PRACTICE TEST 7

SECTION A: LISTENING
I. You will hear a report about the 11-plus exam in Britain. For question 1-10, complete the
sentences.

STUDYING FOR THE 11- PLUS EXAM

According to experts, the (1) _______overtutoring ________ of children does not significantly
help them to pass exams.
English grammar schools receive (2) _______5 applications_________ on average for every
place where they have.
Headteachers warned this week that the practice could be damaging (3) __children’s
confidence__ and risks undermining academic performance later in school life.
Mike Walker says that the 11-plus questions are (4) ______unpredictable___________.
Every year approximately (5) _______75000_________ children take the 11-plus exam.
According to a recent study, grammar schools tend to have more children from fairly wealthy
families than children from (6) _______disadvantaged_______ backgrounds.
In schools that aren’t grammar schools, 12 per cent of children receive (7) ___free school
meals__.
The number of children being tutored to pass the 11-plus has been (8)
____fueled__________by the growth in websites offering coaching for children.
You have to pay nearly £300 in extra costs for (9) _____materials__________ for the internet
tutoring course.
Opinions on the effectiveness of courses as preparation for the 11-plus exam are (10)
_________contradictory_______.

II. Listen to the discussion on a current affairs program between Nick Barnes and Alison
Tempra about the performance of the company Facebook since it floated on the stock
exchange, hosted by Emily Dunne. Choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which fits best according
to what you hear.
1.What does Alison think is cause for optimism?
A.the company kept its costs low
B.the loss generated was less than expected
C.there appears to be good revenue potential
D.the company hasn’t started to advertise yet
2.According to Nick, the increasing popularity of smaller devices
A.represents untapped potential for Facebook.
B.is a significant challenge to Facebook increasing its revenue.
C.puts Facebook at a competitive advantage.
D.gives the company an opportunity to advertise more.
3.In what situation does Alison believe Facebook users might abandon the company?
A.if they are given the option of watching adverts on certain apps and sites
B.if a free social network becomes available on the net
C.if the company pushes advertisements onto users too forcefully
D. if sites and apps start to appear which put users off using Facebook
4.What do we learn about the company’s performance?
A.the share price has now dropped by over one-third
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 B.there has been a 6% improvement in the share price
C.$38 has been wiped off the share price
D.it has become the biggest flop in history
5.Nick believes that Google
A.will inevitably prevail over Facebook in time.
B.was short-sighted to invest everything it had into one project.
C.technology will be made redundant by what Facebook offers users.
D.will become profit-making in a matter of time.

SECTION B: GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY

I. Choose the word which best completes each sentence.
1. The whole holiday turned out to be an ………. disaster.
A. unmatched B. unmitigated C. undiluted D. umindful
2. Any involvement in the accident was ……. denied by all the children.
A.seriously B. blatantly C. conspicuously D. strenuously
3. The ……. and file supporters of the party were cheered by the election result.
A. ordinary B. rank C. division D. lowly
4. I thought the bill for just two people was simply ……….
A. exhaustive B. execrable C. exorbitant D. exalted
5. In time- honoured ………, the chairman offered a toast to the shop- floor workers.
A. protocol B. way C. fashion D. procedure
6. I don’t think there’s a ………. of truth in what either defendant said.
A. shred B. gust C. grain D. touch
7. Unfortunately ………. too often, one of our players gives the ball away.
A. all B. every C. none D. once
8. I can’t help thinking he offered his apology with a ………. of irony.
A. spot B. torrent C. touch D. dash
9. The speeding car only missed us by a hair’s ………..
A. width B. breadth C. high C. length
10. It was her ……….. powers at the keyboard rather than her age which eventually forced her
retirement.
A. waning B. meteoric C. slippery D. negative
11. He has been ……….. for gross misconduct.
A. impressed B. impeached C. impounded D. impelled
12. Their latest proposal runs …….. to everything they’ve been saying over the last year.
A. counter B. against C. opposed D. competitive
13. In a fury, he …….. into his detractors, denouncing them as shallow.
A. argued B. attacked C. crashed D. laid
14. After several disastrous matches, he was …….. of the captaincy.
A. cancelled B. removed C. relieved D. reduced
15. My aunt …….. on a long story about losing her night- dress down a manhole (or something).
A. set off B. evoked C. embarked D. opened

II. Someone has already done the following multiple choice exercise. Decide whether the
underlined answers are correct or incorrect. If you think the answer is correct, put a tick in the
space. If you think the answer is incorrect, put a cross in the space and choose the correct
answer.
1. "It looks as if it will be a fine day," he said," but I don't think we should rule …… the possibility
of rain later on."
A. away B. over C. off D. out

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2. I saw that film everyone's been raving ....... . Maybe I'm missing something, but I thought it was
fairly ordinary.
A. on B. about C. up D. for
3. "How do you feel about winning the lottery?" "To be honest, it hasn't sunk .......yet. I keep
pinching myself to make sure I'm not dreaming."
A. down B. in C. through D. up
4. "You make yourself at home," she said , "and I'll see if I can rustle us ....... something to eat."
A. on B. over C. up D. in
5. "I'm off to bed, then," he said, snuffing the candle ....... and closing the door.
A. out B. over C. off D. away
6. Somehow I managed to scrape ....... my physics exam. The pass mark was 55 and I got 56.
A. up B. over C. out of D. through
7. Well, someone's slipped ....... somewhere along the line, because it is humanly impossible to use
that much electricity.
A. up B. over C. through D. down
8.I've had this cold for a month. I just can't seem to shake it ………
A. out B. down C. off D. away
9. He showed them ....... of the dark and dingy building.
A. out B. down C. in D. up
10. "Yes, I'm tetchy," she said. "So would you be if you'd had to sit....... seven hours of meetings
today."
A. through B. over C. for D. on

III. Most but not all of the following lines contain an unnecessary word. Underline the word
that is notneeded. If a line is correct, tick () it.
WINE AT AUCTION
1. During the winter, most of London auctioneers have wine auctions. Some
2. are of wines for everyday drinking, but most are of the fine wines. Last winter,
3. at Christies, a dozen bottles of Lafite 1945 were knocked out down at £158 the
4. bottle. 1945 and 1961 are the two most recent vintage years for claret. Of course,
5. that is not the most maximum you could pay. Not long ago, an American at
6. Christies paid £8,500 for one bottle of Lafite 1806.
7. Sometimes, it is a matter of personal indulgence by the very rich. At the other
8. times there can be a commercial objective. Last October, a restaurateur from
9. Memphis was paid £ 9,000 for a magnum- that is, a two- bottle size- of 1864
10. Lafite. He charged 30 people £1,500 each person for a dinner with a small
11. glass of the wine. It was worth ten times more the cost of the wine in publicity
12. for his restaurant.
13. Of course, some people buy wine purely as for investment. On the other hand, a
14. real wine lover will use the rising value of good wine to pay for his own personal
15. drinking. A syndicate of four will buy a case of Lafite 1945 at, say so, £ 2,000. Each
16. takes three bottles. Then each drinks one bottle, and keeps the rest other two to sell
17. later at the same price as the three cost in the first place. That it is, naturally, taking
18. inflation into account. But because there is no way that a bottle of wine at £1,000 is
19. a hundred times better off than one that costs £10. Perhaps the top price you can pay
20. for wine is £100 a bottle. Above £100, you are paying for something the other than taste.

IV. Complete the text by writing the correct form of the word in capitals.

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1. Patrician and charming, he controls his empire with quiet paternalism from his office in St
Remy, his native town. (PATERNALISTIC)
2. The furious old lady demanded an immediate apology for his off-putting behaviour. (PUT)
3. The train derailed and plunged into the river. (RAIL)
4. Meeting a twin brother I didn’t know I had was a(n) nerve-racking experience. (NERVE)
5. There is a preponderance of female students in the music department. (PONDER)
6. And then she mistily realized what she should have known at once that she had reached the
cliff’s edge unhindered (HINDRANCE)
7. Abdominal pain or pain in the belly is the reason for around 5% of all emergency department
visits. (ABDOMEN)
8. It should be ascertain that the plans comply with the law. (CERTAIN)
9. Recent quantitative research on deaf children has produced some interesting findings about
their speech. (QUANTITY)
10. Still, if the success of novels is to be measured by their galloping pace and sheer readability,
you can’t put this one down. (READ)

SECTION C: READING COMPREHENSION

I. Complete the passage with the correct paragraphs. There is one more paragraph than you need.

COMPUTERS: FROM HACKING TO CRIME

Known by the name of Bug Hunter, the hacker said he broke into the files for the pleasure of
seeing the welcome, "Good afternoon, HRH Duke of Edinburgh."
1. ...............D...............
He typed 1234, which turned out to be a testing file with access to all the Prestel code numbers.
2. .................E.............
Hacking started as an intellectual game among fanatical American computer enthusiasts. They
enjoyed cracking the private codes of large business computers and creating more or less
harmless chaos in their files. But now the practice has spread to computer fraud, and to the
reading of confidential information.
3. ...................G...........
Once a hacker has a genuine user’s network identity, he can run up bills for electronic mail and
telexes, and read all the user’s private mail. It is almost impossible to detect the unauthorised use
of the service.
4. ......................A........
Much more serious than amateur hacking is the professional computer fraud. Millions of pounds
have been stolen from financial institutions through computer fraud, usually by the illegal
transfer of funds to foreign bank accounts.
5. ...................C...........
Only a fraction of such crimes are reported because companies fear the publicity would damage
customer confidence. And the publicity would be harmful.
6. ..................F............
Each computer terminal is the equivalent of a cheque book. Instead of signing the cheque, with a
terminal you authorise it, and the money goes.

A.Cases of large-scale mischief caused by hackers are rare. In one case, a hacker succeeded in entering a
word processor used by the Israeli Foreign Minister, and added humorous sentences to a speech prepared for
him. The changes were spotted as he was about to deliver the speech. In another case, a credit agency with
confidential details on 90 million people discovered that hackers had broken its security codes, and had been
exchanging the passwords on electronic bulletin boards.

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B.Computers have become commonplace. Soon, every home will have one. They will be easy to use and
allow people to shop and study and work at home. We live in revolutionary times but this is a bloodless
revolution.
C.An accountant explains: "Computer technology makes large scale financial dealing possible. It is all tied
in with buying, selling, making deals and transferring the money. But security systems have not kept up
with the computing systems. Everywhere, there is the opportunity, if somebody has the urge, to misuse the
system. The crimes are discovered, but the problem is that they are not discovered quickly enough. Even if it
is detected within a few hours, it is too late. The person who has committed the crime has already left the
building and caught a plane."
D.The hacker made his way into British Telecom's huge Prestel system by using a home computer. He
typed out an experimental line of numbers, all twos, when the computer asked for a 10-digit identity code. It
worked, and the computer asked for a four-digit password.
E.Bug Hunter was eventually tracked down and arrested. He was very bitter about being treated as a
criminal. He said: "They should be employing people like me to plug gaps in the system. I'm disgusted." He
was fined £600. A spokesman said: "Security has been tightened considerably."
F.There are a number of cases where more than a million has been stolen. These crimes are easy to carry out
because large companies and financial institutions are connected to the network used by the clearing banks
for transfer funds around the world.
G.All a hacker needs is a cheap home computer, a modem to link it to the telephone network, and a basic
knowledge of how computers talk to each other. The hacker then telephones mainframe computer services,
such as electronic mail networks, and attempts to break the security code. Callers have three chances to type
in the correct code before the call is cut off. By typing in a series of educated guesses time after time, hackers
can find their way into a system. They may be helped by people choosing obvious code-words, such as first
names or addresses.

II. You are going to read a magazine article. For questions 1-7, choose the answer which you
think fits best according to the text.
FACING THE MUSIC
Declan Mayes, President of the Music Buyers Association, is furious at a recent
announcement by the recording industry concerning people downloading MP3 music files from
the Internet. Of course, there are files that can be downloaded legally for a small charge, but the
uproar is not about these: it is about illegal downloads, which constitute an undoubted
infringement of copyright. However, there is a great deal of controversy over whether the people
who indulge in this activity should be regarded as actual criminals.
A few parallels may be instructive. If someone copies an audio music cassette for their own
private use, they are, strictly speaking, breaking the law. But recording companies have usually
turned a blind eye to this practice because prosecuting the few people involved would be difficult,
and the financial loss to the company itself is not considered significant. At the other end of the
scale, there are criminals who make illegal copies of CDs and sell them for a profit. This is far
more serious, and the industry actively pursues and prosecutes pirates. Now the Music Recording
Association has announced that it regards individuals downloading music from the Internet as
pirates, claiming that they damage the industry in just the same way. "The industry is completely
overreacting; it'll be a laughing stock," says Mayes. "They're going to arrest some teenager
downloading files in his bedroom - and sue him for thousands of dollars! This isn't going to
frighten anyone into buying CDs".
Mayes may have a point. There is a general consensus that CD pirates should be subjected
to the full wrath of the law, but few would see an individual downloading music for his or her
own pleasure in the same light. However, downloading music files illegally is not as innocuous as
making private copies of audio cassettes. The scratchy, distorted cassette copy is a poor version of
the original recording, whereas an MP3 file is of high quality and can be stored - on a CD, for

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example. It is this that makes the practice a powerful temptation for music fans, given the high
cost of CDs.
What does Mayes think about claims that music companies could be forced out of business
by people downloading music illegally? That's nonsense. Music companies are always whining
about high costs, but that doesn't prevent them from recording hundreds of CDs by completely
unknown artists, many of whom are "packaged" by marketing departments to appeal to young
consumers. The companies are simply hoping that one of these new bands or signers will be a hit,
and although it can be expensive to promote new artists, the cost of manufacturing the CDs is
actually very low.
This last point would appear to be the focus of resentment against music companies: a CD
is far cheaper to produce than its price in the shops would indicate, and profit margins for the
music companies are huge. An adult with a reasonable income may not object to paying £15 for a
CD of classical music, but a teenager buying a CD by the latest pop sensation may find that price
rather steep - especially since the latest pop sensation is almost certain to be forgotten within a
few months. And while the recording industry can't be held responsible for the evanescent nature
of fame, given the teenage appetite for anything novel, it could lower the prices it charges -
especially since technology is making CDs even cheaper to produce.
This is what Mayes hopes will happen. “If the music industry stops exploiting the music-
buying public, it can survive. Everyone would rather buy a CD, with an attractive jacket and
booklet, than mess around downloading files, but the price has to be reasonable. The problem
isn't going to vanish if the industry carries on trying to make a quick profit. Technology has
caught up with the music companies, and trying to fight it by taking people to court will only
earn money for the lawyers.” A frightening thought.

1. If someone downloads MP3 music files illegally, the Music Recording Association will now
A. turn a blind eye.
B. be indulgent towards them.
C. take them to court.
D. charge them a fee.
2. Mayes thinks that the recording industry's recent announcement
 A. fails to take into account the difficulties of prosecuting offenders.
  B. makes the industry appear ridiculous.
  C. will deter consumers from buying CDs.
  D. will encourage resentment of CD piracy.
3. According to the article, it is commonly accepted that
A. producing private CDs in order to make money is a serious offence.
B. downloading MP3 files is more serious than making audio cassettes.
C. the Music Recording Association would ignore infringements.
D. the laws regarding illegal music recordings should be amended.
4. Why does the writer feel that MP3 files are unlike copies of audio cassettes?
A. Downloaded MP3 files are generally not for private use.
B. The financial losses to the music industry are greater.
C. The price of MP3s is higher than that of audio cassettes.
D. There is a significant difference in quality.
5. Mayes implies that music companies
A. could cut costs by making cheaper CDs.
B. should not promote artists who are unknown.
C. are speculating when they promote new artists.
D. should use different manufacturing processes.

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6. The author points out that the music industry cannot be blamed for
A. the fact that fewer teenagers are buying classical music CDs.
B. the fact that fashions change quickly.
C. the poor quality of modern music.
D. the prices that are charged for CDs in shops.
7. What does Mayes think is at the root of the survival problem facing the music industry?
A. The unprecedented speed of technological development.
  B. Unrealistic legal advice and practice.
  C. Its failure to adopt an appropriate pricing strategy.
  D. The rapidly changing nature of contemporary music.

SECTION D: WRITING
For each of the sentences below, write a new sentence as similar as possible in meaning to the
original sentence, but using the word given. This word must not be altered in any way.
1. He had no idea what was going to happen to him when he walked into that room. (STORE)
→ Little did he know what was in store for him when he walked into that room.
2. You shouldn’t let trivial matters worry you so much. (PREY)
→You shouldn’t let trivial matters prey on you to such an extent.
3. I had to wait for the manager for almost an hour before he would see me. (BEST)
→ The manager kept me waiting the best part of an hour before he would see me.
4. I wanted to make sure that all my good work wasn’t wasted in that way. (WASTE)
→I wanted to prevent all my good work from going to waste in that way.
5. He didn’t hesitate to help me. (BONES)
→ He made no bones of helping me.
6.Far stricter measures have been introduced to combat drug dealing. (CLAMPING)
→ The authorities are strictly clamping down on drug dealing.
7. The rent takes a large bite out of my salary every month. (EATS)
→ Paying the rent really eats a lot into my salary every month.
8. Minnie meant well so you mustn’t be offended by her comments. (AMISS)
→ Please don’t take Minnie amiss because she meant well.
9. I was determined to take advantage of the experience. (OUT)
→ I would not have missed out on such an experience for all the world.
10. The closing date for the competition is next Tuesday. (ENTRY)
→ You must submit your entry before next Tuesday.

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