CCEA past papers and mark schemes for GCSE Spanish

CCEA GCSE Spanish past papers and mark schemes

Here you can find CCEA past papers for GCSE Spanish. Use the links below to download question papers and mark schemes (which contain the answers).

There is an examination for each of the specification’s four assessment units, each worth 25% of the overall mark.

In Unit 1: Listening, the exam will consist of 12 questions, all of which you will be expected to complete. Some questions are expected to be answered in English, some questions are expected to be answered in Spanish.

Unit 2: Speaking is a speaking examination, conducted in Spanish, and consists of two role-plays and a general conversation on two topics. You can prepare one conversation topic in advance.

In Unit 3: Reading, the exam will consist of 12 questions, all of which you will be expected to complete. Some questions are expected to be answered in English, some questions are expected to be answered in Spanish, and some translation from Spanish into English will be required.

In Unit 4: Writing, the exam will consist of four questions, all of which you will be expected to complete. Questions are expected to be answered in Spanish, there will be some requirement to translate English into Spanish and the final question will be a structured, extended writing task (from a choice of three) in Spanish.

Unit 1

Listening

Foundation Tier

Higher Tier

Unit 2

Speaking: Role-play situations

Summer 2025 - Past paper | Mark Scheme – (Teacher's Booklet)
Summer 2024 - Past paper | Mark Scheme – (Teacher’s Booklet)
Summer 2023 - Past paper | Mark Scheme – (Teacher’s Booklet)

Unit 3

Reading

Foundation Tier

Summer 2025 - Past paper | Mark Scheme
Summer 2024 - Past paper | Mark Scheme
Summer 2023 - Past paper | Mark Scheme

Higher Tier

Summer 2025 - Past paper | Mark Scheme
Summer 2024 - Past paper | Mark Scheme
Summer 2023 - Past paper | Mark Scheme

Unit 4

Writing

Foundation Tier

Summer 2025 - Past paper | Mark Scheme
Summer 2024 - Past paper | Mark Scheme
Summer 2023 - Past paper | Mark Scheme

Higher Tier

Summer 2025 - Past paper | Mark Scheme
Summer 2024 - Past paper | Mark Scheme
Summer 2023 - Past paper | Mark Scheme

More CCEA past papers and mark schemes

You can find more Spanish past papers and mark schemes on the CCEA website.

Past papers and mark schemes going back as far as 2018 are available there, along with many Irish Medium and modified versions of the papers.

Five top tips for your Spanish revision

A girl studying at a desk in her room at home.

1. Getting your revision started
As GCSE exams approach, the best use of your time is to complete past CCEA exam papers. Doing so gets you used to the look of the papers and allows you to feel confident about the exam layout. Secondly, and this is true particularly in the case of reading and listening exams, it exposes you to the common vocabulary that crops up time and time again. Before you start doing past papers, get a blank notebook to use for vocabulary. Use the front of it for listing ‘reading paper vocabulary’ and the back for ‘listening paper vocabulary’.

2. Reading revision tips
As you complete the past papers, make a list of the vocabulary that you don’t understand. Write the words or phrases in your notebook, then look up and note down their meanings in English. After completing a few papers, it will become clear that certain words and phrases crop up all the time. This will help you develop confidence as you start to recognise them. You should feel yourself make progress in this area quite quickly. Look through and revise these lists frequently.

3. Listening revision tips
To make progress using listening past papers, you should download or print out the transcripts. Use these to compile vocabulary lists, just as you would for a reading paper. The good news, for both reading and listening papers, is that it is not essential to be able to write the new words and phrases correctly in Spanish – you just need to be able to recognise them and know their meaning in English. This will allow you to memorise them much more quickly. Complete as many past papers as you can, to allow yourself to get used to the style of questions you will encounter.

4. Speaking revision tips
When revising role-plays for your speaking test, please be aware that you will not be examined on any role-plays from the ‘Context for Learning’ covered by the pre-release, ‘Conversation 1’. Print out and prepare as many role-plays as you can. The more you do, the easier they will become, as the same vocabulary and phrases keep cropping up (just like with reading and listening papers). You will sometimes have to ask questions, so make sure to revise this also.

5. Writing revision tips
Complete as many past paper questions as you can. In the case of the writing paper, correct spelling is key, so check the accuracy of your answers using a dictionary. The fourth section of the writing paper asks you to write at length and is worth 30 marks. Five bullet points are provided to tell you what to write about. The fourth one will often ask you to use the past tense and the fifth will often ask you to use the future or conditional tense. Learn off several phrases with verbs in both the past, future and conditional tenses to ensure you can complete these sections successfully.

Five top tips for your Spanish exams

A line of students at their desks in an examination room.

1. Listening exam
Be careful – when offered several answers to choose from, you may hear more than one of them. Keep calm – only one of them will be true, so listen carefully and don’t just choose the first answer that you recognise, as it may not be the correct one. Do not leave any answers blank, always have a guess if you’re not sure. Revise numbers, as they are often tested. Common numbers that are confused are 16/17, 60/70 and 600/700. Revise the following numbers carefully also: 500, 700 and 900. Remember that ‘mil’ is not a million – it’s a thousand.

2. Speaking exam
If you make a mistake during your speaking exam, don’t panic. Keep as calm as you can and continue with the test. Your overall performance is what matters, not any small mistakes you might make. When doing role-plays, only very short answers are required. No marks are given for extra information, so don’t give it – there’s no point.

3. Reading exam
Just as in the case of the listening exam, do not leave any answers blank – always make sure to at least take a guess if you don’t know the answer for certain. When completing gap-fill exercises, read the sentences carefully to identify whether a noun, verb, adjective or adverb is required in the gap, and choose from the list provided accordingly. Watch out particularly for the gender of nouns and adjective agreements when choosing your answer.

4. Writing exam
Aim to write as correctly as possible. Try to use accents accurately when using the different tenses. In section four, make sure the answer to each bullet point is more of less the same length, that you use tenses as correctly as possible, that you justify your opinions and that you give some unsolicited information to boost your score. Don’t leave blanks or omit any answers. Even if the spelling or grammar of what you write is not completely perfect, you will still be awarded some marks for communication.

5. Timing is crucial
Pay attention to the time when sitting your exam papers. If you get stuck on a particular question in your Unit 3: Reading or Unit 4: Writing paper, leave it and return to it after you have completed all the other questions. In the Unit 4: Writing exam, the final question is worth 30 marks (out of 60 available for the whole paper), so make sure you leave plenty of time to answer it!

Revise specific Spanish topics

A young girl holding a mobile phone and writing revision notes in a jotter

If practising past papers has shown you an area of Spanish you want to improve, there’s extra help available.

You can go straight to the most relevant CCEA GCSE Spanish resources and refresh your knowledge of the key skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. All three contexts of learning are covered – identity, lifestyle and culture; local, national, international and global areas of interest; and school life, studies and the world of work.

Follow the links to the unit or skill you want to focus on, where you’ll find clear revision support, helpful guidance and materials designed to build your confidence for the exams.