Q2: transform the cue into your yo answer
Q2 gives five short prose tasks from a rubric addressed to you (tú). Do not copy its wording — answer as yourself, transforming person and tense: the tú verb becomes a yo verb (te sentiste → me sentí; prepararte → me preparé). Each task signals a timeframe your finite verb must match — "would prefer" needs the conditional. Answer the specific angle (for a perfect breakfast, say what makes it perfect), and never leave an infinitive for a finite verb.
Q3: cover every bullet, then build Range
Q3 (the ~130-140 word email/letter or article/report) is marked on three separate criteria: Task completion (10), Range (10) and Accuracy (8). Range is the ceiling: short, simple, unsubordinated sentences cap it at 3-5 even when every fact is right. Reach the top band with real subordinate clauses (cuando, ya que, aunque, si), ambitious connectors (además, sin embargo), opinion markers (pienso que) and one complex structure.
Drawn from real examiner reports.
Present where past or future is needed
A named Task-completion failure: defaulting to the present even when the rubric points elsewhere. "What job would you prefer" needs the conditional (preferiría), not prefiero; next year's plans need the future (trabajaré), not the present. Fix: find the timeframe word first (would, próximo año, ayer), then pick the matching tense before writing.
Answering with the present when a past or future was required (s23 41 Q2 Task 5 conditional; w23 41 Task 5 future).
Leaving the tú-form or infinitive unchanged
Because the rubric addresses you as tú, weak answers lift its verb unchanged, leaving a 2nd-person verb where a 1st-person answer was needed: te sentiste → me sentí; the infinitive prepararte → me preparé. It mirrors Reading's first→third change; here it is second→first, but the rule is the same — never leave the source person standing.
Second→first person in Writing: rubric addressed as tú, answer as yo — te sentiste→me sentí, prepararte→me preparé, relajarte→me relajé (s23 41/42; w23 41).
Malformed irregular preterites
Longer Q3 sentences bring in more past-tense verbs, and invented preterites appear: fuiemos, fuieron for fuimos, fueron (ir/ser); tuvía, tení for tuve, tenía (tener). They come from bolting regular endings onto the infinitive stem. Fix: learn the irregular stems as fixed forms — fui/fuiste/fue/fuimos/fueron, tuve/tuviste/tuvo.
Malformed preterites (fuiemos, fuieron, tuvía, tení) recur on the Writing common-errors list across sittings.
ser/estar, por/para and hay confusions
Three accuracy traps recur in Q3 prose. ser vs estar: location uses estar — mi casa está cerca de la playa, not es. por vs para: duration takes por — duermo por 8 horas, not para. hay vs tiene/es-son: "there is/are" is hay — hay muchos parques, not tiene. Single slips cost Accuracy, not Task completion.
ser/estar and hay-vs-tiene on the common-errors list every sitting; duration por/para — most wrongly used para in duermo por 8 horas (s23 42 Task 4).
Adjective–noun agreement (gender + number)
Adjectives must match their noun in gender and number — a top Writing error. los ojos azul should be azules (plural); ella es bajo should be baja (feminine); azuls mis-forms the plural (azules). A singular verb with a plural subject fails the same way. Fix: check every adjective and article carries its -o/-a and -s.
Adjective–noun agreement a top Writing error — los ojos azul, ella es bajo, son ojos muy azuls (w23 41 Q2 Task 3; s23 41 Task 1).
Double-consonant spelling interference
First-language interference imports double consonants Spanish does not use: professora, tranquillo, addictivo for profesora, tranquilo, adictivo. A spelling outside the word's paradigm pulls the mark down; a still-recognisable slip is tolerated. Fix: Spanish rarely doubles a consonant (only cc, ll, rr, nn) — check cognates.
Double-consonant interference (professora, tranquillo, addictivo, mochilla) on the Writing common-errors list every sitting.
Covering the bullets simply is not enough
Two false beliefs recur. "Mentioning every bullet gets full marks" — wrong: Task completion needs an accurate verb in the right tense per bullet, and Range is scored separately, so simple sentences are capped at 3-5. "Copying the rubric's verb is fine" — wrong: it addresses tú; you answer as yo, and an unchanged 2nd-person verb or bare infinitive is marked down.
Q2 failures (present for a required past/future, 2nd-person copied unchanged, infinitives for finite verbs) and the Q3 Range-ceiling message cited across sittings.
Q2: underline, transform, check
For each Q2 task: 1. Underline the rubric's verb, its person and timeframe. 2. Transform it into a finite 1st-person verb in the right tense — never leave an infinitive or tú form standing. 3. Check you answered the specific angle asked.
Q3: write the bullets, then add Range
Work in two passes. First: list the bullets, decide each one's tense, and write one accurate sentence each. Second: build Range — combine simple sentences with a subordinator (ya que, aunque), an opinion marker (pienso que), and three tenses overall.
Count your words, vary your tenses
Aim for ~130-140 words in Q3: too short under-develops the bullets, too long drifts and loses accuracy. Check that at least three tenses appear, and that any future or conditional bullet carries a genuine future or conditional verb — not the present.
Paper 4 (Writing) has three parts: Q1 (five one-word gaps), Q2 (about five short prose tasks, up to 12 marks) and Q3 (a choice of two longer tasks — an email/letter or a report/article, marked on Communication, Range and Accuracy, ~130-140 words). This topic covers Q2 and Q3 technique.
Q2 — transform the rubric, don't copy it. The rubric addresses you as tú; your answer must be a finite yo verb (or él/ella if describing someone else), in the tense the task signals.
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