Education nouns + seguir + gerundio
Learn further-education nouns with the article: el instituto (secondary school), el bachillerato (sixth form), la universidad, la carrera (degree), la asignatura (subject), el curso, la formación profesional (vocational training), la beca (grant). "To keep -ing" uses seguir + gerundio: voy a seguir estudiando (I'll keep studying). Seguir is an e→i stem-changer, so conjugate it with care. Full list in the note.
ir a + infinitivo for plans after school
"What will you do after school?" is best answered with the near future: ir (present) + a + infinitivo. Only ir changes for person; the second verb stays infinitive: Voy a estudiar, Vas a hacer un curso, Ella va a especializarse, Van a solicitar una beca. The simple future (estudiaré, haré) is also correct and adds Range, but ir a + infinitivo is the form to build accurately first.
Drawn from real examiner reports.
asignaturas (subjects) ≠ cualidades
Asked what is needed to study on or start a career, weaker candidates list subjects (mis asignaturas favoritas...) when the task wants cualidades (personal qualities): the trait needed (paciencia, creatividad), not the subject (matemáticas, historia). Re-read the rubric — cualidades necesarias wants character traits, not a subject list.
Digest Area D: "cualidades misread as asignaturas" (s22 topic 4).
Listing subjects, not the goal's subjects
When a task asks which subjects or training are needed for a specific plan (to be a doctor, to study engineering), just listing your timetable loses Task Completion marks — connect the answer to the goal. Weak: Estudio matemáticas e historia. Strong: Para ser médico/a, necesito estudiar biología y química. Answer the specific angle, not a generic list.
Digest Area D: "listing current subjects instead of those needed for a future job" (s22 topic 4 Task 4); same generic-vs-specific pattern flagged in Writing Q2.
Education-noun gender + agreement traps
Education vocabulary hides gender and agreement traps: el instituto is masculine (learn it with the article); la universidad and la carrera are feminine, so una carrera competitiva, not competitivo; el programa is masculine despite -a. A plural adjective agrees too: las asignaturas son obligatorias, not obligatorio.
Digest "Gender & number agreement": adjective–noun and article–noun agreement failures are a top Writing error every sitting.
Present tense where a future was required
A "plans after school" bullet signals the future, yet candidates answer in the present and lose Task Completion. Use the near or simple future/conditional: Voy a estudiar... / Estudiaré... / Me gustaría estudiar..., not Estudio... for something not yet happening. Match the verb tense to the rubric's timeframe.
Digest Writing Q2: answering in the present when a future/conditional was required (s23 P41 Q2 Task 5 conditional; w23 P41 Task 5 future).
ir a + infinitivo: don't conjugate verb 2
In ir a + infinitivo, only ir changes for person; the second verb always stays in the infinitive: va a estudiar, never va a estudia; vamos a hacer, never vamos a hacemos. Candidates sometimes conjugate the second verb by analogy with the simple future — but here it stays unconjugated, whatever the person of ir.
(general FL trap)
cualidades means qualities, not subjects
A false belief is that cualidades means school subjects. It does not: cualidades are personal qualities/traits (paciencia, ser trabajador/a), while asignaturas are the subjects (matemáticas, historia). Candidates conflate them under the vague idea of "things about school". A task asking for cualidades necesarias wants traits, not a subject list.
Digest Area D: cualidades/asignaturas confusion named directly (s22 topic 4).
One near-future sentence per bullet
Plan one sentence per rubric bullet in the near future: Voy a + infinitivo for each item (studies, training, a job). Covering every bullet secures Task Completion, and the near future is the accurate, low-risk tense for each plan.
Justify every plan with porque + a reason
Task Completion rewards the reason, not just the plan, so follow each choice with porque: voy a estudiar informática porque me interesa la tecnología. A bare list of plans caps the mark — one porque clause per bullet lifts it.
Vary the tense to raise Range
Alongside the near future, add a simple future or conditional sentence (trabajaré..., me gustaría estudiar...) plus a subordinate clause (cuando termine el instituto..., si saco buenas notas...). This range lifts the Range mark above the short-sentence ceiling.
Answer the rubric's specific angle
Check the exact rubric word: cualidades wants traits, not subjects; a "why" bullet wants a reason; a "which subjects for X" bullet wants subjects tied to that goal. Answering the generic topic, not the specific angle, is the recurring Task Completion loss.
This topic covers continuing in education after school, subjects and courses, plans after school, and training/apprenticeships — a future-facing area tested mainly in Writing and Speaking, where you must state and justify concrete plans.
Continuing in education:
| Spanish | English | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| el instituto | the secondary school | la universidad | the university |
| el bachillerato | sixth-form course | la carrera | the degree/course |
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