Tip #1
Vocabulary: My top tip is to keep up-to-date (and get ahead if possible) on your vocabulary learning. Find the best method for you – you might like to make flashcards, or you might just repeat them out loud over and over, or you could write them in lists in notebooks – whatever works for you. Test yourself, or even better, get someone to test you regularly.
If you’re in year 10, make sure you start well and get into a good routine of doing this – it will make things a lot easier for you later. If you’re in year 11 and feel very behind, don’t worry – you can still use this method. Just don’t leave it until the last minute – you might be able to cram for some subjects, but it won’t work for Spanish.
Tip #2
Vocabulary: When you’re learning nouns, remember to learn the gender at the same time (masculine or feminine).
Tip #3
Vocabulary: When you’re learning infinitive verbs, remember to learn whether they finish in -ar, -er or -ir.
Tip #4
Get yourself a Spanish dictionary – preferably one with verb tables in the back. Even though there are internet dictionaries available, my opinion is that looking up vocabulary in a dictionary is an invaluable skill that will help you understand how language works and it will last you years into the future. You can often find these second-hand, so you won’t have to splurge. Get into the habit of looking up vocabulary in your dictionary – it will also help the words to sink in.
Tip #5
Grammar: When it comes to learning your verbs and tenses, this needs a mixture of memorisation and practice. This is by far the most difficult part of learning Spanish and you are expected to recognise and know how to use many of these for your exams. One of the things that makes it problematic is that there are so many to cover in such a short space of time that they can get a bit muddled.
So, start with the present tense and make sure you learn the most common verbs in all the different persons before you move onto other tenses. Once you cover a tense in the classroom, make sure you practise it so that it really sinks in. Use your school books to do this, but there are also many resources available to get some extra practice.
Tip #6
Find and use resources for extra practice. The GCSE Bitesize website has some really useful pages you can use for practice, and there are many GCSE exam practice workbooks you can use – you don’t need the latest edition (grammar doesn’t change!) so you can often get some quite cheap second-hand practice books. You can also use my translation exercises for practising your grammar and vocabulary.