Five avoidable mistakes candidates make in MFL GCSE exams

Did you know that candidates regularly make these 5 ridiculous mistakes in their French, German and Spanish GCSE exams?

In this blog post, I'm sharing five really silly things that GCSE French, German and Spanish students do in their exams that lose them marks... that have absolutely nothing to do with how well they can understand or produce the target language!

When every single mark counts, they need to be aware of these things, and make sure that they aren't making these avoidable mistakes:

1. Not writing letters clearly in the answer boxes. This is relevant for AQA students, as many answers in the reading and listening papers require students to write a letter in a box. For Edexcel, they need to put a cross, and this also needs to be really clear.

2. Not crossing out wrong answers clearly. Or not even crossing them out at all! They can't put a few different answers and hope for the best! Candidates need to write one clear answer and cross out anything that is irrelevant, as they can lose marks for adding irrelevant information in the reading and listening exams.

3. Poor handwriting in general. If an examiner can't read what a candidate has written, they can't mark it. There is plenty of time to complete these exams, so students should focus on writing as neatly as possible throughout the exam.

4. Spelling and grammar errors in English. If the candidate's rendering of a word in English is so badly spelt that the examiners can't work out what they're trying to say, they simply won't award a mark.

5. Missing plurals and little words like "very" or "often" out of translations. This is not usually because they don't know the words, but because they are not focusing on the details in the translations. Candidates should make sure they cross off every word in the translation and make sure they have translated each one as accurately as possible.

All of these mistakes are so easily avoided and can literally mean the difference between one grade and the next, so make sure you're training your Key Stage 4 students on this kind of exam technique alongside actually teaching them the language!