**Spanish HL...Before/After**

EDmon

What are you preparing for the opinion piece?
Just vocabulary or do you have any topical predictions ?

Also, if you're do the 'la adventura de Saíd' instead of the journalistic text, do you have any advice regarding chapter that haven't come up?

For the note, dialogue and letter what are you preparing ?
Which of the above do you think is easiest ?

I'm find the synonyms extremely difficult, do you have any tips for this part of the comprehensions?

Does anyone have revision site notes they could link ?

MY HELP:

Teachers have advised revision of sport ie: the importance of sport in all our lives, as the comprehension could be based on this.

SellingJuan

Well... For the opinion and the letter do they dock you marks for writting 2 much... LIke I wrote the 150 in the mocks I ended up with only 83%... I dont know how I lost marks in both the letter and opinion.. what do you lose them for.. Also I find the synonyms hard aswell Cono con el examine y su puta madre

17Dan21

I will be preparing the economy, sports (EURO 2012 and Olympics), drug abuse, violence, alcoholism. Probably a couple more topics when I think of them.

Definitely doing the letter!

For the synonyms I just look for the words with similar endings or guess the ones that appear most likely if I don't know it.

No sorry, don't use sites for it.

Need a strong B if not an A!

The mock paper I did was incredibly tough. I don't think Tuesdays exam will be as bad.

SellingJuan

Like the synonyms are sooo ****ing annoying... The language they use isnt used in everyday spanish...

EDmon

SellingJuan wrote: »

Well... For the opinion and the letter do they dock you marks for writting 2 much... LIke I wrote the 150 in the mocks I ended up with only 83%... I dont know how I lost marks in both the letter and opinion.. what do you lose them for.. Also I find the synonyms hard aswell Cono con el examine y su puta madre

Yes I think you can end up loosing marks for writing too much, simply because you're more likely to make mistakes. But they cannot dock marks if you Spanish is correct!
Did you ask your techer?
Also, how many pages is 150 words?

EDmon

17Dan21 wrote: »

I will be preparing the economy, sports (EURO 2012 and Olympics), drug abuse, violence, alcoholism. Probably a couple more topics when I think of them.

Definitely doing the letter!


Need a strong B if not an A!

Why are you choosing to do the letter? Is it just so that you can prepare the opening and closings?

Are you going to prepare any general topics for your letter?


Also, how long does it have to be page wise ?

Thanks!

17Dan21

EDmon wrote: »

Why are you choosing to do the letter? Is it just so that you can prepare the opening and closings?

Are you going to prepare any general topics for your letter?


Also, how long does it have to be page wise ?

Thanks!

I have a sheet that has subjunctive that can be used in every letter I've done so far. When they see you using those phrases they'll be more inclined to give you marks. I'd give probably two sentences for each point to get the full marks. Probably wouldn't be much more than a page.

EDmon

17Dan21 wrote: »

I have a sheet that has subjunctive that can be used in every letter I've done so far. When they see you using those phrases they'll be more inclined to give you marks. I'd give probably two sentences for each point to get the full marks. Probably wouldn't be much more than a page.

Thanks a million, I'd really appreciate that!

David1994

For the opinion I am going to cover problems with drugs and alcohol,climate change an one or two more topics I am aiming for a B2+ so I will have some phrases prepared for the day to boost my answers!

rosualt

My teacher is sure something on sport will come up for the opinion because according to her it never has before... She's been right for the last few years so I trust her!

As regards length of essays, I always write an a4 page, so definitely well over 150 words. I doubt they'd actually dock mark for it being too long, it's just you're more likely to make mistakes the more you write!

Really hoping for an a1 in this

SellingJuan

EDmon wrote: »

Yes I think you can end up loosing marks for writing too much, simply because you're more likely to make mistakes. But they cannot dock marks if you Spanish is correct!
Did you ask your techer?
Also, how many pages is 150 words?

I dont have one you see..... Iv had to learn it myself !!

17Dan21

For the opinion piece in the mocks were you write between 85-150 I wrote about 100 and was told it was too short in the examiners report. Will aim for 150 this time.

Flabangav

Yeah, my teacher said that it really needs to be close to 150 words, 85 is nowhere near enough.

Defygravity

I'm so worried about the opinion pieces. It's so stupid the way half of the marks go for content like! All I have are essays on mobiles, healthy eating, smoking, alcohol and pollution

EDmon

rosualt wrote: »

My teacher is sure something on sport will come up for the opinion because according to her it never has before... She's been right for the last few years so I trust her!

As regards length of essays, I always write an a4 page, so definitely well over 150 words. I doubt they'd actually dock mark for it being too long, it's just you're more likely to make mistakes the more you write!

Really hoping for an a1 in this

What are you doing for the letter or dialogue ?
Are you going to make your decision as to which one you'll do before the exam?

EDmon

Defygravity wrote: »

I'm so worried about the opinion pieces. It's so stupid the way half of the marks go for content like! All I have are essays on mobiles, healthy eating, smoking, alcohol and pollution

That's loads, I'd say throw in sport as a topic and you'll be set!

rosualt

EDmon wrote: »

What are you doing for the letter or dialogue ?
Are you going to make your decision as to which one you'll do before the exam?

I usually do the letter, I find the translation often requires really specific vocab whereas the letter gives you a bit more scope so its easier to get marks! And of course, the opening and closings are nearly always the same, which is nice

waiting4

hey i really struggle with spanish does anyone have any generic phrases to use for the opinion piece? ones that you can use for pretty much any topics (maybe ones with subjunctive) like " i think the government should play a more active roll in finding a solution"....
etc?

David1994

Anyone else find the listenings for Spanish really nice? I did one today and got all of it right! Hoping I do good in that and the comprehensions.Could get an A if I do well in them Hopefully!

rosualt

^^I take it you do French too? :P

_Bella_

Anyone have any tips for getting an A in Spanish?

David1994

_Bella_ wrote: »

Anyone have any tips for getting an A in Spanish?

Knowing phrases and vocab for the themes will go a long way..Also practicing listenings and comprehensions.I would maybe instead of doing dialogue construction if it isnt the nicest do the letter option instead! Also for the 50 marks essay I think the marks are allocated at half and half for content and grammar. I am going to try and go for an A in Spanish but it could be hard

EDmon

waiting4 wrote: »

hey i really struggle with spanish does anyone have any generic phrases to use for the opinion piece? ones that you can use for pretty much any topics (maybe ones with subjunctive) like " i think the government should play a more active roll in finding a solution"....
etc?

Here are a few;

Spanish English
Creo que i think that
Me parece que It appears to me that
En mi opinion in my opinion
tengo la impresión de que I get the impression that
No soporto I can't bear
No aguanto I can't stand
Lo bueno es que The good thing is that
Lo malo es que the bad thing is that
Lo que más me gusta es que What i like most is that
lo que menos me gusta es que what i like least is that
lo mejor es que the best thing is that
lo peor es que the worst thing is that

EDmon

David1994 wrote: »

Anyone else find the listenings for Spanish really nice? I did one today and got all of it right! Hoping I do good in that and the comprehensions.Could get an A if I do well in them Hopefully!

What would you recommend to do in preparing for synonyms, or techniques.
Thats the one part of comprehensions that really brings my grade down..

rosualt

For synonyms the only technique that works if you don't know the word is to look at the ending of it; to see if its a noun, singular or plural; a verb, first person, third person...;an adjective, maculine or feminine etc. Then find a word in the paragraph that's the same grammatically. Check if you would be able to replace the word you've found in the text with the synonym and still have it make sense when read- if so, you're onto a winner!

EDmon

Anyone doing the novel 'la adventura de Saíd' Q ?
Do you know what chapters have yet to actually be asked in the comprehension?
Any thoughts on what the Q could be like ?

Also, I find it so much harder when the comprehension sect. B is on the back of all the Qs so you have to keep turning the page to actually find the answers... Is it possible to ask for another exam paper so you can just have the comprehension and Qs together?

Shannen94

Is anyone learning anything about sport ? Maybe for the opinion or comprehension ?

EDmon

Shannen94 wrote: »

Is anyone learning anything about sport ? Maybe for the opinion or comprehension ?

Yes, sport has been tipped, possible the importance of sport in all our lives, (could link to obesity) or sport and its links to the drug world?

clio94

Shannen94 wrote: »

Is anyone learning anything about sport ? Maybe for the opinion or comprehension ?

Yeah I have an essay prepared on the benefit of sport in our lives, basic essay really, would be delighted if it came up!

Along the lines of it reduces stress especially for students as a break, the facilities in my town, how good it is for out health, meeting new people etc. I also have a tiny amount done on drugs in sport - probably irrelevant though ?

Mani09

Does anyone have any sample essays for the opinion piece for sport??? My teacher thinks it will come up because of the euros and olympics....

Mani09

Anyone please?

Reventon93

What do people think. If you've never done the Section C Q1b letter before and your terrible at the dialogue construction, would it be good to do it instead? I just looked at 2011 and it seems a lot easier. It has a broad area that you can write on, and it gives you guidelines. Depending if the Dialogue construction is bad tomorow, i want to do the letter. Is it wise?

EDmon

Reventon93 wrote: »

What do people think. If you've never done the Section C Q1b letter before and your terrible at the dialogue construction, would it be good to do it instead? I just looked at 2011 and it seems a lot easier. It has a broad area that you can write on, and it gives you guidelines. Depending if the Dialogue construction is bad tomorow, i want to do the letter. Is it wise?

I'm in the same boat, but I've been practicing the letter and its a fairly good choice in that you can prepare opening and closing. Decide tomorrow,whichever one you have the vocab. for do!
Buenas suerte.

Reventon93

EDmon wrote: »

I'm in the same boat, but I've been practicing the letter and its a fairly good choice in that you can prepare opening and closing. Decide tomorrow,whichever one you have the vocab. for do!
Buenas suerte.

Thats exacty what i was thinking. DC is a total B**ch in general i think! The only thing i really have to do is figure out openings and closings and look over verb endings and hopefully it'll be grand
Y tu.

JailB8 xoxo

general paper was grand enough but what the **** was that listening

Mani09

Comprehensions were tricky.... The dc and op were grand.... The listening wasn't too bad... But Jesus them Comprehensions

DesmondGAF

Aced the Written I think. Listening was dreadful. Weather...blanks everywhere.


Bye bye A

_Bella_

The listening was impossible. I thought the written was nice enough, the opinions weren't on any abstract things. The dialogue was tricky enough as well.

irishdub14

The comprehensions were nice enough and vocabulary wasn't too testing, but the two small texts weren't as easy as previous years though.
I did the opinion piece about emigration being an opportunity, it was straight-forward but I only had 15 mins to do it, so it was very rushed!!
I was so shocked with the letter about royalty, I didn't know the spanish for the word so I was forced to do the dialogue, which I had agreed with my teacher I was NOT going to do! It was really easy though, and I added loads of extra things onto the sentences to look good!

The aural was soooo difficult, and the time between each of the sections was so fast, so I didn't have enough time to even read the questions properly!

Overall though it was a nice paper, and hopefully I did much better than in the mock!!

How did it go for everyone else?

Murphdog94

I thought that was quite a nice paper!
The DC and note were fine, as was the opinion piece en mi juicio.
Comprehensions were easier than other years too but the listening was bastante dificîl.
Hopefully got A2/B1

rosualt

Written paper was a peach

Listening wasn't so nice but I wouldn't worry about that, nearly everyone found it much harder than previous years so the bell curve is sure to sort us out that's what I'm hoping at least!

The weirdest thing happened today... Just before we went in to the exam my friend said she had a dream that the royal family came up, but she had a feeling we'd get emigration for the opinion :O

The examiner was a tad confused as to why we all laughed once we'd seen the papers.

anBoMor

I found it all really easy! Only struggled with translating "medidas", caught me for a good ten minutes. But seeing as the only two in my year who do Spainish are native and lived there (me), we were finished at 11 and started the aural at half. Might be biased, but I really thought it was easy.

On the listening, what two points did people get for the "other than temperature" question?

scmc

anBoMor wrote: »

On the listening, what two points did people get for the "other than temperature" question?

Sunny and pleasent in the morning.

Im probably wrong though. Found that listening awful!

SellingJuan

written grand... weather in the aural was hard.. from someone who speaks fluent spanish she sounded like she had a rather significant speech impediment

EDmon

Did anyone notice that during the first listening, there was no pause ?

I found the listening far harder than any of the past papers, also wasn't too please with the vocab. needed to do the letter regarding royalty etc...

Flabangav

I thought the paper was grand, the essays were alright, but yeah, that listening was really difficult :S

Fiona1993

EDmon wrote: »

Did anyone notice that during the first listening, [COLOR="Red"]there was no pause [/COLOR]?

Yes!!!!!!!? Not happy...

Juxtaposition

Did anyone notice that during the first listening, there was no pause

I noticed that too, but after the exam my friend pointed out to me that in the instructions that it said the Anuncio will be played 3 times through with a long pause at the end of the second hearing. Therefore the *PAUSE was a typo error on the paper. Upsetting, I know!

MaevelovesNY

Such a nice paper!Delighted!Although, the listening was a bit of a pain. Otherwise it was a lovely paper and the opinion pieces were so nice!

anBoMor

scmc wrote: »

Sunny and pleasent in the morning.

Im probably wrong though. Found that listening awful!

I wrote warms winds and sunny in the morning, and a drop in temperature after, thinking maybe by "aside from temperature" they meant the degrees..

Shannen94

The actual paper was grand listening was hard enough, I couldnt make out what anyone was saying