Reading comprehension - global understanding of a written text
The English paper of the Madrid PAU (Lengua Extranjera: Inglés, fase voluntaria) opens with a text of roughly 400–450 words followed by comprehension tasks. Global-understanding items - main idea, purpose, attitude, best title or summary - are the ones candidates most often answer from their general knowledge of the topic instead of from the text. What is being assessed is whether you can hold the whole text in view: the overall message, the function of each paragraph and the writer's stance.
Read once for shape, then answer
- Number the paragraphs and write three or four words next to each: problem → cause → evidence → solution → warning. Global answers usually follow that skeleton.
- The main idea is rarely in the examples or the statistics; it sits in topic sentences, normally the first or second sentence of a paragraph.
- Find the pivot: however, yet, in fact, on the other hand, what is more. Many candidates read the first half and answer from it, but the conclusion usually emerges after the pivot.
Choosing a title or a summary
A correct title covers the whole text and nothing else. Test each option against three failures: too narrow (it names one paragraph's detail), too broad (it would fit any text on the topic), wrong in attitude (the text is worried, the option is enthusiastic).
Worked example
Text: «For twenty years the riverside market ran every Saturday. Last spring the council moved it to a car park two kilometres inland. Traders report that weekend takings have fallen by a third. The council insists the new site is safer, but few shoppers seem convinced.» Options: A. A market closes for good. B. A market's move brings losses. C. Why car parks are dangerous. Reasoning: A fails because the text says moved, not closed - the market still runs. C takes a side detail and inverts it: car parks are not presented as dangerous. B covers the move and its consequence, matching the last two sentences. Answer: B.
Traps that cost marks
- Answering the topic you already know rather than the text in front of you.
- Confusing the writer's report of someone else's claim (The council insists…) with the writer's own view.
- Ignoring the final paragraph, where the stance is normally settled.
- Choosing a title that is emotionally stronger than the text's tone.