Balearic Islands PAU Catalan Language and Literature II common mistakes
Balearic Islands PAU Catalan Language and Literature II · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Writing the text-comprehension summary as a long paraphrase that copies sentences from the passage and mixes in the candidate's own opinion about the topic.
Under time pressure, candidates lift chunks of the source text because it feels safe, and they confuse 'summary' with 'commentary'; they have not internalised that the summary must be in their own words and limited to the ideas actually stated.
What to do instead
Before writing, underline the main idea of each paragraph and write a one-line plan in the margin. Then produce a summary of roughly 60–90 words using synonyms and rephrasing, with no quotation and no evaluation; keep opinion strictly for the commentary section. Practise by summarising a 400-word article in exactly five sentences and checking that every sentence maps to a paragraph of the original.
Answering the comprehension questions with a single word or a copied fragment instead of a full, justified sentence, and omitting the line reference the question asks for.
Candidates treat these as short-answer quiz items and underestimate the marking criteria, which reward justification with textual evidence; they also run out of time and rush the early questions.
What to do instead
Adopt a fixed answer pattern: state the answer, give the reason, quote or locate the evidence (e.g. 'lines 12–14'). Train on past-style passages by answering each question in two sentences, one of which always contains a short embedded quotation. Allocate the comprehension block a fixed 25 minutes so it is never rushed.
Producing a 'comentari' that retells the content of the text rather than analysing theme, structure, register, point of view and rhetorical devices.
Candidates do not have a mental checklist for commentary, so under pressure they default to describing what the text says; they also lack the metalanguage to name features precisely.
What to do instead
Memorise and apply a five-step grid every time: (1) type of text and communicative situation, (2) theme and thesis, (3) structure and progression, (4) linguistic and rhetorical features with examples, (5) brief evaluation. Write the grid headings in the margin before starting and make sure each paragraph of your answer corresponds to one heading with at least one quoted example.
Writing the opinion or argumentative essay with no clear thesis, no paragraph structure, and connectors limited to 'i', 'però' and 'també'.
Candidates plan the essay in their heads rather than on paper, so ideas arrive in the order they are thought of; explicit teaching of discourse organisation is often skipped in favour of grammar drilling.
What to do instead
Spend three minutes on a skeleton: thesis in one sentence, two or three supporting arguments, one counter-argument, conclusion. Then write with signposted paragraphs and a bank of connectors you have practised (d'altra banda, en conseqüència, si bé, cal tenir en compte que, en definitiva). Aim for 200–250 words with one idea per paragraph and check that the introduction announces the thesis and the conclusion restates it without new arguments.
Losing marks on accuracy because of recurring Catalan-specific errors: unmarked pronominal clitics (li/els/les), 'per/per a' confusion, 'ser/estar', 'haver-hi' agreement, and missing accents on diacritics (sé, més, si/sí).
Interference from Spanish and from spoken Catalan, plus reliance on spell-check habits that do not exist in handwriting; candidates revise content but never proofread for a known list of personal errors.
What to do instead
Keep a personal error log of the five mistakes you repeat most, with the corrected form, and reread every written answer once checking only that list. Drill the specific contrasts in isolation (li'n, els en, per a + infinitive of purpose, hi ha/hi han) with ten sentences each week, and write the diacritic pairs you confuse on the first page of your exam paper as a reminder.
Confusing the functions of 'es' and 'en' pronominal verbs and misusing the passive and impersonal 'hom' or 'es' constructions in formal writing.
These are taught as vocabulary items rather than grammatical systems, so candidates learn 'penedir-se' or 'recordar-se de' by memory without understanding pronominal versus non-pronominal use; formal impersonal structures are rarely practised in writing.
What to do instead
Build a two-column table of verbs that change meaning with the pronoun (anar/anar-se, tornar/tornar-se, quedar/queda-se, recordar/recordar-se) with a model sentence for each. For formal register, practise rewriting active sentences with 'es' and with 'hom' and check agreement of the participle. Apply the table when editing your own essays.
Placing literary movements in the wrong century or attributing authors to the wrong period, for example putting Verdaguer in the 20th century or merging Modernisme with Noucentisme.
Movements are memorised as a list of names and dates without a timeline, and dates are learnt without anchor events; exam pressure then scrambles adjacent periods.
What to do instead
Draw one horizontal timeline from 1833 to the present with the movements, two representative authors and one landmark work per period, and redraw it from memory weekly. Anchor each period to a political or social event (Renaixença to the Jocs Florals, Modernisme to the 1888 and 1929 exhibitions, Noucentisme to the Mancomunitat of 1914, post-war to 1939 exile). Test yourself by naming the period from an author rather than the reverse.
Describing a prescribed work only through its plot and characters, without quoting, without naming the author's techniques, and without connecting it to its historical or literary context.
Candidates read the set text once for the story and never annotate it; they lack practice in turning reading notes into exam-ready analytical points.
What to do instead
Build a one-page dossier per prescribed work: central themes, narrative voice and structure, three key quotations with page or chapter, two stylistic features, and its place in the author's trajectory and period. In the exam, structure the answer as thesis, analysis with quotation, contextualisation, conclusion, and never summarise the plot beyond one orienting sentence.
Identifying rhetorical figures only by name without explaining their effect, or mislabelling them, for example calling any repetition an 'anàfora' or any comparison a 'metàfora'.
Figures are studied as a glossary to be recognised in multiple choice rather than as interpretive tools, so candidates match surface patterns to labels without checking the definition.
What to do instead
Learn figures in contrasting pairs (metàfora/metonymia, símil/metàfora, anàfora/paral·lelisme, hipèrbaton/el·lipsi) with one example each, and practise the formula 'figure + quoted words + effect on meaning or rhythm'. When unsure, describe the feature in plain words rather than risk a wrong label.
Mismanaging time and format: exceeding the word limit, writing the literary commentary before the comprehension questions, or leaving the essay unfinished with no conclusion.
Candidates write whatever comes first in the paper order and do not rehearse under timed conditions, so the highest-weighted long answer is squeezed at the end.
What to do instead
Rehearse full papers with a written time budget (comprehension 25 min, grammar 20 min, literary commentary 35 min, essay 30 min, 10 min proofreading) and stick to it in every practice run. Do the essay plan before the commentary so the thesis is fixed, count words roughly by lines, and always reserve the last ten minutes for the error-log proofread.