Reading and Responding
What this section tests
The Reading paper gives you a range of authentic-style texts: notices, emails, advertisements, timetables, short articles, dialogues. Questions ask for main idea, specific information, inference (what is implied but not stated), and sometimes personal response ("Would you go? Why?"). Answers may be in English or Spanish; always follow the instruction.
Concepts to master
You need to recognise text types and their conventions: an aviso is short and imperative; an anuncio uses persuasive adjectives and exclamation marks; an email has a greeting and closing; a menú or horario is scanned, not read. Know connectors (sin embargo, además, por lo tanto, ya que) because they carry the logic. Know time expressions (el próximo sábado, hace dos años, dentro de una semana) because timetable questions depend on them. Know comparatives and superlatives (más... que, el mejor) for advertisement questions.
Traps to watch
- Scanning too fast: a date in a corner of a notice can be the answer.
- False friends: actual (current, not actual), embarazada (pregnant), largo (long), éxito (success), asistir (to attend).
- Partial matches: an option repeats words from the text but changes the meaning.
- Inference questions: the answer is not printed - you must combine two sentences.
- Answering in the wrong language or copying whole Spanish sentences when a short English phrase is asked for.
Worked example
Text: "El club abre de lunes a viernes de 4 a 8, pero los sábados solo por la mañana." Question: Can you visit on Sunday morning? Trap: "morning" appears in the text. Rule of thumb: map each clause to a day and time before answering. Sunday is not mentioned, so no.
Rule of thumb
Underline the key word in the question, then find its Spanish equivalent in the text - do not look for the English word.