True or False with Inference: Justifying a Contrast in a PAU Reading Task
During the June 2024 PAU sitting in Zaragoza, a candidate is working on Option A of the English paper. The reading text discusses a study on teenagers' sleep and screen use. One key sentence reads: 'Parents often blame late-night scrolling, yet the researchers found that teenagers who read paper books under dim light reported similar difficulties falling asleep.' The exam asks: 'According to the text, screens are the main cause of teenagers' sleep problems. True or False? Justify with words from the text.' The candidate has 12 minutes left for this question and the final writing task. They remember that the first paragraph mentions parents blaming screens, so they lean towards 'True'. They also need to answer a synonym question: 'straightforward' in the phrase 'the relationship is not straightforward' - options: (a) simple, (b) honest, (c) direct. The candidate is unsure because 'straightforward' can mean 'honest' in other contexts.
1. Decide whether the statement 'screens are the main cause of teenagers' sleep problems' is True or False, and justify your answer with reference to the text.
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False. The text does not say that screens are the main cause. It says that parents often blame late-night scrolling, but the researchers found that teenagers who read paper books under dim light reported similar difficulties falling asleep. The contrast word 'yet' signals that the study's finding challenges the parents' assumption. To justify this in the exam, quote the part about paper books producing similar sleep difficulties. The trap is the first clause: it mentions blame, not causation. A top-band answer distinguishes between what people believe (parents blame screens) and what the research shows (the relationship is not straightforward). Do not simply copy the first sentence; use the contrast to show inference.
2. Choose the correct synonym for 'straightforward' in 'the relationship is not straightforward' and explain why the other options are wrong in this context.
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Correct option: (a) simple. In this sentence, 'not straightforward' means 'not simple' or 'complicated': the relationship between screen use and sleep is complex. Option (b) 'honest' does not collocate with 'relationship' in this scientific sense; a relationship between variables is not described as honest. Option (c) 'direct' is closer, but the text is emphasising complexity rather than directness, and 'simple' is the standard opposite in this phrase. The exam tests whether you can use context rather than the most common dictionary sense. If you chose 'honest', you were probably thinking of a person's character, not a research finding.