Writing
The Writing section asks you to produce Spanish, not merely recognize it. You complete two tasks: a short interpersonal message - replying to an email, note, or invitation from a friend or acquaintance - and a longer presentational piece in which you state and defend an opinion on a familiar topic. Each is scored for task completion, comprehensibility, range and accuracy of vocabulary and grammar, and organization. A short, correct, on-task answer beats a long, broken one.
Task completion is scored first
Count the requirements in the prompt and answer every one. If the prompt says «invítala, explica qué debe llevar y pregunta si puede ir», a message that only invites loses points even with perfect grammar. Keep register consistent: a friend's email gets tú throughout; a formal message gets usted plus formulas such as «Le agradezco» and «Atentamente». Include a greeting and a closing in the message; an essay needs an opening thesis and a conclusion.
Build the essay on visible structure
State your position in the first two sentences, give two reasons with a concrete example each, acknowledge the other side with «sin embargo» or «aunque», and close by restating your view. Connectors do real work: «por un lado… por otro lado», «además», «por lo tanto», «en conclusión», «sobre todo».
Show the structures graders look for
- Subjunctive after «es importante que», «para que», «antes de que», «aunque» (hypothetical), and «cuando» referring to the future.
- Conditional for polite requests and hypotheses: «Me gustaría», «sería mejor».
- Si + imperfect subjunctive + conditional: «Si tuviéramos más tiempo, podríamos visitar el museo».
- Preterite and imperfect together: scene versus event.
- Gustar-type verbs with the right pronoun: «me interesa», «nos hace falta».
Worked example
Prompt: escribe a tu amiga Lucía; invítala a una excursión, dile qué llevar y pregúntale si puede venir. Model: «¿Te gustaría venir conmigo el sábado? Es importante que traigas agua y protector solar, y te pido que llegues antes de las ocho para que no perdamos el autobús.» Reasoning: «¿Te gustaría…?» is a conditional invitation, softer than «¿Quieres…?». «Es importante que traigas» and «te pido que llegues» require the subjunctive because the subject changes. «Para que no perdamos» is a purpose clause, also subjunctive. Three complex structures in two sentences, all controlled.
Traps
- Mixing tú and usted in the same message.
- English calques: «tomar una decisión» (not «realizar»), «solicitar un trabajo» (not «aplicar»), «tener ganas de» (not «tener ganas para»).
- Dropping accents that mark tense or person: «hable» vs «hablé», «esta» vs «está».
- Object pronoun placement: «me lo mandas», not «mandas me lo».
- Memorized introductions that do not answer the prompt.