Spanish GCSE

Foundation Tier

This exam is worth 25% of your final grade
This paper will last for 35 minutes approximately (including 5 minutes' reading time at the start of the test and 2 minutes’ checking time at the end of the test). The pace of these recordings is fairly slow and the gaps are quite long.
Section A is questions and answers in English. They are a mixture of multiple choice and written answers in English. [32 marks]
Section B is a 20 word minimum dictation (transcription) of 4 individual, short sentences in Spanish (including some with credit for accurate spelling). You will hear the dictation sentences 3 times: the first time as a full sentence, the second time in short fragments and the third time again as a full sentence. [8 marks]

Sample paper for Foundation Listening . This is from the legacy exam series but will still be useful.

Higher Tier

This exam is worth 25% of your final grade
This paper will last for 45 minutes approximately (including 5 minutes' reading time at the start of the test and 2 minutes’ checking time at the end of the test) The pace of these recordings is fairly slow and the gaps are quite long.
Section A is questions and answers in English. They are a mixture of multiple choice and written answers. [40 marks]
Section B is a 30 word minimum dictation (transcription) of 5 individual, short sentences in Spanish (including some with credit for accurate spelling). You will hear the dictation sentences 3 times: the first time as a full sentence, the second time in short fragments and the third time again as a full sentence. [10 marks]

Sample paper for Higher Listening This is from the legacy exam series but will still be useful.

Foundation Tier

This exam is worth 25% of your final grade
This test will last for 7-9 minutes (+ 15 mins preparation time)
Role-play – 1- 1.5 minutes. You will act this out with your teacher using the notes you have just prepared. This will include asking a question. [10 marks]
Reading aloud text & short conversation – 2 to 2.5 minutes. You will be asked to read out a text of about 5 sentences. You will be then asked 4 questions supplied by AQA that relate to that topic and which you will have just prepared in the preparation time. [15 marks]
2 Photo cards & discussion – 4 to 5 minutes (worth 1/2 marks). You will speak for 1 minutes about the photos and you will then be asked questions from the relevant theme (1,2 or 3). These questions will be selected at random from our PRQs. [25 marks]

Higher Tier

This exam is worth 25% of your final grade
This test will last for 10-12 minutes (+ 15 mins preparation time) hoto card)
Role-play – 1- 1.5 minutes. You will act this out with your teacher using the notes you have just prepared. This will include asking a question. [10 marks]
Reading aloud text & short conversation – 3 to 3.5 minutes. You will be asked to read out a text of about 5 sentences. You will be then asked be 4 questions supplied by AQA that relate to that topic and which you will have just prepared in the preparation time. [15 marks]
2 Photo cards & discussion – 6 to 7 minutes (worth 1/2 marks). You will speak for 1 minutes about the photos and you will then be asked questions from the relevant theme (1,2 or 3). These questions will be selected at random from our PRQs. [25 marks]

Foundation Tier

This exam is worth 25% of your final grade.
This paper will last for 45 minutes.
Section A is comprehension questions and answers in English. They are a mixture of multiple choice and written answers. [40 marks]
Section B is a 35 word translation from Spanish into English. They are a mixture of multiple choice and written answers. [10 marks]

Sample paper for Foundation Reading. This is from the legacy exam series but will still be useful.

Higher Tier

This exam is worth 25% of your final grade
Section A is comprehension questions and answers in English. They are a mixture of multiple choice and written answers. [40 marks]
Section B is a 35 word translation from Spanish into English. They are a mixture of multiple choice and written answers. [10 marks]

Sample paper for Higher Reading. This is from the legacy exam series but will still be useful.

Foundation Tier

This exam is worth 25% of your final grade
This paper will last for 70 minutes
Question 1 – five short sentences about a photo [10 marks]
Question 2 – 50 words in response to 5 bullet points, [10 marks]
Question 3 – application of grammar. 5 short sentences with a missing word, selected from three options [5 marks]
Question 4 – translation from English into Spanish of a minimum of 35 words [10 marks]
Question 5 - 90 words in response to 3 bullet points [15 marks]

Sample paper for Foundation Writing. This is from the legacy exam series but will still be useful.

Higher Tier

This exam is worth 25% of your final grade
This paper will last for 75 minutes
Question 1 – translation from English into Spanish of a minimum of 50 words [10 marks]
Question 2 - 90 words in response to 3 bullet points [15 marks]
Question 3 – 150 words in response to 2 open-ended bullet points [25 marks]

Sample paper for Higher Writing. This is from the legacy exam series but will still be useful.

Learning your PRQs thoroughly is essential to success at GCSE Spanish, so that you can reproduce these accurately and confidently in your Speaking Test and have some quality material to recycle for your Writing Test. This is your top priority. Practise with a friend or family member, making recordings, write them out repeatedly - do something active. Just reading them will not be an effective way to remember them.
For productive language, make sure you know and can use between 3 and 6 opinion phrases. (See the Repaso slides in the section below)
Make sure you know and can use a variety of connecting and extending words. (Again, see the Repaso slides in the section below)
Make sure you know and can use a variety of set phrases that can apply in different contexts. (See below)
Review your grammar notes and make sure that you know and can use key verbs in the present, past and future time frames. Successful attempts at verb endings are crucial.
Make sure you know all the 500+ basic topic words in Beginners Linguascope.
Listen to the Introductory dialogues in Intermediate Linguascope for vocabulary in context. Slow down the speed to make it more accessible.
Watch all the episodes of Aventuras Vascas again. There is no better way to passively take in GCSE language and topics.
We also strongly recommend BBC Bitesize that has material specifically aimed at the current series of AQA GCSE Spanish (see below).
When revising modern foreign languages - 'little and often' is always best!