronouns.

Can you describe that in a way that someone at a grade 1 level for understanding linguistic terms can make sense of it? Sortof like when this type of a word is in a sentence with this type of a word having this type of a meaning... I really don't get the concept of a "direct object"

I have great english skills, try to have me explain the linguistics of it, and I suddenly lose all ability to think.

I'm not sure how to reduce it any more than I have above.

Perhaps a look at this will be more helpful:

http://german.about.com/library/blcase_sum.htm

I am not sure what kind advice to give, and I remember having the same worries and fears when I was back in school. Do some practicing and be sure to get a good night's rest, that will make a world of a difference. Try to think positively.

Well, I wrote the exam, and I think I failed... It was pretty easy. I might have passed, but if I did, it is by the grace of God alone. It could have been a pas or a fail.... not really sure at this point.