Cambridge IGCSE Spanish 0530/22 is the May/June 2026 Paper 2 (Reading), variant 2. It lasts 1 hour, is worth 45 marks and every 0530 candidate sits it. There are six compulsory questions, getting longer and harder as you go: three matching or multiple choice questions on short texts, one matching question on longer texts, and two texts where you write short answers in Spanish. Those two, on Clara’s twin sister and Manolo’s bike charity, carry 23 marks. This guide goes through every question and shows what the official mark scheme accepted and refused. The paper and its mark scheme are free on the Tutopiya Learning Portal.

For an overview of all the 0530 papers from this series, see IGCSE Spanish 0530 May/June 2026 past papers: what came up and how it was marked.

0530/22 at a glance

Question	Text	Format	Marks
1	Five sentences about life at home	Match to pictures of rooms (A–F)	5
2	Signs at a music festival	Match five comments to signs (A–H)	5
3	Juan plans a camping holiday	Multiple choice (A–C)	7
4	Clara describes her twin sister, Andrea	Short answers in Spanish	12
5	Five adults describe their old school	Match to eight school adverts (1–8)	5
6	Manolo and the Madrid bike charity Biciverde	Short answers in Spanish	11
	Total		45

Question-by-question walkthrough

Question 1: around the house (5 marks)

Six pictures of rooms and a garden, and five short first-person sentences to match. The answers: tidying the bedroom is C, flowers and a tree outside is F (the garden), a comfortable living room is A, having a bath at night is D (the bathroom), and making toast in the morning is B (the kitchen). Picture E, a desk with a computer, was the spare.

The skill is everyday vocabulary: dormitorio, salón, bañarse and tostadas each point straight at one picture.

Question 2: signs at a music festival (5 marks)

Eight signs (A–H) and five things people say, so three signs are spares. None of the comments repeats the word on its sign, so you have to make the link yourself:

• wanting to see the vegetarian dishes goes with the Mexican food stall (F);
• a painful leg goes with medical help (G);
• buying one in a small size goes with the T-shirt stall (A);
• eye make-up goes with face painting (H);
• wanting some calm after three hours of dancing goes with the rest area (E).

The ice cream stall (B), the press-only area (C) and phone charging (D) were not used.

Question 3: Juan’s camping holiday (7 marks)

Juan, from Barcelona, describes a holiday with friends from his block of flats. Seven three-option questions, one mark each. The answers were B, A, A, C, B, C and C: he goes next month, they stay at a campsite, a relative (his uncle) can help if there’s a problem, they get there by travelling to another country (the resort is just over the border in France), they plan to get up late, none of them can cook, and Juan prefers relaxing on the beach.

Several questions test synonyms or inference rather than matching words: the text says tío, the option says pariente; the text describes a town just inside France, the option says another country. Distractors often use a word from the text in the wrong way. The flat (piso) is where his friends live, not where they will stay, and long walks are what his parents like.

Question 4: Clara and her twin sister (12 marks)

Clara, 15, describes how she and her twin Andrea differ in character, how teachers mix them up, how their parents handled them as small children, and how their interests have drifted apart. Eleven questions in Spanish, with two marks for (a) and one each for the rest.

What the mark scheme credited, in English:

• (a) Andrea’s personality (2): she is fairly solitary and creative. The adjective must agree: creativo was refused.
• (b) teachers can’t always tell who is who. “Nuestros profesores” was refused, because it is Clara’s word, not yours.
• (c) the parents were annoyed when the twins fought. Les molestaba, estaban molestados and se sentían molestos all scored; lo que les fastidiaba and molestando were refused.
• (d) Clara made her own friends at the athletics club. El club or su club scored; en mi club was refused.
• (e) the advantage was always having someone to play with. “Jugar” alone was not enough (tc), and the copied teníamos was refused.
• (f) they were separated at the age of five. Both a la edad de cinco años and con cinco años scored; de cinco años was refused.
• (g) other twins were dressed the same way.
• (h) Clara is unhappy when teachers compare them. The answer must be in the third person, so los profesores las/les comparan scored, while los profesores se comparan and anything starting Odio were refused.
• (i) once a year they could share a birthday party. Cumpleaños had to be there, and adding that it was fun invalidated the answer.
• (j) at Christmas they ask for different presents.
• (k) the twin who does more exercise is Clara.

Question 5: five former pupils and eight schools (5 marks)

Five adults describe what their old school gave them, and you match each to one of eight school adverts. Five marks for the five matches.

• Olivia (a) → 5, the school with a stadium and coaches for future champions. She won medals.
• Álvaro (b) → 7, the two-hundred-year-old school with a classic approach and a smart uniform. His family went there and he hated not wearing what he wanted.
• Martín (c) → 1, the international school with exchanges and lessons in other languages. He now works in meetings around the world.
• Alejandra (d) → 6, the school with laboratories that trains researchers and engineers. She designs machines for the car industry.
• Nicolás (e) → 8, the school whose teachers worked on stage or in film. He has just had his first big film role.

The three spare adverts were set as traps. School 2 teaches art and design, a near-miss for Nicolás, who acts. School 4 offers science and maths support to pupils who find learning hard, a near-miss for Alejandra, who always got good marks. School 3 is an eco school.

Question 6: Manolo and Biciverde (11 marks)

A feature about Manolo, who repairs abandoned bikes for a Madrid charity. It covers how he started, his difficult youth, the help the charity gave him, how the bikes are restored and what he plans next. Nine questions, with two marks each for (a) and (h).

What the mark scheme credited, in English:

• (a) How he works (2): carefully, and with concentration. Tiene que concentrarse scored; the copied tengo que concentrarme was refused, and concentrar alone was not enough.
• (b) the first thing he learnt was to fix the seat.
• (c) he lived alone with his father when his mother had to stay in her country (returning to Greece was also accepted).
• (d) at his worst moment he was homeless for several months. Hanging around with a group that caused trouble was refused, and copying según me contó with the answer was refused.
• (e) apart from training, Biciverde found him accommodation. Copying Encontré was refused: it has to be encontró.
• (f) the bikes are found in the streets. “En la ciudad” on its own was not enough, and lifting has visto bicicletas… was refused.
• (g) once repaired, the bikes are repainted. Las repintan or se repintan scored; the text’s las repintamos was refused.
• (h) Two environmental benefits (2): materials are conserved, and car pollution is reduced. Better health was refused, because it isn’t an environmental benefit.
• (i) his business could succeed because thousands of people in the city still cycle. The answer must say what they practise (el ciclismo); copying the sentence ending in lo practican was refused.

Where the marks are on 0530/22

Skill	Questions	Marks
Matching short sentences to pictures or signs	1, 2	10
Multiple choice on a short text	3	7
Matching longer texts	5	5
Short written answers in Spanish	4, 6	23
Total		45

• More than half the paper (23 marks) needs written Spanish. These marks depend on understanding and on getting the person and tense right in your answer.
• The 22 marks for matching and multiple choice have no language accuracy demand at all, so they should be your most reliable marks.
• Seven parts of Questions 4 and 6 listed a refused first-person copy from the text: 4(b), 4(d), 4(e), 4(h), 6(a), 6(e) and 6(g). Changing nos, mi, tengo or -amos is the single habit that protects the most marks.

How to self-mark 0530/22 with the mark scheme

1. Mark Questions 1, 2, 3 and 5 against the letters and numbers. One mark each. If you ticked two boxes in Question 3 and crossed neither out, it scores nothing.
2. For Questions 4 and 6, read the Additional Guidance first. It sets the rules: an answer must sound or look like the correct Spanish and be understandable to a native speaker, but a misspelling that makes a different word is refused.
3. Check the subject of every verb. If your answer has no name or pronoun, the verb ending must be correct. Even with a name, a look-alike ending that changes the person or tense is refused.
4. Use the three labels. tc means correct but not enough on its own; HA is a harmless addition that doesn’t cost the mark; INV means extra material that cancels an otherwise correct answer, like adding “era divertido” in 4(i).
5. For two-mark parts, 4(a), 6(a) and 6(h), both correct answers on line 1 with line 2 blank still scores 2. Both on line 1 with a wrong answer on line 2 scores 1.
6. Copying the question earns 0. Anything you add must still be correct Spanish, even if it wasn’t needed.

Sit 0530/22 as a timed mock

You have 60 minutes for 45 marks. Move quickly through the early questions to protect time for the two written-answer texts.

Block	Marks	Time
Questions 1 and 2	10	5 minutes
Question 3	7	6 minutes
Question 4	12	16 minutes
Question 5	5	9 minutes
Question 6	11	18 minutes
Check verb endings in Questions 4 and 6	–	6 minutes

Question 5 takes longer than its marks suggest because you have to read eight adverts. For Questions 4 and 6, find the sentence in the text first, then decide who the answer is about before you write it.

Other May/June 2026 0530 papers

• 0530 Paper 12 (Listening)
• 0530 Paper 42 (Writing)

Practise and download

• Download 0530/22 and its mark scheme on the Learning Portal →
• All 0530 May/June 2026 papers: overview and marking patterns
• Try a free IGCSE Spanish quiz

Need help with a 0530 topic? Book a free trial lesson with an IGCSE Spanish tutor →

Frequently asked questions

What was on 0530 Paper 22 May/June 2026? +

Six questions: matching sentences to rooms of a house, matching comments to signs at a music festival, multiple choice on Juan's camping holiday, written answers on Clara and her twin sister, matching five adults to their old schools, and written answers on Manolo, who repairs abandoned bikes for a Madrid charity.

How many marks is 0530/22 and how long is it? +

It is out of 45 marks and lasts 1 hour. Questions 4 and 6, where you write short answers in Spanish, carry 23 of the 45 marks.

Do I have to answer 0530/22 Questions 4 and 6 in Spanish? +

Yes. Both say to answer in Spanish. Answers are marked for communication, so small spelling slips are tolerated if the meaning is clear, but the verb ending must be correct when you give no name or pronoun.

What were the Question 5 answers on 0530/22? +

Olivia went to school 5, Álvaro to 7, Martín to 1, Alejandra to 6 and Nicolás to 8. Schools 2, 3 and 4 were not used.

Can I copy words from the text in 0530/22? +

Yes, as long as the words you copy answer the question and refer to the right person. Copying a first-person form such as 'Encontré' or 'nos comparan' was refused, because in your answer it has to be about Manolo or the twins.

Where can I download 0530/22 May/June 2026 and its mark scheme? +

Both are free to download and print on the Tutopiya Learning Portal, on the Cambridge IGCSE Spanish 0530 past papers page.

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