THINK LEVEL 4 SKILLS TESTS ANSWER KEY

UNITS 1&2 UNITS 7&8

1 1
b 3 c 1 d 5 e 7 f 2 g 6 h4 b 4 c 1 d 5 e 8 f 3 g 7 h6

2 2
1 d 2 g 3 a 4 e 5 h 6 c 7 b 8f a 7 b 3 c 1 d 8 e 2 f 4 g 5 h6

3 3
1 c 2 a 3 b 4 f 5 e 6 g 7d 1 D 2 D 3 S 4 D 5 S 6 D 7 S 8D

4 4
1 climate 2 ice 3 compete 4 source 1 diary/journal 2 messages 3 list 4 trains
5 roads 6 nets 7 rubbish 8 diseases 5 raining 6 concentrate 7 nightmare

UNITS 3&4 UNITS 9&10

1 1
1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10 a 1 b 5 c 7 d 2 e 4 f 3 g6

2 2
1 T 2 F 3 DS 4 F 5 DS 6 T 7 T 8F 1 F 2 F 3 T 4 T 5 F 6 DS 7 F 8 DS

3 3
1 d 2 c 3 g 4 e 5 h 6 f 7 b 8a 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10

4 4
1 A 2 C 3 B 4 C 5 A 6 B 7B 1 B 2 A 3 C 4 A 5 B 6 B 7 A 8C

UNITS 5&6 UNITS 11&12

1 1
1 c 2 g 3 a 4 e 5 h 6 b 7 f 8d b 3 c 5 d 1 e 8 f 6 g 7 h4

2 2
1 T 2 DS 3 F 4 T 5 DS 6 F 7T a 3 b 2 c 7 d 5 e 1 f 8 g 4 h6

3 3
1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10 1 e 2 g 3 a 4 b 5 h 6 d 7 c 8f

4 4
1 30/thirty 2 nursery 3 photos 4 universities 1 planet 2 ground 3 gas 4 robot
5 dating 6 texted 7 restaurant 8 mother 5 shapes 6 sea 7 light

Think Level 4  Skills Tests ANSWER KEY  page 1 of 6 PHOTOCOPIABLE © Cambridge University Press 2016
 WRITING AND SPEAKING ASSESSMENT SCALES

The following Assessment Scales are taken from the Cambridge English Language Assessment Handbook for Cambridge English: First for
Schools. They are a useful tool for assessing your students’ performance in the Speaking and Writing sections of the Think Skills Tests.

SPEAKING
Marking
The Speaking section of each Think Skills Test should be marked out of a total of 20.

Students should be awarded a maximum of five points for each of the following four criteria:
• Grammar and Vocabulary  • Discourse Management  • Pronunciation  • Interactive Communication
B2 Grammar and Vocabulary
5 • S hows a good degree of control of
a range of simple and some complex
grammatical forms.
•U  ses a range of appropriate vocabulary to
give and exchange views on a wide range
of familiar topics.
4 Performance shares features of Bands 3 and 5.
3 • S hows a good degree of control of simple
grammatical forms, and attempts some
complex grammatical forms.
•U  ses a range of appropriate vocabulary
to give and exchange views on a range of
familiar topics.
2 Performance shares features of Bands 1 and 3.
1 • S hows a good degree of control of simple
grammatical forms.
•U  ses a range of appropriate vocabulary
when talking about everyday situations.
0 Performance below Band 1.
Discourse Management
• P roduces extended stretches of language with
very little hesitation.
•C  ontributions are relevant and there is a clear
organisation of ideas.
•U  ses a range of cohesive devices and
discourse markers.
•Produces extended stretches of language
despite some hesitation.
• Contributions are relevant and there is very
little repetition.
• Uses a range of cohesive devices.
• Produces responses which are extended
beyond short phrases, despite hesitation.
• Contributions are mostly relevant, despite
some repetition.
• Uses basic cohesive devices.
Pronunciation
• Is intelligible.
• Intonation is appropriate.
• Sentence and word stress is
accurately placed.
• Individual sounds are articulated
clearly.
• Is intelligible.
• Intonation is generally appropriate.
• Sentence and word stress is
generally accurately placed.
• Individual sounds are generally
articulated clearly.
• Is mostly intelligible, and has some
control of phonological features at
both utterance and word levels.
Interactive Communication
• Initiates and responds
appropriately, linking contributions
to those of other speakers.
• Maintains and develops the
interaction and negotiates towards
an outcome.
• Initiates and responds
appropriately.
• Maintains and develops the
interaction and negotiates towards
an outcome with very little
support.
• Initiates and responds
appropriately.
• Keeps the interaction going with
very little prompting and support.

WRITING
Marking
The Writing sections of the Think Skills Tests should be marked out of 20. Use the Assessment Scale to award a mark from 1 to 5 for each
descriptor.

Students should be awarded a maximum of five points for each of the following four criteria:
• Content  • Communicative Achievement  • Organisation  • Language
B2 Content Communicative Achievement Organisation Language
5 •A ll content is relevant to the task. • Uses the conventions of the • Text is well organised and • Uses a range of vocabulary, including less common lexis,
• Target reader is fully informed. communicative task effectively coherent, using a variety appropriately.
to hold the target reader’s of cohesive devices and • Uses a range of simple and complex grammatical forms with
attention and communicate organisational patterns to control and flexibility.
straightforward and complex generally good effect.
• Occasional errors may be present but do not impede
ideas, as appropriate.
communication.
4 Performance shares features of Bands 3 and 5.
3 •M
 inor irrelevances and/or • Uses the conventions of the • Text is generally well • Uses a range of everyday vocabulary appropriately, with
omissions may be present. communicative task to hold the organised and coherent, occasional inappropriate use of less common lexis.
•T
 arget reader is on the whole target reader’s attention and using a variety of linking • Uses a range of simple and some complex grammatical forms with
informed. communicate straightforward words and cohesive a good degree of control.
ideas. devices.
• Errors do not impede communication.
2 Performance shares features of Bands 1 and 3.
1 • Irrelevances and misinterpretation • Uses the conventions of • Text is connected and • Uses everyday vocabulary generally appropriately, while
of task may be present. the communicative task in coherent, using basic occasionally overusing certain lexis.
•T  arget reader is minimally generally appropriate ways to linking words and a • Uses simple grammatical forms with a good degree of control.
informed. communicate straightforward limited number of
• While errors are noticeable, meaning can still be determined.
ideas. cohesive devices.
0 • Content is totally irrelevant. Performance below Band 1.
• Target reader is not informed.

Think Level 4  Skills Tests ASSESSMENT SCALES  page 2 of 6 PHOTOCOPIABLE © Cambridge University Press 2016
 AUDIOSCRIPTS
SKILLS TEST 1 & 2
Track 01
Presenter: Some animals travel incredible distances
each year to find food, warmer weather, or
a safe place to bring up their young. But
increasingly, this is changing. With me is
wildlife expert David Scarborough.
David: Hello, Michaela. Yes, we’re starting to see
some big changes in the way animals migrate.
Presenter: And is this all brought about by climate
change?
David: Well, it does have a big impact. And in some
cases, it means animals are forced to move
away from their natural habitats – the places
where they usually live. For example, polar
bears, which live in the Arctic, are moving
south because the sea ice which they use
to hunt for seals is melting away. They have
nowhere else to go.
Presenter: And they come into contact with humans?
David: Sometimes, but more seriously, they run into
brown bears. The two types of bear start to
compete for the same food, which isn’t good
for either species.
Presenter: I see. There must be many animals affected
by warmer temperatures.
David: Yes. The Adélie penguin, for example, eats a
special type of sea creature called krill. But
this is disappearing as the sea gets warmer.
So, the Adélie penguin is having to travel
further to find a new source of krill.
Presenter: So, many animals are migrating more
because they are losing their natural habitats,
or food sources. Are there any examples of
animals migrating less?
David: Yes, there are. Over a million wildebeest
migrate each year in parts of East Africa. But, as
towns and cities increase in the region, so do
the number of roads. And of course, these get
in the way of the natural routes of many animals,
and stop them getting to food or water sources.
And it’s not just on land, but in the seas, too.
Humpback whales, for example, can travel up
to 4,000 miles a year. But, increasingly, they have
to fight their way past man-made problems. It’s
easy for these whales to get caught in enormous
fishing nets, or even hit big ships.
Presenter: Are there any animals which actually benefit
from human activity?
Think Level 4  Skills Tests AUDIOSCRIPTS  page 3 of 6
David: There is the stork – a large, beautiful bird
that typically flies across Europe to Africa
each year to find food. We now know that
many storks are not migrating to Africa any
more because they can find all the food they
need in Europe, all year round.
Presenter: Why’s that?
David: Well, humans – especially in Europe – are
throwing more food away, and leaving it
in enormous rubbish dumps. The storks
find this rubbish, which provides them with
enough food to last through the winter. This
means that they have no need to migrate
anywhere else.
Presenter: I’m not sure that’s a good thing!
David: Well, perhaps not. Other animals are also
benefiting from climate change. The tiger
mosquito is a good example. Because of
warmer temperatures all around the world,
it is spreading from its usual home in places
like Brazil, to the US. Unfortunately, it’s
bringing dangerous diseases like the Zika
virus along with it.
Presenter: This is all very worrying.
David: Yes, it’s certainly something we need to think
about.
SKILLS TEST 3 & 4
Track 02
Gary: What are you reading?
Jo: About how some companies are asking
unusual questions at job interviews to see
how well candidates can think outside the
box. Want to do one?
Gary: Sure!
Jo: OK. Here’s a problem. You have to discuss it
with me, and come up with as many ideas as
you can.
Gary: Great.
Jo: OK, well, the idea of this is to test how
practical you are. Imagine that you’re alone, in
a dark house, with a group of other people.
It’s winter, and it’s really cold. But there’s a
fireplace, and you know there is some paper
around the house, and wood in the garden,
which you can use to start a fire. The problem
is, you’ve only got one match left. You’ve also
got one lamp and one candle. The question is:
which would you light first?
PHOTOCOPIABLE © Cambridge University Press 2016
 Gary: Hmm. Interesting question. OK, so there is
a group of us, and I have to look after them,
so it’s important to do the responsible thing.
Everyone needs to be warm during the
night, so I need to get the fireplace going.
Jo: That’s true. So, you’re confident that you’d
start the fireplace first?
Gary: Maybe, yes. Because then, I could use
the fire to light the candle and the lamp.
It wouldn’t be easy with one match, but
keeping people warm is the number-one
priority.
Jo: Yes, but remember that it’s completely
dark. You’d find it very difficult to collect
the paper and wood, and get everything
together to make the fireplace work.
Gary: Yes. I didn’t think of that. I would need to get
some light. OK. Well, it should be possible to
light the lamp or candle first. The question is,
which one?
Jo: Remember you’ve got to collect the wood
and paper, which is in different places
around the house and garden.
Gary: Well, yes, I need to go outside. My group
would have to stay in the dark inside, which
isn’t great. But, more seriously, if I have to go
outside, then it might be windy.
Jo: Very good point.
Gary: That means it wouldn’t be a very bright
idea to light the candle first. Unless I was
extremely cautious with it.
Jo: Yes. Remember you’ve only got one match.
So, the lamp then?
Gary: Yes, I think so. I would do that so I could get
some light. Then I’d go outside and collect
the wood. Then, I’d come back inside and
put it in the fireplace. I’d collect some paper,
too, which would make it easier to start the
fire. But I’d probably light the candle first, to
give me some more light inside the house.
Then, finally, I’d start the fireplace, using
the candle, and then get everyone warm.
Right – I think that’s the order I’d choose. I’m
happy with that. To me, it feels like the most
decisive solution.
I think I organised that well. Am I right?
Jo: Er … Well, no. All your stages seemed right,
except the first one. Actually, first of all,
you’d need to light the match!
Gary: What? Well, yes but …!
Jo: I said, you’ve got one match, a lamp, candle
and a fireplace. Which would you light first?
If you don’t start by lighting the match, then
you can’t do anything! Remember, the idea
of this was to test how practical you are!
Think Level 4  Skills Tests AUDIOSCRIPTS  page 4 of 6
SKILLS TEST 5 & 6
Track 03
One of the good things about the Internet is that it can bring
people together, and maybe even help people fall in love.
But for one couple, Amy Giberson and Justin Pounders, the
Internet managed to bring them together after 30 years apart.
When they were both just three years old, Amy and Justin
had lived in the same small town in Florida in the US, and
had attended the same nursery school. Although they didn’t
have very clear memories of themselves so young, they had
appeared sitting together in school photos, and teachers
and parents remember them being the best of friends.
But, as often happens, their parents moved to different
homes, so the two children forgot all about each other.
Although both Amy and Justin remained in Florida, they
both attended different universities, and got on with
completely different lives.
That is, until 30 years later, they both found themselves
single, and using the Internet to find someone to fall in
love with. They had both gone out with, and split up with,
other people, never having found their perfect match.
One day, Justin saw a picture of a woman on a dating
website, and was immediately struck by how beautiful
she was. He couldn’t explain why – among all the people
on the website – he was attracted to her. He felt as if he
must get in contact with her – and he did. What he didn’t
know was that this was Amy – the same girl he had been to
school with 30 years earlier.
Justin began sending messages to Amy, and to his surprise,
she replied. Before long, they were texting each other
every day, and planned to meet in a restaurant for what
they thought would be the first time.
When they did, Amy fell in love with Justin at first sight.
She immediately knew that this was the man she was going
to marry. They started going out, and a year later, were
thinking about getting engaged.
Surprisingly, it was only a year after they met in the restaurant
that they realised that they had already met – 30 years earlier.
They knew that they had both lived in the same area, but
it wasn’t until Justin’s mother found an old school photo,
with Justin and Amy together, that they were able to
discover the truth.
SKILLS TEST 7 & 8
Track 04
Sara: With me is David Capaldi, who has invented
a new app. David, can you run through who
the app is for, and what it does?
David: Yes, Sara, it’s called ‘Silver Linings Journal’
and it’s for people who want to be happier
and live more positive lives.
Sara: I understand what ‘Silver Linings’ means, and
a journal is a kind of diary, but how does it
work? How would it make people happier?
PHOTOCOPIABLE © Cambridge University Press 2016
 David: Well, basically, you get a message, on your
phone, five times a day, telling you to write
down something nice that has happened to
you. So, you get these messages and you have
to type in something that made you feel good,
or something nice that happened. For example,
‘I slept very well’, or ‘someone just smiled at me.’
Sara: So it doesn’t have to be big things, it can be
the minor things that happen in life.
David: Yes, I have to say that I didn’t think it would
work, but it really does. At the end of the day,
you get a list of all the things that happened to
you throughout the day. The way this works is
that even if you think you’re having a horrible
day, the app trains you to think positively all
the time, and to look for the good things in life.
Sara: I’d find it difficult to use this app. I wouldn’t
be able to come up with anything nice that
happened to me this morning.
David: Well, that’s because you aren’t used to
thinking positively. Tell me one thing that
happened to you today.
Sara: OK. I looked out of the window and I saw it
was raining.
David: That means that as soon as you go out, you
can have fun splashing in all the puddles!
That’s a great way to spend time.
Sara: I’m not four years old!
David: You’re too negative! When the rain stops, all
the streets are going to be cleaner and fresher.
Sara: OK. The next thing I can remember is
stopping to buy a coffee on the way to work.
And the man in the café was rude to me
because I didn’t have coins – I only had a
large banknote, and the man said …
David: Let me stop you there. You’re on the point
of saying something negative. Was the
coffee good?
Sara: No. I walked away without buying one.
David: So, concentrate on that. You saved some
money. Imagine yourself looking for a new
café in the future. By this time next week, you
will have found your dream café, and you’ll
be going there every morning, for a perfect
cup of coffee. Imagine that, instead of being
so negative!
Sara: Wow, that is positive thinking …! How did
you get the idea for this app, David?
David: I was always a negative person –
complaining about things, and my friends
sometimes pointed out how negative I was.
I remember being in a café with some
friends. The coffee I bought wasn’t nice.
I had just bought some expensive new shoes,
and they were hurting my feet. I got really
Think Level 4  Skills Tests AUDIOSCRIPTS  page 5 of 6
worked up about it. So I wanted to go online
and update my status, to complain about
them. But the wi-fi in the café was very slow. I
just complained and complained.
Sara: I’ve known people like that. I usually ended
up avoiding them.
David: Yes. I was a nightmare. I realised that if I
wanted to keep my friends, I’d need to have
a different way of thinking about life.
Sara: Well, I’ll be trying your app over the next
week or two, and hopefully I’ll have become
a more positive person!
SKILLS TEST 9 & 10
Track 05
Jack: Eva Graham is an expert on journalism, and
she’s here today to talk about how social
media is shaping the news, and how people
get news. Eva, you wrote an interesting
article recently about Japan, didn’t you?
Eva: That’s right, Jack. I don’t know whether you
know, but Japan gets a lot of earthquakes,
and some of them are extremely serious
ones which can cause a lot of damage. Well,
at some point in August 2016, people
in the Tokyo area started getting official
messages on their mobile phones. The
messages warned that there would be a
huge earthquake. Now, there are 40 million
people living in that area, so of course, the
news spread very quickly on social media.
Jack: So, what happened?
Eva: Well, there was no earthquake. In fact, it was a
false alarm – a mistake. But, because everyone
was spreading the news on social media, there
was panic. Mobile phone networks went
down, trains stopped, everything.
Jack: That’s very interesting. So, social media
actually made the mistake worse.
Eva: Much worse, yes. But this raises the
interesting question of how social media
can spread news very quickly – perhaps too
quickly – before anyone can tell whether the
news story is actually real or not. Information
spreads very fast these days.
Jack: Do you have any other examples?
Eva: One famous one was when the Twitter
account of a big news agency was hacked, a
few years ago. Some people broke into the
Twitter account and created a fake Tweet
that there had been an attack at the White
House in Washington, and the American
president was hurt.
Jack: And did anyone take this seriously?
PHOTOCOPIABLE © Cambridge University Press 2016
 Eva: Yes. It was retweeted and shared more than
3,000 times in just a few minutes. The US
economy even started to crash!
Jack: So, social media can be very powerful.
Eva: Yes. Often because people share news
stories or photos without really thinking
about whether they are true or not.
Jack: Is this becoming more common?
Eva: I think it is, especially now that politicians and
even governments are starting to use social
media more to control and influence people.
For example, it seems to be more common
for politicians to put out a message that isn’t
completely true. In fact, it may be totally untrue.
But, because of the speed of social media, and
because most people aren’t really checking the
information they read, the lie can spread very
quickly. The politician can always apologise
later and admit that the information wasn’t
correct, or deny they actually said something,
but the damage will have already been done.
Jack: I’ve heard that some governments are
employing people to put out false
information online.
Eva: This might be true, although it’s difficult to
prove it. These people are called ‘trolls’. They
can create fake names for themselves, fake
Twitter accounts, and deliberately go online
to spread false information. You can often
find them posting in ‘Comments’ sections
under important news articles.
Jack: It sounds like it’s going to be more difficult to
work out what’s true and what is a lie on the
Internet.
Eva: You’re right. There’s so much information online,
and it’s so easy to reach. What we have to learn
to do as readers, is understand who created the
information, and what their agenda was …
SKILLS TEST 11 & 12
Track 06
Hello everyone, today I’m going to talk a little bit about
the possibility of finding life on Mars. Mars is our closest
neighbour, and similar to our planet in many ways. But so
far, scientists have never discovered any kind of life on
Mars. Not even the smallest, simplest kind of life.
The bad news is that we’re still a very long way from really
finding out any answers. It is believed that there was once
a lot of water on Mars, which may have supported life.
However, that water is now very difficult to find, because it
exists only in the form of ice, or under the ground, where it
is difficult for us to look at it.
Scientists have recently discovered evidence of a gas on Mars
called methane, which appears and disappears suddenly.
It is thought that bacteria – tiny life forms – may be producing
this. And this bacteria may be trapped in water underneath
the ground. Why do scientists think this? It’s because most
Think Level 4  Skills Tests ACKNOWLEDGMENTS  page 6 of 6
methane on the planet Earth is produced by animals. So if it’s
appearing on Mars, too, then that may be a sign of life.
In 2019, we will have sent a new robot to Mars, which
might be able to answer lots of these questions, and
dig deep beneath the planet’s surface. Until then, some
interesting research is being done here on Earth.
About 30 years ago, a rock was found in Antarctica – a
place where no animals live except by the sea, and very
few plants can grow. This rock, it was thought, came from
Mars 17 million years ago, flying through space, and
landing on our planet. Scientists discovered that the rock
had tiny little shapes on it, which looked very similar to the
shapes that bacteria might make. Although scientists do
agree that the rock actually did come from Mars, no one
can agree on what the small shapes were caused by.
In North Yorkshire, in the UK, there is a very large
underground system, stretching for a thousand kilometres
under the land, to under the sea – about a kilometre deep.
It’s called the Boulby Mine, and it’s known that 250 million
years ago, there was sea water in this underground system.
However, this water disappeared, just like it has on planet
Mars. When the water went away, it created unusual
shapes in the rock – and again, we can see similar shapes in
the rocks on Mars.
Scientists have recently been spending time deep in the
Boulby Mine, searching for signs of life. Basically, nothing much
can live so deep underground, where there is little oxygen, no
light, no water and lots of salt. Only small bacteria can survive
– bacteria which has somehow lived there for millions of years.
But the important point is: If it can be found here, then it might
exist on Mars, too, where the environment is very similar.
In a few years, we may find out whether there really is life
on Mars. Until then, scientists will continue looking here on
Earth, for clues.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors and publishers acknowledge the following
sources of copyright material and are grateful for the
permissions granted. While every effort has been made, it
has not always been possible to identify the sources of all
the material used, or to trace all copyright holders. If any
omissions are brought to our notice, we will be happy to
include the appropriate acknowledgements on reprinting
and in the next update to the digital edition, as applicable.
The publishers are grateful to the following for permission
to reproduce copyright photographs and material.
Writing and Speaking assessment scales reproduced with
permission of Cambridge English Language Assessment
©UCLES 2016.
Key: L = Left, R = Right.
Units 1 & 2 (Speaking): (L) NurPhoto/Getty Images and (R)
Alex Segre/Moment Mobile/Getty Images; Units 5 & 6
(Speaking): (L) Paolo Cipriani/E+/Getty Images and (R)
Alberto Buzzola/LightRocket/Getty Images; Units 9 & 10
(Speaking): (L) dolgachov/iStock/Getty Images and (R)
monkeybusinessimages/iStock/Getty Images.
PHOTOCOPIABLE © Cambridge University Press 2016