PRACTICE TEST 15

SECTION I: LISTENING
I. You will hear part of a radio discussion with Ellen Harrington of the Meadow Lane Residents Group, and
Tim Barlow from CartonTown Planning Department. For questions 1-5, choose the correct answer (A, B, C
or D) which fits best according to what you hear.
1. What was Ellen's first reaction when the town centre was closed to traffic?
A. She was terrified. B. She was miserable.
C. She was delighted. D. She was suspicious.
2. The mood of the Meadow Lane residents can best be described as _______.
A. resigned B. dissatisfied C. furious D. dejected
3. How does Tim feel about the changes in the town centre?
A. He regrets they were made so quickly.
B. He believes they were inevitable.
C. He thinks the town council should have foreseen the problem.
D. He is proud the town council went forward with them.
4. What does Tim think about the protest Ellen's group is planning?
A. He doesn't think it will accomplish anything.
B. He thinks it is not aimed at the right people.
C. He doesn't think drivers will be affected.
D. He thinks it will be dangerous.
5. What does Ellen think will make the protest effective?
A. the amount of publicity it will generate
B. the inconvenience it will cause to drivers
C. the number of demonstrators who will take part
D. the forthcoming election

II. For questions 6-10, listen to a complaint from a woman called Julie Gold and decide whether these
statements are True (T) or False (F). Write your answers in the corresponding numbered boxes provided.
6. Her complaint today was about a car booking in Baker Road.
7. The car she wanted to use was not in the correct location.
8. The advisor assumes that the previous car user was not able to park in the correct place.
9. Julie was shocked to discover that the car had been heavily damaged.
10. The advisor says that the caller will not be charged for today’s booking

III. Question 11-15. Answer the question below. Write NO MORE THAN FIVE WORDS for each answer.
11. Who works in the Beehive building?
________________________________________________________________________
12. What nationality was the architect of the building?
________________________________________________________________________
13. In which year did construction of the building start?
________________________________________________________________________
14. How long did it take to contruct?
________________________________________________________________________
15. How tall is the building in metres?
___________________________________________________________________

IV. Listen to the news and fill in the missing information. Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS taken
from the recording for each answer in the space provided.
These are projected to be the (1)………………………………in the world in 2050, 35 years from now,
determined by numerous factors, including current growth rates migration, fertility population age and (2)
……………………………
Vietnam is currently (3)……………………………..and will fall five spots.
Uganda is this list’s (4)……………………………….jumping 21 places by nearly tripling its population.
Japan’s (5)…………………………… and low birth rate will see it lose 6 spots and decrease in size by 18
million people.
Russia is hemorrhaging due to its (6)……………………………
13th is Tanzania, continuimg the dominant trend of huge Sub-Saharan African projected population gains by (7)
………………………..…… and increasing its population by 174%
Congo will more than double in size, gaining seven spots on this list. Slow development and a lack of access (8)
…………………………………..are the main reasons why populations in Africa are booming.
The 11th- ranked country will be Mexico, the same rank it held 35 years earlier by gaining people at a (9)
…………………………..………
As Brazil becomes an (10)………………………….…….., its boom will slow.

SECTION II: LEXICO & GRAMMAR

Part 1. Choose a word or phrase that best completes each sentence.
1. I was really looking forward to going to the game and I could hardly wait until the _____ day came.
A. grand B. big C. major D. huge
2. This disagreement is likely to _____ relations between the two countries.
A. disaffect B. alienate C. sour D. estrange
3. I don’t want to be too _____ on Alice, but I think I should tell that her work isn’t good enough.
A. strict B. firm C. stern D. hard
4. Once the story _____ the headlines , everyone was talking about it.
A. crashed B. struck C. smashed D. hit
5. If I’m late for work again .I’ll be_____ a severe warning from my boss.
A. up to B. in for C. into D. after
6. Their flat is _____ of a place I used to live in .
A. mindful B. reminiscent C. memorable D. retrospective
7. Of all the paintings in the gallery, it was this one that really _____ my eye.
A. grasped B. snatched C. caught D. seized
8. Both the favourite and then the second favourite pulled out. Naturally, we thought we were ________ a
chance..
A. un with B. in for C. in with D. up for
9. Despite all the interruptions, he _____ with his work
A. stuck at B. held on C. hung out D. pressed on
10. Nobody is quite sure what_____ him to such extreme behavior
A. shoved B. thrust C. pressed D. drove
11. I can’t understand why you have to make such a _____ about something so unimportant.
A. mess B. stir C. fuss D. bother
12. Despite being a very good student , she didn’t fulfill her _____later in life.
A. makings B. potential C. capability D. aptitude
13. You’re having problems now but I’m sure things will change _____the better soon.
A. on B. to C. by D. for
14. You can’t ______that criticism to all teachers!
A. apply B. employ C. associate D. lay
15. It’s not easy to make Stanley furious, the boy is very gentle by ______ .
A. himself B. personality C. reaction D. nature
16.This evidence should prove ______ that he was telling the truth .
A. once and for all B. now and then C. over and above D. from time to time
17. If you _____any problems when you arrive at the airport, give me a ring.
A. come about B. catch on C. run into D. face up
18. The Kenyan runner set off with a _____ in the 5000 metres.
A .blistering speed B. dizzy speed C.. blistering pace D. dizzy pace
19. Poor management brought the company to the _____of collapse.
A. brink B. rim C. fringe D. make for
20. Josh was terribly nervous before the exam but he managed to pull himself _____and act confidently
A. through B. over C. together D. off
Part 2: The passage below contains 10 mistakes. Identify the mistakes and write the corrections in the
corresponding numbered boxes.
What is the media? What constitutes the media? The media
consists on all the ways that news and information is disseminated 0. on  of
to the mass audience. The media covers everything from hard
news, which is investigating reporting, to stories that are pure 1. .................................
entertaining, such as whether your favourite movie star was on the2. ..................................
‘Best Dressed/Worst Dressed’ list. Whether from print or 3. .................................
broadcast on TV, the stories are the product of the reporting of 4. ................................
many journalists who write the stories to, and editors who give out
5. .................................
the assignments, assess the quality of the writing and research, but
6. .................................
make the decisions about where and when the stories run. 7. ..................................
The news has an immediate impact. The Internet puts global news 8. .................................
onto the personal computer on your desk. All almost browsers 9. .................................
have links to up-to-the-minute new stories from various news 10. .................................
services. You cannot get constant news updates from a variety of
sources via your personal computer, provided you with the most
up-to-date and in-depth coverage.

SECTION III. READING

Part 1. Read the following passage and choose the words that best complete the sentences.
Promoting children’s self-esteem seems to be one of the aims of modern childcare and education. It goes (1)
_______ with a culture in which children are (2) _______ for the most minor achievements. While this
promotion of self-esteem is, rightly, a reaction against (3) _______ times when children weren’t praised enough,
it also seems to be (4) _______ a fear of how failure will affect children: a fear that if they don’t succeed at a
task, they will somehow be damaged.
However, the opposite may well be true. Many scientists spend years experiencing (5) _______ failure in the
lab until they make a breakthrough. They know that ultimately this process advances scientific knowledge. (6)
_______, children need to experience failure to learn and grow. If children have been praised for everything
they’ve done, regardless of how good it is, then failure in adult life will be all the more painful.
Life is full of (7) _______ and there is no point in trying to protect children from the disappointments that (8)
_______ them. Parents and educators shouldn’t be afraid of picking up on children’s mistakes, as long as they
also praise them when they do well. After all, the heroes children try to (9) _______ the pop stars and
footballers, have all reached the top (10) _______ruthless competition. Like them, children need to learn how to
cope with failure and turn it to their advantage.
1. A. cap in hand B. hand in hand C. to show D. without saying
2. A. enthusiastically B. devotedly C. immensely D. thoroughly
3. A. grimmer B. more unrelenting C. more unsparing D. sterner
4. A. consequent upon B. owing to C. culminated in D. resulted from
5. A. concurrent B. consequent C. consecutive D. continual
6. A. All the same B. By the same token C. In like manner D. In similar fashion
7. A. flies in the ointment B. obstacle courses
C. spanners in the works D. stumbling blocks
8. A. put great store by B. lie in wait for C. hold in store for D. wait up for
9. A. duplicate B. emulate C. replicate D. stimulate
10. A. in the face of B. in the teeth of C. irrespective of D. without regard to

PART 2. Fill each of the following numbered blanks with ONE suitable word and write your answers in
the corresponding numbered boxes provided.
ISLAND LIFE
Life (0) on a small island may seem very inviting to the tourists who spend a few weeks there in the summer,
but the realities of living on (1) _______________ is virtually a rock surrounded by water are quite different
from what the casual visitor imagines. Although in summer the island villages are full of people, life and
activity, (2) _______________ the tourist season is over many of the shop owners shut (3) _______________
their businesses and return to the mainland to spend the winter in town. (4) _______________ to say, those who
remain on the island, (5) _______________ by choice or necessity, face many hardships. One of the worst of
these is isolation, with (6) _______________ many attendant problems. When the weather is bad, which is often
the (7) _______________ in winter, the island is entirely cut off; this means not only that people cannot have
goods delivered but also that a medical emergency can be fatal (8) _______________ someone confined to an
island. At (9) _______________ telephone communication is cut off, which means that no word from the
outside world can get (10) _______________. Isolation and loneliness are basic reasons why so many people
have left the islands for a better and more secure life in the mainland cities, in spite of the fact that this involves
leaving "home".

Part 3: Read the text and choose the best answer A, B, C or D.

At 7p.m on a dark, cold November evening, thousands of people are making their way across a vast car
park. They’re not here to see a film, or the ballet, or even the circus. They are here for what is, bizarrely, a
global phenomenon: they are here to see Holiday on Ice. Given that most people don’t seem to be acquainted
with anyone who’s ever been, the show’s statistics are extraordinary: nearly 300 million people have seen
Holiday on Ice since it began in 1943: it is the most popular live entertainment in the world.
But what does the production involve? And why they are so many people prepared to spend their lives
traveling round Europe in caravans in order to appear in it? It can’t be glamorous, and it’s undoubtedly hard
work. The backstage atmosphere is an odd mix of gym class and workplace. A curtained-off section at the back
of the arena is laughably referred to as the girl’s dressing room, but is more accurately described as a corridor,
with beige, cracked walls and cheap temporary tables set up along the length of it. Each girl has a small area
littered with pots of orange make-up, tubes of mascara and long false eyelashes.
As a place to work, it must rank pretty low down the scale: the area round the ice-rink is grey and
mucky with rows of dirty blue and brown plastic seating and red carpet tiles. It’s an unimpressive picture, but
the show itself is an unquestionably vast, polished global enterprise: the lights come from a firm in Texas, the
people who make the audio system are in California, nut Montreal supplies the smoke effects: former British
Olympic skater Robin Cousins is now creative director for the company and conducts a vast master class to
make sure they’re ready for the show’s next performance.
The next day, as the music blares out from the sound system, the cast start to go through their routines
under Cousins’ direction. Cousins says, The aim is to make sure they’re all still getting to exactly the right place
on the ice at the right time – largely because the banks of lights in the ceiling are set to those places, and if the
skaters are all half a metre out they’ll be illuminating empty ice. Our challenge’, he continues, ‘is to produce
something they can sell in the number of countries at the same time. My theory is that you take those things that
people want to see and you give it to them, but not in the way they expect to see it. You try to twist it. And you
have to find music that is challenging to the skaters, because they have to do it every night.’
It may be a job which he took to pay the rent, but you can’t doubt his enthusiasm. ‘The only place you’ll
see certain skating moves in an ice show’, he says, ‘because you’re not allowed to do them in competition. It’s
not in the rules. So the ice show world has things to offer which the competitive world just doesn’t.’ Cousins
knows what he’s talking about because he skated for the show himself when he stopped competing – he was
financially unable to retire. He learnt the hard way that you can’t put on an Olympic performance every night.
‘I’d be thinking, these people have paid their money, now do your stuff, and I suddenly thought, “I really can’t
cope. I’m not enjoying it”.’ The solution, he realized, was to give 75 percent every night, rather than striving for
the sort of twice-a-year excellence which won his medals.
To be honest, for those of us whose only experience of ice-skating is watching top-class Olympic skaters,
some of the movements can look a bit amateurish, but then, who are we to judge? Equally, it’s impossible not to
be swept up in the whole thing; well, you’d have to try pretty hard not to enjoy it.
1. According to paragraph 1, the writer is surprised to see that although Holiday on Ice is popular ………
A. people often prefer other types of show
B. people prefer to see a film, the ballet or the circus
C. most people consider it as a holiday
D. few people know someone who has seen it
2. From the phrase, “it must rank pretty low down the scale” in paragraph 3 we can infer that…………..
A. Holiday on Ice has rather poor working condition
B. Holiday on Ice has a very dirty place to work
C. Skaters do not enjoy working in this place
D. Skaters do not earn much money form the job
3. Which of the following adjectives can be used to describe the backstage area?
A. glamorous B. relaxing C. messy D. old
4. It is mentioned in paragraph 3 that………….
A. many companies are involved in the production B. it is difficult to find suitable equipment
C. the show needs financial support D. the show has been staged in many places
5. For Robin Cousins, the aim of the rehearsal is………………….
A. to keep in time with the music B. to adjust the spotlights
C. to be acquainted with the stage D. to position the skaters on the ice
6. Cousins’ theory on how to produce shows for different audiences is that……………………..
A. he adapts movements to suit everyone B. he selects suitable music
C. he presents performance in an unexpected way D. he varies the routines every night
7. It is suggested in paragraph 5 that skating in shows……………
A. enables skaters to visit a variety of places
B. is as competitive as other forms of skating
C. can be particularly well paid
D. doesn’t force skaters to try out moves appearing in competitions
8. The pronouns “them” in paragraph 5 prefer to………………
A certain skating moves B. some famous skaters
C. some live performance D. certain ice shows
9. The phrase “the hard way” in paragraph 5 is mostly means…………
A. by working very hard B. by having expectations of others
C. through personal experience D. through doing things again and again
10. Which of the following is the writers’ conclusion of Holiday on Ice?
A. Olympic ice-skating is more enjoyable than Holiday on Ice
B. Everyone should enjoy watching Holiday on Ice
C. Holiday on Ice requires more skills than Olympic ice-skating
D. It is hard to know who really enjoys Holiday on Ice.

Part 4: Read the passage and do the tasks below.

WHAT IS PERSONALITY?
A. We are all familiar with the idea that different people have different personalities, but what does this actually
mean? It implies that different people behave in different ways, but it must be more than that. After all, different
people find themselves in different circumstances, and much of their behavior follows from this fact. However,
our common experience reveals that different people respond in quite remarkably different ways even when
faced with roughly the same circumstances. Alan might be happy to live alone in a quiet and orderly cottage, go
out once a week, and stay in the same job for thirty years, whilst Beth likes nothing better than exotic travel and
being surrounded by vivacious friends and loud music.
B. In cases like these, we feel that it cannot be just the situation which is producing the differences in behavior.
Something about the way the person is ‘wired up’ seems to be at work, determining how they react to situations,
and, more than that, the kind of situations they get themselves into in the first place. This is why personality
seems to become stronger as we get older; when we are young, our situation reflects external factors such as the
social and family environment we were born into. As we grow older, we are more and more affected by the
consequences of our own choices (doing jobs that we were drawn to, surrounded by people like us whom we
have sought out). Thus, personality differences that might have been very slight at birth become dramatic in
later adulthood.
C. Personality, then, seems to be the set of enduring and stable dispositions that characterize a person. These
dispositions come partly from the expression of inherent features of the nervous system, and partly from
learning. Researchers sometimes distinguish between temperament, which refers exclusively to characteristics
that are inborn or directly caused by biological factors, and personality, which also includes social and cultural
learning. Nervousness, for example, might be a factor of temperament, but religious piety is an aspect of
personality.
D. The discovery that temperamental differences are real is one of the major findings of contemporary
psychology. It could easily have been the case that there were no intrinsic differences between people in
temperament, so that given the same learning history, the same dilemmas, they would all respond in much the
same way. Yet we now know that this is not the case.
E. Personality measures turn out to be good predictors of your health, how happy you typically are - even your
taste in paintings. Personality is a much better predictor of these things than social class or age. The origin of
these differences is in part innate. That is to say, when people are adopted at birth and brought up by new
families, their personalities are more similar to those of their blood relatives than to the ones they grew up with.
F. Personality differences tend to manifest themselves through the quick, gut-feeling, intuitive and emotional
systems of the human mind. The slower, rational, deliberate systems show less variation in output from person
to person. Deliberate rational strategies can be used to over-ride intuitive patterns of response, and this is how
people wishing to change their personalities or feelings have to go about it. As human beings, we have the
unique ability to look in at our personality from the outside and decide what we want to do with it.
G. So what are the major ways personalities can differ? The dominant approach is to think of the space of
possible personalities as being defined by a number of dimensions. Each person can be given a location in the
space by their scores on all the different dimensions. Virtually all theories agree on two of the main dimensions,
neuroticism (or negative emotionality) and extroversion (or positive emotionality). However, they differ on how
many additional ones they recognize. Among the most influential proposals are openness, conscientiousness and
agreeableness. In the next section I shall examine these five dimensions.
Questions 86- 92: There are seven paragraphs marked A-G in the passage. Choose the correct heading for
each paragraph from the list below. Write your answers in the corresponding numbered box provided.

List of Headings
i A degree of control
ii Where research has been carried out into the effects of family on personality
iii Categorizing personality features according to their origin
iv A variety of reactions in similar situations
v A link between personality and aspects of our lives that aren’t chosen
vi A possible theory that cannot be true
vii Measuring personality
viii Potentially harmful effects of emotions
ix How our lives can reinforce our personalities
x Differences between men’s and women’s personalities

1. Paragraph A
2. Paragraph B
3. Paragraph C
4. Paragraph D
5. Paragraph E
6. Paragraph F
7. Paragraph G

Questions 93-95: Do the following statements reflect the claims of the writer? Write your answers in the
corresponding numbered box provided.
Write
YES if the statement reflects the claims of the writer
NO if the statement reflects the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
8. Alan and Berth illustrate contrasting behavior in similar situations.
9. As we grow older, we become more able to analyze our personalities.
10. Nervousness is an example of a learned characteristic.
Part 5: You are going to read a newspaper article about the effect of having a dog in the classroom. For
question 1-10 choose from the paragraphs (A-G). The paragraphs may be chosen more than once.
Paws for thought
Buying a dog for a school isn’t a barking mad idea, says Mary Braid.
Man’s best friend is also a useful classroom assistant.
A Henry is the undisputed star of Dronfield school near Sheffield. Whatever the achievements of other members
of the comprehensive school, it is Henry with his soulful eyes and glossy hair, who has hogged the limelight,
appearing on television in Britain and abroad. Yet despite all the public adulation, Henry stirs up no envy or
resentment among the 2,000 students at Dronfield High – in fact, they all adore him. The pupils say the Cavalier
King Charles spaniel is simply a pupil’s best friend. Their teachers make even bigger assertions for Henry. They
say the dog, who first arrived six months ago, is a super dog, who has improved pupil behaviour and encouraged
more students to turn up regularly for their lessons and focus on their academic achievement.
B ‘It’s hard not to drift off in a large class sometimes’, explains Andrew Wainwright, 15, who like everyone
ebe, is crazy about Henry. ‘So when I go to catch-up classes, Henry is always in the room where they’re held.
He helps me focus and get on with it.’ Andrew says Henry is a calming influence although he is unsure of why
this might be. But he knows that there’s something magical about being able to throw Henry a soft toy or have
Henry lick his hand while he is studying. ‘If we fall behind, Miss Brown won’t let us look after him and
everyone wants to walk Henry.’
C Wendy Brown is Andrew’s teacher. It was Brown and Julie Smart, the school counsellor, who first proposed
buying a school dog. ‘Julie and I grew up with dogs and we were talking one day about how looking after dogs
can affect children’s conduct,’ says Brown. ‘We did some research and discovered that the presence of pets has
been shown to be therapeutic. A number of studies have found that animals improve recovery after surgery or
illness and have a calming influence on people in lots of settings. Some of my kids can be a handful and some
of the children Julie counsels have terrible problems.’
D The two teachers could have plucked a dog from a rescue centre but felt that those dogs were more likely to
have difficulties. What they and what troubled children needed was a stable, intelligent, people-loving animal.
Step forward then puppy Henry, purchased from a local breeder, Julie looks after him after school hours –
information that has calmed the animal lovers who complained to the school about Henry’s treatment. ‘They
seemed to think we locked him in a school cupboard overnight,’ says Brown. ‘Also, the school budget was too
tight to buy a dog and you can imagine that putting one before books might have stirred some people a bit. We
wanted the least controversy possible so we settled on approaching local churches. They donated the funds to
buy him and his favourite food.’
E Today Henry is on Dronfield’s front line when it comes to helping children struggling with everything from
attention problems to a sudden death in the family. In the next few weeks, the dog will launch his own
confidential counselling website, Ask Henry. Pupils will be encouraged to email and describe whatever is
worrying them and Julie will answer on Henry’s behalf. Wouldn’t teenagers run horrified from such a scheme?
Apparently not when Henry is involved! ‘Henry has been a massive success,’ insists Brown, explaining that
even doubting staff have finally been won round. Perhaps that is because Henry, who lies on the floor during
staff meetings, has also had a calming influence on teachers, ‘Not part of the plan,’ says Brown, ‘but a very
welcome benefit.’
F Could the school dog become a craze? Brown has already been contacted by eight schools keen to get their
own dog. Other schools such as the Mulberry Bush, a primary school for 36 children with emotional and
behavioural problems, have stepped forward to point out they already have one. Rosie Johnston, a Mulberry
staff member, first brought her golden retriever, Muskoka, into school when he was just nine weeks old. That
was three years ago. Aside from being a calming influence, Muskoka even plays his part in literacy lessons.
Children at the school can be too shy to read to adults so they read to Muskoka. ‘Their anxiety about
mispronouncing something or getting the words in the wrong order is reduced when they read to him,’ says
Johnston.
G Psychologist Dr Deborah Wells from Queen’s University Belfast specializes in animal-human interaction.
She believes the underlying key to the Henry’s effect is that dogs offer unconditional live and that cheers up
adults and children and helps with self-esteem. But traditionalist Chris Woodhead, the former chief inspector of
schools says, ‘I can see how children with behavioral difficulties might be helped but I’m skeptical about the
use of dogs in mainstream education. I don’t see why a teacher cannot create a positive learning environment
through the subject they teach and their personality. Dogs strike me as a bit of a publicity stunt. It’s the kind of
sentimental story journalists love.’ But Henry remains as popular as ever. He’s just become the first animal to
be made as an honorary member of the public services union Unison – in recognition of his services as a canine
classroom assistant.

a way that students can overcome their fear of making mistakes 1. _____
the criteria regarding the selection of an appropriate dog 2. _____
the claim that a dog has increased the students’ attendance at school 3. _____
a motivating reason for students to keep up with their school work 4. _____
evidence to back up the theory that dogs can improve physical well-being 5. _____
people eventually being persuaded that a dog at school is beneficial 6. _____
a decision which was taken to avoid provoking people 7. _____
the accusation that schools have dogs just to attract media attention 8. _____
a welcome positive effect on a group of people that Wendy Brown had not anticipated 9. _____
the fundamental reason why dogs can have a positive impact on people’s happiness 10. _____

SECTION IV: Writing

Part 1: Complete the second sentence so that it has a similar meaning to the first sentence, using the word
given. Do not change the word given. You must use between three and eight words, including the word
given.
1. I said that I thought he was wrong about the best way for us to proceed. (issue)
I ___________________________________________ best we should proceed.
2. He didn’t want to get into a position where he might lose all his money. (possibility)
He didn’t want to expose _______________________________________________ all his money.
3. Her work didn’t meet the standards that were considered acceptable. (conform)
Her work ___________________________________________ acceptable standards.
4. He had no idea what was going to happen to him when he walked into that room. (store)
Little ______________________________________________ him when he walked into that room.
5. He became famous, but it cost him his privacy. (expense)
His rise _________________________________________________ of his privacy.

Part 2: You have found an interesting website. Write a letter to your friend to tell him about the website.

In your letter, you should:

 describe what the website is

 explain why the website is interesting in
 tell how this website will help him/her.

Part 3: Write an essay of 350 words on the following topic:

The future of work in the age of industrial and technological revolution, as seen by many people, is
seemingly grim for the labour force, as more and more jobs are being replaced by autonomous machines
that are enormously capable and productive.

In your opinion, how can workers adapt to this change? What is needed of a student as a future working
adult?