How should I effectively use my reading time prior to a listening exam?

Before the audio track fully begins, you are given five minutes to read through the paper. It may not always make sense as to why you have this time in the exam, but it is definitely there to help you!

First of all, read through all the exam questions. For the questions written in Spanish, make sure you fully understand what the question is asking you. If you cannot fully understand or translate the question, work out as much as you can before the exam. Make notes of the keywords in the question, as these can often point you in the right direction.

Secondly, make notes about keywords you would expect to hear. For instance, you may wish to note down any adjectives, nouns, or verbs that you are expecting to hear. Use a highlighter to highlight any negatives in the question - it is really easy to overlook these, and will often change the outcome of the question itself. You won't be able to do this for all the questions, so don't worry if you don't get all the way through. Do as much as you can to prepare in those five minutes, and you will give yourself a great advantage over the others.

Finally, towards the end of the five minutes, be sure to turn back to Question 1 and read it through again. Double check to make sure you haven't missed anything like a negative or a quantifier (i.e. a lot, sometimes, or never), and make sure you are poised and ready to answer the question.