How to get a top grade in your Spanish exam: AP, A-Level, GCSE, DELE – Episode 29

How to get a top grade in your Spanish exam: AP, A-Level, GCSE, DELE

Podcast episode 29 – SEE ALL EPISODES

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

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Hi, welcome back to Speak Spanish with Maria Fernandez. I’m Maria Fernandez, a native Spanish teacher.

Today I’m going to give you some awesome ideas on how to get a top grade in your Spanish exam.

See also: Maria’s step-by-step Spanish courses.

Today’s question comes from Liza, one of my students. Liza’s preparing for a Spanish language exam. A few days ago she asked me whether I could give her some tips to help her get a top grade.

My personal experience

I’ve helped quite a few of my students get good grades in their exams, so I do indeed have some great tips.

I also did a language exam myself a few years ago. I was studying German, and I decided to prepare for the A-Level exam. That’s the school leaving exam here in the UK, which I took as an adult.

It was a fantastic experience. After many years teaching Spanish, I sat in a German class for a whole year, and went through what my students go through. Exam included.

It was a sober reminder of how tough it is to find the motivation to learn a language. Practice every day. Keep going when you’re hardly making any progress. And learn topics you’re not crazy about. But, I persevered. And when I received my exam results, I was as happy as a 17 year old. You see, I had got an A, the top grade.

Have a look at
Maria’s step-by-step Spanish courses

In this lesson, I want to walk you through what I did to get that top grade. I’ve narrowed it down to the main 7 points. Let’s go through them:

Spanish exam: tip 1

Number 1. Start preparing for your exam a few months in advance

In other subjects, studying intensively for a couple of weeks just before an exam, can make all the difference to your grade. With language exams, I’m afraid that doesn’t work very well.

What makes a big difference is studying for one or two hours every day, for a few months. Constant and steady work, with plenty of revision, is the key to top grades.

Spanish exam: tip 2

Number 2. Focus your efforts on the topics covered by the syllabus

Almost all language exams have a set of required topics in their syllabus. The more familiar you are with those topics, the more likely you are to get good grades.

Work on the vocabulary that comes up in those topics. Prepare common questions and answers related to those topics. Think of original ways of writing and speaking about those topics.

In other words, do most of the thinking before you turn up for your exam.

Spanish exam: tip 3

Number 3. Spot your weakness areas, and work on them

What are you least good at in Spanish? Maybe your irregular verbs are not up to scratch, or your listening skills need a dramatic boost. Or perhaps it’s your vocabulary.

Aim at having the same level in all aspects of the language: speaking, understanding, reading and writing.

Have a look at
Maria’s step-by-step Spanish courses

Spanish exam: tip 4

Number 4. Work on your pronunciation

Having a good Spanish accent is essential to get a top grade. To improve your accent, listen to Spanish speakers as often as you can. Use a good course with recordings. Become familiar with all the pronunciation rules. And do pronunciation exercises on a regular basis.

When you do your pronunciation exercises, make sure you say whole sentences out loud, not just quietly, to yourself. That’ll improve your accent a lot faster.

Spanish exam: tip 5

Number 5. Avoid making basic mistakes

No matter how thoroughly you know the Spanish verbs, or how broad your vocabulary is, making basic mistakes can ruin all your efforts.

To avoid them, make sure you’re familiar with the gender of everyday words. Make sure you’ve mastered the main irregular verbs. And that you know all the tenses covered in your syllabus. Avoid also making basic pronunciation mistakes.

A good trick to avoid basic mistakes is to keep your sentences simple, both in your oral and written exams.

In a nutshell, aim at building short sentences, using vocabulary and verbs you’re comfortable with.

Have a look at
Maria’s step-by-step Spanish courses

Spanish exam: tip 6

Number 6. Learn common expressions and idioms

Learning expressions such as: in my opinion, according to, in general, at least, from time to time, on average, in the end, etc., can improve the quality of your writing quite dramatically.

It’ll also make it easier for you to write full sentences. And connect one sentence to another.

Common expressions and idioms will also improve your grade in the oral exam.

And the final, and most important tip, I’ve got for you today is:

Spanish exam: tip 7

Number 7. Go through past exams

This can make or break your exam results.

Getting hold of past exams gave me huge confidence when I was preparing for mine. I remember sitting down and going through the whole exam, as if it was the real thing. And I did it several times, over a number of weeks.

The first time I did it, it was difficult to finish all the questions within the allocated time. But I soon got the hang of it.

I became familiar with what the examiners were looking for. The type of question they asked, the vocabulary used throughout the exam, and the level expected from me in each section.

On the day of the exam, it didn’t feel overwhelming. It felt more like another day in class. It was a great experience.

When you turn up for your exam, remember that examiners do not hate you. In fact, they love good students. They want to give you good grades. You can help them by following the tips I’ve given you, and also by getting a good night’s sleep, eating properly just before your exam, and reading the questions carefully. And, in the oral exam, avoid speaking too quickly. And remember to smile.

If you follow those tips, you will get a top grade, just like I did. I wish you all the best in your exam.

Let’s recap

To recap, these are my 7 ideas to help you get top grades in your Spanish exam:

Number 1. Start preparing for your exam a few months in advance

Number 2. Focus your efforts on the topics covered by the syllabus

Number 3. Spot your weakness areas, and work on them

Number 4. Work on your pronunciation

Number 5. Avoid making basic mistakes

Number 6. Learn common expressions and idioms

Number 7. Go through past exams

Have a look at
Maria’s step-by-step Spanish courses

Find out more about my Spanish courses.