You will meet words you don't know

That's by design. Cambridge won't test you on a fixed word-list, so panicking at an unknown word is the biggest time-waster in the exam. Instead, run through five clue-checks — one of them almost always cracks it:

• 1. Cognates — does it look like an English word?
• 2. Word families & roots — do you know a related Spanish word?
• 3. Affixes — what do the prefix/suffix tell you?
• 4. Context & logic — what would make sense here?
• 5. Grammatical clues — is it a noun, a verb, an adjective?

Golden rule: never leave a gap blank because of one unknown word. A sensible guess from the clues is often exactly right — and always beats nothing.

Words that look English

Thousands of Spanish words are cognates — they share a root with English. Once you spot the pattern, the meaning jumps out:

• la información, el hospital, importante — near-identical.
• -ción ↔ English -tion: la nación (nation), la educación (education).
• -dad ↔ English -ty: la ciudad (city), la universidad (university).

Watch the false friends. A few look English but aren't: éxito = success (not "exit"), sensible = sensitive, actualmente = currently. Let the sentence sanity-check your guess.

Spot the cognate

Pull on a word you already know

Spanish builds families around a shared root. If you know one member, you can often unlock the others:

How to use it: when a word looks unfamiliar, cover the ending and ask "what root do I recognise?" deportista hides deporte (sport) → "a sportsperson".

Find the root

Prefixes & suffixes rewire meaning

The little bits on the front and back of a word change it in predictable ways. Learn these and you can decode words you've never seen:

• -mente = English -ly (makes an adverb): rápida → rápidamente (quickly), fácil → fácilmente (easily).
• -dad makes an abstract noun (English -ty): feliz → la felicidad (happiness), real → la realidad (reality).
• des- reverses, like English un-/dis-: ordenado → desordenado (untidy), aparecer → desaparecer (disappear).
• in-/im- = "not": útil → inútil (useless), posible → imposible (impossible).

Try it live: desafortunadamente looks long, but it's des- + afortunada (fortunate) + -mente → "unfortunately".

What is the word doing?

Use the affix to pick the best meaning.

Decode the affix

What would make sense here?

Even with no root to grab, the rest of the sentence narrows the meaning down. Read around the gap and ask what fits:

Signposts help too: pero (but) signals a contrast, porque (because) a reason, por ejemplo (for example) a clarification. They tell you what kind of idea comes next.

Use the context

Is it a noun, a verb, or an adjective?

Knowing a word's job narrows the meaning fast — and stops silly errors. The grammar around it gives it away:

• After el / la / un / una → it's a noun (a thing): la huelga = a strike.
• Ends in -ar / -er / -ir or has a person ending → it's a verb (an action): madrugar = to get up early.
• Sits next to a noun and agrees with it → it's an adjective (a describer): un coche veloz = a fast car.

Why it matters: in a gap-fill, spotting that the missing word must be a verb (because a subject and an object are already there) instantly rules out half the options.

Which word class?

Use the grammar clue to decide the job of the bold word.

Deduce it from the sentence

Cognate — or deduce from context?

Some words you can read straight off because they look English (cognate). Others give no help from spelling — you must reason from the sentence. Sort them.

Four papers, each worth 25%

Cambridge IGCSE Spanish (0530) is untiered and assessed by four equal papers. Every candidate sits all four:

Not in this exam: there is no translation and no dictation in 0530. Don't waste revision time on those — put it into deducing meaning and the four skills below.

Listening and Reading

Paper 1 — Listening. Multiple-choice and matching tasks. Crucially, every recording is played twice:

• Use the reading time to underline key words in each question first.
• First play: get the gist and mark obvious answers. Second play: confirm and fill the gaps.
• Listen for distractors — a speaker may mention a wrong option before correcting it.

Paper 2 — Reading. Matching, multiple-choice, and short written answers in Spanish:

• Scan for the answer, then read closely around it. Watch negatives (no, nunca) that flip meaning.
• For short-answer questions, reply in Spanish — lift and adapt words from the text; you don't need full sentences.
• Meet an unknown word? Run the five clue-checks from Strand A rather than stalling.

Playing it twice

Role play + two conversations

The Speaking test has two parts:

• Role play. You respond to five transactional prompts — practical situations like a shop, a station, or booking something. Give the information asked for; keep it clear and complete.
• Two topic conversations. Longer, freer chats on prepared topic areas. This is where you show off: opinions, reasons, and more than one tense.

Score-lifters: add an opinion + reason (Me gusta… porque…), use past, present and future, and connect ideas with además, sin embargo, por eso. Don't answer a role-play prompt with a bare "sí".

A role-play reply

Three writing tasks

Paper 4 builds up in length. Know exactly what each task wants:

Hit the marks: cover every bullet point, stay near the word count, and vary your tenses and connectives. In extended writing, an opinion with a reason and a future plan pushes you up the bands.

Length matters

Know your word counts

Match the paper to its task

Tap a paper on the left, then tap the task that belongs to it on the right.

One more listening fact

Your exam-skills toolkit

Master these and every paper gets calmer. Press Finish to see your score.