How to Get an A* or A in A Level Spanish

Achieving an A or A star in A Level Spanish is undoubtedly challenging, but with the right approach and dedication, it's entirely attainable. This guide will equip you with essential strategies resources and tips to excel in all aspects of the exam.  

Understanding the A Level Spanish Exam 

Before detailing specific study techniques, it's crucial to understand the A Level Spanish exam format. The exam consists of three components: 

1. Listening, Reading and Writing (Paper 1): This evaluates your ability to understand and summarise spoken and written Spanish. Grammar is tested through gap-fills and translations. The exam also aims to test your inference skills.
2. Written Exam (Paper 2): Consisting of two essay questions, the writing paper assesses your ability to engage with a Spanish book and film.
3. Speaking Exam (Paper 3): This assesses your fluency, accuracy and ability to express yourself confidently in spoken Spanish, supporting your views with facts on the Spanish-speaking world.

Effective A Level Spanish Revision Strategies 

Effective revision is the cornerstone of exam success. Here's how to optimise your study time: 

1. Create a Realistic Revision Schedule: Break down the syllabus into manageable topics and allocate specific time slots for each.
2. Utilise Past Papers: Familiarize yourself with the exam structure, question types and marking schemes by practicing with past papers. Analyse your performance to identify areas for improvement.
3. Active Recall: Instead of passively rereading notes, test your knowledge by using flashcards or quizzes. This reinforces learning and helps you retain information.
4. Mind Mapping: Mind mapping is beneficial for organising complex topics and identifying connections between different concepts. It can be an engaging and creative way to organise ideas.

Top Tips for the A Level Spanish Listening and Reading Exams 

1. Enhancing Your Listening Comprehension
2. Listen Actively: Pay close attention to spoken Spanish, identifying key information and making notes to reinforce understanding.
3. Immerse Yourself in Spanish Audio: Consistently listen to Spanish, whether through background audio or focused listening. This practice not only improves listening comprehension but also strengthens your vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation.
4. Engage with Enjoyable Content: Choose Spanish content that interests you. Enjoyable material makes the learning process more effective and less tedious, increasing your motivation and comprehension.
5. Sharpening Your Reading Skills
6. Practice with Authentic Texts: Read a variety of Spanish texts, such as news articles, and make notes on key words.
7. Analyse Past Papers: Practicing with past reading papers is crucial. Review your answers to understand correct responses and improve your comprehension. This also helps in expanding your vocabulary.
8. Understand Question Types: Familiarize yourself with the types of questions typically asked in the reading exam, such as multiple-choice, true/false, gap-fill and summary questions.

How to get an A* on the Spanish Writing Exam 

The below tips align with the specific criteria outlined in the A Level Spanish writing paper mark scheme.  

• Make sure your essay includes a structure, with introduction, body and conclusion. Make the paragraphs flow by including connecting words.
• Link your ideas to important themes and the context in which the films and books are set. For example, if you are analysing the film Volver, you might mention that the strong colours reflect the empowerment of the female characters.
• Include quotes and reference key moments in the film. Refer to scenes briefly, focusing on the analysis of why they are significant, rather than being too descriptive.
• Include complex grammar, such as the pluperfect subjunctive, object pronouns and the conditional perfect.

Effective Strategies to Revise for A Level Spanish Translation  

• Revise Common Tenses and Moods: Ensure you’re comfortable with all verb tenses, including the subjunctive mood, which frequently appears in Spanish translations. Practice conjugating verbs and recognising tense usage in context.
• Create Themed Word Lists: Organise vocabulary by topic to align with A Level themes. The more words you know the better, however the translation aims to assess your knowledge of vocabulary specific to the A-level Spanish specification. As such, you can target your revision to relevant terms for each specific subject area.
• Compare with Model Answers: After translating a passage, compare your work with a model answer or ask a teacher to review it. Identify where you went wrong and why.
• Leverage Dictionaries: Use reputable bilingual dictionaries like WordReference or Collins to clarify meanings, but avoid over-reliance on online translators, which can lead to inaccurate translations.
• Use Conjugation Apps: Apps like Conjugemos can help you practice verb conjugations on the go, reinforcing your grammar skills.

How to Revise for the Spanish A Level Speaking Exam 

The oral exam assesses your fluency, accuracy, and ability to communicate effectively. Here's how to prepare: 

• Practice Speaking Regularly: Find opportunities to speak Spanish with native speakers or language partners. While various methods can help you prepare for the speaking exam, the most effective way to develop the ability to speak fluently and generate ideas spontaneously is through regularly speaking practice.
• Use speaking cards: There are only so many questions that can be asked in connection with the topics that you have studied. The more you practice answering past speaking questions, the more prepared you will be. Often, it is thinking of what to say (even in English) that can be the hardest part, so by having thought about your ideas before, you will reduce hesitation and anxiety on the day of the exam.
• Record Yourself: Listen to your recordings to identify areas for improvement in pronunciation and fluency.
• Prepare for Common Topics: Prepare answers to past speaking cards. If you don’t yet feel ready to say your answers aloud, you can practice writing out answers in full. This way, you can craft the ideal answer, including perfect grammar and plenty of facts. You can then use this document as a revision tool, repeating key phrases in order to commit them to memory.
• Build Confidence: Speaking in another language is always daunting. Practice speaking in front of others so that you’ll have less nerves on the day of the exam.

How to get an A* in the A Level Spanish speaking exam 

• Ensure that your answers include facts connected to the Spanish speaking world. Throughout your studies, create a fact file so that you can regularly add important facts and statistics that you come across. Consult the file regularly so that you can commit the information to memory.
• Don’t just state facts and statistics, analyse their significance. An ideal sentence might be, En España, solo el 53% de las mujeres vuelven al trabajo después de dar a luz. Creo que esto explica por qué el país tiene una tasa de natalidad relativamente baja de solo 1,19 nacimientos por mujer, ya que, evidentemente, las mujeres no sienten que puedan tener una carrera y ser madres al mismo tiempo (In Spain, only 53% of women return to work after giving birth. I think this explains why the country has a relatively low birth rate of only 1.19 births per women, as clearly women don't feel that they can both have a career and be a mother.)
• Use complex grammar and vocabulary.
• Remember to ask your teacher or examiner questions. This will make the exam sound like a more natural conversation, which will help you to achieve top marks.
• Connect your thoughts using connecting words, such as además, igualmente. 

By following these guidelines and consistently applying yourself, you can significantly increase your chances of achieving an A or A* in A Level Spanish. Remember, success comes from dedication, hard work, and a passion for the language. ¡Buena suerte! (Good luck!) 

A Level Spanish Tutors

Keystone has a range of specialist tutors who can assist students approaching GCSE or A Level Spanish. The A Level Spanish tutors that we work with have a thorough knowledge of the various exam boards and can assist students approaching A Levels and university admissions tests for Spanish. 

Read more about our A Level Spanish tutors.