Teacher Guide - Reading (Q5 to Q7)

Edexcel A Level Spanish (9SP0) — Paper 1, Section B: Reading

Teacher Guide: Reading Questions 5, 6 and 7

The two multiple-choice tasks and the short open-response text: what examiners reward, where students lose marks, and what the papers show from 2018 to 2025

This guide is based on the question papers, mark schemes and Principal Examiner reports for all eight series from June 2018 to June 2025, saved in Spanish/A Level/Past Papers. References such as (ER 2024) mean the examiner report for that year, (MS 2023) the mark scheme and (QP 2019) the question paper. Questions 8 and 9 have their own guide in this folder.

Two kinds of content are kept apart. Pearson facts come with a source. Our analysis (counts we made by going through the papers item by item) and our suggestions (Section 4) are labelled as ours. They follow from the evidence but do not come from Pearson.

1. The task

• Paper 1 lasts 2 hours and is worth 80 marks. The front cover recommends “50 minutes on Section A: Listening, 50 minutes on Section B: Reading and 20 minutes on Section C: Translation into English” (QP 2018–2025). Students “must not use a dictionary” (QP 2018–2025).

• Section B is worth 30 marks in every series. Questions 5, 6 and 7 are the first three questions of Section B and are worth 14 of the 30 marks: Q5 = 4, Q6 = 4, Q7 = 6. These marks have not changed from 2018 to 2025 (QP 2018–2025).

Sources: QP 2018–2025. Word counts are ours and include the title of the text.

• The Section B instructions, printed above Question 5 every year: “Open-response questions do not have to be written in full sentences and you may respond using single words or short phrases. You may use words from the text, but you must not copy whole sections.” (QP 2018–2025).

• On changing a multiple-choice answer, the front cover says: “If you change your mind about an answer, put a line through the box and then mark your new answer with a cross.” (QP 2018–2025). The mark schemes add: “Crossed out work should be marked UNLESS the candidate has replaced it with an alternative response” (MS 2018–2025).

• Question 5 is built like Question 1 in the listening section: “This question is the same style as Q1, where endings have to be selected for four sentence starters” (ER 2018); “Section A and Section B both begin with a similar multiple-choice task” (ER 2022).

• Every examiner report repeats that texts “are drawn from the 12 sub-themes from the specification” and that “Over the 10 questions, most of the 12 sub-themes will be covered” (ER 2018–2025). Our observation: all 24 texts used for Q5–Q7 between 2018 and 2025 were non-fiction. The literary extracts on this paper appear in Q8 and Q9.

2. What examiners are looking for

2.1 Questions 5 and 6: what the reports say

The reports say little about Q5 and Q6, and what they do say shows that most students score well on them. Everything they say is below. The 2020 and 2021 reports only describe the texts: those were October series with “only a very small cohort” (ER 2020, ER 2021).

Sources: ER 2018–2025. The 2023 report calls the fourth item of Q5 “Q05(d)”; on the paper it is numbered (iv).

The three items the reports single out all needed students to recognise an idea the text expresses in different words. None of them could be answered by matching words:

Sources: QP 2022, 2023, 2025; MS 2022, 2023, 2025; ER 2022, 2023, 2025.

2.2 Question 7: the marking rules

Question 7 is marked with the same rules as Questions 8 and 9. From 2021 onwards each mark scheme prints them at the start:

• Language quality does not score, but meaning must be clear. “There are no marks for quality of language in this paper so errors and omissions in spelling and grammar will be tolerated as long as the message is not ambiguous” (MS 2021–2025).

• Wrong language scores zero. “Written responses in the wrong language cannot be awarded a mark” (MS 2021–2025).

• Only the first answers count. “Consider only as many elements as there are marks … the candidate’s first response is taken for assessment, even if this response is incorrect but the correct information follows as a further element” (MS 2021–2025).

• Words from the text are allowed, whole sentences are not. The mark scheme’s own example: text Como principalmente frutas y verduras para estar sano. Question ¿En qué consiste una dieta sana? Comer principalmente frutas y verduras scores; copying the sentence with como does not (MS 2021–2025).

• Short answers are fine. Single words or short phrases are accepted, e.g. habla inglés, no sabían nada (MS 2021–2025).

2.3 Question 7: answer the question that was asked

The most common problem in the Q7 reports is an answer that is true to the text but gives the wrong kind of information. The question word decides the kind of answer:

2.4 Question 7: change the text’s words; don’t copy chunks

• “A lift is not prohibited in this examination, but the determining factor is whether the answer follows the question naturally. At this level it is not enough for a student to show that he or she knows roughly where the answer is to be found in the text” (ER 2018, on Q7).

• “Candidates can use words and phrases from the text, but this needs to be done with care as too much or too little of the text could lead to a phrase that does not communicate accurately. Effective answers are often made up of words from the text used alongside the candidate’s own words.” (ER 2024 and ER 2025, both on Q7).

2.5 Question 7: working things out, including numbers

Several Q7 items can only be answered by taking a step beyond the words on the page:

• Reading an implication: audience sin palabras means they were amazed (2024, 7a); “ya verán lo que viene con Nodal y Maná en el futuro” means more collaborations (2024, 7d) (ER 2024).

• Turning information round: al menos 30 becomes menos de 30 when asked where information is missing (2025, 7b). “if you are told that something applies to AT LEAST a certain number, and you are asked what it does NOT apply to, then you need to turn it round” (ER 2025, paper summary).

• Seeing what is behind a conversation: in 2019, 7c, “The full inference that the teacher did not believe Laila (1 mark) and that she was insisting that she was Spanish (1 mark), was frequently missed” (ER 2019).

• Saying what a number means, precisely: for 10, answers had to mention months (the maximum length of a project), because otherwise “this could mean, 10 days, 10 weeks or 10 years”; some answers made 8000 sound like “a maximum of 8000 grants” (ER 2022, 7c).

• Getting the figures right when using them: in 2025, 7c, the answer was that Mojácar had the highest proportion of visitors to residents. 2666 for 26 666 did not score, and nor did recibió 5 veces más turistas que habitantes (ER 2025). The mark scheme explains why: the population became five times bigger because there were four times as many visitors as residents (MS 2025).

2.6 Question 7: two marks means two separate, complete ideas

• In 13 of the 35 Q7 answer spaces from 2018 to 2025, two ideas were needed for two marks (see 3.6). The reports show the second mark is where students lose out: “Answers to Q07(b) were often awarded only one of the two available marks” (ER 2020); “Answers to Q7(a) were often awarded only one of the two available marks” (ER 2021); in 2019, 7c “most candidates failed to score both available marks” (ER 2019).

• Each idea must be complete. Fusionarla without saying with what, or no olvidar su identidad without saying it should be put into the music, did not score (ER 2020, 7c).

• Don’t add a wrong detail to a right idea. In 2024, 7c many wrote that both artists had worked with artistas colombianos, which was only true of Nodal; “Answers that just said they had both collaborated with other artists were correct” (ER 2024).

• Don’t contradict the text. In 2019, 7a many wrote that the headscarf represented Laila’s nationality, “when the young woman specifically said that it did not represent her nationality” (ER 2019). Representa su nacionalidad is in the Reject column (MS 2019).

2.7 Question 7: vocabulary

• ámbitos (2018, 7e): “Perhaps the word ‘ámbitos’ was unfamiliar” (ER 2018).

• música vs músicos: “Some candidates did not recognise the difference … so their answers did not make sense” (ER 2020, 7).

• almerienses vs alemanes: “a significant proportion missed a mark by mistaking almerienses for alemanes” (ER 2025, 7e).

• A regional word was not a problem in 2020: “The inclusion of the popular adjective tico … seemed to pose no particular problem” (ER 2020).

3. Patterns from 2018 to 2025

3.1 Texts used

Source: the rubric line above each text (Lee este artículo / blog / folleto…) and the texts themselves, QP 2018–2025. Summaries are ours.

3.2 Topics: how often each comes up

Our grouping. Pearson does not label Q5–Q7 texts by sub-theme, so we have grouped the 24 texts by subject.

• Immigration is the most frequent subject: 6 of 24 texts, and at least one of Q5–Q7 in every series from 2019 to 2025 except 2023.

• History of the 20th century (Civil War, Franco, Suárez) appears in 4 texts. Two were written as history (a history book in 2021, a historian’s article in 2023).

• Setting: 16 texts are set in Spain, 7 in Latin America (Venezuela, Mexico and a Latin American TV channel in Q5; Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile and Guatemala in the 2019 Q6 comments; Costa Rica, South America and Mexico in Q7), and 1 names no country (2025 Q5). Our count.

• Older texts: Q5 was dated publicado en 1994 (2018) and de los años 90 (2025) on the paper. The 2018 report calls the Q5 text “a historical text (i.e. older than 10 years)” (ER 2018).

3.3 Text types

• Question 6 is the blog question: 4 of its 8 texts were blogs or blog comments with several named writers (2018, 2019, 2024, 2025). Several of its statements depend on knowing who said something (e.g. 2019 A @carmadruga le gusta más…; 2025 Progre71 piensa…, #Nido17 cree…).

• Question 7 often uses practical texts with bullet-point lists (2021 refugee centres, 2022 radio grants, 2023 large families). Questions then ask why an item is included, what the text is for, or who benefits (2021 7b, 7d; 2022 7a, 7b, 7d).

3.4 Questions 5 and 6: patterns in the answers (our analysis)

Our analysis. We went through all 32 Q5 items (128 endings) and all 72 Q6 statements, using the answers in the mark schemes (MS 2018–2025), and counted which endings and statements contain certain kinds of words. A word can fall into more than one row.

Question 5: which endings were right?

Our count from QP 2018–2025 and MS 2018–2025. One ending in four is correct, so 25% is what chance would give.

• Absolute words usually signal a wrong ending: 15 of 17. The two exceptions were exact paraphrases of the text: son para todas las edades for juegan niños y mayores (2019) and no controlan en absoluto for No tengo conocimiento de ninguna medida (2018).

• Softening expressions usually signal a right ending: 7 of 9 (2019 three times, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025).

• A negative tells you nothing on its own: 4 of 16 negative endings were correct, exactly the chance rate. 2025 had five wrong negative endings and one right one.

• Numbers, dates and time words are usually traps: only 1 of 11 endings with a number, date or time expression was correct (2020 de unos veinte años for recorren la veintena). In addition, 4 of the 32 starters contain a time word that the answer depends on (2021 Actualmente, 2023 Ahora and En el pasado, 2024 Después de la Guerra Civil).

• Correct answers are spread across the letters: A 8, B 6, C 9, D 9 (total 32). There is no position to guess.

Question 6: which statements were true?

Our count from QP 2018–2025 and MS 2018–2025. Four statements in nine are true, so 44% is what chance would give. Solo meaning “alone” (2018) is not counted as an absolute word.

• Numbers, dates and time references are the biggest trap in Q6: 12 of 14 such statements were false. 2021 (aurora during the Civil War) had four such statements, three of them false; 2022 (migrant rescue) had three, all false.

• Negative statements were more often true than false (7 of 10). In Q6 the negative is usually how the statement rewords a positive phrase in the text (see 3.5). Students should not reject a statement because it contains no.

• True statements by letter: A 5, B 1, C 4, D 5, E 3, F 3, G 6, H 3, I 2 (total 32). Again, no pattern to rely on.

3.5 How the right answers reword the text, and how the traps work

Real examples from the papers. The explanations in the right-hand column are ours.

Sources: QP and MS for each series named. Explanations are ours.

3.6 Question 7: how the 6 marks are split

Source: QP 2018–2025. In 2022, 7c asked about two numbers in two separate parts, (i) and (ii), worth 1 mark each.

• Every Q7 has had 4 or 5 items. Every 2-mark item except one has asked for two ideas in the wording of the question (Da dos ideas or ¿Qué dos ideas…?). The exception, 2022 (c), split its two marks between two numbers labelled (i) and (ii). So students can always see when two separate points are needed.

• The questions follow the order of the text in every series (our check of QP 2018–2025).

Question types in Q7 (our grouping of the 34 lettered items):

3.7 Question 7: why marks were lost

Every one of the eight reports comments on mistakes in Q7. The table counts how many reports mention each cause. The grouping and the counts are ours; each entry is taken from what the report says.

Sources: ER 2018–2025. Some items appear under two causes.

3.8 How students performed

• Question 7 averages were reported in 2018 and 2019 only: “An average mark was 3 or 4 out of 6” (ER 2018); “a more challenging question and candidates scored an average of 4 marks out of 6” (ER 2019).

• Later reports describe rather than give averages: 2023 “In general, this question was answered successfully”; 2024 “Most candidates managed to earn marks in the other questions” (apart from 7a and 7d); 2025 7a “caused considerable difficulty” and 7c was “the part that caused the most difficulty” (ER 2023, 2024, 2025).

• Questions 5 and 6 score highly: full marks or 3 out of 4 is the usual outcome where the reports comment (see 2.1). Our reading of this: the section’s marks are mostly won or lost in Q7, Q8 and Q9, but Q5 and Q6 are 8 marks that most students should secure.

4. How to support students

These are our suggestions. Each is aimed at one of the problems in Sections 2 and 3.

4.1 A routine for Question 5

1. Read the four starters first, then the text. The starters broadly follow the order of the text (our check of QP 2018–2025), so each one tells you roughly where to look next.

2. Find the lines for each starter and say, in your own words, what they mean, before looking at the endings.

3. Pick the ending that says the same thing as the text, usually in different words: a synonym, an idiom explained, or the idea seen from the other side (3.5). A familiar word in an ending proves nothing: by our count, 81 of the 96 wrong endings reuse at least one word, or the stem of one, from the text.

4. Be suspicious of sólo, únicamente, siempre, todos (15 of 17 were wrong) and of numbers, dates and time words (10 of 11 were wrong). Check the starter for a time word (ahora, en el pasado, después de…).

5. Do not use no as a clue in either direction; negative endings were right exactly as often as chance.

4.2 A routine for Question 6

1. Label each statement as you read: T (the text says this, in other words), F (the text says the opposite or something different) or ? (not in the text). Only T statements get a cross.

2. For any statement with a number, date or time, find the exact place in the text and check it word for word. 12 of 14 such statements were false.

3. In blog comments, check who said it. A statement can be true of one writer and false of another.

4. Don’t reject a statement because it contains no or sin: 7 of 10 were true.

5. Count the crosses. Exactly four. To change an answer, put a line through the box and cross the new one, as the front cover says.

4.3 A routine for Question 7

1. Circle the question word and name the type of answer: a person, a place, an activity (verb), a reason, a feeling, a number with its unit.

2. Check the marks and look for “Da dos ideas”. Two marks means two separate ideas, taken from two different places in the text where possible. Put the one you are surest of first.

3. Change the text’s words to fit the question: carecer de trabajo → trabajo; al menos 30 → menos de 30; sin palabras → sorpresa.

4. Numbers: copy every digit and add the unit (meses, dólares, visitantes).

5. Cold-reader check: would someone who has not read the text understand this answer, and does it answer this exact question?

4.4 Classroom activities

• Build your own distractors: give students a short text and one correct ending. They write three wrong endings using the tricks in 3.5 (an absolute word, a changed number or date, the past instead of the present, the opposite with the same word). Swap and solve.

• Paraphrase matching: pairs of cards, one with a phrase from a past text and one with the reworded version from the correct answer (3.5). Students match them, then write their own version.

• Number and time hunt: for any Q6 text, students highlight every number, date and time word before reading the statements, and say what each refers to (a clock time? a length of time? a total that includes something?).

• Question-word switch for Q7: use one short text and ask about the same sentence with different question words (¿Quiénes…? ¿Qué pueden hacer…? ¿Por qué se menciona…? ¿Cuál es el objetivo del texto?). Students answer each with the right kind of answer.

• Mark with the real mark schemes: the Accept and Reject columns for Q7 show exactly where the line is. From 2025 the mark scheme also gives the key idea of each answer in English (MS 2025).

4.5 Reading diet

• Short news articles and blogs of about 150–180 words, with comments from several named writers.

• Practical texts with bullet-point lists: official leaflets, grant information, eligibility rules.

• Topics that recur (3.2): immigration and integration, the Civil War and Franco, the Transition, music, family and women’s roles, the media. Include Latin American sources (7 of 24 texts).

• Common idioms from past texts: poner patas arriba, dar gato por liebre, dar con la puerta en las narices, subírsele a la cabeza, dejar sin palabras, quedarse atrás, cruzado de brazos.

4.6 Timing

• Pearson recommends about 50 minutes for all of Section B (QP 2018–2025) but does not split it by question. Q5 and Q6 are 8 marks that most students secure, and the Q8/Q9 guide suggests leaving 25–30 minutes for Q8 and Q9. Our suggestion: about 5 minutes each for Q5 and Q6 and about 10 minutes for Q7, so roughly 20 minutes for Q5–Q7 together.

5. Materials