i know its early but..spanish??

lucybrown

im so ****ed...i cant drop down to pass cause i need the higher points...but im so scared for the opinion and stuff? im so bad at spanish :mad::mad::(

muffinz

Just learn phrases like "cuesta un ojo de la cara" which can be put into pretty much any opinion and you get marks for them coz it looks so much better when they can see you've actually learned typical spanish sayings!

lucybrown

ooh thats a good idea actually..thanks!

chillian17

muffinz wrote: »

Just learn phrases like "cuesta un ojo de la cara" which can be put into pretty much any opinion and you get marks for them coz it looks so much better when they can see you've actually learned typical spanish sayings!

and what does that mean? An eye in the face or something?

blubloblu

Literally: it costs an eye from your face, i.e: it costs an arm and a leg.
Although, I do like the French saying "ça coûte la peau des fesses"

ihavequestions

lucybrown wrote: »

im so ****ed...i cant drop down to pass cause i need the higher points...but im so scared for the opinion and stuff? im so bad at spanish :mad::mad::(

OMG I am in the exact same boat as you!!!! Like I literally don't know where to start.... and have physics Mon so will be spending a lot of time on that!!!
I don't know what to do

Cipango

My advice is to learn alot of vocabulary on unemployment! It's very topical since Spain has the highest unemployment rate in Europe at 20%!!

PARARORY

Just learn phrases like "cuesta un ojo de la cara" which can be put into pretty much any opinion and you get marks for them coz it looks so much better when they can see you've actually learned typical spanish sayings!

Good advice - I second that!

So for the opinions , since we have so many days off I thought I might as well just learn and prepare a fair few as well as knowing general grammar / phrases.

Any ideas what ones to do?
Obesity/Health , Technology , Recession ... ?

countrymary

I think you can't go far wrong with unemployment, because it is so topical and you can use that for recession if that comes up specifically.
Try to use the idiomatic phrases and also make sure that your prepositions and stuff are right. Learn stuff like
until = hasta, since = desde hace, ago = hace, still = todavia, now= ahora and such. They can stump you if you are trying to make a sentence and then you realise you can't find the word and there is no substitute. Learn that list the night before.
Stay calm. Most of it can be worked out with time and really the questions are fairly easy for an English speaker. Que tengas buena suerte!

JoeyBuddy

I'll just learn typical sentences you can use for anything.
'Estoy de acuardo con esta afirmacion'
'En resumen'
Etc..

I have fears that I'll have no idea what the question means though.

And we better get easy-ish comprehensions. They really do make or break you.
****ing tape too, can be impossible.
The dialogue is genreally handy, and the note.

I'd take a C1 in Spanish at this stage.

PARARORY

If you were able to answer an opinion on.. (have enough vocab , verb tenses etc... )

Obesity/Health
Recession & Unemployment
Technology in general.. good and bad aspects etc...
Crime & Violence
Environment , recycling etc...

Would you say that is enough or is there anything else that Im forgetting?

JoeyBuddy

I'm sure that's okay.
It's a lot more than me anyway.
I'm just gonna go in with whatever vocab I have make up something on the day.
In other words, I'm winging it for Spanish.

Dreading the tape..

muffinz

Oh and learn all the words for weather!! Weather is my downfall, Im so insanely bad on it i just write "rain" for everything and hope its right -.-
And yeah what everyones saying about preparing opinions is good. You dont need to write full opinions, just do a brainstorm on things like: unemployment, the recession, bullying, sports and obesity etc! All you need is 3 points, and then you can bullsh*t your way through them x]

tomissex

Learn different ways to say "I think" eg. in my opinion, it seems to me instead of just saying creo! Don't forget that NO creo que takes the subjunctive! Words like however, although, unfortunately, yet etc are all really useful as well.
I'm going into my fourth year of studying Spanish so PM if you have any urgent translation questions etc!

ihavequestions

Like....how do ye prepare for comprehensions? I always spend so much time on them, the long ones like!

muffinz

i feckin hate the comprehensions im so bad at them especially the short ones, always so difficult, and the Q when you have to re-write the sentence in different spanish words, i always blank on words, if i dont think about it its ok, but when i actually have to think of the word i always blank on it -.-

and does anyone fancy posting their brainstorms here?

For the recession and being pessimistic/optimistic i have : im optimistic. 1)by the time we leave college the recession will be over. 2) there have been recessions before, and they didnt last too long so we will be ok in a few years. 3) i cant get a third one -.-

help anyone?

NR

Cipango wrote: »

My advice is to learn alot of vocabulary on unemployment! It's very topical since Spain has the highest unemployment rate in Europe at 20%!!

Topical things don't really matter in the Spanish exam. According to my teacher, when setting the papers, the examiners just get a batch of random comprehensions that they have sent to them, which could be years old. Like in 2002, no mention of terrorism even though it would have been the big thing at the time of the papers being set (roughly October 2001).
Your best bet is go through all papers since 1997 and write down all the titles, and then see what has never come up. I believe they include Health and Obesity, which I'm focusing on anyway.