MATSEC IM Spanish: Listening: the concessive clause that changes the answer

Listening: the concessive clause that changes the answer

You are sitting the MATSEC Intermediate Spanish Listening paper, Section B (12 marks). The invigilator plays a 90-second radio interview with a chef from Valencia twice, with a 30-second pause between playings. In the first listening you hear: «Aunque el restaurante cerró en 2019, ella sigue dando clases de cocina en un centro cultural». You write 'cerró el restaurante' as your answer to the question «¿A qué se dedica ahora la chef?» and do not change it during the second listening. Later, in Section C, a station announcement says: «El tren con destino a Alicante, previsto para las 14:30, saldrá finalmente a las 14:45 desde la vía 3, no desde la vía 5». You had already written '14:30, vía 5' on your answer sheet and leave it because you are short of time. You finish the paper with four blank answers and eight minutes still remaining.

1. Explain why 'cerró el restaurante' is an unsafe answer, and state exactly what you should listen for when the recording is played the second time.

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Why the first answer is unsafe

Aunque is a concessive connector. It concedes a true fact but signals that the main clause carries the point being tested. The closing of the restaurant is background, not the answer.
The question asks ¿A qué se dedica **ahora**?. Cerró is pretérito (a completed past event), so it cannot answer a question framed in the present.
The real answer sits in the main clause: sigue dando clases de cocina - seguir + gerundio expresses continuation up to now.

What to listen for on the second playing

The tense of the verb after aunque: present or seguir + gerundio usually means the situation continues.
Time markers: ahora, actualmente, hoy en día, todavía, ya no.
The question's time frame. If it says ahora, discard answers that are purely past.

Model answer: «Da clases de cocina en un centro cultural».

2. The station announcement contains two corrections. Identify the linguistic cues that mark them as corrections, and explain how a candidate should use the pause between listenings.

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The two corrections

Time: previsto para las 14:30 presents the original plan; saldrá finalmente a las 14:45 gives the real departure. Finalmente is the override cue.
Platform: desde la vía 3, no desde la vía 5. The negated phrase explicitly cancels the earlier number.

Cue words to circle mentally

previsto para / en un principio / iba a → plan, not fact.
finalmente / en realidad / no desde / debido a un cambio → correction follows.

Using the pause Do not simply re-listen passively. On the first hearing, note the numbers and the nouns they attach to. During the pause, ask: which number was paired with 'previsto' and which with 'finalmente'? On the second hearing, confirm only the corrected pair: 14:45, vía 3. Writing 14:30, vía 5 means you recorded the plan and ignored the correction.

3. You leave four answers blank and have eight minutes left. What is the correct judgement call, and why?

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Never leave a blank when there is time to reason.

In a listening paper, marks are not deducted for wrong answers, so a reasoned guess has positive expected value.
Use elimination: for multiple-choice items, discard options that contradict the tense or the time marker you heard (e.g. an option in the past for a question about ahora).
For short-answer items, write the key noun or number even if the full sentence is incomplete; examiners mark for the information, and a partial answer can still score.
Spend the eight minutes unequally: two minutes checking that every box is filled, then return to the items where you remember a specific word but not the full context.

Judgement principle: completeness first, perfection second. A blank guarantees zero; a guess cannot score less than zero.