Andalusia PAU English common mistakes
Andalusia PAU English · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Answering reading-comprehension questions by copying a whole sentence from the text that merely contains a keyword from the question, rather than locating the specific clause that answers it.
Candidates scan for a matching word, find the paragraph, and lift the sentence wholesale under time pressure; they never check whether the lifted sentence actually states the answer, the cause, the contrast, or just mentions the topic.
What to do instead
For each question, underline the exact words in the text that answer it and then rewrite the answer in your own words in one short sentence; if your answer needs more than two clauses, you have probably lifted context rather than the answer. Practise with past PAU-style texts by marking 'question word -> text location -> answer span' before writing anything.
Confusing inference questions with literal-detail questions: giving an answer that is explicitly stated in the text when asked what can be inferred, or inventing a conclusion the text does not support when asked for a fact.
Candidates do not distinguish the instruction verbs ('according to the text', 'what can be inferred', 'what does the author suggest'), and Spanish academic habits reward restating the source rather than reasoning one step beyond it.
What to do instead
Build a habit of classifying each question before answering: literal (answer is in the text), inference (answer follows from the text but is not stated), purpose (why the author writes this). For inference, require a textual anchor plus one logical step; reject any option that needs outside knowledge.
Identifying the main idea as the topic of the text (e.g. 'this text is about social media') instead of the author's point or stance about that topic.
Candidates equate 'main idea' with 'subject', often because they skim the title and first line and stop there; they also miss contrastive signals (however, although, in fact) that carry the author's real position.
What to do instead
After reading, write one sentence of the form 'The author argues/shows that ...' and check it against the final paragraph, where PAU texts usually restate the thesis. If your sentence would still be true for an article taking the opposite view, it is a topic, not a main idea.
Choosing a distractor that is true in the real world but not supported by the text, especially on opinion, science, or health topics where candidates have prior beliefs.
Familiarity with the topic creates a false sense of confidence; the option 'sounds right' so it is selected without locating supporting evidence in the passage.
What to do instead
Enforce an evidence rule: every selected option must be justifiable by pointing to a line. If you cannot point, mark the option as unsupported and eliminate it. Deliberately practise on texts about topics you know well, since that is where prior knowledge misleads most.
Filling cloze or gap-fill grammar items by 'what sounds natural' in Spanish-influenced English, e.g. 'I am living here since 2010', 'I have seen him yesterday', 'people is', 'informations'.
Direct transfer from L1 collocations and tense usage, plus overgeneralisation of rules learned in isolation; candidates have not internalised the present perfect vs. past simple contrast or countable/uncountable distinctions.
What to do instead
Keep a personal error log of L1-transfer slips and drill the specific contrasts tested in PAU: present perfect with for/since vs. past simple with finished time markers, third-person singular agreement, plural-only and uncountable nouns. Before answering, name the grammar point being tested, then apply the rule rather than the ear.
Ignoring the word-formation cue: writing the base word unchanged or with the wrong affix (e.g. 'success' where 'successful' is needed, 'invention' where 'inventive' is required, or inventing 'unpossible').
Candidates read the gap, understand the meaning, and supply a semantically plausible word without checking the part of speech required by the surrounding syntax, and they have weak control of negative prefixes and noun/adjective suffixes.
What to do instead
For each gap, first determine the required word class from the sentence frame (after an article -> noun; before a noun -> adjective; after 'to' -> infinitive), then apply the affix. Memorise the productive sets: -tion/-ment/-ness/-ity for nouns, -ful/-less/-ive/-able/-ous for adjectives, and the negative prefixes un-/in-/im-/ir-/il-/dis-.
Rewriting or paraphrasing the source text in the composition task, or writing a memorised essay that only loosely fits the prompt.
Under exam pressure candidates reuse vocabulary and ideas from the reading passage because they are fresh in mind; pre-learned templates feel safer than generating content, and candidates misjudge what the task asks (opinion, description, narrative, formal letter).
What to do instead
Read the prompt twice and identify the text type, audience, and required content points before writing. Plan three or four content points of your own in note form for two minutes, and check at the end that every prompt requirement is addressed. Practise producing 120-150 words on unseen prompts without looking back at the reading text.
Producing a composition with no paragraphing or with all ideas chained by 'and', 'but', 'also', so cohesion depends on the reader's inference rather than on linking devices.
Candidates write in a single block because they plan at sentence level, not discourse level; their repertoire of connectors is narrow and often misused (e.g. 'on the other hand' for a simple addition, 'although' followed by 'but').
What to do instead
Adopt a fixed structure: introduction stating position, two body paragraphs each with one idea plus support, conclusion. Learn connectors by function (addition, contrast, cause, result, example, conclusion) and use at most one per sentence. Practise writing link-free drafts first, then inserting connectors where the logical relation is genuinely contrast or consequence.
Shifting register inappropriately: contractions and slang in a formal letter, or stiff Latinate phrasing and 'Dear Sir/Madam' in an informal email to a friend.
Candidates learn formulaic openings without matching them to the text type, and Spanish academic style encourages long, impersonal sentences that read as unnatural in English informal writing.
What to do instead
Before writing, decide register in one line: formal (no contractions, full forms, 'I am writing to ...', 'Yours faithfully/sincerely') or informal (contractions, phrasal verbs, direct address). Keep the same register throughout and check the closing matches the opening.
Missing the sociocultural dimension of the text: failing to recognise irony, cultural references, or the writer's attitude, and answering cultural-awareness items with stereotypes rather than textual evidence.
Candidates read for literal information only and are not trained to notice tone markers (quotation marks, exaggeration, evaluative adjectives); they also substitute general assumptions about English-speaking cultures for what the passage actually says.
What to do instead
Annotate the text for attitude words and any quoted speech, and ask 'does the author agree with this quotation or distance herself from it?'. For culture-related items, ground every answer in a specific line of the text and treat the passage as the authority, not prior general knowledge.
In oral tasks (where the regional framework includes them), reading a prepared script aloud or answering with one-word or single-clause responses, so fluency and interaction cannot be assessed.
Candidates rehearse written answers and lack practice in spontaneous speech; fear of error leads to minimal answers, and they do not know how to buy time or repair a breakdown.
What to do instead
Practise timed monologues of 60-90 seconds on unseen prompts using a three-point structure (state, explain, example), and record yourself to check pace and pronunciation. Learn functional gambits for turn-taking, paraphrasing when a word is missing ('the thing you use to ...'), and asking for clarification, so interaction continues rather than stalls.