Table of contents
If you’re taking the PAU in the Basque Country (formerly the EBAU, or selectividad), the UPV/EHU English exam has an advantage you won’t find in almost any other region: in three of its sections you choose which questions to answer (4 of 6, 2 of 3 and 4 of 6 again). It also has key word transformations very similar to the ones in B2 First, a multiple choice gapped text and a composition of about 150 words. There’s no listening.
In this guide I explain what the Basque Country PAU English exam is like, based on the 2026 paper and its official marking criteria, which the UPV/EHU has confirmed will stay the same in 2027: what you have to do in each section, how much it’s worth, what loses you marks, how the composition is marked with the rubric, how to manage your time, and examples 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 Basque Country PAU English exam is like
The Inglés exam lasts 90 minutes (in 2027, according to the provisional timetable, it will be on Thursday 3 June from 9:00 to 10:30), is marked out of 10 and has three sections:
| Section | Marks | What you have to do |
|---|---|---|
| I a) Open questions | 2 | Answer 4 of 6 questions about the text in your own words. |
| I b) True or false | 1 | Decide whether 2 of 3 statements are true or false and copy the part of the text that justifies your answer. |
| I c) Vocabulary | 1 | Find in the text 4 of 6 words or expressions from their meaning. |
| II a) Transformations | 1.5 | Complete 6 sentences with the key word, using between 2 and 5 words. |
| II b) Multiple choice cloze | 1.5 | Complete a text with 10 gaps, choosing from four options. |
| III. Composition | 3 | Choose one of two topics and write about 150 words. |
The text in section I is usually an adapted newspaper article: in 2026, a BBC report on a café in India where people pay with plastic waste. Section II isn’t directly related to the text.
One rule for every section with a choice: if you answer more questions than required, only the first ones are marked. Don’t do an extra one «just in case»: cross out the one you don’t want to count.
Section I a): Open questions (2 marks)
You answer 4 of the 6 questions about the text, worth 0.5 marks each: 0.25 for comprehension and 0.25 for expression. The instructions ask for complete sentences in your own words, and the penalty for not doing so is huge: if you copy from the text word for word, the answer is worth just 0.10.
Here’s an example written for this guide:
Text: The scheme encourages local families to grow their own vegetables, which reduces their shopping bills and the amount of packaging they throw away.
Question: What are the benefits of the scheme for local families?
- ✅ Families spend less money on food because they produce some of it themselves, and they also create less rubbish from packaging. (0.5)
- ❌ It reduces their shopping bills and the amount of packaging they throw away. (copied word for word: 0.10)
My tips:
- Choose the 4 questions you understand best, not the first four.
- Rephrase with synonyms and different structures: reduces their shopping bills → spend less money; packaging they throw away → less rubbish from packaging.
- Answer everything you’re asked. If the question has two parts (How do people pay? Do they pay with money?), answer both.
Section I b): True or false (1 mark)
You choose 2 of 3 statements, worth 0.5 marks each. You have to write the word TRUE or FALSE (for example, This statement is FALSE) and copy, in inverted commas, the part, and only the part, of the text that justifies it. A bare TRUE or FALSE gets no marks.
Using the extract above:
Statement: The scheme helps families to save money.
- ✅ This statement is TRUE. «Which reduces their shopping bills.»
- ❌ TRUE. (no justification: 0 marks)
Since you only need to do two, start with the ones you’re surest about and be wary of absolute words (completely, all, only, never). In 2026, for example, the statement that the scheme has completely solved the problem was false.
Section I c): Vocabulary (1 mark)
You’re given 6 definitions or synonyms and choose 4, worth 0.25 marks each, to find the word or expression in the text with that meaning. If you’re given a verb, your answer must also be a verb, in the same form.
Examples using the extract above:
| You’re given | Answer from the text |
|---|---|
| a plan or programme | scheme |
| cultivate, produce (plants) | grow |
| the material used to wrap products | packaging |
| get rid of something you don’t want | throw away |
Notice throw away: the answer can be a phrasal verb or an expression of several words. The more common phrasal verbs you know, the easier it gets.
Section II a): Key word transformations (1.5 marks)
You complete 6 sentences, worth 0.25 marks each, so that they mean the same as the original, using the word given in brackets. The rules are the same as in B2 First:
- You can’t change the key word.
- You must use between 2 and 5 words, including the key word.
- You can’t use contractions (does not, not doesn’t).
Examples written for this guide, with the structures that came up in 2026:
| Original sentence | Transformation |
|---|---|
| Although he was injured, he finished the match. (DESPITE) | Despite being injured, he finished the match. |
| They are building a new bridge this year. (IS) | A new bridge is being built this year. |
| If you don’t hurry, you will miss the train. (UNLESS) | You will miss the train unless you hurry. |
| They cancelled the match because of the storm. (CALLED) | They called off the match because of the storm. |
| «Have you seen my keys?» she asked me. (IF) | She asked me if I had seen her keys. |
| The day was so hot that we stayed indoors. (SUCH) | It was such a hot day that we stayed indoors. |
Always count your words: such a hot day is four, and It was is already in the sentence. Since this exercise is practically the same as B2 Use of English Part 4, that’s the best practice you can do. And if you want to revise the grammar, have a look at my guides to reported speech and conditional sentences.
Section II b): Multiple choice cloze (1.5 marks)
It’s a text with 10 gaps, worth 0.15 marks each, and for each gap there are four options, only one of which is correct. They usually test prepositions, quantifiers, linkers, adverbs and modal verbs. In 2026, for example, you had to choose between different so / with / as / from (the answer is from) or between a few / plenty / much / little before people (the answer is a few).
The method:
- Read the whole text before choosing, so you understand the context.
- Look at what comes before and after the gap: a plural countable noun rules out much and little; a clause with a subject and a verb rules out during.
- Watch out for dependent prepositions (different from, interested in, depend on).
- Beware of adverb traps: hard means «with effort», while hardly means «almost not»; and fastly doesn’t exist.
Section III: Composition (3 marks)
You’re given two topics and you choose one, stating which option you’ve chosen. The composition should be about 150 words, and the penalty is clear: if you write fewer than 130 or more than 170, you lose 0.5 marks. If the text doesn’t answer either of the two topics, it isn’t marked, although you can develop your own arguments within the topic.
The 2026 topics were related to the text in the exam: an opinion essay on whether people should be rewarded for recycling, and a for and against composition on banning single-use plastics or encouraging recycling. You’ll find worked examples of both types in my Andalusia (opinion essay) and Canary Islands (for and against) guides.
How the composition is marked
With a rubric of three criteria, worth 1 mark each, with six levels (1, 0.8, 0.6, 0.4, 0.2 and 0):
| Mark | Coherence and cohesion | Lexical richness | Grammatical accuracy |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Very well structured and highly cohesive. | Very appropriate vocabulary and idiomatic expressions. | Basically no significant mistakes. |
| 0.8 | Very cohesive and properly structured. | Generally appropriate vocabulary. | Few mistakes, which don’t affect comprehension. |
| 0.6 | Basically cohesive and structured. | Generally appropriate, with some choices that aren’t quite right. | Some mistakes that may occasionally affect comprehension. |
| 0.4 | Only partially structured or cohesive. | Only partially adequate. | Several mistakes, some clearly affecting comprehension. |
| 0.2 | Serious structural and cohesion problems. | Frequently inadequate. | Numerous mistakes that clearly affect comprehension. |
What matters most about this rubric:
- All three criteria carry the same weight: organising your text well is worth as much as avoiding mistakes.
- Vocabulary is worth a whole mark, and the rubric explicitly mentions idiomatic expressions. Use collocations and topic expressions, not just individual words.
- Length is easy to control: aim for 150 words and count them. Staying between 130 and 170 saves you half a mark.
- Use linkers to structure your text: there’s a list in my B2 connectors.
Vocabulary for the most common topics
The texts and compositions revolve around the environment, technology, work and society. In 2026, the whole exam was about plastic and recycling. Prepare vocabulary for these topics:
| Topic | For example | Vocabulary on KSE |
|---|---|---|
| The environment | plastic, recycling, climate change | The environment · The weather |
| Technology and social media | mobile phones, the internet, artificial intelligence | Technology and AI · Social media and the internet |
| Work and studies | a first job, university | Work · School |
| Society and consumption | poverty, money, food | Money · Food |
| Free time and people | travel, sport, personality | Travel · Sports · 100 personality adjectives |
How to manage the 90 minutes
With six sections, this is the split I recommend:
| Part | Time |
|---|---|
| Read the text and all the questions in section I, and choose which ones you’ll do | 10 minutes |
| I a) The 4 open questions | 15 minutes |
| I b) and c) True or false and vocabulary | 10 minutes |
| II a) Transformations | 10 minutes |
| II b) Multiple choice cloze | 8 minutes |
| III. Plan and write the composition | 30 minutes |
| Count your words and check the whole exam | 7 minutes |
A tip: make the most of the choices. Read the 6 open questions, the 3 statements and the 6 definitions before your second reading of the text, mark the ones you’ll do and look only for that information.
How it differs from other regions
If you’ve seen papers from other regions (or my guides to Castile-La Mancha, Galicia and Asturias), these are the differences that affect you most:
| Basque Country | Castile-La Mancha | Galicia | Asturias | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Choice of questions | Yes, in three sections | Only in the transformations | No | Yes, between two texts |
| Open questions | Yes, 4 of 6 | No | No | Yes, 4 |
| Transformations | Key word (2-5 words) | 6 of 9 (3 marks) | 6 (1.5 marks) | 4 (1 mark) |
| Pronunciation | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Composition length | About 150 (130-170) | At least 150 | 140 (119-161) | 100-120 |
Papers from other regions are useful for practising reading and writing, but in the Basque Country you should focus above all on key word transformations and the multiple choice cloze, which are very similar to B2 First.
Common mistakes in the Basque Country PAU English exam
- Copying from the text in the open questions: the answer drops to 0.10.
- Answering more questions than required: only the first ones count.
- Writing TRUE or FALSE without the quotation, or copying much more text than needed.
- Changing the key word in a transformation, or using more than five words.
- Using contractions in the transformations.
- Writing fewer than 130 words or more than 170 in the composition: you lose half a mark.
- Forgetting to say which topic you’ve chosen, or going off topic.
Frequently asked questions
When is the Basque Country PAU in 2027?
According to the UPV/EHU’s provisional timetable, the ordinary sitting will be on 1, 2 and 3 June 2027 and the extraordinary sitting on 29 and 30 June and 1 July. The English exam will be on the third day, from 9:00 to 10:30. The final timetable will be published in April 2027.
Is the English exam changing in 2027?
No. The UPV/EHU English coordinators have announced that the same structure, design and assessment and marking criteria as in 2026 will apply in 2027.
Is there a listening test in the Basque Country PAU English exam?
No. The whole exam is written: reading comprehension, grammar and vocabulary, and a composition.
Can I choose the questions?
Yes, in three parts of section I: 4 of the 6 open questions, 2 of the 3 true or false statements and 4 of the 6 vocabulary items. In the composition you choose one of two topics. The transformations and the gapped text are compulsory.
How many words should the composition be?
About 150. If you write fewer than 130 or more than 170, you lose 0.5 marks. My advice is to aim for between 140 and 160.
Did you find this guide useful? Share it with your classmates and your English teachers. And if you’d like more content like this, subscribe to my newsletter and follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube.
Good luck with the PAU and, until then, don’t forget to keep smiling! 🙂
