An honest comparison of how to prepare for the GCSE French or Spanish speaking exam.
Real-time voice AI, recording apps, text-based AI, human tutors, revision guides and flashcards. What each is good for, what it isn't, and where Tête-à-Tête fits.
The GCSE speaking exam tests speaking — out loud, in real time, with someone who responds to what you say. The most effective preparation rehearses that exact thing.
Best results: a voice AI for daily practice, your teacher or a tutor for periodic feedback, and textbooks or flashcards alongside — not instead.
Scored on three things that matter for the speaking exam: realism (does it match the exam?), feedback quality, and how easy it is to actually use day-to-day.
Cost: Free tier (7 sessions + 2 mocks / 30 days, no card); paid plans from £9.99/mo
Cost: Varies; typically a free trial then a subscription
Cost: Free or low-cost
Cost: Around £43 an hour on average for GCSE French
Cost: £10–£20 one-off
Cost: Free or low-cost
Tête-à-Tête is a real-time voice AI for GCSE and IGCSE French and Spanish speaking practice. Pick AQA, Edexcel or Cambridge IGCSE and your sessions follow that board's actual exam — AQA runs role play, reading aloud, then the photo card; Edexcel leads with reading aloud; Cambridge IGCSE is a role play and two topic conversations, untiered. Where your board is tiered, you choose Foundation or Higher and the AI adapts.
You speak out loud; the AI examiner listens and replies in your target language, responding to what you actually said. Every turn is scored on pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, fluency, interaction and confidence, and mock exams estimate your marks against your board's own official mark scheme.
There's also a General Conversation mode — quick, topic-based fluency practice. It's extra speaking practice, not one of your exam's components; the exam formats above are what your mocks follow.
It's free to start. No scheduling, no commute, no waiting for next Tuesday. Use it the night before, or every night for a month. Works in any browser at tete-a-tete.ai, on iOS via the App Store, and on Android via Google Play.
Speak French or Spanish to an AI examiner in under a minute.