Madrid PAU English cheat sheet

Question types map to text functions: main idea (opening/closing sentences), detail (specific paragraph), inference (implication not stated literally), reference (pronoun or determiner pointing back), attitude/tone (adjectives, adverbs, modals).

Main-idea answers must cover the whole text; an option true only of one paragraph is a detail distractor, not the main idea.

Scan for the keyword in the question, then read the whole sentence plus one sentence before and after: PAU distractors usually contradict a nearby line.

True/False with justification requires quoting or paraphrasing the exact line; a correct T/F mark without textual evidence earns no credit in the justification part.

Referents: it/they/this/that/these/such refer to the nearest preceding compatible noun phrase; check number and semantics before deciding.

Inference rule: the answer must be logically forced by the text; if it needs outside knowledge or a guess, it is wrong.

Vocabulary-in-context questions: substitute each option into the sentence and keep the one preserving the original meaning and register, not the most common dictionary sense.

Watch negation and concession markers (hardly, few, unless, despite, rather than, fail to): they invert the expected meaning of the answer.

Word-limit instructions: if the task says 'answer in your own words' or gives a maximum number of words, exceeding the limit or copying the sentence verbatim loses marks.

Tense choice: present simple for habits/states, present continuous for actions now or temporary trends, present perfect for past action with present relevance (for/since/just/already/yet), past simple for finished past with a definite time.

Conditionals: zero (if + present, present), first (if + present, will), second (if + past, would), third (if + had + past participle, would have + past participle). No 'will' or 'would' in the if-clause.

Reported speech backshift: present→past, past→past perfect, will→would, can→could; pronouns and time/place words shift (now→then, today→that day, here→there).

Passive: be + past participle, tense carried by 'be'; the agent is introduced by 'by' and omitted when unknown or irrelevant.

Relative clauses: defining clauses take no commas and allow 'that'; non-defining clauses take commas and never use 'that'.

Verb patterns: verb + -ing (enjoy, avoid, suggest, look forward to), verb + to-infinitive (decide, manage, refuse, afford), verb + object + to-infinitive (persuade, remind, allow).

Word formation: noun suffixes -ment, -ness, -tion, -ity; adjective suffixes -ful, -less, -ive, -able; negative prefixes un-, in-/im-/il-/ir-, dis-. Check the class the gap requires before adding a suffix.

Collocation and prepositions are fixed: depend on, interested in, good at, responsible for, consist of, in spite of + noun/-ing, although + clause.

False friends and confusables: actually = in fact (not 'currently'), assist ≠ attend, library ≠ bookshop, sensible = reasonable (not 'sensitive'), economic (the economy) vs economical (cheap).

Standard PAU length is 120-150 words; staying inside the limit is part of the task, so plan paragraph word counts before writing.

Four-part structure for an opinion essay: introduction stating the topic and your position, two body paragraphs each with one reason plus example or explanation, conclusion restating the position without new arguments.

Guided composition: cover every point in the prompt in the given order; an omitted point caps the content mark regardless of language quality.

Register: no contractions, no slang, no direct address unless the prompt allows it; use formal linkers (furthermore, nevertheless, consequently) and impersonal structures (it is often argued that).

Thesis rule: state your opinion in the introduction and do not change it mid-text; a balanced 'both sides' essay must still reach a clear conclusion.

Topic sentences open each body paragraph and must be supported by the following sentences; a paragraph with two unrelated ideas loses coherence marks.

Avoid memorised openers ('In this day and age...', 'Since the dawn of time...') and recycled model essays: examiners penalise pre-learned chunks that do not fit the prompt.

Accuracy over ambition: a correctly used simple structure scores higher than a broken complex one; leave time to reread for subject-verb agreement, articles and tense consistency.

Cohesion = surface links (connectors, pronouns, lexical repetition, substitution); coherence = logical order of ideas so the text reads as one argument.

Contrast linkers: however, nevertheless, whereas, although, despite + noun/-ing, in spite of, on the other hand; cause: because, since, due to, therefore, consequently.

Addition and sequence: moreover, furthermore, in addition, firstly/secondly/finally; do not stack more than one connector per sentence.

Pronoun and determiner chains must match in number and gender: a singular noun later referred to as 'they' breaks cohesion.

Given-new principle: start each sentence with information already known and put the new information at the end; this keeps the topic chain unbroken.

Paragraphing: one central idea per paragraph, no one-sentence paragraphs, and a visible link between the last sentence of one paragraph and the first of the next.

Register consistency: keep formal vocabulary throughout; mixing 'kids' with 'adolescents' or contractions with passive academic structures is a register error.

Punctuation of linkers: however/therefore/moreover at the start of a clause take a comma after them and a full stop or semicolon before; 'although' and 'because' never take a comma before the clause they introduce when it follows the main clause.

Common PAU misspellings: definitely, separate, necessary, environment, government, beginning, accommodation, receive, believe, foreign, which, because, until, although.

Doubling rule: single-syllable CVC verbs double the final consonant before -ing/-ed (stop→stopped, plan→planned); multi-syllable verbs double only when stress falls on the last syllable (prefer→preferred, but visit→visited).

-ise/-ize and -our/-or: British spelling (realise, colour, behaviour, centre) is standard in the Spanish PAU; keep one variety consistently.

Apostrophes: it's = it is/has; its = possessive. Plural nouns take no apostrophe (the 1990s, three cars).

Comma rules: no comma between subject and verb, none before a defining relative clause, and no comma splice joining two independent clauses (use a full stop, semicolon or conjunction).

Articles: a/an before singular countable nouns on first mention, the for specific or previously mentioned referents, zero article for general plurals and abstract nouns (Life is short; Cars pollute).

Subject-verb agreement traps: 'The number of students is' vs 'A number of students are'; 'each/every/either + singular verb'; 'news, information, advice' are uncountable and singular.

Agreement and concord in lists: 'Neither the teacher nor the students were' follows the nearest subject; 'one of the + plural noun' takes a singular verb.