L'imparfait ou le subjonctif

Question

> elle ne s'attendait pas à ce qu'elle était sur le point de découvrir !

Doesn't "s'attendre à ce que" take the subjunctive? Or is there an exception in this case that wasn't noted in the lesson? Attendre quelqu'un vs s'attendre à quelque chose = to wait vs to expect in French

Accepted Answer

I think this is an exception, and the subjunctive is not required. 
The English text is: "she didn't expect what she was about to discover!"
I believe this is actually: s'attendre à [quelque chose]  =  to expect [something].
In this example, ce que means "what" and this takes the place of "something".
If it had been: s'attendre à ce que + [Subjonctif clause], then the English text would have to be something like: "she didn't expect that she was about to discover!", which makes no sense.

Answer

Bonjour Alex,
As Alan explained the difference here is extremely subtle. So, we've added a hint asking to use L'Imparfait so as to avoid any ambiguity.
I hope this is helpful.
Bonne journée !

Answer

Reading it back, I just realized there's no subject change which is normally required to trigger the subjunctive.

Answer

Neither  Alan's nor Céline's responses actually answer Alex's question but instead create unnecessary confusion.  In the end Alex found the answer for himself which concerns subject changes - in the particular case of which there are none - hence the indicative not the subjunctive). Well done Alex. Please pay more attention Kwiziq team!

Answer

That's not how it works, Paris. If a structure requires the subjunctive, you have to use it whether the subject has changed or not. But when the subject doesn't change there is sometimes the possibility to use an infinitive instead of a subjunctive clause.

In this case there are two possible structures, only one of which requires the subjunctive, and it is not immediately obvious which is being used.

I'm sorry if you find my answer confusing, but it's actually Alex's reply that fails to answer the question.