Best app for GCSE Spanish revision

[Ianoonan]

Short and sweet - looking for recommendations for the best apps to help my son do well in GCSE Spanish. Happy to pay for apps and happy to use AI apps, whatever works! Exam board is AQA.
Any up to date recommendations from students who sat GCSE Spanish in 2025?
Thank you! :-)

Be aware that the spec has changed for this year so make sure anything you look at bears that in mind. What I mean is that what helped someone in 2025 may not be useful to your DS.

New elements include dictation in the listening and read aloud in the speaking. The writing task bullets are in English not TL and the reading and listening elements with questions in TL have been dropped.

Duolingo is a good app but tbh nothing beats learning vocab and verbs, plus practising phrases that they can use in their speaking exam.

Yes, the exam has changed. This is the first year of the new-style exam, so none of the AQA past papers will be the sameas the new format (though they are still good practice). Are there any particular weak-points in specific aspects of the subject that he needs to focus on for revision - Grammar? Comprehension? Speaking?

Meant to say that candidates no longer get to pick a theme for the general convo (tho AI says they do!) as it is led by the photo card.

(they do pick a theme in edexcel, from a choice of two, in case anyone else is getting confused).

Is he in year 10 or year 11? If he is in year 11, he'll need something very GCSE-specific. So: past papers. And maybe the exam board sells flashcards (or the online equivalent)? Maybe a tutor to prep for the oral?

If in year 10, glossika may be worth a look? It is not GCSE-specific though, and probably more advanced than Duolingo, and IMO quite expensive, AND I have no personal experience of it (just seen it mentioned)! So maybe start with Duolingo, which is free.

The best way to acquire vocabulary in my opinion is by reading extensively, but if he is in year 11 I think it is too late to start that and reap the effects in time for GCSE. However, if he is in year 10 or planning to continue with A-level you could try something like this: Easy Originals - Spanish. I think these books look quite expensive (so I would try with only one first) but in my opinion, reading is the easiest and fastest way to acquire a massive vocabulary in the long-term. It won't be GCSE-specific but I expect that the GCSE vocabulary consists of high-frequency words, so he will come across all of those frequently in reading.

Just saw that Seneca does GCSE Spanish. Make sure to pick the right exam board: https://senecalearning.com/en-GB/blog/gcse-spanish-revision/

Good suggestions from @SoftIce

Just be aware @Ianoonan that there is only a sample paper online as the spec is new. I agree with @1000StrawberryLollies tho that there's no harm in doing legacy past papers, but just be aware that the format is different (as per my comments and more).

Thanks everyone, it's my first time posting and I thought I'd get an e-mail alert if I'd had any responses but that's clearly not the case so I didn't realise until I logged back in today that anyone had replied! He's still in Y9, we wanted to be proactive and find a good app & maybe a workbook to hit the ground running and have a positive start to Y10 in Sept. Start as you mean to go on kinda thing. I get your points about things changing from year to year, I just thought there must be a good amount of basics covered each year that will be the same in terms of vocabulary etc. I'm Swedish and never went to school here so I am learning everything about GCSEs for the first time!

I get your points about things changing from year to year, I just thought there must be a good amount of basics covered each year that will be the same in terms of vocabulary

@Ianoonan things don't change from year to year as such; the spec that ran until last year was first examined in 2018 so we had it for seven years.

Yes though for sure the basics are the same in terms of learning; really important to learn verbs and vocab and structures to use in speaking and writing papers. Both usage (speaking and writing) and understanding (reading and listening) are important. And the topics are broadly the same.

There are up to date workbooks to use but I would wait until he is well into the GCSE course. A KS3 revision guide would be useful now tho to consolidate the work he has done.

And I advise regular learning of any new vocab and verbs; vocab will be introduced by topic and if he can keep on top of that through year 10 he will be on a winner. All the best to him.

@Ianoonan In that case, I'd suggest Duolingo to start with. Languages are cumulative so if he revises little and often (ideally every day), he should do very well. Duolingo seems good for that and the first 2000 words probably overlap a lot with GCSE vocab! (Caveat: I'm not a teacher or anything, just an enthusiast!) My other suggestions above are a bit too advanced for Y9, they probably work best for someone who is already at least at around CEFR A2/B1 or someone who loves reading and doesn't care that they only understand 1/10 words at first (that was me as a teen, haha).