Live Session 1

Review for Midterm Exam

In this session we will:

• 1.Discuss how to avoid common student errors with some key Midterm Exam sections.
• I will share best-practice strategies for these sections.
  
   
• 2. Pay special attention to the -AR verb conjugation section and the numbers 31 and above section of the Midterm.
• These 2 sections are worth 24% of the exam's points. 

Avoiding common student errors with key sections in the Midterm

In Section 2--singular and plural forms of nouns:

 

• 1. Don't write articles! Every answer should consist of just the noun.
   
• 2. Don't copy the form that's already given.
• For example: if the prompt is "una _______; tres chicas", don't write plural "chicas" again! The answer is the singular noun "chica". 

 

In Section 2--singular and plural forms of nouns (con't):

 

3. Pay attention to accent marks.

• All "-ción" words lose their accent marks when they pluralize. "Lección--->lecciones"
• Other singular nouns with accent marks keep them when they pluralize:
• "fotografía--->fotografías", "país--->países"
• Since we're here, let's practice our pronunciation by saying these singular and plural forms.

4. Singular nouns that end in consonants pluralize by adding "es", not "os" or "s"alone:

• "profesor--->profesores"; "mujer--->mujeres".

In Section 4--present tense forms of "ser"
 

1. Do not write subject pronouns as answers in this section.

• Under no circumstances should the words "yo", "tú", "él", "ella", "usted", "nosotros/nosotras", "ellos", "ellas" or "ustedes" appear as answers in this section.
   
• These words are not present-tense conjugated forms of the verb "ser". They are not verbs at all, actually.

 

In Section 4--present tense forms of "ser" (con't):

2. Your answer will have to consist of one of the five following words, all of which are present-tense conjugated forms of the verb "ser": 

• soy (present-tense yo-form)
• eres (present-tense tú-form)
• es (present-tense 3rd-person-singular form)
• somos (present-tense nosotros-form)
• son (present-tense 3rd-person-plural form)

Those are the only valid responses in this section.

• Let's practice our pronunciation for a moment by saying these 5 conjugated forms.

3. Note that we do not use vosotros-forms in this course. Do not write "sois" for any answer in this section.

In Section 7--Present-tense conjugations of -AR verbs

Step-by-step review of how to conjugate regular -AR verbs in the present tense.

Let's imagine you were working with this exam question:

 

Ustedes _________(tomar) muchas clases este semestre.

To recognize and select the correct form, do this in your mind:

 

1. Start by deriving the stem by removing the -AR ending. 

• We take the "ar" off of "tomar"
   
• Our stem is "tom".

 

Step-by-step review of how to conjugate regular -AR verbs in the present tense (con't)

Ustedes _________(tomar) muchas clases este semestre.

 

2. Now, look to the left of the blank to find the subject of the verb. 

• What is there is "ustedes", a 3rd-person-plural subject pronoun.
   
• We add the 3rd-person-plural ending, which is "AN" to the stem (tom).
   
• This gives us "toman", the correct conjugation.
   
• We select "toman" from among the options (it will be there!).

Review of conjugation procedures for present tense of regular -AR verbs:

 

• If the subject is "yo", the form is--->[stem] + "o"
   
• If the subject is "tú", the form is---->[stem] + "as"
   
• If the subject is "él", "ella", "usted" or any singular noun, the form is--->[stem] + "a"
   
• If the subject is "nosotros", "nosotras" or any person plus "y yo", the form is--->[stem] + "amos"
   
• If the subject is "ellos", "ellas", "ustedes", any other plural noun or any series of singular nouns joined by a "y" (meaning "and"), the form is--->[stem] + "an"

 

Another practice example:

La profesora _________(hablar) bien el español.

To recognize the correct form from among the options, do this in your head:

1. Derive the stem by removing the -AR ending. 

• We take the "ar" off of "hablar"
• Our stem is "habl".
   

2. Look to the left of the blank to find the subject of the verb. 

• What is there is the singular noun "profesora".
• This is a 3rd-person-singular subject.
• We add the 3rd-person-singular ending, which is "A" to the stem (habl).
• This gives us "habla", the correct conjugation.
• We pick that from among the possible responses.

In Section 9--Numbers 31 and above:

In order to be successful...

1. The most important thing is to not freak out here.

2. Begin by focusing on whether numbers from 200-900 are spelled correctly:

• 200--"doscientos"; 300--"trescientos"
• 400--"cuatrocientos"; 500--"quinientos"
• 600--"seiscientos"; 700--"setecientos"
• 800--"ochocientos"; 900--"novecientos"
• This will help you to immediately eliminate several incorrect answer choices
   

3. Remember that we use a different word for one hundred depending on the number: 

• If it's exactly 100, "cien" must be used
• If it's any number from 101-199, "ciento" must be used. 

Quick discernment practice with numbers from 31-999:

587

• A. quinientos ochenta y siete
• B. cincociento y ochenta seite
• C. quinientos y ochenta siete
• D. quintociento ocho siete

 

155

• A. cien y cincuenta cinco
• B. ciento cincuenta y cinco
• C. uno cien quinenta cinco
• D. ciento cinco cinco

Indeed, our correct answers are:

• quinientos ochenta y siete
• ciento cincuenta y cinco

4. If a number features a millions element, remember the following:

• If the number is one million, the word is "millón". 
• That's with *only one "i"* and with *an accent on the "o"*.
• So, "1.000.500" is "un millón quinientos"
   
• If the number is 2 million or above, the word is "millones".
• That's *still with only one "i"* but with *no accent on the "o"*.
• So, "2.000.500" is "dos millones quinientos"
   

5. If a number features a thousands element, the word for "thousand" is always "mil", whether it's one thousand or 999 thousand.

• So, "1.992" is "mil novecientos noventa y dos".
• Note: just "mil", not "un mil".
   
• And "900.992 is "novecientos mil novecientos noventa y dos".

Exam-format practice with all sorts of numbers from 31-999.999.999 (remember that Spanish uses a period where use a comma in English):

You see: 3.900.581

Your choices are:

• A. tres million novecientos miles quinientos ochenta uno
• B. tres millones nueveciento mil cincociento ochenta y uno
• C. tres millones novecientos mil quinientos ochenta y uno
• D. tres miliones nueve mil cinco ocho uno

Working left to right, 2 options can be eliminated immediately. Which ones are they?

• A and D (the "millones" element is wrong in both)
• Between B and C, how much further do we have to look to discern the correct answer?
• Just to the next word. It should be "novecientos".
• C is correct.

Exam-format practice with all sorts of numbers from 31-999.999.999

You see: 777.106 and your choices are:

• A. setecientos setenta y siete mil ciento seis
• B. sieteciento y sententa siete mil cien y sies
• C. setecientos setenta siete miles ciento y seis
• D. setecento setenta y siete mil cien seis
   

Working left to right, 2 options can be eliminated immediately. Which ones are they?

• B and D (the "setecientos" element is wrong in both)
• Between A and C, how much further do we have to look to discern the correct answer?
• Just to the expression of 77 thousand. It should be "setenta y siete mil".
• A is correct.