La estudiante me dijo que no quería un suspenso en el examen oral.

Because estudiante is a noun of common gender in Spanish. The word itself stays the same, and the article tells you whether the person is male or female:

• el estudiante = the male student
• la estudiante = the female student

This is very common with nouns ending in -ante, -ente, and -ista.

Yes. Estudiante can refer to either gender. You change the article and any agreeing adjectives if needed:

• el estudiante español
• la estudiante española

So in your sentence, la estudiante clearly tells us the student is female.

Me means to me, and dijo means said/told.

So me dijo = she told me or she said to me.

This is a very common structure:

• me dijo = told me
• te dijo = told you
• nos dijo = told us

Spanish usually uses an indirect object pronoun here, even where English might just say told me without thinking about the grammar.

Dijo is the preterite form of decir.

• infinitive: decir = to say, to tell
• preterite: dijo = he/she said, told

The preterite is used because this is seen as a completed past action: at some point, the student said this.

Because Spanish normally needs que to introduce a reported statement:

• Me dijo que... = She told me that...

In English, that is often optional:

• She told me that she didn’t want...
• She told me she didn’t want...

In Spanish, que is usually not optional here.

Quería is the imperfect of querer, and here it expresses an ongoing feeling, desire, or mental state in the past:

• quería = she wanted / didn’t want

This fits well after reported speech, because it describes what her attitude or wish was at that time.

Compare:

• no quería un suspenso = she didn’t want a failing grade
• no quiso... = she refused / she didn’t want to, in a more specific completed-event sense

So quería sounds more natural for describing her wish or concern.

The infinitive is querer = to want, to love.

In this sentence it means to want.

A quick pattern:

• quiero = I want
• quería = I wanted / I used to want / I was wanting

Here:

• no quería = she didn’t want

Because dijo que introduces reported information, not doubt, desire, or unreality by itself.

So you get the indicative:

• Me dijo que no quería...

The verb quería is in the indicative because it reports what she said her feeling was.

Spanish does use the subjunctive after some verbs and expressions, but decir que in straightforward reported speech normally takes the indicative.

In Spain, un suspenso means a failing grade.

This is very important because for English speakers it looks like suspense, but it does not mean that here. It is a false friend.

In Spanish school and university contexts in Spain:

• un aprobado = a pass
• un suspenso = a fail / failing grade

So no quería un suspenso means she didn’t want to get a failing mark.

Yes, it is especially associated with Spain.

In Spain, people commonly talk about:

• sacar un suspenso = to get a fail
• tener un suspenso = to have a failing grade

In other Spanish-speaking countries, other expressions may be more common, such as talking about reprobar, desaprobar, or simply una mala nota, depending on the country.

Because here suspenso is being used as a countable noun: a failing grade.

So Spanish uses the indefinite article:

• un suspenso = a fail / a failing mark

This is similar to saying:

• un aprobado = a pass

Yes, and in fact that is often very natural in Spain.

• No quería sacar un suspenso en el examen oral.

That makes the idea of getting a failing grade more explicit.

Your original sentence is still understandable and natural, but sacar un suspenso is a very common school-related expression.

Literally, it means in the oral exam, but in natural English we usually say in the oral exam or on the oral exam, depending on context.

Here en is the normal preposition to indicate the context where the grade happened:

• un suspenso en el examen oral = a failing grade in/on the oral exam

Because in Spanish, adjectives usually come after the noun.

So:

• examen oral = oral exam
• clase difícil = difficult class
• libro interesante = interesting book

English often puts adjectives before the noun, but Spanish usually puts them after.

Because oral is an adjective that does not change in that way. It keeps the same basic form for masculine and feminine singular:

• examen oral
• prueba oral

The plural changes:

• exámenes orales
• pruebas orales

So oral is just the normal adjective form here.

It can often be translated either way in English, depending on style:

• La estudiante me dijo... = The student told me...
• La estudiante me dijo... = The student said to me...

But in many cases, told me sounds more natural in English.

Not with the same meaning.

• dijo = said / told
• habló = spoke / talked

Me habló que... would be wrong here.
If you use hablar, you would need a different structure, for example:

• Me habló del examen oral = She talked to me about the oral exam

But for reporting the exact content of what she said, me dijo que... is the right structure.

Because there is no direct object referring to a specific person.

The person involved is me, but that is an indirect object pronoun, not a direct object introduced by the personal a.

For example:

• Veo a la estudiante = I see the student
  Here a appears because la estudiante is a specific person and direct object.

But in:

• La estudiante me dijo...

there is no such structure.

The sentence follows a very normal Spanish order:

• La estudiante = subject
• me dijo = verb + indirect object pronoun
• que no quería un suspenso en el examen oral = subordinate clause

So the structure is:

Subject + indirect object pronoun + verb + que-clause

That is very common in Spanish.

Yes. Spanish often omits subject pronouns and even noun subjects when the context is clear.

So if we already know who is being talked about, you could say:

• Me dijo que no quería un suspenso en el examen oral.

But with la estudiante, the speaker is making the subject explicit, perhaps to identify who said it.

The accent mark shows the correct stress:

• que-rí-a

It also helps preserve the pronunciation and separates the vowel sounds correctly. Without the accent, the word would not follow normal spelling-and-stress rules.

So quería is the correct written form of the imperfect of querer.

Yes, in a way.

English often shifts tenses in reported speech:

• She said, “I don’t want a fail.”
• She said that she didn’t want a fail.

Spanish also commonly uses a past form in reported speech when the reporting verb is in the past:

• Me dijo que no quería...

So this matches a similar idea, although Spanish tense usage is not always identical to English backshifting rules.

Yes, often.

• la estudiante = the student
• la alumna = the female pupil/student

Both can work, though alumna sometimes sounds a bit more tied to being enrolled in a class or school, while estudiante is broader.

In many contexts, either would be natural.

Yes, especially because of un suspenso, which is very typical of Spain.

A very idiomatic version might also be:

• La estudiante me dijo que no quería sacar un suspenso en el examen oral.

But your original sentence is perfectly understandable and natural.