Errores típicos en la foto — Photo-card Errors

❌ Error 1: Describing the photo in English — or thinking in English and then translating.

✅ Correcto: En la foto hay un hombre y una mujer.

Por qué importa: Never translate mentally from English. Think the Spanish sentence directly — the word order is different. Hay means "there is / there are" and comes first in Spanish, not the subject. Translating "In the photo is a man" word-for-word produces unnatural Spanish and confuses the examiner about who is doing what.

❌ Error 2: Es una foto de vacaciones. — and then stopping after one sentence.

✅ Correcto: En la foto hay una familia en la playa. Parece que hace buen tiempo y están de vacaciones. La mujer lleva un vestido azul y parece muy contenta.

Por qué importa: One sentence earns one mark. Four sentences earn four marks. AQA awards communication marks per piece of information conveyed — a longer, detailed answer always scores more than a correct but brief one. Use the 5-step formula to reach at least three to four sentences every time.

❌ Error 3: Answering every question only in the present tense and forgetting past and future.

✅ Correcto: For any question about your experience, cover all three time frames — Present: Normalmente voy a la playa. Past: El verano pasado fui a Mallorca. Future: El año que viene, me gustaría ir a Francia.

Por qué importa: AQA 8692 assesses tense range across the speaking paper. Using only the present tense caps your score under AO2 (Accuracy). The three-tense formula covers all tense reference requirements and is worth building into any answer about habits, experiences, or opinions.