Spanish Beginners exam papers
Spanish Beginners 2018 HSC exam pack
Spanish Beginners 2018 HSC exam pack
Spanish Beginners HSC Exam paper - transcript - audio 2018
Marking guidelines
Marking guidelines are developed with the examination paper and are used by markers to guide their marking of a student's response. The table shows each question and the criteria with each mark or mark range.
Sample answers may also be developed and included in the guidelines to make sure questions assess a student's knowledge and skills, and guide the Supervisor of Marking on the expected nature and scope of a student's response. They are not intended to be exemplary or even complete answers or responses.
Marking feedback
Select from the link(s) below to view feedback about how students performed in this year’s examination.
Use the feedback to guide preparation for future examinations. Feedback includes an overview of the qualities of better responses. Feedback may not be provided for every question.
Feedback on practical examination
Oral examination
Conversation
Students should:
- engage in regular practice of a variety of vocabulary and sentence structures
- listen to spoken Spanish from a variety of sources
- familiarise themselves with the topics outlined in the Spanish Beginners syllabus
- practise the subject content studies in the Preliminary and HSC Spanish Beginners courses
- expect to be tasked questions on a range of topics
- listen to the entire question.
In better responses, students were able to:
- converse effectively and fluently
- demonstrate a range of vocabulary in responses
- provide depth when expressing their opinion
- understand and respond to all questions
- demonstrate cultural understanding
- conjugate verbs in present, past and future tense (hablo español, fui a Chile, voy a ir a Cuba)
- conjugate verbs in first and third person singular and plural (yo estudio, él/ella estudia, nosotros estudiamos, ellos/ellas estudian)
- use the verbs ser and estar correctly (soy australiano/a, estoy en casa)
- use correct adjectival agreement (mi madre es cariñosa, mi hermano es alto)
- speak with acceptable pronunciation and intonation.
Areas for students to improve include:
- responding to the questions the examiner asks rather than presenting pre-prepared responses that may be inappropriate to the questions asked
- using a variety of sentence beginnings when responding to questions
- paying special attention to the use of basic language features and structures such as particles and tense
- the range of vocabulary
- grammatical accuracy: control of verb tenses, conjugations and adjectival agreement
- sentence structure.
Feedback on written examination
Section I
Listening
Students should:
- read the question carefully and address all parts of the question in their response
- respond to information in text and not include general knowledge or personal experience
- make notes in the Candidates Notes columnon the right-hand side of the page
- transcribe their response on to the allocated lines under the question
- use the space under the question as indicator for the length of their response
- respond using their own words and avoid giving a translation of the text as their response.
In better responses, students were able to:
- identify a wide range of vocabulary and expressions from the syllabus topics
- analyse the text and respond to questions demonstrating a holistic understanding of the texts
- support their responses with detailed references to the text
- address all the parts of the questions, using their own words
- demonstrate a good understanding of the whole text without repeating information.
Areas for students to improve include:
- revising vocabulary related to topics set for study in the Spanish Beginners course
- providing detailed information to support ideas or justify points of view, using their own words
- avoiding direct translation of parts of texts as part of their response.
Section II
Reading
Students should:
- read the entire text
- read questions carefully and address all parts of the question
- use their own words in their response and avoid simply translating text without an explanation
- use the number of lines beneath each question as an indication of required length for each response
- respond based on information in the text, not their personal experience or general knowledge
- use the dictionary appropriately to find the correct meaning for the context.
In better responses, students were able to:
- analyse the texts and produce detailed responses addressing all parts of the question
- use their own words to respond to the question and avoid a literal translation of vocabulary and expressions
- understand a range of vocabulary, expressions and idiomatic phrases
- provide a succinct and concise response when required to summarise
- support opinions and points of view by referring to the texts.
Areas for students to improve include:
- using their own words and avoiding translating expressions and segments of the text
- knowing a range of vocabulary, expressions and idiomatic phrases related to the topics set for study in the Spanish Beginners syllabus
- using the dictionary appropriately to find the correct meaning of words or expressions for the context
- editing their responses to ensure that meaning is clear
- providing more detailed references to the text to support and justify their opinion.
Section III
Writing in Spanish
Students should:
- identifying the key words of the question and addressing all parts of the question
- address the purpose, audience and context of the question in response
- write using a wide variety of vocabulary, expressions and sentence structures
- use dictionary carefully to access vocabulary and expressions that are meaningful in the context used
- plan and structure their response in a coherent and logical way.
In better responses, students were able to:
- address the requirements of the questions
- respond using the conventions of the type of text required by the question
- write to the word length required by the question
- use a range of vocabulary, sentence structures and expressions
- demonstrate knowledge of verb conjugation and verb tenses in singular and plural.
Areas for students to improve include:
- demonstrating knowledge of verb conjugation in the first and third person singular and plural
- focusing on communicating relevant ideas and information that address the requirements of the question
- avoiding using irrelevant pre-learnt expressions that are not required to answer the question
- using appropriate vocabulary, expressions and idiomatic expressions for the context
- applying the conventions of commencing and ending the type of task required by question
- editing their work to ensure clarity of meaning.
HSC exam resources
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Spanish Beginners syllabus
Find out more about the Spanish Beginners syllabus.
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