Spanish - Higher

Good vocab and loads of practice for the oral exam are key to doing well in this subject.

You'll find some advice on preparing for your Oral on our blog. Many students forget to prepare for the listening comprehension (Aural) exam which takes up the first 30 minutes of the exam. You will find all the past recordings along with questions and answers in the Studyclix Aural topics.

Higehr Level Course Content

Aural - Anuncio/ Announcement
Aural - Descriptivo/ Description
Aural - Dialogo/ Dialogue
Aural - El Tiempo/ Weather
Aural - Una Noticia/News
Journalistic Text
Opinion Text
ORAL exam
Prescribed Literature (Relato de un náufrago)
Prescribed Literature (Sin Noticias de Gurb)
Short Comprehensions
Write a Dialogue...
Write a Letter/email...
Writer a Diary entry/note...

Ordinary Level Course Content

Aural - Anuncio/ Announcement
Aural - Descriptivo/ Description
Aural - Dialogo/ Dialogue
Aural - El Tiempo/ Weather
Aural - Una Noticia/ News
Comprehension
ORAL exam
Write a Diary entry...
Write a Letter/email
Write a Note...

The Exam - Higher Level

Oral Examination (25%)
Listening Comprehension (20%)
Reading Comprehension (30%)
Writing (25%)

The Exam - Ordinary Level

Oral Examination (20%)
Listening Comprehension (25%)
Reading Comprehension (40%)
Writing (15%)

Oral Exam

The Spanish oral exam has two parts, personal questions and role-plays. It usually takes fifteen minutes.

Part 1

First you will be asked personal questions to check you know your tenses. Make sure you respond in the correct tense (present, past and future and/or conditional tenses). Don't worry if you make a mistake, Just say "Lo Siento" (I'm sorry) and then give the correct tense.

Part 2

You will have prepared 5 role-plays prepared and the examiner will pick one. Do your best to avoid reading off a learned off piece monotonously. Try to learn a series of phrases for each of the role-plays.

Listening Examination

Practice makes perfect with the Aural. Many students forget to prepare for the listening comprehension (Aural) exam which takes up the first 30 minutes of the exam. You will find all the past recordings along with questions and answers in the Studyclix Aural topics.

Written exam

In this part of the exam you will be tested on your ability to understand written Spanish as well as to write your own pieces in Spanish. Having a good vocabulary is vital here so you should try get in to the habit of writing down any new words you come across and revise them regularly.

Future Careers with Leaving Certificate Spanish

Having one foreign language is a requirement for hundreds of CAO courses so it is unwise to drop your language unless you are certain it will not make you ineligible for a course you may choose in the future. Spanish is useful for travel and a wide variety of career sectors such as Business, Politics, Education, Banking, Tourism and Media.

Download the Leaving Cert Spanish Syllabus

Download the leaving cert Spanish Chief Examiner's Report (2016)