3 days left. Speaking is usually done and dusted earlier in the exam window, so this plan is for Listening, Reading and Writing: the three papers still ahead of you. Here is the order that gets the most marks.
One focus per day, building to a timed run. Work it in order.
Ranked from analysed past papers. Start at the top: if you run out of time, you will have covered the most-tested ground.
Grade 7-9 writing needs tense range. Most students write everything in the present. Examiners are actively looking for preterite, imperfect and future forms across the extended writing tasks.
The single most common grammar error in GCSE Spanish writing and speaking. Ser is for permanent identity, estar is for temporary states and location, and mixing them up loses AO3 marks in every extended answer.
Every description task tests this. Adjectives must agree in gender and number with the noun they describe. A mismatched adjective is one of the fastest ways to lose accuracy marks.
Worth 8 marks Foundation / 10 marks Higher. The recording has repetitions and pauses built into the audio itself, so you get one playback with those pauses, not three separate replays. Accents change meaning here (canto vs cantó), so spelling and accents both count.
Section A of Paper 3 is worth 40 marks and includes deliberate false friends. Words like embarazada, éxito and sensible look like English cognates but mean something completely different: these are set traps, not accidents.
10 marks, minimum 35 words Foundation / 50 words Higher. Every word must be translated accurately. Skipped words or guessed meanings both lose marks, even if the overall sense is right.
10 marks, minimum 35 words Foundation / 50 words Higher. This is where accents and verb endings are checked hardest: a missing accent on a preterite verb can change the tense of your answer, not just the spelling.
The ~90-word task (15 marks) gives you required bullet points. Miss one and you cap your own mark before the examiner even reads your Spanish. It's the single easiest mark to throw away under time pressure.
PrepWise has a one-page Knowledge Organiser for every topic above. Cover the Spanish, try to recall it from memory, check what you missed, then repeat. Ten minutes per topic is enough in the final 3 days.
Rules specific to Listening, Reading & Writing. On this paper, structure earns as many marks as knowledge.
Memorise one sentence frame per tense that you can adapt to almost any topic. Preterite: 'El año pasado fui a...' (Last year I went to...). Imperfect: 'Cuando era pequeño/a, jugaba...' (When I was little, I used to play...). Near future: 'El próximo verano voy a...' (Next summer I'm going to...). Swap the details, keep the frame. That's how you hit tense range under time pressure.
Read every question before the recording starts: you get reading time for this. Paper 1 Section A questions are in English, so answer in English; don't waste time translating your answer into Spanish. The recording has built-in pauses, not three separate plays, so use your 5 minutes of reading time to predict what you're listening for.
Some Reading tasks require Spanish-language responses, not English translations of the passage. Check the instruction on every question. Watch for cognate traps: éxito means success (not exit), sensible means sensitive (not sensible), embarazada means pregnant (not embarrassed).
In the ~90-word and ~150-word writing tasks, missing a required bullet point caps your mark regardless of how good your Spanish is. Before you check spelling or grammar, count your bullets against the question: three bullets means three clearly separate points in your answer.
With five minutes left on Paper 4, don't reread for meaning. Scan specifically for three things: correct verb endings for the subject, adjective agreement with its noun, and accents on preterite third-person forms (cantó, not canto). These three checks catch the most common lost marks.
The errors examiners see most on this paper. Each one is an easy mark you already know how to keep.
Writing everything in the present tense to stay safe → Force at least one preterite and one near-future sentence into every extended writing answer, even if the present tense would technically work. Tense range is what separates grade 6 from grade 8.
Dropping the accent on a preterite verb (canto instead of cantó) → Say the word in your head before you write it. Cantó has the stress on the last syllable, which is exactly why it needs the accent. No accent changes the tense, not just the spelling.
Using estar for permanent facts (Estoy profesora) → Profession, nationality and identity always take ser: Soy profesora. Save estar for how something is right now, where it is, or how someone feels.
Trusting a cognate without checking it (embarazada = embarrassed) → Learn the short list of Spanish-English false friends by heart before the exam: embarazada (pregnant), éxito (success), sensible (sensitive), sopa (soup, not soap). Check any cognate that seems oddly placed in a sentence.
Missing a required bullet point in the extended writing task → Underline the bullet points on the question paper first, then tick each one off as you write. An uncovered bullet caps your mark even with flawless Spanish elsewhere.
The 60 minutes before you walk in. Review what you know and settle your nerves.
You cannot revise a language by reading notes. Practise exam-style Spanish questions in PrepWise, get instant marking, and check your tenses and accents hold up before the exam does.
Open the Spanish Knowledge Organisers, quiz every priority topic and walk in ready. Free during alpha.
Get started with your personalised revision