How to succeed in your Languages exam Follow these simple “do”s and “don’t”s…

1. READ THE QUESTION carefully – its easy to scan too quickly and think you’ve understood 2. CHECK WHAT TENSE the question requires for the answer 3. ANTICIPATE ANSWERS based on the topic or nature of the task 4. CHECK THE NUMBER OF MARKS AVAILABLE and give enough details DO’s

1. WASTE TIME ON QUESTIONS YOU ARE STUCK ON – come back to it 2. GIVE TOO MUCH INFORMATION FOR THE MARKS AVAILABLE 3. TRY AND BE FUNNY WITH SMART ANSWERS 4.GIVE UP – the point of a reading exam is that the answer is there somewhere! 5. DON’T LEAVE GAPS! at least have an educated guess! DONT’s

DO’s: 1. READ THE QUESTION carefully – its easy to scan too quickly and think you’ve understood 2. CHECK WHAT TENSE the question requires for the answer 3. CHECK THE NUMBER OF MARKS AVALIABLE and give enough details 4.GO WITH INSTINCT.

1.LEAVE UNANSWERED QUESTIONS You’ll not hear the tape again so you need to guess and move on 2. GIVE TOO MUCH INFORMATION FOR THE MARKS AVAILABLE 3. WRITE THE FIRST RELATED THING YOU HEAR – listen to the whole answer in order to be sure of the information 4. LEAVE GAPS ON MATCHING QUESTIONS DONT’s:

How to succeed in your Languages exam Don’t fall in to the trap!

1.Same meaning, different word Very often in Languages exams, they try to trick you by using a different word which has the same meaning as another. Eg/la natación - swimming nadar – to swimMe encanta ir a la piscina – I love to go to the swimming pool No me gusta el agua así que nunca voy a la playa - I don’t like water so I don’t go to the beach Me gustan mucho los deportes acuaticos – I really like water sports

Swimming Los deportes acuaticos Water sports La piscina The swimming pool La natación swimming Nadar To swim La playa The beach

Create the same type of spider diagram for the following words. Use the Spanish dictionary to help you and remember to think outside the box! Happy Souvenirs Countryside Work Walking School Transport Weather

2.Negatives Don’t be fooled by them using the same word with a negative – it does not mean the same thing! No – notNo…nunca – never No…nadie - nobodyNo…ninguno – not one Ya no – no longerNo…nada – nothing No…ni…ni – neither…nor REMEMBER – NO + VERB (+ 2 nd part)

Some examples… No voy a las ocho No ví nada ¿Patatas fritas? No tengo ningunas. No viajan nunca en avión No quiero hablar con nadie No trabaja ni en inglés ni en historia Ya no estudio el francés No he hecho los deberes todavia I don’t go at 8.00 I didn’t see anything Chips? I don’t have any They never travel by plane I don’t want to talk to anyone He doesn’t work in English or History I don’t study French anymore I haven’t done the homework yet

Complete these examples in your book by adding the negative given in brackets and translate into English. Tengo bastante dinero (nunca) Vamos al café (no) Martín tiene dos cervezas (ninguno) Voy a comer mucho (nada) Veo mis gafas (no) He visitado Los Angeles (nunca) Hay la posibilidad de ir de vacaciones (no) Siempre llueve en Abril en Inglaterra (nunca) Quiero ver a mis amigos (nadie)

3. Time phrases These are often used in reading and listening papers to catch you out. You need to know them and know how to interpret them in the exam. antes – before después - after siempre - always ahora - nowactualmente – currently el año que viene – next year en el pasado – in the past en el futuro – in the future (el verano) proximo – next (summer) todos los días – every day ya no – no longer hoy en día - nowadays hace… – …ago

1.In your group, write as many sentences as you can in the time given in a variety of past, present and future tense 2.In your group, check the sentences the other group wrote and mark any mistakes you see 3.See if the marking is right and make necessary corrections 4.In your group, work out if the sentences are in the past, present or future

4.Descriptive words and feelings These are often used in the reading and listening and you should make sure you understand them and can recognise sentences that describe them. Eg/Roberto nunca sigue las instrucciones tontointeligentedesobedienteaburrido Roberto never follows instructions desobediente (disobedient)

generoso tímido divertido tonto travieso educado cansado tranquilo triste simpático hablador animado cobarde rico perezoso preocupado poderoso gracioso TASK Use the dictionary to find the opposite of these personality traits/emotions

generoso tímido divertido tonto (stupid) travieso (naughty) educado cansado (tired) tranquilo triste (sad)

simpático hablador animado (lively) cobarde (cowardly) rico perezoso preocupado poderoso (powerful) gracioso (funny)

Revision Game You should be in groups of 3-4. Write a Spanish word on each of the pieces of paper in front of you. Make sure you don’t all write the same ones. Keep doing this until all are used. Put the papers face down in a pile on the middle of the table. Take turns to take a piece if paper, read out the word on it in Spanish and say what it means in English. Each time you get it right, you keep the paper. The player with most pieces of paper wins. Now do the same again but this time, you have to put the Spanish word in a sentence.