Welcome to this week's Praxis Spanish Help.
Watch me read a, Praxis style Spanish passage and answer six questions in real time using the strategy that took my reading score from 13 out of 25 to 21 out of 25.
Before we start, the UI matters.
The Praxis reading screen has two columns.
Passage on the left, one question on the right.
And here is the part most prep guides get wrong.
The same passage stays put while six different questions cycle through one at a time.
You do not see a question set up front.
You see one question, then the next, then the next.
A split screen format that rewards a deliberate question driven approach.
Knowing the layout before test day removes one layer of cognitive load that detail changes the strategy.
Here is what I'm going to do today.
I'm going to pull a real Spanish news article from the Praxis Spanish Study companion.
I'm going to set a 7.5 minute timer that's about 75 seconds per question.
And I'm going to answer all six questions the way I would attack them on test day.
Not pre rehearsed, not edited.
Mistakes and all the strategy in one sentence.
Don't read the passage up front.
Let each question pull you into the part of the passage you actually need.
This is the single most important strategy shift you can make on the practice reading section.
Resist the urge to read the entire passage before looking at the, questions.
Instead, let each question direct your attention.
Read purposefully, not exhaustively.
Your time is finite.
Let's go.
So this is our reading passage.
Left panel is our passage, and the full Spanish language reading passage is visible and scrollable throughout the session.
We do not read it top to bottom before engaging with questions.
The text stays available as a reference, not a starting point.
Full passage text displayed, scrollable as needed, referenced only when a question demands it, and then question is on the right panel.
Questions cycle one at a time.
Each question is read first.
Then we return to the passage with a specific target in mind.
One question visible at a time.
Read the question before the passage.
Answer choices evaluated after targeted reading.
So this is the plan.
Okay, I set my timer seven thirty, so we have seven minutes and thirty seconds to go through six questions.
So here you can see, question number one we're gonna read and then go back to our text.
So question number one says, según el artículo, que se puede afirmar de las pinturas descubiertas, que su descubrimiento ocurrió por casualidad, que se descubrieron junto con unas joyas que suponen un desafío para los arqueólogos y d que son las primeras pinturas descubiertas en el lugar.
Now that we read the question, we know what we are looking for, So we need to the question is asking, based on the article, what can you say about discovered rock art.
So here we're going to go back to our text and the title of the text actually says Peru, el misterio de las pinturas negras descubiertas in Machu Picchu.
So again, this one, the title already tells us about quite a bit about what the text is going to be about.
And here it says, porl lo pronto ofrecen más preguntas que respuestas.
El hallazgo de unas pinturas, El hallazgo de unas pinturas rupestres inéditas en las proximidades de la ciudadela de Machu Picchu significa un nuevo desafío para los arqueólogos del Ministerio de Cultura de Perú.
So here the answer que su descubrimiento, descubrimiento, que su descubrimiento ocurrió por casualidad, it doesn't even talk about that, que se descubrieron junto con unas joyas.
It doesn't talk about any jewelry findings.
C here, actually, the text says that the discovery actually was quite challenging for archaeologists.
¿So the correct answer then, C, y D says que son las primeras pinturas descubiertas en el lugar?
It doesn't talk about that.
So now we're gonna answer, we know that the correct answer is C, which is.
I'm gonna highlight.
In, I was gonna highlight in yellow, but somehow it's not.
It's okay now.
So now I'm gonna kind, okay, I'm just gonna.
Make it different colors.
¿So that we know which one is the correct answer?
This one is kind of working somehow very slow, I don't know what's happening.
So let's see if I can change the color.
If not, then we're just gonna move on because I can't just spend so much time trying to change the color.
Okay, Okay, I'm gonna give up, Okay, maybe this one's gonna work now.
Okay, so I changed the color.
So the C is correct.
Moving on.
Question number two.
Según el artículo es extraordinario sobre las pinturas halladas, su coloración, su iconografía, su textura, su tamaño.
So here actually when we read the title, it says Peru el misterio de las pinturas negras.
¿Right?
So we know that they found the color was black.
Also when we look at the text, it says la novedad es que la pintura está cerca del monumento y el hecho de que está hecha en color negro.
¿So this is the answer, right?
So something extraordinary about this rock art was su coloración, the color was kind of extraordinary.
So the correct answer is A.
And I'm gonna try to change the color if not I'm just gonna move on.
It kind of takes a while somehow I don't know.
So the correct answer is A.
Okay, I'm gonna give up because it's somehow not working.
So the correct answer is su coloración is the correct answer.
Okay.
Okay.
Moving on, Next question.
Qué están intentado determinar.
So I have one minute.
Wow.
¿Que es tan intentado determinar los expertos?
So la autencidad I don't know why it went back.
So next slide.
Sorry guys, it's kind of slow.
Question number three.
¿Qué están intentando determinar los expertos?
La autenticidad de las pinturas, la propiedad de las pinturas, el valor monetario de las pinturas, el periodo.
Wow.
So timer is up.
So I'm going to stop and we are on question number three.
We are definitely behind, but we're going to just move on la autenticidad de las pinturas, la propiedad de las pinturas, el valor monetario de las pinturas, el periodo al que pertenecen las pinturas.
So then we're going to go back to our text and find what the experts trying to determine.
And in the text it says that.
that.
Sin embargo, esta es la primera vez que encuentran imágenes hechas en color negro.
En la pintura se ve una silueta humana.
Están más Aunque este descubrimiento ha generado multitud de especulaciones sobre si se trata de imágenes preincaicas o si puede modificar lo que se cree sobre Macho Machu Picchu.
Aztete se mostró cauteloso y prefirió no adelantar ningún tipo de opinión and he says no podemos aún determinar si son más antiguas.
En arqueología trabajamos por asociación.
Machu Picchu es un recinto inca.
Las tumbas que han sido encontradas allí son incas.
Entonces consideramos que las pinturas también pueden ser incas.
Pero hay que concluir las investigaciones investigaciones para determinar su antigüedad, apunta.
So it's saying that he cannot necessarily just make conclusions.
He needs to be very carefully make investigations.
¿So now, the correct answer then is el periodo al que pertenecen la pintura, right?
So that is the answer.
Los expertos están intentando determinar el período.
Question number five, según el artículo, ¿Cuál de las siguientes descripciones explica mejor la manera de trabajar de los arqueólogos involucrados en esta investigación?
And here the archeologist actually stated that.
Aztete se mostró cauteloso y prefirió no adelantar ningún tipo de opinión.
No podemos aún determinar si son más antiguas en arqueología arqueología trabajamos por asociación.
So again, they need to be very careful to come to any kind of conclusion.
So the correct answer then is examinar, examinan el lugar con cuidado para llegar a conclusiones.
En question number five, según el artículo y sus conocimientos culturales, Machu Picchu es So this is kind of a cultural knowledge question.
¿Also from the text we also saw that it was saying that Machu Picchu es una ciudadela inca, right?
So here it says Machu Picchu es un recinto inca.
Las tumbas que han sido encontradas ahí son incas.
So that's kind of also evidence.
And also from our cultural knowledge we can say, we know that es una antigua ciudad.
So the correct answer is C, we're gonna mark C.
¿And then the last question is cuál es el significado del verbo adelantar en la oración?
Aztete se mostró cauteloso y prefirió no adelantar ningún tipo de opinión.
¿No adelantar, progresar no tiene sentido sobrepasar tampoco Expresar actually makes sense, right?
No expressar ningun tipo de opinion.
So then expressar is the correct answer.
So now we are going to debrief.
about what just happened.
First, I never read the passage code.
Eyes went right every time.
That single move is responsible for almost half of my reading score gain on my retake.
Second, I didn't lose anything by not reading the passage up front.
By question three or four, I effectively read most of the passage anyway, but in service of answering, not in service of absorbing.
Also, there were some words that I did not know, but could use the context clues to infer the meaning of the word.
Third, when you stumble, try to name it out loud.
This one's a coin flip.
Don't sit silent on a question you don't know.
Eliminate the absurd guess from what's left.
Move on.
The praxis has no penalty for guessing.
One quick note on test day, you don't have me narrating your decisions and you won't be filming yourself.
The narration here is for you as a viewer in your own practice.
You will do this silently in your head.
The decisions are the same.
Practice the decisions until they are reflexive.
Next Tuesday, Listening Same format I'm pulling a Spanish news clip, doing the first listen on camera, taking the 60 second preview window, then the second listen and walking through the questions live.
The practice listening section has a quirk most prep guides ignore.
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If you want the full breakdown of the five strategies that took me from 159 to 174.
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And if you have watched thus far and you know you are prepping for the praxis, there is also wait list for a small founding cohort I am running this summer.
Founding price for the first 15 teachers.
Then it goes up.
Link to the waitlist is also in the description.
No pressure.
Your call.
If you're prepping for reading specifically, try this strategy on a Spanish article this week.
Bebese Mundo or El Pais.
Have a friend or AI.
Write six questions about it.
Reveal them one at a time.
Do it once.
You will feel the difference.
See you next Tuesday for the Listening Deep Dive.
Bye.
