LEVEL 3 NAME:

ACHIEVEMENT TEST CLASS:

English Language Programs DATE:
READING SECTION

SPENDING HABITS

1. Personal finance, or budgeting, is simply the decisions and activities about money in a
person’s life. For example, buying groceries, renting a house and buying a new car are all
related to personal finance because they involve your decisions about your money. As
personal finance affects many aspects of life, it is a very important area of life. This is why it
is definitely necessary to understand how you can manage your spending habits.

2. In today’s society, there is a great emphasis on money and material possessions. More
specifically, the emphasis is on how much money a person has or earns. Unfortunately,
people generally think that someone is really successful if he owns a lot of things. Some
people might disagree with this. However, making a connection between success and money
is a common belief in many modern societies. It is not easy to make people believe
differently. The reason for this is such thinking begins very early in childhood. You can easily
see this when you look at children or teenagers around you. Even a very young child wants
to have a collection of toys and asks for new ones all the time. Teenagers want to have all
the new technological products. They feel better when they have a new item although they
do not use many of them after a short while.

3. Many people spend money on things that they do not really need. The main reason for
buying such unnecessary things is outside pressure. Our peers are one of the sources of such
pressure. There are certain types of friends who can be dangerous to your financial health.
The first type of such friends is the enabler. This type of person might persuade you to buy
an expensive dress you were not planning to buy. While shopping with her, you may spend a
lot more money than you think even after a very short time. Also, you realize how little
money is left for your actual needs. To avoid such a bad experience, you can bring only the
amount of money which you want to spend when you go shopping with her. Then, you will
not buy "amazing" shoes you will only wear once. The second type is the miser. This kind of
person does not like to spend money. When you are doing something together, you pay all
the bills. There's a difference between really being on a small budget and just being a miser.

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The miser is seriously afraid of spending money. Therefore, don't count on changing his
attitude overnight. And the final type is the taker. This person likes and takes your
possessions. He can easily ask for money. Unfortunately, a taker has a short-term memory:
he never remembers to give your things back to you. He thinks you are his friend, not his
bank. As a result, he is never in a hurry to pay his debts. To handle such a friend, you
shouldn’t be shy about refusing him. If that person feels free to ask for your possessions,
then you should have the freedom to say “No.”

4. In addition to friends, the other major source of pressure is advertising. Just look at the
advertisements on TV. They all promise to improve people’s lives and bring happiness. This is
the basic principle behind most advertisements: showing a product as a solution to your
unhappiness. As a result, like most people, you end up wasting your hard-earned money on
unnecessary things such as expensive clothes, cosmetics, or high-tech electronics that you
do not really need.

5. Nobody says that people should not enjoy their lives or their money. People can
manage their money wisely. There are necessary items for survival and people certainly have
to spend money on them. People cannot avoid spending money on most basic expenses.
Therefore, they should take such expenses into consideration when making financial plans.
However, in addition to basic needs, people tend to spend huge amounts of money on
unnecessary items such as the fastest PC on the market or an expensive car. The best way to
manage personal finances is probably to question if we need the item we want to buy. For
the future, it is good to get into the habit of saving more instead of spending more.

6. Unfortunately, what most people fail to realize is that the material things that they
want to have can never truly make them happy. Surely, they make people feel good for a
while. But eventually, people become bored and understand that they don’t actually want or
need them. True happiness can only come from within people, not from the things they buy
or have. If material goods were the key to long-term happiness, every rich person would
have a perfect life and they would always be happy and satisfied.

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 LEVEL 3 NAME:
ACHIEVEMENT TEST CLASS:
English Language Programs DATE:
READING QUESTIONS

PART A. Complete the sentences according to the text.

1. Today, there is a common belief that the money that you have shows ___________________
___________________________________.
2. People start to develop their attitude towards material possessions during ______________
___________________________________.

PART B. Answer the questions according to the text.

3. a. Read the description of a friend below and write which type of friend he/she is according
to the information in paragraph 3.

Description: A friend of yours borrowed your CD player, a shirt of yours and some money for his plane
ticket but he hasn’t returned them yet.

Type of Friend: ___________________________________

b. Write what you should do to deal with the problems that friend in the description may
cause according to paragraph 3.

You should _________________________________________________________.

4. a. Read the description of a friend below and write which type of friend he/she is according
to paragraph 3.

Description: A friend of yours likes cosmetics and whenever you are out with her, you buy a new
cosmetic item that you do not really need.

Type of Friend: ___________________________________

b. Write what you should do to deal with the problems the friend in the description may
cause according to the information in paragraph 3.
You should ___________________________________________________________.

5. What do advertisements do to make people buy things?

____________________________________________________________________.

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PART C.

6. Which one is true according to paragraph 5? There is only ONE correct sentence.
Put a  next to the sentence.
People should try to enjoy their lives without spending money. ----
Necessary and unnecessary items cannot be the same for all people. ----
Without analyzing real needs, people may spend more than necessary. ----
People should spend less on their basic needs to save money. ----

7. Which one is true according to the text? There is only ONE correct answer.
In order to be successful, people should have a lot of money. ----
Material things do not bring real happiness. ----
Rich people are generally happier than the poor. ----
People who can buy what they want cannot become unhappy. ----

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 LEVEL 3 NAME:
ACHIEVEMENT TEST CLASS:
English Language Programs DATE:
READING SECTION ANSWER KEY

1 success / your success / you are successful

2 (early in) childhood

3a The taker

3b -not be shy about refusing him. OR -have the freedom to say “No.”

4a The enabler

4b bring only the amount of money which you want to spend when you go shopping with her.

5 -(showing) They show a product as a solution to your dissatisfaction.

- They all promise to improve people’s lives and bring happiness.

6 Without analyzing real needs, people may spend more than necessary

7 Material things do not bring real happiness

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 LEVEL 3 NAME:
ACHIEVEMENT TEST CLASS:
English Language Programs DATE:
WRITING SECTION

Write a paragraph of 150 – 200 words on the following topic.

TOPIC: What are the differences between studying alone and

studying with friends?
You may use the following prompts.
 freedom
 help and support
 attention and concentration

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 LEVEL 3 NAME:
ACHIEVEMENT TEST CLASS:
English Language Programs DATE:
SPEAKING SECTION

Education & School

1. What makes a good school? (What is a good school for you?) What do you think is the most
important characteristic of a good school? Why?

o Can you give an example of a good high school? Why do you think it is good?
o If you graduate from a good school, how will this affect your life?
o Can everybody go to good schools? Why / Why not?

2. Which high school did you study?

o Where was it?

o Did you like it? Why / why not?
o What did you like best/least about your school? Why?
o Do you think it was a good school? Why / Why not?
o How were your teachers?
o Who was your favorite teacher? Why?
o What did you think about the school building/campus?
o Do you think you had good programs and books? Why / Why not?

- What were the rules in your school? Do you think they were necessary? Why / Why not?

o What were some of the rules you had to follow at your high school? Which rules
did you think were unfair?
o Did you obey all the rules? (Did you follow the rules?) Why / Why not? Did you
ever get caught breaking any school rules?
o Do you think there were too many rules? Why / Why not?
o Did your teachers try to control you a lot? Why / Why not?

- Did you like your school uniform? Why / Why not?

- Did students have good relationships with the teachers? Why / Why not?
- Do you have good or bad memories? Give details.
- Did the teachers help you choose a good university? Why / Why not?
- Did you have any specific areas that you were very good/bad at? Give details.

o Did the teachers have any effect on your success/failure? Why / Why not?
o Did the school support your skills/abilities? Why / Why not? How?