Mock Exam

Name: ____________________________________ English for Business and Engineering

Student Number: ___________________________ Module 1.6

I. Complaint Email
The following email didn’t get a response. Rewrite the complaint letter to be more formal
and polite. You must complete the To: and Subject: lines. You may have to add some
information to make it more complete.

To:
Subject:

I want to let you know what an awful time we had on our vacation. It was totally ruined. You
promised an ocean view, but all we got was a courtyard. With dry bushes at that. The beach
was a 10-minute walk away and it made my kids cranky. The food was horrible. You served
the same things every day and I don’t even think they were fresh. Talking about fresh, the
bathroom needed a complete overhaul. We asked for a different room, but didn’t get one. I
want my money back. I’m never coming back to Palm Tree Resort.

Disappointed,
Sally Surly

II. Process
Describe the process of making dairy products. Use passive sentences and sequencing
words.

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III. Reading Comprehension
Read the article below and then answer the questions in complete sentences. Please use your own
words as much as possible.
Does the nationality of a CEO matter for a global
company?
FT Correspondent
THE PROBLEM
Stephen Elop, the Canadian
chief
executive of Nokia, saw
his ‘burning platform’
memo become a viral hit
last
month. Some commentators
have
suggested that his frank
tone was
one reason why he was
hired: to
shake-up the ‘Finnish’
culture of the
company. But is the
nationality of a
CEO important for a global
business?
THE ADVICE
The executive: Annelies
van den
Belt, CEO of SUP Media, a
Moscow-based digital media
company
No incoming chief
executive
should ever underestimate
cultural
differences between
national
markets. For example in my
own
sector, Russians use
digital media
in a different – and in
some ways
more sophisticated – way
than
web users in the west.
While managers need to
understand national
markets, talent
should be global. The best
business
leaders should be able to
manage
and motivate teams on
different
continents. They need to
be able to
identify how cultural
differences in
management styles can make
a cognitive
company stronger.
Ultimately, those brands The consultant: Stephen
which Brook, a specialist in
are open are the ones that people management and
are most organisational change at
able to transcend cultural PA
differences and Consulting
successfully Outsiders are often
expand into new markets in chosen as
new CEOs precisely because
economies. they bring an external
perspective. If
The academic: Nandani employees think the new
Lynton, a CEO
professor at Ceibs, understands the
specialising in organisation and is
global leadership leading it in the right
The nationality of a CEO direction, their
does nationality won’t
not matter per se but the matter. However if they
characteristics and style fail to make a
of a leader compelling case for what
and the top team do, and they want to do, their
these are “foreignness” can become
sometimes related to an
identity. obstacle.
Diverse top teams can The use of language that
achieve employees do not
extraordinary results but identify with will be
defining seen as showing a lack
what the best mix is of
depends on the empathy, and that makes
objective. In Nokia’s case, change
they harder to achieve.
needed a CEO who was strong
in CEOs need to be true to
software who would shake themselves, their
things communications need to
up. Mr Elop is outspoken, be well prepared and
factsbased show they understand the
and without a history of organisation,
protecting colleagues’ – and deliver a clear
much less message. Get
national – feelings. He that right and
will say nationality won’t be a
things the Finns might not. problem.
Chances From the Financial Times
are, he will also do well
with the
half-Anglo, half-Finnish
leadership
team.
Nationality is not
everything but
it can be an indicator of
and behavioural patterns
that fill a
need.
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A) Vocabulary

Find words or expressions from the article that mean (1 point each):

1) to think that something is less important than it is (column 1)

_____________________________________________________________________
2) to go beyond the limits of something (column 2)

______________________________________________________

3) connected with thinking (column 2)

______________________________________________________

4) a thing that opposes or hinders something (column 3)

______________________________________________________

5) the ability of understanding another person’s feelings (column 3)

______________________________________________________

Find words or expressions from the article that mean the opposite (1 point each):

6) reserved, hidden (column 1)

______________________________________________________

7) simple (column 1)

______________________________________________________

8) shrink (column 2)

______________________________________________________

9) surplus (column 3)

______________________________________________________

10) receive (column 3)

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 ______________________________________________________

B) Comprehension questions
Answer the following questions in your own words.

1 How is the Russian market different from the west?

______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________

2 What is Stephen Elop like?

______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________

3 What is important for successful leaders?

______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________

4 Why is the style of communication important?

______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________

IV. Writing Exercises

Pick one of the two exercises.

1. Memo
You are the project manager for a child’s motorcycle. You just had a meeting with your boss
and the customer. You are giving an update to your team on what is going on with the
project. Write a memo to your team.

• Talk about quality issues for this toy. List at least 5 and explain.
• What problems could arise during production and how will they be dealt with?
• Describe the materials, their properties and why they were chosen.

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2. Memo
Your design company has been tasked by a university to make improvements to the
standard seat in a lecture hall. Your boss, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, asks you to come up
with a list of technical requirements that should be considered. He would also like you to
make suggestions on materials that could be used. The memo must include the following:

• technical requirements;
• materials and their properties; and
• choice of materials based on production and operations criteria.

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