PAU English Catalonia 2027: exam format, marking and tips

If you’re taking the PAU in Catalonia (selectividad or, as it’s called there, selectivitat), the English exam (prova d’anglès) has something almost no other region has: a listening test. You’ll hear an interview or a monologue twice and answer multiple-choice questions which, be careful, cost you marks if you get them wrong. Then comes a reading comprehension with open questions and a piece of writing worth 4 of the 10 marks.

In this guide I explain what the Catalonia PAU English exam is like, based on the official structure, guidelines and marking criteria: what you have to do in each part, how much it’s worth, what loses you marks, how the writing is marked, how to manage your time, and a worked example of each part. All explained from my experience preparing students for official exams. Let’s get started! 🙂

If you’re looking for an overview of the test (what the PAU is, how much English counts towards your mark or what level you need), you’ll find it in my guide to the PAU English exam.

What the Catalonia PAU English exam is like

The Llengua estrangera: anglès exam lasts 90 minutes (in 2026 it ran from 12:00 to 13:30), is marked out of 10 and has three parts:

The questions and instructions are in English, and you do it without a dictionary or any other material. What you are given, in both the listening and the reading text, is a short list of difficult words translated into Catalan and Spanish. Read it before you start: it’s there precisely so that those words don’t hold you up.

And notice that there’s no grammar section as such: no transformations and no gapped texts. Grammar counts, but within the writing.

Part I: Listening comprehension (3 marks)

You listen to a recording on a non-specialist topic, which can be a monologue or a dialogue (in the official model exam, a radio interview about a Scottish chef). The recording always follows the same order:

1. A short introduction with some brief instructions.
2. A pause to read the questions and options.
3. The first listening.
4. A pause in between.
5. The second listening.

There are 8 multiple-choice questions with four options (a, b, c or d), marked like this:

Should I answer or leave it blank?

This is the big question in the Catalan listening. Let’s do the maths: if you answer completely at random among four options, on average you neither gain nor lose anything. But as soon as you can rule out just one option with confidence, answering pays off. My advice:

• If you can rule out at least one option, answer.
• If you have no idea and all four seem equally possible, leave it blank.

How to make the most of the two listenings

Here’s an example with an extract written for this guide:

Interviewer: So, how did you get into photography?
Laura: Well, my grandfather gave me his old camera when I was twelve, but to be honest, I didn’t really use it until I went to university. It was there that a friend convinced me to join the photography club, and that’s when everything changed.

Question: When did Laura start taking photography seriously?

• a. When her grandfather gave her a camera.
• b. When she was twelve years old.
• c. When she was at university. ✅
• d. When she started working for a club.

Notice the trap: options a and b mention things that are said (the grandfather, the age of twelve), but they don’t answer the question. The key is I didn’t really use it until…. This happens all the time in listening tests: hearing a word from an option doesn’t mean that option is right.

My method for the two listenings:

• Before you listen, underline the key word in each question (when, why, NOT, TRUE…). The questions follow the order of the recording.
• During the first listening, mark in pencil what you’re sure of and rule out the options that are definitely wrong.
• During the second, focus only on the questions you’re still unsure about.

To train your ear, what works best is listening to interviews, podcasts and radio programmes in English regularly, first with subtitles or a transcript and then without them. Ten minutes a day throughout the year does more than an intensive week before the exam.

Part II: Reading comprehension (3 marks)

You read a text in standard English, usually an adapted newspaper article (in the official model exam, an article about how children were raised in the Stone Age), and answer 6 questions worth 0.5 marks each. The questions can be of these types:

• Literal comprehension: what the text says.
• Inference: what you can work out from the text even if it doesn’t say it in those words.
• Rewriting or paraphrasing a sentence from the text.
• Finding words or fragments in the text from a synonym or a paraphrase.
• Completing sentences.

The marking rules you need to know:

• You have to answer in complete sentences (except when you’re asked to find a word or expression in the text). An answer that isn’t a complete sentence scores 0.
• You can copy fragments from the text, unless the question says otherwise. And sometimes it says so in capitals: DO NOT COPY FRAGMENTS FROM THE TEXT.
• Each answer scores 0.5 if it contains all the information required, «no more, no less»; 0.25 if the information is partial or incomplete, or if you give more than is required; and 0 if it’s wrong or irrelevant.
• Up to 0.3 marks can be deducted across the whole task if your answers are hard to understand.

Notice that «no more, no less»: copying the whole paragraph «just in case» can cost you half the question.

Rewriting questions

These are the ones that lose students the most marks. You’re given a sentence from the text and you have to say the same thing in your own words. You can keep grammatical words (pronouns, determiners, auxiliaries, modals…) and any words the question allows. Here’s an example written for this guide:

Sentence from the text: Many teenagers find it difficult to switch off their phones before going to bed. (You may keep teenagers and phones.)

• ✅ A lot of teenagers struggle to turn off their phones when it is time to sleep.
• ❌ Many teenagers find it hard to switch off their phones before going to bed. (you’ve only changed one word: it’s almost a copy)
• ❌ Teenagers use their phones a lot. (you’ve lost part of the meaning)

To paraphrase well, replace the content words with synonyms (difficult → struggle, switch off → turn off) and, if you can, change the structure too. The 50 most common phrasal verbs will give you plenty of alternatives.

Find-in-the-text questions

Here it’s the other way round: you’re given a paraphrase and you have to find the sentence in the text that says the same thing. Read the paraphrase, pick out the main idea and find the paragraph that deals with it. Then compare sentence by sentence. Copy the complete, exact sentence.

Part III: Writing (4 marks)

You’re given two topics, each with some context to guide you, and you choose one. Your text must be between 125 and 150 words. And here’s the main thing that sets Catalonia apart: the range of text types you can be asked for.

• Opinion essay: you argue for a single opinion.
• For and against essay: you set out arguments for and against.
• Formal or informal email.
• Narrative: you tell a story or an experience.
• Description: of a person, a place, an object…
• Review: of a book, a film, a series, a restaurant…

In the official model exam, for example, one topic asked for a for and against essay on fast fashion and the other for a description of a place in Catalonia for a group of exchange students.

How the writing is marked

There are four criteria worth 1 mark each, scored to one decimal place (0.1, 0.2, 0.3…):

The official guidelines add some very useful details:

• Contractions are allowed and a title isn’t compulsory.
• Memorised chunks that aren’t relevant are penalised and don’t count towards the word count. Linkers and short expressions do count.
• Childish or immature ideas are penalised (along the lines of «the important thing is to have fun and make as much money as possible»).
• A misused linker costs you in both cohesion and grammar. A classic: Although, with a comma at the start of a sentence as if it were However,.

The penalties that hurt most

The good news: there’s no maximum length, and going over 150 words isn’t penalised (although it doesn’t earn you anything either). My advice is to aim for between 140 and 160 words: enough to develop your ideas properly with no risk of falling short.

And be careful with the text type: if you’re asked for a review and you write an opinion essay about a film, you lose a whole mark even if your English is perfect.

Example of a review

The review and the description are the text types that set Catalonia apart most, so here’s a worked review.

Topic (written for this guide): Your school magazine is preparing a section on series for teenagers. Write a review of a series you have watched recently, saying what it is about, what you liked and didn’t like, and whether you would recommend it.

Heartstopper: a series that gets friendship right

If you’re looking for something light but meaningful, Heartstopper is definitely worth watching. Based on Alice Oseman’s graphic novels, it follows Charlie and Nick, two British teenagers whose friendship slowly turns into something more. Each episode is only about thirty minutes long, so it’s easy to watch.

What I liked most is how realistic the characters are. Instead of the usual stereotypes, the series shows young people dealing with real problems, such as bullying, anxiety and the fear of not fitting in. The soundtrack is great too, and the animated details taken from the original comics make it feel really fresh.

However, some episodes felt a bit predictable, and a few secondary characters could have been developed further.

All in all, I would highly recommend it, especially to anyone who has ever felt different. It’s the kind of series that makes you smile and think at the same time.

Why it works:

• It follows the structure of a review: title, introduction (what it is and what it’s about), the positives, the negatives and a final recommendation. That’s exactly what the task asks for, point by point.
• The right register for a school magazine: friendly but careful, with contractions (you’re, it’s), which are allowed in Catalonia.
• Typical review vocabulary: worth watching, based on, predictable, soundtrack, could have been developed further, highly recommend.
• Varied structures: a relative clause with whose, a passive (taken from), a modal perfect (could have been developed) and a present perfect with ever.
• Linkers that give the review its shape: Instead of, such as, too, However, All in all. You’ll find more in my B2 connectors.
• Paragraphs of more than one sentence, except the one on the negatives, which is short but complete.
• 149 words not counting the title, within the range.
• It’s written to simulate a B2 level, without reaching C1, with realistic vocabulary for a student in the final year of Bachillerato.

If you get a different text type, there are worked examples in my other guides: an opinion essay in the Andalusia guide, a for and against essay in the Canary Islands guide, an informal email in the Madrid guide, a formal email in the Murcia guide and a narrative in the Valencian Community guide.

Vocabulary for the most common topics

The writing topics in the official guidelines revolve around young people’s lives: leaving home, online shopping, the driving age, cinemas closing down, a trip that went wrong, your best teacher, your town, a restaurant or a series. Get vocabulary ready for these topics:

How to split the 90 minutes

The listening goes at its own pace, set by the recording (around 20 minutes with the pauses and both listenings). You manage the rest of the time yourself. This is the breakdown I recommend:

The writing is worth 4 marks: don’t leave it until the end and rush it. And when you check, make sure all your reading answers are complete sentences.

How it differs from other regions

If you’ve seen exams from other regions (or my guides to Madrid, Andalusia and Murcia), these are the differences that affect you most:

The reading and the writing are similar to those in other regions, so their material is useful for practice (just skip the grammar sections). But the listening and the range of text types are specific to Catalonia: practise them in its format.

Common mistakes in the Catalonia PAU English exam

• Guessing in the listening when you can’t rule out any option: each wrong answer costs 0.125.
• Choosing an option because you heard one of its words in the recording.
• Not answering the reading questions in complete sentences: it scores 0.
• Copying too much in the reading: if you give more information than required, you get 0.25.
• Copying when the question says DO NOT COPY, or writing a paraphrase that’s almost a copy.
• Not following the text type in the writing: it costs 1 mark.
• Writing fewer than 125 words, or copying sentences from the task to reach the limit: they don’t count.
• Using memorised chunks that aren’t relevant.

Frequently asked questions

When is the Catalonia PAU in 2027?

According to the calendar published by the Department of Research and Universities, the ordinary session is on 1, 2 and 3 June 2027, a week earlier than in 2026. And, for the first time, the extraordinary session moves from September to July: 6, 7 and 8 July 2027. The timetable by subject hasn’t been published yet. In 2026, the foreign language exam was on the Tuesday from 12:00 to 13:30. As soon as the 2027 one is out, I’ll add it here.

Is there a listening test in the Catalonia PAU English exam?

Yes. It’s one of the few regions that has one: it’s worth 3 of the 10 marks and consists of 8 multiple-choice questions about a recording you hear twice.

Do wrong answers cost marks?

Only in the listening: each wrong answer costs 0.125 and blank answers cost nothing. In the reading and the writing there are no «wrong answers» that deduct marks, only marking criteria.

Can I use a dictionary?

No. No dictionary and no electronic devices. What you are given is a list of difficult words from the listening and the reading text, translated into Catalan and Spanish.

What happens if I write more than 150 words?

Nothing bad: there’s no maximum length and it isn’t penalised. But you don’t get extra marks for writing more either, and the longer your text, the more chances there are of making mistakes.

Do spelling mistakes cost marks?

In English, spelling is assessed within the writing, under the vocabulary and spelling criterion (1 mark). In the reading, what’s penalised (up to 0.3 marks) is answers that are hard to understand.

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Good luck with the PAU and, until then, don’t forget to keep smiling! 🙂