GCSE Spanish

Paper 1: Listening and understanding in Spanish

25% of the total qualification

Content overview

This paper draws on vocabulary and structures across all the themes and topics.

Assessment overview

Students are assessed on their understanding of standard spoken Spanish by one or more speakers in a range of public and social settings. Students will respond to multiple-response and short-answer open response questions based on a recording featuring male and female Spanish speakers.
Students must answer all questions in both sections. There is no requirement for students to produce written responses in Spanish.

Foundation tier

Section A is set in English. The instructions to students are in English.
Section B is set in Spanish. The instructions to students are in Spanish.

Higher tier

Section A is set in Spanish. The instructions to students are in Spanish.
Section B is set in English. The instructions to students are in English.

Written examination

Foundation tier: 35 minutes including 5 minutes reading time; 50 marks.
Higher tier: 45 minutes including 5 minutes reading time; 50 marks.

Paper 2: Speaking in Spanish

25% of the total qualification

Content overview

This paper draws on vocabulary and structures across all the themes and topics.

Assessment overview

Students are assessed on their ability to communicate and interact effectively through speaking in Spanish for different purposes and in different settings.

There are three tasks which must be conducted in the following order:

Task 1 – a role play based on one topic that is allocated by Pearson.
Task 2 – questions based on a picture stimulus based on one topic that is allocated by Pearson.
Task 3 – conversation based on two themes. The first theme is based on the topic chosen by the student in advance of the assessment. The second theme is allocated by Pearson.

The assessments are conducted by teachers in one session within a prescribed assessment window and the recordings then submitted to Pearson for external marking.

Internally conducted and externally assessed.

Foundation tier: 7–9 minutes plus 12 minutes preparation time; 70 marks.

Higher tier: 10–12 minutes plus 12 minutes preparation time; 70 marks.

Paper 3: Reading and understanding in Spanish

25% of the total qualification

Content overview

This paper draws on vocabulary and structures across all the themes and topics.

Assessment overview

Students are assessed on their understanding of written Spanish across a range of different types of texts, including advertisements, emails, letters, articles and literary texts. Students are required to respond to multiple-response and short-answer questions based on these texts.

Students must answer all questions in each of the three sections:

Section A is set in English. The instructions to students in English.
Section B is set in Spanish. The instructions to students in Spanish.
Section C includes a translation passage from Spanish into English with instructions in English.

Written examination

Foundation tier: 45 minutes; 50 marks

Higher tier: 1 hour; 50 marks

Paper 4: Writing in Spanish

25% of the total qualification

Content overview

This paper draws on vocabulary and structures across all the themes and topics

Assessment overview

Students are assessed on their ability to communicate effectively through writing in Spanish for different purposes and audiences. Students are required to produce extended responses of varying lengths and types to express ideas and opinions in Spanish. The instructions to students
are in Spanish. Word counts are specified for each question. Students must answer all questions.

Foundation tier – three open response questions and one translation into Spanish.

Higher tier – two open response questions and one translation into Spanish.

Written examination

Foundation tier: 1 hour 15 minutes; 60 marks

Higher tier: 1 hour 20 minutes; 60 marks