Passing AS Spanish?

I don't feel very confident with AS Spanish and my exam is soon, I'm fine with listening and reading but I struggle with the essays and the speaking
We haven't been given any example essays so I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing, and we've had no speaking practice
I don't know how I'm supposed to answer questions in the speaking
I'm on AQA so if anyone has any advice or resources which might help of greatly appreciate it

I can get Bs in reading and listening but I haven't gotten anything higher than a D in essays

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Reply 1

kkboyk

21

What I did to pass Spanish is listen to Spanish music or anything Spanish to understand the pronunciation and then I just copied what they said.

With essay, you could try writing in English and use Google translate to give you a sample.

It's like writing an essay for English. Learn as many vocabularies as you can, and when you are describing something go into a lot of details.

Reply 2

charhey

For the essay section, there are example essays in the past papers section on the AQA website in the Spanish section. Here's an example: http://filestore.aqa.org.uk/subjects/AQA-2695-W-TRB-CEXW-E-U1-1001.PDF
Basically, for essay questions that involve an argument or ask for your opinion, you must begin with an introduction outlining the argument and a general overview - perhaps you can use the imperfect by generalising, eg 'in the past divorces weren't common'. Then you start a new paragraph with one side of the argument and as many ideas as you can about it but make sure you explain them and go into detail as this helps your Content mark. Then it's the same for the opposing side of the argument and a conclusion afterwards that you can express your opinion and maybe give advice for the future.
for essay questions that ask for reasons for something, like 'why are teenagers stressed?' you need an introduction outlining many reasons why (no detail needed) and a general overview. Then just choose 3 reasons that you can speak about in a lot of detail to write about in 3 separate paragraphs (1 for each reason) and then a conclusion about what you think.

I got told it's always good to give examples, especially personal examples. Just check the example essays to see how you'd improve their essays, it really helps with grammar too.

for speaking I'd say you just need to plan questions that you think would come up, some really obvious ones like 'who is your favourite musician?’ and then any questions that could follow from what you say. Just be ready to answer any question they ask and try not to hesitate!

Good luck! Sorry for the very long post haha!

Reply 3

stephenmoffat1

I did AS Spanish last year, and in March we had the chief examiner for AQA come in and do our speaking exams. He also gave us a lesson on how to write essays (hopefully this will help).

He recommended that we started off by doing a 5 minute plan, laying out your advantages/disadvantages in a table, or a sort of mini mind-map of ideas and things to say. This can also help start thinking more deeply about the topic.

He then recommended doing a very short (2-3 sentences approx.) introduction, outlining the issue and saying what you're going to talk about.

For the main part, it varies. If its a question is like 'is alcohol good for society?', it's maybe best to do two paragraphs, each coving both sides of the argument. However if the question was like 'what are the main issues to young people in modern society?' there isn't really two sides to the argument, so he said you could do 3 shorter paragraphs coving the various issues you choose to talk about.

From what I can remember, he said try to use at least 3 different tenses inc. one like the subjunctive to get higher marks. Even just trying to use it - but not executing it perfectly - gets marks (I never really understood it but still tried to use it haha).

Then conclude stating your own opinion or overall view, and maybe a new point not covered (basically don't just repeat what you've already said).

For essays I believe it's definitely best to go for quality over quantity. Being concise and clear about your points and not going on about similar issues can really help the essay flow well.

I remember I had a look on the AQA website for example essays for different grades from previous years. It lets you see what full-mark essays are like and you can use them to improve your own essay writing too.

Sorry if its a bit unclear, tried to recall as much as I could!

As for the Reading and Listening I just tried to learn as much vocabulary as possible and did as many past papers as possible.

Hope this helps.

Reply 4

BaudelaireLucky

OP

8

Original post by stephenmoffat1

I did AS Spanish last year, and in March we had the chief examiner for AQA come in and do our speaking exams. He also gave us a lesson on how to write essays (hopefully this will help).

He recommended that we started off by doing a 5 minute plan, laying out your advantages/disadvantages in a table, or a sort of mini mind-map of ideas and things to say. This can also help start thinking more deeply about the topic.

He then recommended doing a very short (2-3 sentences approx.) introduction, outlining the issue and saying what you're going to talk about.

For the main part, it varies. If its a question is like 'is alcohol good for society?', it's maybe best to do two paragraphs, each coving both sides of the argument. However if the question was like 'what are the main issues to young people in modern society?' there isn't really two sides to the argument, so he said you could do 3 shorter paragraphs coving the various issues you choose to talk about.

From what I can remember, he said try to use at least 3 different tenses inc. one like the subjunctive to get higher marks. Even just trying to use it - but not executing it perfectly - gets marks (I never really understood it but still tried to use it haha).

Then conclude stating your own opinion or overall view, and maybe a new point not covered (basically don't just repeat what you've already said).

For essays I believe it's definitely best to go for quality over quantity. Being concise and clear about your points and not going on about similar issues can really help the essay flow well.

I remember I had a look on the AQA website for example essays for different grades from previous years. It lets you see what full-mark essays are like and you can use them to improve your own essay writing too.

Sorry if its a bit unclear, tried to recall as much as I could!

As for the Reading and Listening I just tried to learn as much vocabulary as possible and did as many past papers as possible.

Hope this helps.

Thank you! This was really helpful as we haven't been taught how to write the essays, would you possibly be able to link me to the example essays? I've tried to find them before but I couldn't :smile:

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Reply 5

stephenmoffat1

Original post by BaudelaireLucky

Thank you! This was really helpful as we haven't been taught how to write the essays, would you possibly be able to link me to the example essays? I've tried to find them before but I couldn't :smile:

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The essay is worth like 35 marks out of 110 in the exam so it's definitely worth practising!

And here's the link - scroll down a bit to 'exemplar materal'
http://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/spanish/a-level/spanish-2695/past-papers-and-mark-schemes

Reply 6

BaudelaireLucky

OP

8

Original post by stephenmoffat1

The essay is worth like 35 marks out of 110 in the exam so it's definitely worth practising!

And here's the link - scroll down a bit to 'exemplar materal'
http://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/spanish/a-level/spanish-2695/past-papers-and-mark-schemes

Thank you! :smile:

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Reply 7

BuddingAchiever

10

http://www.memrise.com/course/169708/spanish-as-aqa/ you guys can use this memrise course that has ALL THE SUBJECT SPECIFIC VOCABULARLY, tailored for the AQA course, although anyone is ofcourse welcome to use it. It has complex oral phrases for 'most' subtopics which I've incorporated... and they did help me achieve a good grade for my mocks. Also, inbox me if you want an example essays. The ones from the AQA website are useful, although I would say that many are actually marked generously. I have around 15 typed essays from homework/ revision and marks vary from 30-34 (I've never achieved 35!.. my teacher doesn't believe in full marks!) so I would be more than happy to send a few documents or so! BUENA SUERTE!!