GCE EXAMINERS' REPORTS
SPANISH
AS/Advanced
SUMMER 2015
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Unit
Page
SN1
1
SN2
2
SN3
5
SN4
6
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SPANISH
General Certificate of Education
Summer 2015
Advanced Subsidiary/Advanced
SN1: ORAL EXAMINATION
Principal Examiner:
SN1(a)
C M Kelley
Visiting-examiner conducted tests
Most candidates coped well with the cards although in Card A3 many candidates had to ask
for the meaning of pandilla. Most were able to answer the three compulsory questions on
each card and some very able candidates attempted to engage in analysis. However, it was
noticeable that others simply read out their notes, which, in some cases, sounded like a
lengthy script. Again it is advisable to keep to the 5-10 bullet points as has been
recommended in previous years and outlined in previous reports. When follow-up questions
were asked, some candidates had been well prepared, whereas others were unable to
formulate a response. The questions are designed to be answered in general terms as the
personal part of the exam is covered in the General Conversation.
As for the general conversation, there were some interesting discussions on the three areas
of hobbies, studies and future plans. The best candidates were able to use a variety of
tenses and some up-to-date and idiomatic language. Candidates would benefit from having
a range of questions put to them in the classroom in an unpredictable manner and from
listening carefully to all manner of questions.
SN1 (b)
Centre-conducted tests
Most, but not all, teacher examiners followed the guidelines in the specification, asking the
three questions exactly as they appeared on the card, followed by some follow-up questions
which were designed to generate further views and opinions, and then moved on to the
General Conversation and kept to the timings allowed. However, in some cases questions of
a more personal nature and more suited to the General Conversation were asked during the
discussion on the card thereby reducing what could be asked in the second part. This can be
avoided by asking about friends or young people in general rather than the particular
candidate. In a few cases again this year candidates were allowed to choose 2 A cards or 2
B cards which broke the specification guidelines. There was spontaneity and interaction,
although some teacher examiners allowed their candidates to simply read out their notes. In
some cases the General Conversation was not only pre-learnt, with only familiar questions
being asked, but also over rehearsed and delivered as a presentation. This resulted in
minimal interaction and even less spontaneity. A variety of questions and some less
predictable ones would be more appropriate here. Questions need to be adapted to what
each candidate says. Some teachers put the same questions to each candidate and did not
really follow up the answers to generate a true discussion. If candidates launch into a prelearned monologue they should be interrupted with further questions. There is no need for
teacher examiners to correct candidates or to finish their sentences for them. It is also
important to keep to the timings of up to 4 minutes maximum per card and 7 minutes
maximum for the general conversation. Some orals were overlong by five, six or seven
minutes. The maximum time allowed is 15 minutes. The specified timings are not optional.
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1
SPANISH
General Certificate of Education
Summer 2015
Advanced Subsidiary/Advanced
SN2: LISTENING, READING AND WRITING
Principal Examiner:
C M Kelley
Ejercicios 1 and 2
The Listening tasks were based on ‘Cursos de informática en Santander’ and ‘Generando
Igualdad: una asociación a favor de la mujer.’ Exercise 1 was a True/False task in which
false plus correction were required to gain the mark. Most candidates understood the
passage and coped well with the true / false questions. Many candidates scored full marks
but others scored 4 or less out of a possible 8. In question (ii) the idea of free courses was
required to get the mark. Many candidates stated that the courses were ‘libro’ and did not
get the mark. In (vi) some manipulation of the Spanish was required, e.g. se ofrecerán
cursos de redes sociales como Facebook y Twitter. Some candidates failed to see that en
Facebook y Twitter would convey something completely different and was not credited. In
(vii) agosto had to be spelt correctly to gain a mark. Candidates should know the months of
the year and be able to write the most common numbers. Most answers in this task required
short answers and infinitives and past participles are not accepted as corrections unless
grammatically correct in the context. Some candidates attempted to correct an answer which
they had ticked as true or did not correct an answer they had ticked as false.
Ejercicio 2 was a grammar question testing common grammar points. Many candidates
scored full marks although some candidates found (ii) and (iii) difficult. In (i) many candidates
lost a mark by not spelling maltratadas correctly.
Ejercicios 3(a), (b) and (c)
The three texts were based respectively on Spanish people and language learning, drunken
British tourists on an Ibiza-bound plane and doping in Spanish sport.
In 3(a) many candidates spotted all 5 correct statements which were 4, 5, 6, 8 and 10, but
most candidates could find only 4 correct ones. This was the second most accessible task
on the Paper and the reference to Achilles’ heel did not cause many problems. Candidates
who ticked 5 boxes and put a cross in 5 boxes were not awarded any marks as it was not
clear which boxes were the correct ones.
The questions in 3(b) were specific and required brief answers. The best candidates
performed well in this task and provided short answers in their own words. However, weak
candidates found it very difficult and tended to copy from the text, in many cases giving
answers which did not match the question. All three questions proved to be difficult for many.
There was confusion between borracho / emborrachado / borrachera. This was the most
difficult question in the examination.
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In the gap-filling in question 3(c), it was clear again this year that candidates who drew up a
table of the different parts of speech did much better than those who did not analyse the list
of words or the meaning of the sentences that they were completing. The words that proved
to be most difficult were: revelación and vergüenza, eran and fuesen, ayudó and usaba,
perjudicó and encubrimiento. It is essential to copy correctly and this includes accents. In
some cases candidates lost up to three marks through careless copying. It is evident that
weak candidates need to practise this exercise. It was worrying to note that a fair number of
candidates are using words more than once, contrary to the rubric.
Ejercicio 4
This was quite a demanding exercise for some candidates. All of the questions were testing
with many candidates selecting words such as: tan mucho, decieron, acordaban, atentaban,
peligroso and muertado. Once again, words had to be copied correctly into the space
provided.
Ejercicio 5
The translation continued to prove a real discriminator. There were seven extracts for
translation this year containing some complicated structures. Many candidates strung words
together and did not bother to check the logic or meaning of what they had written. Words
are increasingly being invented or copied into what appears to be the English equivalent, for
example, ‘pendant’ for pendiente, ‘molest’ for molestar, ‘deceptionant’ for decepcionante,
and ‘numbers’ for nombres. And once again too many candidates clearly thought that the
tense of verbs was optional.
In extract (i) candidates had difficulty translating asignatura pendiente. Some even translated
pendiente as ‘necklace’ without stopping to think what that might mean. In (ii) precisamente,
época and salida were often not translated correctly in the context. In (iii) there were many
imaginative reasons given to explain what the pilot did e.g. he threw the disruptive
passengers out of the plane, he crashed the plane and so on. This extract also led many
candidates to spell ‘pilot’ as ‘pilate’, ‘pilet’, or piolet’ and ‘plane’ was too frequently written as
‘plain’. In (v) calentarse and acercarse proved difficult for many candidates. In (vi)
decepcionante was not translated accurately by the majority of candidates who wrote about
‘deception’ or ‘deceptive’ rather than ‘disappointing’. In (vii) nombres was sometimes
translated as ‘numbers’ and was misread by at least one candidate as hombres.
Clearly, reading what is actually written in the extract, checking the meaning of the
translation so that it makes sense is crucial in this type of task. In centres where this type of
translation exercise has been practised regularly, candidates performed much better.
However, there are still many candidates who are failing to grasp the meaning of these
extracts and who are writing meaningless versions in very poor English or Welsh.
Ejercicio 6
The essays were on the problems associated with leading a sedentary lifestyle, legalising
drugs, social networks as a way of making friends and whether or not a university degree is
necessary to get a good job. All the essays were attempted, with the most popular by far
being (a) closely followed by (c).
While there were some well written essays on (a), many candidates tended to regurgitate a
pre-learnt essay on diet and obesity which did not address the question and did not state
whether or not the writer agreed with the statement or did not provide any solutions.
However, some candidates had probably written an essay of this nature before and were
able to use their knowledge to answer each element of the question.
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3
In (b) there were some good essays which argued the point successfully and agreed or
disagreed with the essay title as the candidate saw fit. Weaker candidates wrote very
general essays about drugs and did not really address the issue of legalisation. In (c) many
candidates who chose this essay answered the question well and justified their views on
whether social networks were the best way of making friends. Many pointed out the dangers,
and suggested that face to face contact was preferable. Some candidates looked at one
aspect and merely agreed with the statement. In (d) candidates who chose this essay
expressed their views on this issue and provided some good reasons to support them.
Candidates must keep to the word limit and check that they have answered each element in
the question, agreed with it, or not, as the case may be, and provided reasons or solutions
where necessary. Some candidates kept repeating the same ideas, included irrelevant
material, did not follow the rubric and their written Spanish was quite careless. Some
examples of language errors that arose are, once again: me acuerdo / estoy de acuerdo,
ser/estar, major/mayor, porque / a causa de, gustar.
Overall there was an increased use of the subjunctive, good essay phrases, and clear
evidence of planning. Weaker candidates tended to write shorter essays which were very
general with few examples, views or opinions, and with many basic errors such as gender,
adjectival agreement, conjugation of verbs and spelling errors.
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4
SPANISH
General Certificate of Education
Summer 2015
Advanced Subsidiary/Advanced
SN3: ORAL EXAMINATION
Principal Examiner:
C M Kelley
The cards on forest fires in Spain, terrorism, immigration and emigration proved to be very
topical and probably led to the mean for the structured discussion to be 8.1. On the whole
candidates coped well with the three questions on the card which often generated an
interesting discussion. However, as usual weaker candidates found the questions difficult to
answer as they often had few opinions or lacked the relevant vocabulary to engage in a
discussion.
The second part of the oral consisted of an exposé on any book or film originally in Spanish
or region of around 4 minutes duration followed by a discussion lasting from six to ten
minutes. Good candidates produced detailed analytical exposés on their choice of film, book
or region which often generated a very interesting discussion whereas weaker candidates
again tended to produce pre-learnt passages from film reviews, literature notes and travel
guides. Good candidates provided information in their exposé that could be followed up
easily in the discussion. Weak candidates found the discussion difficult, as, in many cases,
they lacked detailed knowledge and consequently it was difficult to generate a meaningful
discussion. Notes need to be brief, ideally between 5 and 10 bullet points. There is a
tendency for some candidates to have too detailed notes or the opposite: notes that show
only the beginning of a sentence. Both varieties can hinder a candidate, with the former
leading to a rushed presentation to get everything in, and the latter leading to memory loss
and hesitations.
Centres are required to provide the visiting examiner with a list of exposé titles (with a copy
to be included with the SN4 scripts) to ensure that there is no overlap with the oral cards or
the SN4 essay. Exposés should be neither too broad nor too narrow in scope and should not
be overlong. Where several candidates are preparing an exposé on the same film, book or
region they should be encouraged to choose different aspects. The best exposés set out to
answer a question. Many candidates chose to analyse a film and it was obvious that a wide
selection of films had been watched with candidates choosing their preferred one. These
exposés were very analytical and detailed. Candidates can improve their own performance
by taking their time over the delivery of the exposé, concentrating on intonation and
pronunciation. Some candidates tended to rush, which immediately had a detrimental effect
on intonation, pronunciation and clarity of communication. Sometimes exposés were difficult
to understand. Only around forty candidates chose to do a region for their exposé and these
were often very general and lacking in analysis. Finally, some candidates opted not to have
notes as they felt that they did not need them. It is recommended that all candidates bring
some brief aide memoire with them just in case they do go blank.
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5
SPANISH
General Certificate of Education
Summer 2015
Advanced Subsidiary/Advanced
SN4: LISTENING, READING AND WRITING
Principal Examiner:
C M Kelley
Ejercicio 1(a) was on 56 toneladas de solidaridad. Many candidates successfully answered
at least 2 of the 3 questions. In (i), candidates needed to indicate that it was by collecting
food or with similarly good actions. ‘Solidarity’ with no explanation was not enough to get the
mark. In (ii), there had to be reference to tinned / canned or preserved food.
Ejercicio 1(b) on renewable energy was the most difficult question on the Paper. While
some candidates answered the three questions correctly, too many scored no marks at all
for this section. In (i), candidates needed to mention either sewage or waste water from the
food agriculture industry. Question (ii) tested many candidates who gave vague, rambling
answers yet a simple reference to biomass or biofuels was sufficient. In (iii), CO2 in the
atmosphere on its own was not enough; a reference was required to the emissions into the
atmosphere by the company mentioned.
Ejercicio 2(a)
The first reading comprehension text was on Gibraltar and required answers in English or
Welsh. While it may sound redundant to mention this, some candidates still seem to think
that this is optional and wrote in Spanish, thus gaining no marks at all. The language of the
answer must always be in the same language as the question and candidates should be
reminded of this. On the whole this task was well done by many candidates. In (i) the answer
was a soap opera. Only a handful of candidates knew the meaning of ‘culebrón.’ Some
candidates confused ‘culebrón’ with ‘cinturón’ and ‘soap opera’ with ‘soup opera’. In (v),
many candidates could not spell sovereignty or even make a meaningful attempt at it, for
example ‘soverin’ or ‘soverrain’. In (vi) ‘bloques de hormigón’ became ‘blokes of concrete’ or
‘blocks / blokes of hormones’. How could these versions possibly make sense? Candidates
need to think carefully about their answers and ensure that they make sense. Finally, in (vii),
too many wrote about controls of the ‘boarder’, which was not awarded a mark.
Ejercicio 2(b)
This was a paragraph continuing on from the text in the previous question. A choice of 10
words was provided from which 5 had to be selected to fit the gaps. Good candidates scored
full marks. In a few cases words were not copied correctly and candidates lost marks. Since
this is also a problem at AS level, it is worth reiterating that candidates should realise the
importance of copying correctly what they see in front of them. The correct sequence of the
words was: hablen, suscitado, alcanzó, no, contencioso. Many candidates opted for
contundencia rather than contencioso, although the latter was given in the main text.
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Ejercicio 2(c)
The text on global warming was the second most difficult task on the Paper according to the
statistics. It required candidates to answer in Spanish in their own words as far as possible,
avoiding straight lifts from the text without any linguistic manipulation. In some cases they
had to infer the answer from the text, as in question (ii). In preparing candidates for this
exercise it is worth noting that short, concise answers are sufficient. Tenses need to be
correct and infinitives and past participles are not accepted as communication unless
grammatically correct in the context. Questions (i), (ii), (iv) and (viii) were the most
challenging.
Ejercicio 3
The translation was based on text 2(c). Many helpful phrases and vocabulary could be found
in the text and good candidates used these to their advantage. However, many candidates
still have major difficulties with the tenses and conjugation of common verbs. Vocabulary
items such as: desaparecer, concienciar, ralentizar, aviones, centrales eléctricas,
derretimiento, glaciares, convincente, nietos. The tendency to just coin a word without rhyme
or reason remains strong: thus granhijos and gran niños were frequently used for nietos, and
aviones often became planes, which made the Spanish sound ridiculous. It is perfectly
acceptable to paraphrase simply so why not use, as some did, los hijos de nuestros hijos for
nietos? As reported before, the gender of nouns, the agreement of adjectives and the
conjugation of verbs are three areas constantly in need of attention. A few candidates
missed out one or two sections in the second half of the prose and consequently lost marks
for communication.
Ejercicio 4
Film option.
The most popular essays were those on El Laberinto del Fauno, Mujeres al borde de un
ataque de nervios, El Bola and Maria llena eres de gracia. Many candidates wrote very
analytical essays, full of details and examples but not overly descriptive demonstrating that
they knew the film well and were able to make valid reference to different parts of the film to
support their answer. This was particularly true of both questions on El Laberinto del Fauno.
However, the essays on desobediencia was often a little one-sided with no reference at all to
obedient behaviour in the film. The best essays also made reference to Carmen’s
obediencia and mentioned the disobedience of Mercedes and el doctor as well as Ofelia.
Weak candidates relied heavily on pre-learnt material and simply retold the story in general
terms and short on detail, which did not address the question set. Nevertheless, many
candidates helped themselves by writing a reasonable essay answering the question,
making relevant points and using factual detail which then boosted their total mark.
Candidates need to know the film well, practise writing essays of this nature and make sure
that they have understood and answered the question. Many of the film essays were very
enjoyable to read.
Literature option
The most popular essays were those on La casa de Bernarda Alba, Como agua para
chocolate and Réquiem para un campesino español. As with the essays on the film many
candidates wrote in a very interesting and analytical way, and their work was full of detail
and not overly descriptive. Weak candidates used pre-learnt material and simply retold the
story. Nevertheless, many candidates helped themselves by writing a good essay which
then boosted their total mark accordingly. Candidates need to know the work well, practise
writing essays of this nature and make sure that they have understood and answered the
question. Many of the literature essays were very enjoyable to read.
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Regional Option
The few essays on the region were, on the whole, less well done than the film or literature
essays. Apart from a few exceptions, candidates who wrote about a region wrote very
general essays which often referred to Spain as a whole, lacked detail and analysis and
showed very little specific knowledge of the region. Candidates need to be prepared by
teachers, not only to write 400 words on the region, but to provide information,
demonstrating that they have a good knowledge and can analyse.
Overall comment
A good essay for any of the 3 options needs to answer the question, argue the case
providing several examples or details and have a short introduction and conclusion which
refer to the question. Many candidates did not show clearly which question they had chosen.
The same problems continue to appear year after year in candidates’ written Spanish. The
following all require unstinting attention: ser/estar, efecto/afecto, atentar/intentar, culpa/falta,
tomar/tocar, morir/matar, la muerte/muerto, es muerte, hablar/decir, parecer/aparecer. Once
again, practice and careful checking need to be encouraged as are reading widely and
acquiring some general knowledge of the context.
Advice on how to improve language performance at AS and A level.
Examiners often comment that, while they undoubtedly hear and see some excellent
examples of Spanish, it is nevertheless disappointing to see and hear persistent errors year
after year. Therefore, I am placing this advice here in the hope that it will be read by all
centres. It refers to all AS and A level components of the examination. It concerns the
eradication of frequent errors in grammar, lexis and idiom. The evidence for my comments is
based on the recurring errors in accuracy and idiom that examiners see or hear year after
year. Here are some common errors that need to be targeted constantly in the classroom:
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
(v)
(vi)
(vii)
(viii)
(ix)
(x)
(xi)
(xii)
(xiii)
(xiv)
(xv)
(xvi)
the persistence of la or las problema / problemas
the widespread use of es vale
the use of es bien for es bueno / buena and similar constructions
the common use of es una buena “aidía” in the oral components
the frequent use of the verb estar followed by a noun as in la discriminación
está un crimen
ser is frequently used in the continuous tense, e.g. son andando
many candidates cannot say or write ‘in comparison with’ and use en
comparazón or en comparison instead
los peligrosos is widespread for los peligros
too many candidates use es no and hay no
the following are widespread: consiste de and depende en
structures like es camina, es necesita (two verbs) and son esquí (verb + noun) are
too common
the use of la gente with a plural verb is too common
too many candidates use the gerund instead of the infinitive for a noun, e.g.
they say or write: bebiendo agua es bueno instead of beber agua es bueno
the use of the definite and indefinite article needs attention: candidates say or
write educación or deporte when it should be la educación and el deporte
the omission of de after salir
many cannot conjugate the verbs tener and mantener, with some thinking that
they are –ar verbs
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(xvii) the misspelling of parecer and disparecer is widespread
(xviii) too many do not know how to use hay, había, ha habido, hubo
(xix) candidates confuse aunque and sin embargo (Aunque, [sic] is frequently seen at the
beginning of sentences in essays)
(xx)
candidates need to practice the common usage of por and para.
Attention to these points would lead to a major improvement in candidates’ performance in
written and spoken Spanish.
GCE Spanish Report Summer 2015
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