13.2 Authentic Stimulus Materials: Ads, Notices, Schedules & Forms

13.2 Authentic Stimulus Materials: Ads, Notices, Schedules & Forms

The official name of Part C is "Reading passages and authentic stimulus materials." That second phrase covers advertisements, public notices, timetables, forms, tickets, labels, and infographics — real documents from the Spanish-speaking world, reproduced as they appear.

They reward a different reading skill from prose. Prose unfolds an argument; a notice compresses one. The scored fact is very often in a subordinate line, an exception clause, or a footnote.

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1. The Command Item Type

The official Part C directions state: "Each selection is followed by one or more questions, incomplete statements, or commands. For each question or incomplete statement, select the answer or completion that is best according to the selection. For each command, click on the appropriate area of the screen according to the directions given."

So an item may read:

• Señale en el anuncio el número al que hay que llamar para reservar.
• Haga clic en la fecha límite de inscripción.
• Indique en el horario el tren que llega antes de las nueve.

Method. Before reading the questions, mentally segment the document into named zones — headline, price block, date block, contact block, small print. When a command names a zone, you click without re-reading. Candidates who read the document as continuous text lose thirty seconds relocating information they already saw.

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2. Advertisements

A Spanish advertisement typically has five slots:

+---------------------------------------------------+
| GRAN APERTURA — MUNDO MART                        |  <- headline / hook
| Alquiler de espacios para pequeños comercios      |  <- what is offered
| Desde 150 euros al mes                            |  <- price
| Abierto de lunes a sábado, de 9:00 a 21:00        |  <- hours
| Reserve su espacio: 91 555 04 12                  |  <- action + contact
| *Precio no incluye IVA ni gastos de suministro.   |  <- small print
+---------------------------------------------------+

Where questions come from: the price line and the small print, almost always together. ¿Qué incluye el precio anunciado? is answered by the asterisk, not the headline. Desde is another reliable target — it means from, i.e. the lowest available price, not the price.

Vocabulary of offers: la oferta, la promoción, el descuento, la rebaja, válido hasta, hasta agotar existencias (while stocks last), no acumulable (cannot be combined), consultar condiciones, IVA incluido / no incluido, gastos de envío.

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3. Public Notices

Notices use a distinctive register: impersonal se, formal commands, and passive constructions.

Sample notice:

AVISO A LOS USUARIOS Por obras de mejora, la piscina municipal permanecerá cerrada del 5 al 19 de agosto, ambos inclusive. Durante ese periodo, los abonados podrán utilizar sin coste adicional las instalaciones del polideportivo de la calle Olmo, presentando su carné. Los abonos mensuales se prorrogarán automáticamente quince días. Disculpen las molestias.

Likely questions and where they live:

Note ambos inclusive. Spanish date ranges routinely state whether endpoints are included, and questions are built on it.

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4. Timetables and Schedules

The scored cell is almost never the obvious one. A question such as ¿Qué tren debe tomar un pasajero que viaja un domingo y quiere llegar antes de mediodía? requires crossing two constraints: the festivos column and an arrival time. Read the constraint words first, then scan.

Remember the 24-hour clock and the day/month date order from Chapter 2 — both appear in every schedule.

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5. Forms and Applications

Spanish naming convention matters: most people carry two surnames (paternal then maternal), which is why the field is Apellidos, plural. A question asking how many surnames a form requires is testing cultural literacy as much as vocabulary.

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6. Reading Small Print

Exception and condition language is where Part C stimulus questions concentrate. Learn the set cold:

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7. Worked Stimulus Item

CENTRO CULTURAL SAN MARCOS — TALLERES DE OTOÑO Cerámica · Fotografía · Escritura creativa Del 6 de octubre al 15 de diciembre Matrícula: 45 € (materiales no incluidos) Descuento del 30 % para estudiantes y mayores de 65 años Inscripción hasta el 30 de septiembre, ambos inclusive, en la ventanilla 2 Plazas limitadas · Imprescindible presentar documento de identidad

Q1. ¿Cuánto pagará por la matrícula una estudiante universitaria?

45 € menos 30 % = 31,50 €. The discount line, not the headline price, is the answer.

Q2. ¿Qué NO cubre el precio de la matrícula?

Los materiales, per the parenthesis. This is the small-print question.

Q3 (command). Haga clic en la fecha límite de inscripción.

30 de septiembre — and note ambos inclusive, so the 30th itself still counts.

Q4. ¿Qué debe llevar obligatoriamente una persona que se inscriba?

Un documento de identidad, flagged by imprescindible.

Four questions, four different zones of a seven-line document. That distribution is typical, and it is why zone-mapping beats linear reading.