GCE Advanced Level - StudyGuide.PK

SPANISH LANGUAGEGCE Advanced Subsidiary LevelPaper 8685/01SpeakingGeneral commentsAs usual, the numbers of candidates entering for the November examinations was lower than for the Junesession. Many of the comments made in the report for that session are also relevant here.Overall, the standard was generally good. Centres appear to have become familiar with the revisions to thesyllabus in recent years and their candidates were well prepared.Comments on specific aspects of the examinationPresentationAlthough the majority of candidates were well equipped to speak for the necessary time, there are still somewho fail to prepare appropriately for this task. This section of the test is not just assessed on the candidate’sability to talk in Spanish without interruption for three minutes, but is also marked for content, organisationand relevance. The topic must be clearly linked to Hispanic themes and those candidates who merely talkabout their own interests, for example, in sport or who give an off-the-cuff summary of leisure interests in theregion will not achieve the highest marks. On the positive side, many candidates spoke convincingly on arelevant topic, showing appropriate knowledge, personal opinion and thought in preparation.Topic conversationWeaker candidates were sometimes unable to go beyond repetition of essential points outlined in theirspeech, or were limited to general, anecdotal remarks. Well-prepared candidates, however, had anticipatedpossible developments in the conversation and were ready with specific evidence, data or opinions whichthey were prepared to discuss with the Teacher/Examiner. Overall, the standard of linguistic competencewas good.General conversationIt is relevant to repeat that candidates must be prepared for follow up questions such as ‘why?’, ‘where?’ and‘could you give an example?’ Although the focus may well be the candidate’s own life, plans and experiencefor part of this test, he or she will be also required to discuss more abstract issues which assess thecandidate’s ability to summarise, give opinions and defend these. Range of linguistic register is obviouslyimportant. It was pleasing to note that the majority of candidates were able to rise to the challenge of moreadvanced language. A few Centres, however, did not allow their candidates to perform adequately, bylimiting them with basic questioning, both in content and structure.There were still a few candidates who were, apparently, not prepared to ask questions of theTeacher/Examiner as part of the topic and general conversations. Centres are reminded of this requirement,although, fortunately, this is now far less of an omission than was the case in previous sessions.63