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GCSE Spanish · AQA 8692

AQA GCSE Spanish role-play: how to prepare

Understand the current task, practise clear responses and build the question you need to ask.

Practise with current AQA cards

Editorial

  • Portrait of Robin GibbonsLead authorFounder & CEO·Latimer Tuition
  • Reviewed byHeather LatimerTutor Matching & Customer Service·Latimer Tuition

The current 8692 format, including preparation time

Five tasks, ten marks

Each task earns up to two marks for communication under AO2. The role-play is recommended to last 1–1½ minutes at both tiers. The current sample mark scheme explains how each response is judged.

One question to ask

Candidate tasks are in English. A question mark identifies the task where you must ask the teacher a question in Spanish. Prepare an actual question that requests the stated information.

Fifteen minutes for all preparation

The supervised 15-minute preparation period is shared across the speaking test tasks; it is not 15 minutes solely for the role-play. You can make notes during preparation and use them throughout the test. Dictionaries are not allowed.

Part of a longer speaking test

The whole speaking test lasts 7–9 minutes at Foundation and 10–12 minutes at Higher, excluding preparation. The role-play is only one part, alongside reading aloud and the photo-card discussion.

Foundation, Higher and old 8698 cards

Foundation: make each short response complete

The 8692 sample booklet shows brief responses and one question. Start by securing the requested information and a suitable verb. For a task asking what there is in your town, “Hay un parque” (There is a park) communicates a complete idea; “un parque” alone contains no verb.

Higher: count the details and check the time frame

The current Higher samples can request two details, an opinion with a reason, or information about the past. The five-task total is the same, but a task can contain more than one requirement. In a practice task asking for two things you did on Saturday, “El sábado fui al cine y comí una pizza” (On Saturday I went to the cinema and ate a pizza) supplies two past activities. Just “Fui al cine” supplies only one. These are examples of demands in particular cards, not a rule that every Higher task needs two details.

8698: useful language, different assessment

Older AQA Spanish 8698 role-plays used a 15-mark scheme and included an unexpected task marked !. Those instructions and marks do not describe current 8692. Check the specification code on a resource before treating it as an exam simulation; “AQA GCSE Spanish” in a search result is not enough.

Four checks when preparing a role-play card

Use these four checks when practising. During the real preparation period, leave time for the other speaking tasks too.

  • Identify the situation and your role

    Read the opening instructions before the bullet points. Decide who you are speaking to and what each task is asking you to communicate. Do not start with a favourite paragraph and try to force it into the situation.

  • Count what each task needs

    Underline requirements such as two details, an opinion, a reason or a past event. Next to each task, note only the information that answers it. For an opinion and reason, check both parts are present.

  • Build and check the question

    At ?, identify the missing information: a place, a time, a price or another detail. Write a complete question, then check that your partner could answer it with the information you actually need.

  • Check verbs, then say the responses aloud

    Find the verb in each prepared response and check its person and time frame. During ordinary revision, rehearse aloud so a listener can check the message. Keep preparation notes easy to scan instead of burying the next answer in a full-page script.

Speaking practice

Mini exchange 1: order a drink and ask the price

When this applies

An imagined café exchange for practising a request and a question. This is a short drill, not an official AQA card or a complete role-play.

Suggested wording

Practice task: say what you want to drink, then ask how much it costs.

Partner: ¿Qué quieres beber? — What do you want to drink?

Student: Quiero un zumo de naranja, por favor. — I want an orange juice, please.

Student: ¿Cuánto cuesta? — How much does it cost?

Partner: Cuesta dos euros. — It costs two euros.

Why this helps

The first response supplies the requested drink. The question then asks for the missing price; it does not guess a price or merely say “precio”. Swap the drink for un café (a coffee) and practise again. Keep the question singular because you are asking about one item.

Speaking practice

Mini exchange 2: describe a place and ask when it opens

When this applies

An imagined conversation about a town. Practise identifying what to answer and what to ask; these lines are not a script to memorise for every card.

Suggested wording

Practice task: say one thing there is in your town, then ask what time the museum opens.

Partner: ¿Qué hay en tu ciudad? — What is there in your town?

Student: Hay un museo. — There is a museum.

Student: ¿A qué hora abre el museo? — What time does the museum open?

Partner: Abre a las diez. — It opens at ten.

Why this helps

Hay expresses “there is” or “there are”; abre means “opens”. The question asks for a time, rather than a location. Swap el museo for la piscina (the swimming pool): ¿A qué hora abre la piscina? — What time does the swimming pool open? The time phrase stays the same.

Correct the response so it answers the task

Try these three corrections before reading the answers. These are short practice exercises.

  • Task: ask how much the ticket costs

    Attempt: “La entrada cuesta cinco euros.” — The ticket costs five euros.

    Correction: ¿Cuánto cuesta la entrada? — How much does the ticket cost? The original sentence gives a price; the task asks you to request one.

  • Task: say what there is in your town

    Attempt: “Es un museo en mi ciudad.”

    Correction: Hay un museo en mi ciudad. — There is a museum in my town. Use hay to say something exists in a place. Es un museo means “it is a museum”, identifying something rather than saying what the town has.

  • Task: ask where the museum is

    Attempt: “¿Dónde es el museo?”

    Correction: ¿Dónde está el museo? — Where is the museum? For the location of this building, use está. Then change just the place: ¿Dónde está la estación? — Where is the station?

A short practice session you can repeat

  • Use a current card with a partner

    Open the AQA 8692 sample teacher booklet. Use the candidate card for your tier while your partner reads the matching teacher prompts. The booklet includes other speaking tasks, so find the role-play section and the matching card number.

  • Try once, then check your answers

    Record your responses if helpful. Let your partner finish the prompt before answering. Compare each response with its task and choose one thing to correct: a missing detail, the wrong time frame, an unclear question or a missing verb.

  • Repeat with a changed detail

    Change the place, activity or item so you have to form a fresh response. For instance, change “el museo” (the museum) to “la estación” (the station) in a location question. This tests whether you can adapt the language instead of reciting a fixed exchange.

  • Return to the whole speaking test

    Practise the role-play within a full mock as well as in isolation, so you learn to share preparation time with the reading-aloud and photo-card tasks. Ask your teacher to check a recurring grammar or pronunciation problem with a specific recorded example.

Support and clarity

Frequently asked questions

Straight answers to the questions people ask most often.

Is the question I ask always the last task?

No. In the current Higher sample role-play 11, the question task is third. Follow the order on your own card and look for ?, rather than saving every question until the end.

Should I memorise a role-play script?

Learn useful vocabulary and sentence patterns, then practise changing them to fit new tasks. One script cannot supply every possible place, opinion, time frame or question. Cover a model answer and rebuild it from the task to check that you can adapt it.

Are these exercises suitable for other exam boards?

The Spanish language drills may help with speaking practice, but the assessment rules on this page are for AQA 8692 in England. Use your own board’s current specification, cards and mark scheme for an exam simulation.

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