How to write a DIARY ENTRY for the Leaving Cert paper

 ¡Hola a todos! ¿Cómo estáis?

The holiday season is coming and this means we are getting ready for the Christmas exams. However, this year schools decided to have their tests a bit earlier than usual, leaving the students with the uncertainty if they are totally ready for these exams. If you are a Leaving Cert student - higher or ordinary level - and you feel that you need more tips on how to do well in the test, don't worry! You are in the right place because I am going to give you some useful info on how to write the perfect DIARY ENTRY. 

In my opinion, the Diary Entry is the writing piece to shine and show how much Spanish you have learnt in the last years. This is because the topics you are often given are very generic and easy to explain: 

- You are living with a Spanish family and you have to express how to feel about it.

-You are on holidays in Spain and you have to talk about what you will or would like while in there.

-You are just back from Spain and you have to describe how the trip went.

-You had a problem and describe what happened and how you felt. 

Marking scheme

The diary entry is worth 20 marks and you will be given four points that are worth 5 marks each. You will gain full marks if you include a proper phrase, the agreement between words is on point and the verbs are in the correct tense.

Timing

If you are doing the Ordinary level, the entry should take you 20 minutes maximum; if you are a Higher level student, it should take you about 15 minutes. Don't worry if at the beginning it takes you longer than expected. The longer you practice, the more you get used to it and with time, you will reduce that time. 

Tenses

The tenses involved are the present, the past - el pretérito indefinido - the future and the conditional tense. 

Always write something

At the time of the exam, you might find a point or a topic you are unsure of how to word it. Use simple phrases or vocabulary to express it. Avoid long sentences but always write something, even if you think it does not really answer the question. Something is better than nothing. 

Useful phrases and vocabulary

A phrase at the start or at the end of the paragraph really makes the diary entry more complete and nicer to read and it will give you those extra marks you will need. These are fixed phrases that you can use in almost all the formats, so learn them off and start using them! 

First of all, write the day of the week and the time on the top right corner. 

Start the entry with Querido diario: In Spanish we don't write a comma after 'diario' but a colon! This is very important. 

¡Hola! Soy yo - Hello, it is me

Estoy escribiendo estas líneas en la cama - I am writing these lines in bed

Estoy agotado/a - I am exhausted

Estoy muy cansado/a - I am very tired

Estoy hecho/a polvo - I am worn out

Estoy feliz - I am happy

Estoy enfadado/a - I am angry

Estoy harto/a - I am fed up

Acabo de + verb in infinitive - I have just ... (In Spanish, if you want to express that you have just done something, we use the verb ACABAR in present simple + de + verb in infinitive).

¡Vaya día he tenido! - What a day I have had!

Tengo muchas ganas de + infinitive - I look forward to...

Echo de menos - I miss

Ahora me tengo que ir - Now I have to go

Nada más por ahora - Nothing else for now

Hasta mañana - See you tomorrow

And at the botton, sign the entry!

Here you can find a sample I wrote based on the 2022 HL Leaving Cert paper. I encourage you try and feel free to post your answers below :) 

Note: the paper says you have to answer four out of the five points given, but for this sample I answered them all. 

¡Adiós! :)