Part I.

ENGLISH PROFICIENCY TEST

Directions: Read the sentences carefully. Choose the letter of the correct answer. Write the letter of
your answer on the space provided for.
A. Sentence Completion
_____1. She is well loved by the people for being ______________.
a. slanderous
b. virtuous*
c. ambiguous
d. condescending
_____2. Davidlee is an ____________ diver. He always wins the gold medal.
a. inept
b. efficient
c. adroit*
d. aggressive
_____3. The ____ student _____ going to school.
a. delinquent; abhors*
b. awkward; abhors
c. industrious; dislikes
d. obedient; dislikes
_____4. The reporter was adjudged guilty of _____ for spreading false accusations.
a. calumny*
b. rebellion
c. treachery
d. mutiny
_____5. Ewan played the violin with such _____, everyone was amazed.
a. anxiety
b. inanity
c. deity
d. virtuosity*
_____6. Today, Alfred Wegener’s theory is _______; however, he died an outsider treated with ___
by the scientific establishments.
a. unsupported: approval
b. dismissed: contempt
c. accepted: approbation
d. unchallenged: disdain*
_____7. The revolution I art has not lost its steam; it _________ on as fiercely as ever.
a. trudges
b. meanders
c. rages*
d. ambles
_____8. Biological clocks are of such _____ adaptive value to living organisms, that we would
expect most organisms to _____them.
a. obvious: possess*
b. ambivalent: develop
c. meager: evolve
d. significant: eschew
_____9. The peasants were the least ______ of all people, bound by tradition and _____ by
superstitions.
a. conventional: encumbered
b. pinioned: limited
c. free: fettered*
d. enthralled: tied
_____10. The conclusion of his argument, while _____, is far from ______.
a. germane: relevant
b. esoteric: obscure
c. stimulating: interesting
d. abstruse: incomprehensible*
B. Synonyms
_____11. The virulent drug he had mistakenly taken killed him in an instant.
a. effective
b. expensive
c. sedative
d. toxic*
_____12. Argentina is one of the world’s leading honey-exporters. It maintains a large apiary.
a. Place where birds are bred.
b. Place where apes are grown.
C. Place where bees are raised.*
D. Place where honey is stored.
_____13. Eugenio Joshua admires his teacher’s deportment during class.
a. demeanor*
b. speech
c. banishment
d. intelligence
_____14. His recommendation was rejected because it might be inimical to the company.
a. insubstantial
b. useful
c. costly
d. disadvantageous*
_____15. Marvin Jay’s supervisor asked him to elucidate his proposal during the presentation.
a. clarify*
b. extend
c. improve
d. shorten
C. Antonyms
_____16. The mother has been doleful every when she lost her son.
a. miserable
b. cheerful*
c. prayerful
d. anxious
_____17. Juan Carlo acquiesced to his friends’ plan of going to Baguio comes February.
a. agreed
b. objected*
c. rejoiced
d. abided
_____18. John Dan’s house is full of a motley collection of furniture, including antiques, woodcrafts
and glasswares.
a. diverse
b. attractive
c. homogenous*
d. expensive
_____19. Jeric Angel’s nervousness was palpable despite the confident façade he was showing.
a. evident
b. increasing
c. decreasing
d. hidden*
_____20. He had learned that everything in life is evanescent.
a. temporary
b. permanent*
c. extraordinary
d. luminous
D. Analogy
_____21. ARTICULATE::SPEECH
a. predictable: event
b. coordinated: movement
c. active: thought
d. erratic: path
_____22. INCEPTION:: CONCLUSION
a. departure: arrival*
b. culmination: upshot
c. approach: return
d. escapade: punishment
_____23. SCINTILLATING: DULLNESS
a. erudite: wisdom
b. desultory: error
c. boisterous: calm*
d. exalted: elevation
_____24. SHARD: POTTERY
a. seed: flower
b. smoke: fire
c. chair: furniture*
d. mystify: enlightenment
_____25. PROSAIC: MUNDANE
a. obdurate: foolish*
b. ascetic: austere
c. loquacious: taciturn
d. peremptory: spontaneous
_____26. ATTENUATE::SIGNAL
a. exacerbate: problem
b. modify: accent
c. dampen: enthusiasm*
d. elongate: line
_____27. SALACIOUS:: WHOLESOME
a. religious: private
b. expensive: profligate
c. conservative: stoic
d. mendacious: truthful*
_____28. PENURY:: MONEY
a. starvation: sustenance
b. independence: freedom*
c. infirmity: illness
d. spontaneity: care
_____29. MASON:: STONE
a. soldier: weapon
b. lawyer: law
c. carpenter: wood*
d. teacher: pupil
_____30. REPEL:: LURE
a. miscarry: succeed*
b. dismount: devolve
c. abrogate: deny
d. abridge: shorten
E. Reading Comprehension
Passage 1
Much of what goes by the name of pleasure is simply an effort to destroy consciousness. If one
started by asking, what is man? What are his needs? How can he best express himself? One would
discover that merely having the power to avoid work and live one’s life from birth to death in electric
light and to the tune of tinned music is not a reason for doing so. Man needs warmth, society, leisure,
comfort and security: he also needs solitude, creative work and the sense of wonder. If he recognized
this he could use the products of science and industrialism eclectically, applying always the same
test: does this make me more human or less human? He would then learn that the highest happiness
does not lie in relaxing, resting, playing poker, drinking and making love simultaneously.
Adapted from an essay by George Orwell
_____31. The author implies that the answers to the questions in sentence two would reveal that
human beings ________.
a. are less human when they seek pleasure*
b. need to evaluate their purpose in life
c. are being alienated from their true nature by technology
d. have needs beyond physical comforts
_____32. The author would apparently agree that playing poker is _____.
a. often an effort to avoid thinking
b. something that gives true pleasure
c. an example of man’s need for society *
d. something that man must learn to avoid
Passage 2
Examine the recently laid egg of some common animal, such as a salamander or newt. It is a minute
spheroid – an apparently structure less sac, enclosing a fluid, holding granules in suspension. But let
a moderate supply of warmth reach its watery cradle, and the plastic matter undergoes changes so
rapid, yet so steady and purposeful in their succession, that one can only compare them to those
operated by a skilled modeler upon a formless lump of clay. As with an invisible trowel, the mass is
divided and subdivided into smaller and smaller portions. And, then, it is as if a delicate finger traced
out the line to be occupied by the spinal column, and molded the contour of the body; pinching up
the head at one end, the tail at the other, and fashioning flank and limb into due proportions, in so
artistic a way, that, after watching the process hour by hour, one is almost involuntarily possessed by
the notion, that some more subtle aid to vision than a microscope, would show the hidden artist, with
his plan before him, striving with skillful manipulation to perfect his work.
Adapted from an essay by T H Huxley
_____33. The author makes his main point with the aid of _______.
a. logical paradox
b. complex rationalization*
c. scientific deductions
d. observations on the connection between art and science
_____34. In the context of the final sentence the word “subtle” most nearly means _____.
a. not obvious
b. indirect
c. discriminating
d. surreptitious *
Passage 3
There are not many places that I find it more agreeable to revisit when in an idle mood, than some
places to which I have never been. For, my acquaintance with those spots is of such long standing,
and has ripened into an intimacy of so affectionate a nature, that I take a particular interesting
assuring myself that they are unchanged. I never was in Robinson Crusoe’s Island, yet I frequently
return there. I was never in the robbers’ cave, where Gil Blas lived, but I often go back there and find
the trap-door just as heaven to raise as it used to be. I was never in Don Quixote’s study, where he
read his books of chivalry until he rose and hacked at imaginary giants, yet you couldn’t move a
book in it without my knowledge. So with Damascus, and Lilliput, and the Nile, and Abyssinia, and
the North Pole and many hundreds of places — I was never at them, yet it is an affair of my life to
keep them intact, and I am always going back to them.
Passage 4
The books one reads in childhood create in one’s mind a sort of false map of the world, a series of
fabulous countries into which one can retreat at odd moments throughout the rest of life, and which
in some cases can even survive a visit to the real countries which they are supposed to represent. The
pampas, the Amazon, the coral islands of the Pacific, Russia, land of birch-tree and samovar,
Transylvania with its boyars and vampires, the China of Guy Boothby, the Paris of du Maurier—one
could continue the list for a long time. But one other imaginary country that I acquired early in life
was called America. If I pause on the word “America”, and deliberately put aside the existing reality,
I can call up my childhood vision of it.
Adapted from: The Uncommercial Traveller, C Dickens (1860)
_____35. The first sentence of Passage 3 contains an element of
a. paradox
b. legend
c. melancholy
d. self-deprecation*
_____36. By calling America an “imaginary country” the author of passage two implies that ___.
a. America has been the subject of numerous works for children
b. his current vision of that country is not related to reality
c. America has stimulated his imagination
d. his childhood vision of that country owed nothing to actual conditions*
_____37. Both passages make the point that _____.
a. books read early in life can be revisited in the imagination many years later *
b. imaginary travel is better than real journeys
c. children’s books are largely fiction
d. the effects of childhood impressions are inescapable
_____38. Both passages list a series of places, but differ in that the author of passage three ___.
a. has been more influenced by his list of locations
b. never expects to visit any of them in real life, whereas the writer of passage two thinks it at least
possible that he might
c. is less specific in compiling his list*
d. wishes to preserve his locations in his mind forever, whereas the author of passage two wishes to
modify all his visions in the light of reality.
F. Idiomatic Expressions
_____39. We are affected as much as you are by the rising prices of gasoline; we are all “in the same
boat”.
a. Suffering the same predicament*
b. Hindering the success
c. Empathizing with everyone on his suffering
d. Acknowledging the suffering
_____40. The members of the public are demanding for better public infrastructure and more public
services, but at the same time they are demanding for lower taxes. It is becoming a “Catch-22
situation”.
a. A challenging situation
b. A dilemma from which it is impossible to escape*
c. A problem that involves government efficiency
d. A condition of no great importance
_____41. That lady should not have become a war correspondent. She is a “square peg in a round
hole”.
a. A person who has been given an opportunity to change her profession.
b. A person who has no interest in her job.
c. A person who takes part in every event.
d. A person who is not suitable to her work or surroundings*
_____42. “It slipped my mind” that I will have with Davidlee tonight.
a. I determined, in spite of my schedule.
b. I forgot as a result of carelessness*
c. I wished.
d. I planned delicately.
_____43. The idea of expansionism “has not taken root” in the Philippines.
a. Has not become popular
b. Has not been heard
c. has not established itself*
d. has not been monitored
_____44. Ewan Gregory does not mind how much resistance he causes; he like “sailing against the
wind”.
a. Being popular
b. Interfering
c. overcoming the opposition
d. opposing the popular view*
_____45. Although Marvin Jay had only a minor role in the play, he “stole the thunder from” the
lead actor.
a. Borrowed the role from
b. Diverted the attention to himself from*
c. succeeded in portraying
d. transformed the character of
_____46. I had a “heart to heart talk” with my teacher on my plans to study Linguistics or
Microbiology at the university.
a. Sentimental meeting
b. Superficial talk
c. serious discussion*
d. successful arrangement
_____47. Juan Carlo decide “to keep his peace” until he finished examining the situation.
a. Not to talk*
b. To be forthright
c. to be relaxed
d. to be reserved
_____48. The company needs a couple of million pesos for its expansion. It is likely that the Php 100
000.00 the partner has offered is “a drop in the ocean”.
a. Useful
b. More than enough
c. a tiny fraction of what is needed*
d. useless until the amount is complete
A. Cloze Test (Part 1)
Introduction:
This is the School 49) _________ Plan of the East Central Elementary School, San Fabian District II,
Pangasinan II Division, was 50)________________ and 51)_______________ through the concerted
efforts of the teaching 52)___________ with the other stakeholders of education headed by the
principal. It 53)_______________ the vision or educational goals which 54)________ to uplift or
improve the school performance in terms of the following areas of development namely the pupil,
staff, curriculum and physical facilities development which will 55)__________ as the
56)_________ for evaluating the performance of the school. It presents the school and community
profile and the expected activities of the school.
Through the 57)_________ of this School Improvement Plan, with the unwavering 58)___________
of the officers and members of the PTA as well as the School Governing Council and other
stakeholders of education, it is 59)________________ that the goals vision and mission of the East
Central Elementary School will be 60)___________.
49.
a. improving
b. improves
c. improved
d. improvement*
50.
a. conceptualized*
b. conceptualizes
c. conceptualizing
d. conceptualize
51.
a. evolving
b. evolves
c. evolved*
d. evolve
52.
a. staffs
b. staff*
c. staffed
d. staffing
53.
a. present
b. presenting
c. presents*
d. presented
54.
a. aims*
b. aim
c. aimed
d. aiming
55.
a. serves
b. serving
c. servicing
d. served*
56.
a. basis
b. bases*
c. basing
d. based
57.
a. implement
b. implementing
c. implementation*
d. implements
58.
a. support*
b. supporting
c. supports
d. supported
59.
a. expect
b. expects
c. expecting
d. expected*
60.
a. realize
b. realized*
c. realizing
d. realizes
H. Cloze Test (Part 2)
Madam 61) _____
I have the honor to request permission 62)_______ you good office to 63)__________ an action
research in Science 64)_______, “Enhancing the Performance of the Grade VI Pupils in Science and
Health through Counteractive Lecture “for the Grade VI pupils of Greater Heights Elementary
School for this school year 2014 – 2015.
Hoping for your 65)________ approval.
66)________________
EWAN ETHAN LEE C. RIVERA
Teacher
1st 67)___________
68)_______________________
Respectfully forwarded 69)__________ the Schools Division Superintendent, Pangasinan Division
II, Binalonan, Pangasinan, recommending approval of this basic communication.
70)_____________________________
DAVIDLEE DV. ROMERO JR.
Public Schools District Supervisor
61.
a. ;
b. :
c. ,
d. .
62.
a. to
b. for
c. your
d. from*
63.
a. conduct*
b. conducts
c. conducted
d. conducting
64.
a. entitle
b. entitles
c. entitled*
d. entitling
65.
a. kind*
b. kinder
c. kindest
d. modest
66.
a. yours,
b. sincerely yours,
c. Truly yours
d. Very truly yours,*
67.
a. indorsment
b. endorsment
c. indorsement*
d. endorsement
68.
a. With date*
b. No date
c. —–
d. —–
69.
a.to*
b. from
c. with
d. for
70.
a. Truly yours,
b. Very truly yours,
c. Sincerely yours,
d. No complementary Close*