The Spanish GCSE writing exam is a great way of showing off how much you can do in Spanish, so do not miss this opportunity! Try to use varied vocabulary, including a range of tenses, and pack in any clever expressions that you’ve learned over the years.
How the Spanish GCSE writing exam is
The higher tier writing paper is 1 hour and 15 minutes and has three sections. Each task is worth a different number of marks, so you should spend more time on the higher-mark tasks.
1. Structured task (16 marks)
There will be two tasks to choose from. You’ll be asked to write about 90 words in Spanish, based on four bullet points. Make sure you write about each bullet point and give some opinions. Learn more about the «structured task».
2. Open-ended Task (32 marks)
There will also be two tasks to choose from. You’ll need to write about 150 words in Spanish, based on two bullet points. This task is more creative, make sure you include some opinions with reasons. Learn more about the «open-ended task«.
3. Translations (12 marks)
You will be given an English passage to translate into Spanish. The passage could be on any topic you’ve studied. Learn more about the «English-Spanish translation».
Tips to carry out the writing exam successfully
- Read the instructions for questions 1 and 2 carefully. You will need to make sure you cover all the bullet points. You can often use words from the questions in your answer too.
- Spend a few minutes for each question planning out your answer. Decide how you’re going to cover everything that’s required and in what order you’re going to write things.
- Write the best answer you can, using the Spanish that you know, it is excellent to prove how much you know. It doesn’t matter if it’s not true!
- Check through your work thoroughly. Verifying your work is really important, even small mistakes can cost marks. take a look at this checklist:
- Don’t forget to write something for every bit of the task. When you’re nervous and stressed, it’s dead easy to miss out something the question has asked you to do. For tasks one and two, try to write about the bullet point in order, and tick them off as you go along.
Click on the link to learn more about how to succeed in the GCSE Spanish writing exam foundation tier.
Start working on your writing skills for exam
We know that writing in Spanish can be a little scary, but it is a task in which you can have full control and the perfect opportunity to demonstrate everything you have learned and how good your Spanish is. Now, click here to start working on your writing skills.