Short passage comprehension

SpanishAQAGCSEUnit: Reading + Translation (ES→EN)
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The basics

Comprensión de textos — Passage Comprehension

📖 Comprensión de textos — Passage Comprehension

Short passages on AQA Paper 3 are written in accessible Spanish, but the questions demand precision. Getting the gist is not enough — you need the exact detail, the right opinion word, or the correct positive/negative/both classification.
Question type What to look for
Specific detail Numbers, names, times, places
Opinion creo que, me parece, me gusta/encanta, no soporto
Attitude positive/negative/mixed — look for negation
P/N/P+N Tick one box: Positive, Negative, or Both
Give TWO details Exactly 2 separate facts — no more, no less
Spotlight
Tiempo verbal y detalles — Tense and Detail Clues

AQA passages signal their tense through key time words. Identifying the tense correctly is essential — if you misread a past event as present, your answer will be wrong even if your Spanish comprehension was otherwise sound.

Exam tip

Earn the mark scheme marks

💡 Errores de comprensión — Comprehension Errors

"Give TWO details" → student writes three answers

Only 2 marks available. The third point is ignored. Write exactly 2.

Why: AQA allocates one mark per detail. Writing extra points wastes time and gains nothing — the mark scheme stops at 2.

Reading "no me gusta el deporte" → student ticks P (they saw "deporte" and assumed positive)

The "no me gusta" reverses the meaning: NEGATIVE.

Why: Always read the full phrase, not just the keyword. Negation (no, nunca, nada) flips the meaning entirely.

"Nunca veo a mis abuelos" → student interprets as positive (visits grandparents)

nunca = NEVER. The speaker NEVER sees their grandparents — negative implied meaning.

Why: nunca is a strong negative adverb. Spot it immediately and treat the whole clause as negative before reading anything else.

Now try it yourself

Quiz · Question 1 of 16

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