PREYA MISS- PRACTICE TEST

QUESTION 1- DIRECTED WRITING

Text A
The following passage is taken from an article about violent video games.

What effect do violent media have on our behaviour? It's not a new question – in the 1950s, psychiatrist Fredric
Wertham wrote a book called "Seduction of the Innocent", which claimed that comic books were unnecessarily
exposing children to violence and causing them to become delinquent. Although Wertham's methods and claims
have since been called into question, similar concerns about the links between violent media and violent behaviour
have been raised about television and, most recently, video games.

Grand Theft Auto V, the latest in a line of controversial games that have often been brought up in relation to various
crimes, was released on Tuesday. Not long after the launch, some news outlets reported that a man had been
attacked and robbed of the game, his watch and phone.

But what do we actually know about the link between violent video games and aggression? Despite the apparently
obvious connection that is all too often portrayed in the media, the reality of the situation is a bit more complicated.

There is some evidence to suggest that there is a link between playing violent video games and showing more
aggressive tendencies, at least in the short term. For example, in a study published in the Journal of Experimental
Social Psychology this year, participants played either a violent or non-violent video game for 20 minutes per day
over 3 days. After playing the game, they then played a competitive task in which, if they won, they could blast their
opponent with an unpleasant noise. The researchers found that participants who played violent games blasted their
opponents in the secondary task for longer, which was interpreted as an increase in aggressive behaviour.

However, it also depends on the context in which these sorts of games are played. A study by Seth Gitter and
colleagues showed that if participants were asked to play a violent video game with a positive goal in mind (for
example, protecting a friend in a zombie game), they showed reduced levels of aggressive behaviour compared to
participants who were asked to simply kill as many zombies as possible. In other words, it's not the simple act of
playing violent video games that dictates whether they have a negative effect.

Context is an important factor when considering longer-term studies – in particular, what other factors may also be
having an effect on behavioural development. A 2012 study looking at the behavioural development of 165
teenagers over the course of 3 years found that when pre-existing emotional, family and social problems were
accounted for, any aggression-increasing effects of playing violent video games disappeared.

The problem with trying to compare different studies in this area is that everybody does everything differently. In
2009, Craig Ferguson and John Kilburn argued that many studies use poorly validated or unreliable aggression
measures, and that there was a bias in the research literature towards only publishing studies showing a significant
link between video games and aggressive behaviour.
But wait! That study was itself called into question a year later, when Craig Anderson and colleagues published a
meta-analysis arguing that playing violent video games poses a causal risk for aggressive behaviour. They also
suggested that the Ferguson and Kilburn paper used flawed methods and didn't do a particularly comprehensive job
of citing the relevant literature. Case closed? Nope – Ferguson and Kilburn next published a comment claiming that
the Anderson paper was also flawed. And so the wheel turns.
This isn't intended to be an exhaustive look at the psychological literature, but the point is this: the question as to
whether playing violent video games negatively affects behaviour hasn't been completely answered yet. Moreover,
because 'violent video game' (much like 'screen time') is quite a broad concept, we're probably not capturing the
subtlety of any effects in an adequate way at the moment. To really get an understanding of what's going on, we
need to be looking more at the way in which these sorts of games are being played – for example, no one has yet
really looked at if and how the multiplayer aspect of video games (playing in the same room together, playing online
together) has any sort of effect.
So until there is more definitive evidence, it doesn't seem right to imply that there is a clear and known effect. And it
certainly isn't right to tenuously highlight links between video game use and violent behaviour whenever it is vaguely
possible to do so. It detracts from figuring out if there is another underlying cause instead
Section A:
Directed Writing

Imagine the
government is considering a total ban on
violent video games.Write a speech to be
given in Parliament, giving your views on
whether or not violent video games should
be made illegal. In your speech you should:
evaluate the views given in the text
about the impacts of violent video
games.
give your own views, based on what
you have read, about whether banning
violent video games would make the
public safer.
Base your speech on what you have read in
the text, but be careful to use your own
words. Address both of the bullet points.
Begin your speech:
"Thank you for inviting
me to speak today.
Write about 250 to 350 words.

Question 2- ESSAY
Section B:
CompositionAnswer one question from
Section B.Write about 350 to 450 words
on one of the following questions. Up to 16
marks are available for the content and
structure of your answer, and up to 24
marks for the style and accuracy of your
writing.
EITHER(Descriptive
writing)
Describe a busy street. OR(Descriptive writing Describe anoccasion where people are whispering to each other.
OR(Narrative writing)
Write astory that starts with the words "It was clear he hadn't paid... "OR(Narrative
writing)
Write a story that involves a character with a super power.

Question 3- SUMMARY

Summarize in not more than 120 words, how camouflaging and mimicry help insects

Have you ever wondered why soldiers are always clad in green? This is to enable them to camouflage themselves
during wartime. Hiding in the jungles, their green attire blend into the surrounding trees and shrubs, making it
difficult for the enemies to spot them.
Long before man make use of camouflaging, insects have already adopted the tactic of disguise to escape from the
clutches of their predators. By having body colors close to those of the rocks and dried leaves, they catch less
attention from the predators and hence escape from being pursued. However, this kind of disguise works only if the
insects remain still in the presence of their predators.

Butterflies and moths have developed a variety of camouflage strategies since they are quite defenceless and their
predators - birds are abundant in supply. Many moth caterpillars resemble dead twigs while the young of certain
species of butterflies appear like bird droppings. Adult butterflies and moths camouflage themselves too, in attempts
to escape from their hunters -- birds who are superior gliders. Possessing wings which resemble dried leaves help
certain butterflies and moths to hide among heaps of dried leaves when predators are around.

Fortunately, not all insects choose the art of disguise to escape from their predators; otherwise, the world would be
so dull and colorless. There are insects which assimilate the bright body colors of bees and wasps to escape from
being pursued by their predators. The concept of mimicry was derived, owing to the bees and wasps. Long ago, birds
have already learnt to avoid brilliantly colored wasps and bees in fear of their painful stings. Hence, over millions of
years, many harmless insects have assimilated the bees and wasps by imitating their bright body colors and shapes.
In this way, they appear dangerous to their predators and hence ward them off.

Mimics of the wasps and bees are most commonly found in the gardens. The furry, plump bee-fly not only appears
like the bumble bee in terms of body colors, even its hums sound similar too. The only difference is that the bee-fly
does not have a sting and is hence harmless. The hoverfly is another insect which imitates the body colors of the
wasps. Their bodies are striped yellow and black. The only deviations are that hoverflies do not have stings and they
have only one pair of wings each while wasps have two pairs each. These variations are hardly noticed by the
predators and hence help them to escape.

Question 4- SUMMARY

Make a summary of the passage below, in which you describe the threats of oil pollution and ways of preventing
them. You summary should not be longer than 110 words. Begin your summary as follows:

Today, one of the greatest threats comes from oil ...

Today, one of the greatest threats comes from oil. Very often, the discharge of oil is deliberate. Sometimes,
however, it is accidental, as when an oil tanker is involved in a collision. One of the worst oil tanker mishaps occurred
when the Torrey Canyon ran aground. Thousands of liters of thick crude oil had to be poured out before she was
destroyed by flames. The effect of this was that a huge oil slick spread over the sea gradually drifting towards the
coast. Great damage was caused to marine life, not only by the oil itself, but also by the detergents used against it.
This disaster was also untimely. There was a steady stream of sea birds making for the British breeding grounds.
Many of them were alight on the water during the journey. Their feathers became badly clogged with oil. Thousands
of birds died as a result. Many of them never reached land.
How do we go about controlling or minimizing water pollution ? The task is by no means easy. Effective pollution
control systems depend on policies that combine technical, economic, social and aesthetic considerations. This
means the role of the Government is all the more important. The Government can combat water pollution in several
ways. One way is to treat waste water to make water reusable and of high quality. Another measure is to enact and
enforce regulations prohibiting and limiting pollution of waters. Next, adopt new effective techniques that will
prevent or limit the natural runoff of pollutants, for example, from agricultural areas into streams and rivers.