Papers and assessment — AQA GCSE Spanish 8692
AQA GCSE Spanish is assessed across four papers, each worth 25% of the final grade. All four skills carry equal weight.
The four papers at a glance
| Paper | Skill | Foundation | Higher | Marks | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paper 1 (P.L) | Listening | 35 min + 5 min reading | 45 min + 5 min reading | 50 | 25% |
| Paper 2 (P.S) | Speaking | 7–9 min | 10–12 min | 60 | 25% |
| Paper 3 (P.R) | Reading | 45 min | 60 min | 50 | 25% |
| Paper 4 (P.W) | Writing | 70 min | 75 min | 50 | 25% |
Foundation vs Higher
- Foundation: grades 1–5
- Higher: grades 4–9; harder texts and tasks; translation (HT) is more complex
You sit one tier across all four papers.
Paper 1 — Listening strategy
- Use the 5-minute reading time to predict answers from the questions
- Section A: questions in English, answers in English (or non-verbally)
- Section B: dictation — transcribe the Spanish exactly (accents count)
- Common trap: missing negation (nunca, nadie, nada — these reverse the meaning)
Paper 2 — Speaking strategy
Three tasks: role-play → reading aloud + short conversation → photo-card → general conversation
- Role-play has 8 prompts including one "?" — you must ask a question
- Photo-card: describe the image, then answer 5 questions (2 unseen)
- General conversation: begins with your chosen topic, then ranges across all 3 themes
Paper 3 — Reading strategy
- Section A: questions in English on Spanish texts
- Section B: translation Spanish → English (35 words Foundation, 50 words Higher)
- Higher texts include journalistic articles and literary excerpts
Paper 4 — Writing strategy
- Foundation: 40-word task + 90-word task + translation EN→ES (35 words) + 150-word essay
- Higher: 90-word task + 150-word essay + translation EN→ES (50 words)
- Mark scheme bands: Content / Range of language / Accuracy / Quality of language
Key mark scheme principles
| Band | Content | Range | Accuracy |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 (top) | All bullets, fully developed | 3+ tenses, varied vocabulary | Very few errors |
| 3 | Most bullets covered | 2–3 tenses | Occasional errors |
| 2 | Some coverage | Basic range | Frequent errors |
| 1 | Little coverage | Very limited | Many errors |
Translation is marked segment by segment (1 mark per underlined segment).
Exam-day checklist
- Black pen (pencil only for diagrams)
- Don't leave blanks — intelligent guessing using cognates earns marks
- Listening: don't change answers unless certain — first instinct is often right
- Writing: count your words and write the total in the margin
- Speaking: never switch to English — use "No entiendo" or rephrase in Spanish
AI-generated · claude-opus-4-7 · v3-deep-spanish