Reading Comprehension (Comprensión lectora)
Reading comprehension checks whether you can extract meaning from authentic-type Spanish texts - notices, adverts, emails, blogs, press articles, short literary extracts - at B1–B2. Items ask for main idea, specific detail, inference, writer's attitude, textual reference and meaning in context. Every answer must be justified by the text itself, not by general knowledge or plausibility.
What the tasks demand
- Skim once for genre, layout, sender/addressee and topic before you look at the items.
- Classify each item: detail (a date, a price, a condition), inference (¿qué se deduce?), attitude (¿qué opina el autor?), reference (¿a qué se refiere «ello»?), or lexis (¿qué significa ... en el texto?).
- Underline the exact line that supports your choice, then check that the option paraphrases it rather than repeating it.
Rules that decide marks
- Meaning lives in connectors: sin embargo, no obstante, aunque, por lo tanto, además, en cambio, salvo, a menos que. One connector can reverse the whole sentence.
- Negation and restriction are tested heavily: no ... hasta, nadie, nunca, sólo, apenas, excepto, siempre que.
- Match paraphrases, not identical words. If an option copies the text verbatim, treat it as suspect.
- Separate fact from intention: debería, quizá or pienso are not promises or certainties.
Worked example
Text: «Aunque el ayuntamiento había prometido ampliar el horario de la biblioteca, la medida no entrará en vigor hasta septiembre y sólo durante el período de exámenes.» Item: ¿Qué se deduce? A) La biblioteca cierra en septiembre. B) La ampliación es temporal y todavía no se aplica. C) El ayuntamiento ha olvidado el proyecto. Reasoning: «no ... hasta septiembre» means the change is still pending, so C fails - it was promised, not forgotten; «sólo durante el período de exámenes» makes it temporary, which confirms B; A misreads «no entrará en vigor» as «cierra».
Traps
- Word-spotting: choosing the option that recycles vocabulary without carrying the meaning.
- False friends: actual (current), realizar (carry out), largo (long), éxito (success), asistir a (attend), embarazada (pregnant), constipado (having a cold).
- Ignoring a hedge or a condition: si ..., siempre que ..., en caso de que ...
- Over-inferring. If the text does not state it, it is not the answer, however logical it sounds.