The Student Room Group

Gcse spanish

omg guys… GCSE spanish is so confusing 😞😞 can you guys pleaseeeee give me tips on how to get a 9!
Original post by academicweapon07
omg guys… GCSE spanish is so confusing 😞😞 can you guys pleaseeeee give me tips on how to get a 9!


Hi @academicweapon07

I studied German for GCSE but I think some of my tips could be applied to most languages so maybe you could try some of these tips...

Vocabulary is key! I made Quizlet sets after every lesson of the new vocab I had learnt or come across in the session. I would then go back to these sets, trying to get through maybe 2/3 sets a day just to keep my memory refreshed. If you see any vocab you don't know, find out what it means! And
keep practicing, as you never know which random words could help you out in the exam.

For the speaking exam, I liked to start with writing practice first. I looked at old speaking exam questions, which you might be able to find online, and then tried to create written responses to the questions in untimed conditions. This helped my writing skills to develop, and I began to understand the format of the exam. I would then try some more questions but would try and make notes instead of writing out full answers, and would then try again in timed conditions. When I felt more confident, I would then practice the questions with just speaking - even just to yourself - and I found that having some ideas generated from the writing practice made it easier to speak more fluently and with higher level sentence structures.

Something else I found really helpful was to expose myself to as much German as possible. You could watch a Spanish news channel, listen to Spanish singers, read Spanish versions of your favourite books or magazines. I even set the language in some of my apps to German - like Instagram - to try and become more familiar with the language.

I hope some of this helps!
Emily
Student Ambassador at BCU :smile:
Original post by academicweapon07
omg guys… GCSE spanish is so confusing 😞😞 can you guys pleaseeeee give me tips on how to get a 9!

hello i got an 8, so hopefully i can still help :biggrin:! (thank you @agent_duck343 for mentioning me!!).

i do agree with a lot of the tips that Emily at @BCU Student Rep gave as well! vocab was a huge help for me, especially Quizlet! i would transfer vocab from the textbook and make quizlet sets, ensuring i was practising them regularly (this was quite time-consuming but it definitely paid off!)

for writing:
- knowing synonyms and high-level GCSE phrases is quite key in order to gain more marks! also, idioms - i cannot stress this! our teacher gave us loads of idioms, and it was so nice to subtly drop some in the writing task!

for reading (this was probably my fave one and the easiest in my opinion!!)

- vocab, vocab, vocab (so basically quizlet - here's the link to my sets > https://quizlet.com/studyemma123/folders/all-spanish-gcse-vocab/sets :biggrin:)
- also, i recommend practising tenses regularly so they are easier to spot in a reading text! i would make 'grammar/tense sheets' for this and i would use spanishdict to help! (https://www.spanishdict.com/conjugation).
- also, spanishdict is also useful if you want to practise or grammar in your spare time, so definitely make an account and get started with that!
- past papers are also really important for reading (trust me, they will help so so much)

for listening (not my strong suit):
- listen to as much stuff as possible :biggrin:! (i definitely agree w/ the listening tips that Emily @BCU Student Rep gave!
- spanish podcasts i also found useful!
- if you have the online textbook on kerboodle from your school, take advantage of their listening exercises, and if you go to the vocabulary section, there is an option to listen to the vocab! without looking at the english words, try to write down their english meaning and seeing what you can work out!

for speaking:
- same as previously mentioned
- our teachers gave us model questions that could be asked for each topic and i wrote model answers and memorised them! it was a lot but definitely worked! :smile:



@Studentanomaly and @ academicweapon07 - i hope this advice helped you both! if you want any more advice, feel free to contact me by private message! also, if you're doing higher, let me also know by private message so i can send you the link to my quizlet vocab sets for each theme/topic!! https://quizlet.com/studyemma123/folders/all-spanish-gcse-vocab/sets

regards,
emmanuella :smile:
(edited 7 months ago)
Original post by emm4nuella
hello i got an 8, so hopefully i can still help :biggrin:! (thank you @agent_duck343 for mentioning me!!).

i do agree with a lot of the tips that Emily at @BCU Student Rep gave as well! vocab was a huge help for me, especially Quizlet! i would transfer vocab from the textbook and make quizlet sets, ensuring i was practising them regularly (this was quite time-consuming but it definitely paid off!)

for writing:
- knowing synonyms and high-level GCSE phrases is quite key in order to gain more marks! also, idioms - i cannot stress this! our teacher gave us loads of idioms, and it was so nice to subtly drop some in the writing task!

for reading (this was probably my fave one and the easiest in my opinion!!)

- vocab, vocab, vocab (so basically quizlet :biggrin:)
- also, i recommend practising tenses regularly so they are easier to spot in a reading text! i would make 'grammar/tense sheets' for this and i would use spanishdict to help! (https://www.spanishdict.com/conjugation).
- also, spanishdict is also useful if you want to practise or grammar in your spare time, so definitely make an account and get started with that!
- past papers are also really important for reading (trust me, they will help so so much)

for listening (not my strong suit):
- listen to as much stuff as possible :biggrin:! (i definitely agree w/ the listening tips that Emily @BCU Student Rep gave!
- spanish podcasts i also found useful!
- if you have the online textbook on kerboodle from your school, take advantage of their listening exercises, and if you go to the vocabulary section, there is an option to listen to the vocab! without looking at the english words, try to write down their english meaning and seeing what you can work out!

for speaking:
- same as previously mentioned
- our teachers gave us model questions that could be asked for each topic and i wrote model answers and memorised them! it was a lot but definitely worked! :smile:



@Studentanomaly and @ academicweapon07 - i hope this advice helped you both! if you want any more advice, feel free to contact me by private message! also, if you're doing higher, let me also know by private message so i can send you the link to my quizlet vocab sets for each theme/topic!! final thingggg, i have also made a GCSE spanish disocrd - let me know if you want to be part of it!

regards,
emmanuella :smile:

I Think i want to do a higher Spanish but im not too sure yet . My teacher says we can choose but the thing is that she never mentions when ? I dont even know if she know what people want to do?
Original post by BCU Student Rep
Hi @academicweapon07

I studied German for GCSE but I think some of my tips could be applied to most languages so maybe you could try some of these tips...

Vocabulary is key! I made Quizlet sets after every lesson of the new vocab I had learnt or come across in the session. I would then go back to these sets, trying to get through maybe 2/3 sets a day just to keep my memory refreshed. If you see any vocab you don't know, find out what it means! And
keep practicing, as you never know which random words could help you out in the exam.

For the speaking exam, I liked to start with writing practice first. I looked at old speaking exam questions, which you might be able to find online, and then tried to create written responses to the questions in untimed conditions. This helped my writing skills to develop, and I began to understand the format of the exam. I would then try some more questions but would try and make notes instead of writing out full answers, and would then try again in timed conditions. When I felt more confident, I would then practice the questions with just speaking - even just to yourself - and I found that having some ideas generated from the writing practice made it easier to speak more fluently and with higher level sentence structures.

Something else I found really helpful was to expose myself to as much German as possible. You could watch a Spanish news channel, listen to Spanish singers, read Spanish versions of your favourite books or magazines. I even set the language in some of my apps to German - like Instagram - to try and become more familiar with the language.

I hope some of this helps!
Emily
Student Ambassador at BCU :smile:

Thanks so much Emily, will do!!!!!!!!
Original post by emm4nuella
hello i got an 8, so hopefully i can still help :biggrin:! (thank you @agent_duck343 for mentioning me!!).

i do agree with a lot of the tips that Emily at @BCU Student Rep gave as well! vocab was a huge help for me, especially Quizlet! i would transfer vocab from the textbook and make quizlet sets, ensuring i was practising them regularly (this was quite time-consuming but it definitely paid off!)

for writing:
- knowing synonyms and high-level GCSE phrases is quite key in order to gain more marks! also, idioms - i cannot stress this! our teacher gave us loads of idioms, and it was so nice to subtly drop some in the writing task!

for reading (this was probably my fave one and the easiest in my opinion!!)

- vocab, vocab, vocab (so basically quizlet :biggrin:)
- also, i recommend practising tenses regularly so they are easier to spot in a reading text! i would make 'grammar/tense sheets' for this and i would use spanishdict to help! (https://www.spanishdict.com/conjugation).
- also, spanishdict is also useful if you want to practise or grammar in your spare time, so definitely make an account and get started with that!
- past papers are also really important for reading (trust me, they will help so so much)

for listening (not my strong suit):
- listen to as much stuff as possible :biggrin:! (i definitely agree w/ the listening tips that Emily @BCU Student Rep gave!
- spanish podcasts i also found useful!
- if you have the online textbook on kerboodle from your school, take advantage of their listening exercises, and if you go to the vocabulary section, there is an option to listen to the vocab! without looking at the english words, try to write down their english meaning and seeing what you can work out!

for speaking:
- same as previously mentioned
- our teachers gave us model questions that could be asked for each topic and i wrote model answers and memorised them! it was a lot but definitely worked! :smile:



@Studentanomaly and @ academicweapon07 - i hope this advice helped you both! if you want any more advice, feel free to contact me by private message! also, if you're doing higher, let me also know by private message so i can send you the link to my quizlet vocab sets for each theme/topic!! final thingggg, i have also made a GCSE spanish disocrd - let me know if you want to be part of it!

regards,
emmanuella :smile:

Thank you so much Emmanuella, this was very helpful!
Original post by Picoletta08
I Think i want to do a higher Spanish but im not too sure yet . My teacher says we can choose but the thing is that she never mentions when ? I dont even know if she know what people want to do?

go for it!! :smile:
Original post by emm4nuella
hello i got an 8, so hopefully i can still help :biggrin:! (thank you @agent_duck343 for mentioning me!!).
i do agree with a lot of the tips that Emily at @BCU Student Rep gave as well! vocab was a huge help for me, especially Quizlet! i would transfer vocab from the textbook and make quizlet sets, ensuring i was practising them regularly (this was quite time-consuming but it definitely paid off!)
for writing:
- knowing synonyms and high-level GCSE phrases is quite key in order to gain more marks! also, idioms - i cannot stress this! our teacher gave us loads of idioms, and it was so nice to subtly drop some in the writing task!
for reading (this was probably my fave one and the easiest in my opinion!!)
- vocab, vocab, vocab (so basically quizlet - here's the link to my sets > https://quizlet.com/studyemma123/folders/all-spanish-gcse-vocab/sets :biggrin:)
- also, i recommend practising tenses regularly so they are easier to spot in a reading text! i would make 'grammar/tense sheets' for this and i would use spanishdict to help! (https://www.spanishdict.com/conjugation).
- also, spanishdict is also useful if you want to practise or grammar in your spare time, so definitely make an account and get started with that!
- past papers are also really important for reading (trust me, they will help so so much)
for listening (not my strong suit):
- listen to as much stuff as possible :biggrin:! (i definitely agree w/ the listening tips that Emily @BCU Student Rep gave!
- spanish podcasts i also found useful!
- if you have the online textbook on kerboodle from your school, take advantage of their listening exercises, and if you go to the vocabulary section, there is an option to listen to the vocab! without looking at the english words, try to write down their english meaning and seeing what you can work out!
for speaking:
- same as previously mentioned
- our teachers gave us model questions that could be asked for each topic and i wrote model answers and memorised them! it was a lot but definitely worked! :smile:
@Studentanomaly and @ academicweapon07 - i hope this advice helped you both! if you want any more advice, feel free to contact me by private message! also, if you're doing higher, let me also know by private message so i can send you the link to my quizlet vocab sets for each theme/topic!! https://quizlet.com/studyemma123/folders/all-spanish-gcse-vocab/sets
regards,
emmanuella :smile:
@tystopi @Invistric @Mkitchen_ you may find this advice useful!!

Quick Reply