A level Spanish

A level Spanish is excellent! A little challenging (especially at first) but a great subject regardless. I'd recommend just reading various newspaper articles online, watching some TV shows or movies and putting on English subtitles, or attempting to read some simple novels in Spanish like Harry Potter and the like.

Reply 2

Sophhhowa

A level languages are supposed to be HARD and expectations are high. Personally I’d be reluctant to go into it with only a 6-7 at GCSE. I’d want to be getting ideally 8s if not high 7s in anything I wanted to take at A level. In my classes people who got 7s or below struggled and a lot ended up dropping after AS. Sorry to be a bit negative but GCSE lays a good foundation for A level that being said it is still perfectly doable if u want. What does ur teacher say both about u taking it and pre work? If you do decide to do it then you can start learning vocab, brush up on grammar, watch TV in Spanish, listen to Spanish music basically just immerse yourself in as much Spanish as possible

Reply 3

OP

Original post by Sophhhowa

A level languages are supposed to be HARD and expectations are high. Personally I’d be reluctant to go into it with only a 6-7 at GCSE. I’d want to be getting ideally 8s if not high 7s in anything I wanted to take at A level. In my classes people who got 7s or below struggled and a lot ended up dropping after AS. Sorry to be a bit negative but GCSE lays a good foundation for A level that being said it is still perfectly doable if u want. What does ur teacher say both about u taking it and pre work? If you do decide to do it then you can start learning vocab, brush up on grammar, watch TV in Spanish, listen to Spanish music basically just immerse yourself in as much Spanish as possible

Okay, thanks for your reply! I did say to be harsh, in my mocks I did get a 7 for reading and writing so I should be alright. My teacher said I have the ability to do A level Spanish but she said I would struggle and told me to recap my GCSE Spanish to help with a level Spanish in the upcoming autumn. And thanks I will gladly watch films and listen to Spanish music.

Reply 4

OP

Original post by Quick-use

A level Spanish is excellent! A little challenging (especially at first) but a great subject regardless. I'd recommend just reading various newspaper articles online, watching some TV shows or movies and putting on English subtitles, or attempting to read some simple novels in Spanish like Harry Potter and the like.

Okay, thank you so much I will do!

Reply 5

Original post by Manip01

Okay, thanks for your reply! I did say to be harsh, in my mocks I did get a 7 for reading and writing so I should be alright. My teacher said I have the ability to do A level Spanish but she said I would struggle and told me to recap my GCSE Spanish to help with a level Spanish in the upcoming autumn. And thanks I will gladly watch films and listen to Spanish music.

GCSE to A level Spanish is somewhat of a big jump (initially) but it's really not that bad as long as you persevere. I did average at GCSE, struggled immensely at the beginning of A level (literally failing every single past paper and mock exam left and right), and then everything clicked and I ended up getting full marks for literally every single speaking and writing paper. For A2, I even got full marks for my written and speaking exams which was higher than the native speakers' scores.

Ergo, if someone like me who was super average in Spanish prior to A level could do well at A level and then do a degree in it, there's definitely no reason why you can't!

As an aside, I was also extremely average at French GCSE and managed to do a turnaround at A level! :rambo:

Reply 6

LaGataSonriente

14

Watching Spanish TV is a good way to absorb a bit of language without getting too stressed. If you have Netflix I would recommend Las Chicas del Cable, Alta Mar and Elite (although beware of some mature content, especially in Elite. Alta Mar is the safest). Some good YouTube channels for Spanish grammar would be Professor Jason and TheSpanishDude. I read the Penguin book of Spanish short stories while I was at GCSE and found it useful, relatively cheap as an ebook as well.
If you have any other questions about Spanish, feel free to ask, either here or as a PM. I love Spanish and have a lot of extra free time at the moment!

Reply 7

OP

Original post by Quick-use

GCSE to A level Spanish is somewhat of a big jump (initially) but it's really not that bad as long as you persevere. I did average at GCSE, struggled immensely at the beginning of A level (literally failing every single past paper and mock exam left and right), and then everything clicked and I ended up getting full marks for literally every single speaking and writing paper. For A2, I even got full marks for my written and speaking exams which was higher than the native speakers' scores.

Ergo, if someone like me who was super average in Spanish prior to A level could do well at A level and then do a degree in it, there's definitely no reason why you can't!

As an aside, I was also extremely average at French GCSE and managed to do a turnaround at A level! :rambo:

OH wow! Good to hear that you transformed your grades in Spanish from AS to A2.
What would you say was hard at the beginning of AS Spanish?
And how did Spanish click for you within a year?

Reply 8

OP

Original post by LaGataSonriente

Watching Spanish TV is a good way to absorb a bit of language without getting too stressed. If you have Netflix I would recommend Las Chicas del Cable, Alta Mar and Elite (although beware of some mature content, especially in Elite. Alta Mar is the safest). Some good YouTube channels for Spanish grammar would be Professor Jason and TheSpanishDude. I read the Penguin book of Spanish short stories while I was at GCSE and found it useful, relatively cheap as an ebook as well.
If you have any other questions about Spanish, feel free to ask, either here or as a PM. I love Spanish and have a lot of extra free time at the moment!

Oh, thanks so much for the reply! I will definitely look into those Netflix series for sure!
I'm assuming you did A level Spanish if so I wanted to ask what was the most difficult thing about A level Spanish and is it hard to get an A at the end of A level Spanish?

Reply 9

lovelylemon

12

It is a BIG jump - the level of Spanish will increase and the class size will decrease (usually) so it's a big struggle to keep up for the first few weeks. But I think that's true for pretty much anyone starting the A-level regardless of what they got at GCSE (unless they're a native speaker). So if you have a passion for Spanish, try it! It's a lot of hard work, but I really enjoy it

Reply 10

xmpj.Tx

14

HUGE Jump from GCSe. I got a 9 in Spanish and I ended up dropping at A Level within the first few weeks. However that’s probably down to several factors such as the teaching (pray that you have a good teacher as in many cases you’re confronted with new vocab and due to the pace of A Level courses you rarely have time to go through every single thing you don’t understand and success will be heavily reliant on a lot of independent learning time) and the fact that I was already doing 5 courses and Spanish didn’t seem necessary for my uni aspirations . However I do regret dropping it as not only is it a beautiful language but it’s also super useful due to it being widely spoken and could open many doors for you in the future! I still teach myself it at home as I find it easier to learn it organically and not in a classroom/ lesson format and I can vouch that watching all them Spanish shows on Netflix like Elite and Money Heist / La Casa de Papel not only makes it fun ( as it definetly counts as independent learning imo) but has been proven to improve your fluency as you’ll find that many of the words/ phrases you learn in A Level Language courses are variants not commonly used by native speakers . I say go for it !! It’s super rewarding to learn languages at a higher level and paired with most other A Levels it can look really good on uni / job applications.

Reply 11

LaGataSonriente

14

Original post by Manip01

Oh, thanks so much for the reply! I will definitely look into those Netflix series for sure!
I'm assuming you did A level Spanish if so I wanted to ask what was the most difficult thing about A level Spanish and is it hard to get an A at the end of A level Spanish?

Getting an A requires hard work and dedication, but it's far from impossible! Sadly, in my personal experience, A*s are extremely difficult to get unless you are a native speaker. The hardest thing is probably the grammar- every other component (speaking, writing, reading) all require a sound knowledge of grammar, so it is the foundation for the whole A Level. On the plus side, I found A2 easier than AS. Put in the hard work building a strong foundation in AS and A2 will be so much easier!

Reply 12

sara15543

9

Original post by Manip01

I'm wanting to do A level Spanish, I did it at GCSE and I really enjoyed it!
I was predicted a 6/7 - at school.
Can anyone tell me how hard it is?
And also what can I do till September to help me prepare for A level Spanish? x

It is very difficult to get a high mark BUT if you really enjoy it and do a lot of extra "work" you'll find it easy. (It's not really work just swap things you usually do for fun with spanish things and you'll get really good). Try to immerse yourself in spanish, watch spanish language movies and shows (with spanish subtitles), make a twitter account where you only tweet in spanish and interract with other hispanic people and celebs, watch youtube videos in spanish.

Reply 13

Original post by Manip01

OH wow! Good to hear that you transformed your grades in Spanish from AS to A2.
What would you say was hard at the beginning of AS Spanish?
And how did Spanish click for you within a year?

What was difficult initially was that there were a lot of new vocabulary that I didn't know and I hadn't really learned all of the tenses by that time. I was still relying on memorising certain sentences etc for what was required.

It clicked due to consistent work and perseverance. Honestly, if you keep up with your Spanish as much as possible (don't overdo it, of course) by doing all of your homework and maybe listening to the radio in Spanish a few times a week, then it'll slowly click for you as well.

The key to learning languages is simply perseverance. My friends were better at languages during GCSE but I was the only one who continued them and persevered which resulted in me doing a degree in languages.

A and A* grades can be a little tricky but definitely achievable as long as you keep up with your Spanish. :rambo:

Reply 14

Plantagenet Crown

They're challenging but giving an exact idea of how difficult they are is impossible as everyone has different natural talents for languages. For some people A level languages are very hard, but I did French A level and found it quite easy. I ended up with an A* despite not being a native speaker.

Reply 15

OP

Original post by Quick-use

What was difficult initially was that there were a lot of new vocabulary that I didn't know and I hadn't really learned all of the tenses by that time. I was still relying on memorising certain sentences etc for what was required.

It clicked due to consistent work and perseverance. Honestly, if you keep up with your Spanish as much as possible (don't overdo it, of course) by doing all of your homework and maybe listening to the radio in Spanish a few times a week, then it'll slowly click for you as well.

The key to learning languages is simply perseverance. My friends were better at languages during GCSE but I was the only one who continued them and persevered which resulted in me doing a degree in languages.

A and A* grades can be a little tricky but definitely achievable as long as you keep up with your Spanish. :rambo:

Well, that's good on you for persevering and thanks for the information!

Reply 16

OP

Original post by Plantagenet Crown

They're challenging but giving an exact idea of how difficult they are is impossible as everyone has different natural talents for languages. For some people A level languages are very hard, but I did French A level and found it quite easy. I ended up with an A* despite not being a native speaker.

That's so good! Any tips for me for the AS/A2 level?

Reply 17

Original post by Manip01

That's so good! Any tips for me for the AS/A2 level?

Although your question wasn't directed toward me, you might find my thread (which I made for Scottish students) helpful:

https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2320896

Reply 18

OP