The following criteria give some clue as to exactly what the examiners are looking for:

1. Grammatical accuracy

   • In the first instance think verbs verbs verbs. Even at Higher, that was necessary in order to achieve an award of Satisfactory, but if your verbs are still letting you down, you must work on them!

   • Within the context of verbs, endings are important, otherwise the essay will not gain a good mark.

   • Use your dictionary to check genders of nouns and try to get your adjective endings correct.

   • Get used to working with your dictionary open at the verb pages, so you are constantly checking the accuracy of your verbs

2. Idiomatic command and sense of style This is looking for:

   • a good range of vocabulary and sentence structures appropriate to AH.

   • an essay which shows control of language, and which 'flows'.

   • a mastery of complex sentences - not just the odd 'porque' clause!

   • good use of pre-learned material. It will increase your self-confidence if you have pre-learned some expressions for each topic area, but they must be relevant to the title of the essay!

   • As far as possible, try to think in Spanish as you write your essay; this will improve the flow of your writing.

3. A planned and orderly expression of ideas

   • As in all subjects, your essay should have an introduction, stating the points you intend to develop, a middle section expanding your arguments, and a conclusion summing up your opinion.

   • You are allowed to say you don't have a definite opinion so long as you have set out the arguments on both sides.

4. Relevance to the subject set

   • You must study the title of your essay carefully and keep making sure that you are addressing this question, and not one which was relevant to an essay you prepared earlier.

   • With this in mind, take the time to study all the essay topics before choosing the most suitable one.

A good system to use is a formal argumentative essay. That means an introduction, in which you rephrase the title and say what you are going to look at: this should be about 40 to 50 words long. Follow this up with three paragraphs of 60 words or so each with an argument and counterargument on the topic. Finally, a conclusion of another 40 to 50 words, which follows on from the argument you have given and restates the topic. Write the plan out in note form (preferably in Spanish) before you start your essay, so you always know where you are going! If you are running out of time, miss out one of the arguments but make sure you get the conclusion written!