Exam nerves

For the first time in 30 years I am sitting a GCSE exam.

I started learning Spanish a couple of years ago and have been working very hard at it.  I attend evening classes, have conversation lessons via Skype, have made visits to Spain, watch TV programmes with the Spanish audio and with subtitles in English (Netflix does that for lots of its shows) and, my favourite, listen to Spanish podcasts while I go running.

I have clearly been having lots of fun with Spanish, so what’s the point in doing the GCSE?

I really enjoy the speaking, listening and reading elements of Spanish, but have very little reason to do any writing and I don’t want to have a big gap in my knowledge.  Listening and reading come close to being problem solving.  It’s often possible to find the root of a well-known word in something unfamiliar, or to get some meaning from the context or from the sound of a word.  Speaking can be difficult because it all about thinking on your feet.  [I frequently think about cognitive load theory when I am trying to speak Spanish; as I am floundering around for the particular word I know I will need to finish off a sentence I then find myself making silly mistakes elsewhere in what I am saying!]  Writing in Spanish is something I just don’t need to do very often.

One reason, then, for signing up to take the exam was that it would force me to work on the things I don’t find easy and the things I don’t often need to do.

At the time of writing this I have done the speaking, listening and reading exams and am now focusing on preparing for the written exam.

What have I learned by doing GCSE Spanish (apart from ‘more Spanish’)?

   1)  I was surprised at how nervous I was before the exams.

Despite having nothing riding on this at all (I don’t need a particular grade, my life isn’t going to change depending on whether I get a grade 1 or a grade 9) I was still nervous.

I know I can speak/understand/read Spanish.  I have been a successful learner and a successful taker-of-exams in the past.  Yet I was still nervous!

   2) Exam technique is important.

It really has been good for me to prepare and to take the exam.  I now have a good knowledge of GCSE Spanish vocabulary and am much more confident at writing, for example.  I wasn’t expecting to need to spend so much time thinking about exam technique and rubric though. 

For example, in the speaking exam you have to ask the examiner a question at some point.   I checked several times at the end of the reading paper that I had answered the question in the correct language (some stipulated Spanish and others wanted answers in English).  None of this really impacts on how well you understand Spanish!

   3)      Revision plans are difficult to keep to.

I had a 46-page booklet of vocabulary to learn, set out in two columns on each page.  Three months before the exam I decided I would learn a column each day.  Seven weeks before the exam, having not done much, I decided it was fine because I could learn a page a day... .  Guess what I was doing the weekend before the exam?  Learning several dozen pages of vocab each day!

What are the implications for my teaching?

• I need to recognise that pupils will get anxious about their tests and exams, even if they really shouldn’t.  
• It has worked well for me to learn lots of Spanish and then to prepare for the exam shortly beforehand.  I need to think about what point to start mentioning exam technique and other exam-related things with my students.
• Setting regular deadlines for revision is a good thing.  I would have benefitted from having regular vocab checks!

So hats off to Year 6, Year 11 and Year 13 students for the huge numbers of public tests and exams they do during the summer term.  And “¡buena suerte!” to those who still have more exams to do.