Opinion Piece (Masterclass)

What is it?

  • Question asked to give opinion on a real world matter — examiner wants your view on things backed up by experience in your (or young people in general’s) lives.

  • Worth 50 marks and 12.5% of the Spanish grade.


The Pre-Game

  • Plan the answer in English (must).

    • Intro, 3 points, conclusion

    • What is talked about in the 3 points

    • Key vocab from such points (keywords, connectors, etc)

  • Read through all 3 points, pick the one that you fully understand — NEVER half guess

  • Try to get 1-1.5 A4 pages, within 25-30 minutes.


Post-essay Check

  • Do the same words show up too much? Can they be replaced with synonyms?

  • Are the nouns, adjectives and articles in the right gender and singular/plural form?

  • Read-aloud. Do certain areas sound weird, or sentences dragged out too long?


Tips for practices on the fly

  • Write shorter sentences (less mistakes, sounds better)

  • Hone in on one mistake at a time (easy to eliminate)

  • Write what we CAN write (practical, not fancy)

  • Read in your head to check after essay.

  • Note repetition in vocab and look for synonyms.

  • Read and listen to more Spanish.


What makes a H1 Opinion Piece?

  • Content/Communication

    • Very easy to follow with a very clear structure and connected ideas.

    • The arguments are very well structured and very easy to follow.

    • The examiner easily understands the message very clearly.

    • There’s almost no irrelevant material (everything leads back to the question).

  • Language

    • Lots of natural sounding Spanish with some idioms that fit the context (not forced)

    • A variety of vocabulary and synonyms (not the same words over and over again)

    • Very few spelling/grammar mistakes (adjectives agree, correct accents, etc)

    • Good use of a range of tenses (ones that make sense, and multiple used: 4-5 is good)


What topics tend to come up the most?

  • Technology/social media

  • The environment

  • School/the education system

  • Social problems (e.g. young people, emigration, cost of living, homelessness)

  • Friendship/family

  • Sports/health

  • Travel/languages


Takeaways from Chief Examiner Report (2017)

  • Give your own opinion and construct rather than learning off

  • The best students wrote clearly and simply and gave own opinions

  • Copying sentences and extracts from passage worth no marks.


H1 Structure

  1. Introduction (OIF)

    • Opinion — State whether or not you agree with the statement.

    • Introduce — Introduce the topic with slight reasoning for answer.

    • Foreshadow — State the points that you’ll talk about.

  2. Main paragraphs (PEEL)

    • Point — Make a brief sentence on what the paragraph will be about.

    • Explain — Discuss the point and explain it so the examiner can understand.

    • Example/Effect — Either come up with a real life (personal or non-personal) example or explain how the point affects people on a daily basis.

    • Link — Show how your point relates to the topic and the statement at the start.

  3. Conclusion (SOS)

    • Summary — Summarise your 3 points, briefly going over them.

    • Opinion — Re-state your opinion, linking it to the points you talked about.

    • Suggestion — Recommend something that can be done to lessen the consequences/or prepare for whatever the topic is.