Gruß Gott, Danny!
They played a record to you twice (I think), and then you were questioned (in German, of course) to test your understanding of the story, and your ability to discuss it with your examiner (btw, did they use the same idea then in our schools at home ? - certainly wasn't in French in my time - '38).
Well, we had a similar system in 1965 when I did my 'O' levels! Except that the story required for the
Nacherzählung was read by the supervisor, rather than having been recorded. For the Oxford and Cambridge Schools Examination Board, it formed part of Paper III, Composition and Story. It was the same for French (obviously a different story though!). The other part of Paper III was English into German (or French, as appropriate).
I see that on Monday 12 July 1965, the day started with French III for 2 hours, then French II (Dictation) for ½ hour. After lunch we had German II, then finally German III. The previous week I had French I (Unprepared Translation into English of 2 passages in French) on Wednesday 7 July for 1¾ hours - and the last of the 21 individual exams that I did that Summer was German I on Saturday 17 July, for another joyous 1¾ hours.
Earlier, we'd also had both French and German oral exams - an external examiner would chat with you, then show you a picture on a card, about which he'd ask you various questions.
So yes, a total of 4 exams for French and the same for German. Yet nowadays my foreign language skills are such that I can just about get by in restaurants and that's about it!
I wonder whether 14 year olds are subjected to such torture these days?
Auf Wiederschauen!