Paper 4 Writing — AQA Spanish 8692
Paper 4 tests the ability to produce written Spanish accurately and at length. It includes short tasks, structured longer responses and a translation from English into Spanish.
Paper structure
| Tier | Duration | Marks | % of GCSE |
|---|---|---|---|
| Foundation | 1 hour 10 minutes | 50 | 25% |
| Higher | 1 hour 15 minutes | 50 | 25% |
Foundation tasks
Question 1 — short writing tasks (~10 marks): respond to bullet points in 2–4 sentences each. Question 2 — 40-word task (~16 marks): write ~40 words on a given topic covering all bullet points. Question 3 — 90-word task (~16 marks): write ~90 words, including content from all bullets. Question 4 — translation (8 marks): translate ~30 words from English into Spanish.
Higher tasks
Question 1 — short writing (~10 marks): structured bullet-point response. Question 2 — 90-word task (~16 marks): write ~90 words on a given topic. Question 3 — 150-word task (~20 marks): write ~150 words; more complex register and structure expected. Question 4 — translation (12 marks): translate ~50 words from English into Spanish.
Assessment objectives
| AO | What is assessed | % of writing marks |
|---|---|---|
| AO3a | Communication (content, relevance) | 40% |
| AO3b | Range and accuracy of language | 60% |
Mark scheme for 90-word tasks (Foundation)
- Communication (0–5): number of bullets covered, clarity of message.
- Vocabulary and structures (0–5): range of vocabulary, opinions, variety.
- Accuracy (0–5): errors per sentence ratio; tense use.
Key writing strategies
- Cover all bullet points — leaving one uncovered caps your Communication mark.
- Vary sentence structures — avoid all short simple sentences.
- Use time frames — show present, past and future in longer pieces.
- Opinions with reasons — pienso que… porque…, en mi opinión…, aunque…
- Check agreements — adjective endings, reflexive verbs, past participle agreements (HP).
- Translation (Eng→Sp): work chunk by chunk; watch tense, agreement and false friends.
Common traps in English-to-Spanish translation
- "I have been doing X for Y years" → Llevo Y años haciendo X (NOT present perfect)
- "there is/are" → hay (invariable)
- "to enjoy" → disfrutar de (with de) or pasarlo bien
- "I am going to" (near future) → voy a + infinitive
- Numbers and dates as in G.NUM
Model 150-word plan structure (Higher)
| Para | Content | Tenses |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Present situation + opinion | Present + creo que |
| 2 | Past experience | Preterite + imperfect |
| 3 | Future plans/hypothetical | Future / conditional |
| 4 | Conclusion with balanced view | Aunque + subjunctive |
⚠Common mistakes
- Mixing up Spanish and English word order: Voy mañana a la escuela is fine; La escuela mañana voy is not.
- Forgetting accent in translation: deberías, podría, hablaré — accents on conditional and future.
- Writing "muy" before verbs: Gusta mucho (correct) vs gusta muy (wrong).
- Leaving the translation partially blank — even a good-faith attempt scores.
- Repeating the same vocabulary — vary synonyms: ver → observar, notar; grande → enorme, amplio.
AI-generated · claude-opus-4-7 · v3-deep-spanish