Tengo un examen...
I have a Spanish reading comprehension and written response exam in about 2 hours.
This is the format of the paper:
Section A)
Reading Comprehension: 30-40 questions based on 3 texts (Texts A, B and C). Question types include true or false with a justification, looking for synonyms, inserting conjunctions, identifying which noun a pronoun refers to, matching titles with paragraphs, multiple choice, identifying the main purpose of the text. All answers should be exact words lifted from the text; do not try to explain or paraphrase. 1 mark is allocated to each question.
Section B)
Written Response: There will be one question related to Text D and candidates are expected to write at least 100 words. There is no word limit, but it is advisable not to go over 200 words as in this task it is important to be concise. The objective of the exercise is to select details from the orginal text that are pertinent to the question and re-write them in a different format. For example, Text D could be an article about a school in Guatemala and the question could ask you to write an interview with one of the students featured in the article. Candidates should look for about 7-10 details from the text, then link them together coherently. Candidates can use words from the original, but not whole sentences, as the point is to demonstrate understanding of style and register. For example, an article would be written in a journalistic style, while an interview should contain features of oral language; if whole sentences were lifted from the article, the interview would not sound convincing.
My question to you is, how would I prepare myself in these two hours for the exam? I'm beginning to worry....
2 Answers
Not sure how much time you have now, but I'd say you have almost waited too long to study for a test that is in another hour or so.
I'd suggest that you try to write the answer to the test now, that way you will already have an idea of what you will say when it's time to do it for real. A few hours of doing that a few times and you shouldn't have any problems when it's go time.
My only suggestion is to remember to organize your work on Text D. Take the time to make a small outline.
Try to find a theme or connection between the 7 to 10 details that you select.
Make sure that you have an good introductory statements stating your theme. List the 7 to 10 details that you have chosen, trying to arrange them in a logical order to support your theme. Write a summary statement.
Then flesh it out. If you only need 100 words that will only be a sentence or two for each detail. Try not to let it look like 7 to 10 random sentences with no connection to each other.
Good luck.
