Practice Test 17

READING SUB-TEST – QUESTION PAPER: PART A

TIME: 15 MINUTES
INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES:
DO NOT open this Question Paper or the Text Booklet until you are told
to do so.
Write your answers on the spaces provided on this Question Paper.
You must answer the questions within the 15-minute time limit.
One mark will be granted for each correct answer.
Answer ALL questions.
Marks are NOT deducted for incorrect answers.
At the end of the 15 minutes, hand in this Question Paper and the Text
Booklet.
DO NOT remove OET material from the test room.

Text A
Patchy and scratchy
European scientists say they can explain why nicotine patches designed to
help smokers kick their habit can cause skin irritation. Nicotine activates a
so-called ion channel in skin cells that unleashes an inflammatory response
by the immune system, leading to itching, they reported in the journal Nature
Neuroscience on Sunday. Previously, the irritation had been blamed on
stimulation of special nicotine receptors on nerve cells, causing pain signals
to be sent to the brain. The investigation, carried out on mice, could pave the
way to smoking therapies with fewer side effects, the authors say.

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Text B
Pay poorer smokers to quit, heart lobby urges
Australians should be paid to quit smoking to help reduce the burden of heart
disease in poorer outer suburban and regional areas, the head of the Heart
Foundation of Victoria, Kathy Bell, says. The call came as a new survey of
about 20,000 people found the municipality of Dandenong in Melbourne’s
outer south-east had the highest rate of heart disease in Victoria, with nearly
32 per cent of the population affected by it. Regional areas of Victoria,
including East Girppsland and the Ovens-Murray strict, showed similarly bad
results, whereas Ms Bell said only about 14 per cent of people in high-
income areas, close to the city, had experienced heart disease.
“These regions are some of the lowest-income areas in Victoria, with a high
proportion of households earning income of less than $350 per week,” she
said. Ms Bell said research showed disadvantaged areas had high rates of
smoking which needed to he addressed. She said financial incentives should
be considered alongside higher taxes on cigarettes — both recommendations
of a resort recently released by the Federal Government’s preventive health
taskforce. A study of more than 800 General Electric employees in the US
found those who were offered rolling payments of up to $750 a year to quit
smoking and remain abstinent were about three times more likely to rant
long-term, compared with use who were not given money.

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Text C
Cyber aid to quitting smoking
Battling one’s cigarette demons in a virtual world may prove to be an
effective way to help people quit smoking, a research team has found in a
preliminary study. Scientists from Canada’s GRAP Occupational Psychology
Clinic and the University of Quebec modified a three-dimensional video
game to create a computer-generated virtual reality environment as part of an
anti-smoking program. Of 91 regular smokers enlisted in the 12-week
program, 46 of them crushed computer-simulated cigarettes as part of
psychosocial treatment, while the other 45 grasped a computer-simulated
ball. The group who crushed cigarettes had a “statistically significant
reduction in nicotine addiction” compared with the ball graspers, according to
the study in the journal Cyber-Psychology and Behaviour.
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Text D
By the 12th week, abstinence among the cigarette-crushers was 15 per cent,
compared with 2 per cent for the other group. The crushers also stayed in the
program longer and, at a six- month follow-up, 39 per cent of them reported
not smoking during the previous week, compared with 20 per cent of the ball-
graspers. “It is important to note that this study increased treatment
retention,” said Brenda Wiederhold, the journal’s (Cyber-Psychology and
Behaviour) editor-in-chief, adding that such treatment should now be
compared to other popular treatments such as the nicotine patch. The study
said about 45 per cent of smokers in the US attempt to quit each year, with
limited success.

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Part A
TIME: 15 minutes
• Look at the four texts, A-D, in the separate Text Booklet.
• For each question, 1-20, look through the texts, A-D, to find the relevant
information.
• Write your answers on the spaces provided in this Question Paper.
• Answer all the questions within the 15-minute time limit.
• Your answers should be correctly spelt.

QUESTIONS
Questions 1-7
For each question, 1-7, decide which text (A, B, C or D) the information comes from. You
may use any letter more than once.
In which text can you find information about
1. which are the lowest-income areas in Victoria? _____
Go “Text “Text “Text “Text
to A” B” C” D”
2. who created the video game to as part of an anti-smoking program? _____
Go “Text “Text “Text “Text
to A” B” C” D”
3. who are the cigarette-crushers? _____
Go “Text “Text “Text “Text
to A” B” C” D”
4. who is Brenda Wiederhold? _____
Go “Text “Text “Text “Text
to A” B” C” D”
5. why the nicotine patches are causing skin irritation? _____
Go “Text “Text “Text “Text
to A” B” C” D”
6. who proposed the idea to pay Australians to quit smoking? _____
Go “Text “Text “Text “Text
to A” B” C” D”
7. how much smokers in the US attempt to quit each year? _____
Go “Text “Text “Text “Text
to A” B” C” D”
Questions 8-13
Answer each of the questions, 8-13, with a word or short phrase from one of the texts. Each
answer may include words, numbers or both.

8. Who is the editor-in-chief journal Cyber-Psychology and Behaviour?

Go “Text “Text “Text “Text
to A” B” C” D”
9. How many regular smokers enlisted in the Canadian Cyber-aid program?
Go “Text “Text “Text “Text
to A” B” C” D”
10. Where did the European scientists’ published their findings?
Go “Text “Text “Text “Text
to A” B” C” D”
11. How many General Electric employees were offered payments to quit
smoking?
Go “Text “Text “Text “Text
to A” B” C” D”
12. What was the trial subject for the study conducted by European
scientists?
Go “Text “Text “Text “Text
to A” B” C” D”
13. How many crushed computer-simulated cigarettes?
Go “Text “Text “Text “Text
to A” B” C” D”
Questions 14-20
Complete each of the sentences, 14-20, with a word or short phrase from one
of the texts. Each answer may include words, numbers or both.
14. Nicotine activates an ion channel in skin cells that unleashes _____ by the
immune system.
Go “Text “Text “Text “Text
to A” B” C” D”
15. In Australia, 14 per cent of people in high-income areas had experienced
______.
Go “Text “Text “Text “Text
to A” B” C” D”
16. By the 12th week, abstinence among the ball-graspers was _____.
Go “Text “Text “Text “Text
to A” B” C” D”
17. In the US, 45 per cent of smokers attempt to quit each year with ______.
Go “Text “Text “Text “Text
to A” B” C” D”
18. Previously, nicotine patch irritation was blamed on stimulation of _____
on nerve cells.
Go “Text “Text “Text “Text
to A” B” C” D”
19. ______ stayed in the Cyber aid program longer than the other group.
Go “Text “Text “Text “Text
to A” B” C” D”
20. Ms Bell’s research showed ______ had high rates of smoking.
Go “Text “Text “Text “Text
to A” B” C” D”