The Leaving Cert countdown continues with Study Hub 2026 - part of Today with David McCullagh on RTÉ Radio 1.
On the show Imelda Colum, Spanish teacher, Finn Valley College, Donegal. Press play on the image above to listen now.
Her Top 5 Tips are below, and you can download her full revision notes HERE:
1. The first thing to do when you get the exam paper is go to the last page or ask for a sheet of paper and write down the important grammar that you will need in the Written Section of the paper such as the present tense, past tense and future tense verb endings, important irregular verbs in all tenses etc.
Also write down any other important grammar points that always appear on the paper such as "ser" vs "estar"(use the acronym DOCTOR for ser (Description, Occupation, Characteristic, Time/date, Origin, Relationship/Religion) and PLACE for Estar (Position, Location, Action, Condition, Emotion) and any other grammar points you might have had problems with or mistakes that you would normally have made in your work. You can then forget about the written section and Opinion Piece and focus on the Reading Comprehensions.
2. Work through the Reading Comprehensions in order as you might get some inspiration for the written sections. But do not use chunks of material from the Reading Comprehensions in the written sections.
3. I recommend using a highlighter and even have different colours of highlighters for the different types of questions when working through the comprehensions as they are quite long to underline your buzz and key words from the questions in the text to pinpoint where your answers are.
4. In the Opinion Piece have a standard introduction and conclusion that you can apply to any topic that may appear on the paper. You can just tweak it to make it fit it with the title that you choose. Also have a bank of phrases and expressions that you can use in every Opinion Piece. (Hoy en día, Es imprescindible, Sin embargo, Por lo tanto, Desde mi punto de vista etc.) Also, if you can make it personal that is always a good idea.
5. In Section C (the Written Section) if you choose to do the Dialogue Construction question always read the Spanish side of the conversation as it may contain vocabulary or phrases that you may need to use in that dialogue or even in other parts of the exam paper.
- In the dialogue also I recommend doing each part in small sections or work up to where there is a natural pause in the sentence.
- Some of the sentences in Spanish can be quite long. Do not start writing straight away. Ask yourself what tense do I need, what vocab do I need etc and work from there in small sections until you complete the whole "turno".
- Look for alternative vocab or structures if you don't know the exact word. It’s not a direct translation exercise.
Remember the exam is a chance to show off what you know and what you have learned over the last five or six years
And there are more Higher Level specific Spanish notes from Patrick Lee from the Dublin Academy of Education here.
Study Hub 2026 content is available:
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Visit RTÉ Learn for more great content ahead of the Leaving Cert - we are here to help!
