Castilla y León PAU English common mistakes
Castilla y León PAU English · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Answering a true/false or yes/no comprehension item with just "True" or "False" and no supporting line from the text, when the item asks for justification.
Candidates treat the item as a one-word check and run out of time or assume the justification is optional; in Castilla y León tasks the mark is often split between the decision and the quoted evidence, so a bare answer loses half the credit.
What to do instead
Before writing, underline the exact sentence in the text that proves the answer, then copy a short fragment (max ~15 words) with quotation marks after the verdict. Practise the pattern "True. The text says: '...'" so it becomes automatic.
Copying whole paragraphs from the source text as the answer to an open comprehension question instead of rephrasing in the candidate's own words.
It feels safer to lift text, and candidates fear grammatical errors in their own English; but questions phrased "in your own words" penalise verbatim copying, and long copied chunks often fail to answer the specific point asked.
What to do instead
Answer the question first in 1-2 short sentences from memory, then check the text only to verify the content. Change the structure (subject/verb order, synonyms) rather than just swapping one word.
Misreading the scope of a question, e.g. answering about the author's opinion when the item asks about a study's finding, or giving a general topic when asked for a specific detail.
Under exam pressure candidates scan for a keyword, find it in a nearby paragraph and write about that, without reading the question's exact wording (who, when, according to whom).
What to do instead
Circle the question word and any limiting phrase (according to the second paragraph, the main reason, the writer's attitude) before scanning. Locate the paragraph first, then read the full sentence around the keyword, not just the line containing it.
Leaving a word-transformation or gap-fill item blank or writing the base word unchanged when the derived form is unknown.
Candidates do not recognise the required part of speech or the negative prefix, and prefer to leave it rather than risk a wrong form; blanks are always worth zero, whereas an attempt can earn the mark.
What to do instead
Always attempt an answer. Decide the part of speech from the gap's syntax (after an article = noun; before a noun = adjective; after 'to' = infinitive), then apply the most common suffix for that slot (-ment, -ness, -tion, -able, -ful, -less) and check for a needed negative prefix (un-, in-, im-, dis-).
Producing grammatically correct but lexically wrong collocations in Use of English, e.g. 'make a mistake' written as 'do a mistake', 'depend of' instead of 'depend on'.
Candidates translate preposition and verb choice directly from Spanish, where the equivalent collocation differs; classroom grammar practice rarely drills collocation as a memorised unit.
What to do instead
Keep a personal list of high-frequency verb+preposition and verb+noun pairs (depend on, consist of, be aware of, pay attention to, make/do distinctions) and revise them as whole chunks, not single words. In the exam, read the whole sentence aloud mentally to test whether the combination 'sounds' English.
Losing marks on tense and agreement in transformation items: using present simple where the sentence requires a perfect or passive form, or forgetting third-person -s and plural agreement.
The transformation changes the sentence frame (e.g. into reported speech or passive) and candidates keep the original tense or drop the auxiliary; agreement errors slip through because there is no time to re-read.
What to do instead
After each transformation, check three things in order: tense consistency with the original time reference, subject-verb agreement, and whether an auxiliary or particle is missing. In reported speech, shift tense back one step and adjust pronouns and time expressions deliberately.
Writing a composition that ignores the prompt's required points or genre, e.g. writing a narrative when asked for an opinion essay, or omitting one of the two or three points listed in the instructions.
Candidates see a familiar topic and start writing immediately from a memorised template, without ticking off the task requirements; the result is off-task content that loses content marks regardless of language quality.
What to do instead
Spend the first two minutes planning: list the required points and the genre in the margin, decide a position, and jot 3-4 ideas. After writing, tick each required point in the margin to confirm coverage before checking language.
Producing an under-length or structureless composition: one long undivided block with no paragraphing, no linking words, and a missing introduction or conclusion.
Time pressure pushes candidates to write whatever comes and stop; paragraphing and connectors are seen as decoration rather than assessed criteria in coherence and cohesion.
What to do instead
Use a fixed skeleton: one-sentence introduction stating the topic and position, two body paragraphs each with a topic sentence plus support, one-sentence conclusion. Insert at least four connectors (however, moreover, in addition, therefore, on the other hand) at paragraph and sentence boundaries.
Overusing basic connectors incorrectly, e.g. starting every sentence with 'Also' or 'Moreover', or using 'but' and 'however' in the same clause ('but however I think').
Candidates learn connectors as synonyms for 'and' and 'but' without register or punctuation rules, so they insert them mechanically to look advanced.
What to do instead
Learn each connector with its punctuation pattern and function: 'however' and 'therefore' take a comma after them and join sentences; 'although' introduces a subordinate clause; 'despite' is followed by a noun or -ing. Limit each connector to one use per composition and vary the set.
Repeating the same subject-verb sentence pattern throughout ('I think that... I believe that... In my opinion...') and repeating key nouns instead of using pronouns, synonyms, or referencing.
Candidates write short safe sentences to avoid errors, so the text becomes monotonous; they also lack the vocabulary to vary reference, so the same noun appears five times.
What to do instead
Deliberately vary sentence openings: start some sentences with a time or reason phrase, some with the object, and use one cleft or conditional structure. For reference, replace a repeated noun with a pronoun, a synonym, or 'this/these + noun' on second mention.