Name: ____________________________ Register No.

________________

Faculty/sem.: ______________________ Date: _____________________

Teacher: __________________________ Total ____________/80 points

ACERT C1 MOCK EXAM

PART I LISTENING COMPREHENSION (20 p.)

Task 1. Listening comprehension 1 _____ / 10 p.

Listen to five people, each talking about one invention. Match each speaker 1 – 5 below to the correct statement (A – G).
There are two statements you will not need. For questions 6 – 10 below, decide if the statements are true (T) or false (F). You
will hear the recording twice.

Speaker 1)_______ A. talks about an invention targeted at people residing in specific locations.
Speaker 2)_______ B. has had some influence on the design of the invention that is described.
Speaker 3)_______ C. presents an invention that is really functional, but very expensive to buy.
Speaker 4)_______ D. uses the invention in question for both leisure and academic purposes.
Speaker 5)_______ E. finds the presented invention a very useful organizational/business tool.
F. claims it is easier to communicate with friends using the given invention.
G. concentrates on how the invention described can be used to fight crime.

6. Speaker 1 has been studying abroad for some time. _______

7. Speaker 2 is responsible for technical maintenance. _______
8. Speaker 3 talks about situations typical for their job. _______
9. Speaker 4 solely relies on their Personal Assistant. _______
10. As part of their job, Speaker 5 trains other people. _______

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

Task 2 Listening comprehension 2 _______/ 10 p.

Listen to an interview with two military experts: Francis Hodges (A) and Giles Wigg-Smith (B) about the future of defence
technology, and complete the notes below (1 – 10). Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER in each gap.
You will hear the recording twice.
(A) Francis:
The military strength of hi-tech countries will increase if their 1)______________ work fast.
2)______________ will be found thanks to data from UAVs, robotic sensors and robotic seekers.
Soldiers will use both 3)______________ hardware, making it easier to transport using planes.
4)______________ are going to be programmed into missiles to make them hit the right locations.
Thanks to using programmable missiles, military forces won’t damage 5)______________ so much.
(B) Giles:
Really 6)______________ in high-tech systems may prove to be inefficient and failures may occur.
There is a risk that 7)______________ will be fed into computer systems to turn them against users.
Military equipment (armoured vehicles or aircraft) may be destroyed using low-tech 8)______________.
The technologically sophisticated systems are intended to be used in wars, not for 9)______________.
Countries involved in a military operation are unlikely to tell each other their 10)______________.

1. 6.
2. 7.
3. 8.
4. 9.
5. 10.
PART II READING COMPREHENSION (20 p.)

Task 3 Reading comprehension 1 _______/10 p.

Read the two texts about two different office models and match phrases A – H to gaps 1 – 4 in the text. There are four
phrases that you should not use. Then, decide which model(s) (I – L) statements 5 – 10 refer to.

The paperless office

The concept of the paperless office was first introduced in a Businessweek magazine article back in the mid-1970s. Advocates say with
today’s technology, it is possible for every business to go paperless. There are many benefits, they say, of going paperless. Firstly,
1)_______________, especially online platforms for sharing and organising documents. Furthermore, there will be no more papers
stacked on desks or lost documents. Documents in a digital format can be stored on a server or cloud account for easy access and
retrieval. This reduces the time it takes to do things, increasing productivity and customer satisfaction. In addition, the paperless office
saves money and resources such as paper, ink cartridges, other stationery, printers and physical filing systems. This means offices are
‘going green’, i.e. becoming more ecologically sustainable. Critics of the concept question whether going digital really is greener and
more sustainable, since computer systems consume vast amounts of electricity. One study found that the average person uses nearly
two and half times more power on a single computer, than the power needed to produce all the paper they would need in a year.
Manufacturing computers creates not only substantial amounts of carbon dioxide but also non-biodegradable waste. There is also the
cost of dealing with obsolete equipment to consider. E-waste is a serious environmental problem. Another argument is that while
people have become used to reading on screen, certain things are more easily done on paper, such as brainstorming. Studies have
shown that paper helps people read faster, creates less fatigue and eyestrain, and enables people to engage with content in a far
more thoughtful and creative manner. A further consideration is the security of IT systems. A company is at risk if an employee’s
computer, tablet or smartphone is stolen or hacked. Encryption, data handling policies and restrictions are needed,
2)_______________. Finally, many organisations, fearing the breakdown of IT systems, still keep back-up hard-copies. The completely
paperless office is still rare today. According to latest paper-industry data, paper use is falling but only by 1% per year.
Hot-desking
Some experts say that the permanent office desk 3)_______________. They argue there are many good reasons to embrace this
change. For one thing, the positioning of people’s desks in offices is nearly always hierarchical. Lower level staff typically have more
undesirable desks located near noisy and busy areas, such as coffee machines, toilets and printers. Daylight is also one of the biggest
physical factors that makes some desks better than others. In the traditional office, the bosses get the best locations regardless of the
amount of time they actually spend at their desks. Hot-desking is now common in many of the world’s top businesses, including GE,
Deloitte, and Microsoft. ‘Hoteling’ technical solutions allow people to pre-book meeting rooms and desks (docking stations) online.
Some companies also combine designated desks for some staff with collaborative space for teams to work on projects. It is argued
that it is good for people from all disciplines to get a chance to sit next to each other and learn about what they do. Hot-desking also
allows companies to use space efficiently and reduce costs. Staff are often out on visits or working remotely or doing flexitime.
According to a recent Financial Times report, desks and meeting rooms go unused for at least 30% of the working day in many
organisations. With the high cost of office space in major cities (e.g. in London it costs up to £1,698 per square metre a year),
4)_______________. On the other hand, detractors say hot-desking is only a free-for-all in theory. Humans are naturally territorial and
so people are very reluctant to give up their own designated desks. In reality, people will often have desks they habitually sit at and
that others leave free in deference to them, especially if they are more senior staff. Some people complain that it takes more time to
set up work for the day at a docking station that is not their regular designated desk. It also takes time at the end of the day clearing
the desk and putting personal possessions in lockers. There are also complaints about more cramped conditions and lower
productivity due to more noise and distractions in the hot-desking office.

A. which may be really costly E. certain tools needn’t be used

B. cannot be replaced by anything F. is definitely a thing of the past

C. there are benefits of digital tools G. it won’t eventually pay off

D. but never in such a case H. this represents a huge waste

According to the texts above, which office type...

5. ... contrasts with innate human preferences? I. The paperless office

6. ... is an excellent time-saving solution? J. The hot-desking office
7. ... is utilised by lots of industry giants? K. Both office types
8. ... is egalitarian, at least by assumption? L. Neither office type
9. ... helps firms bring down expenditure?
10. ... is highly vulnerable to cyber crime?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Task 3 Reading comprehension 2 _______/10 p.

Read the article about a new drug and choose the best answer: a, b, or c to questions 1 – 5 below.
The new drug and its effects

Northwestern Medicine® scientists have newly identified a protein's key role in cell and physiological aging and have
developed -- in collaboration with Tohoku University in Japan - an experimental drug that inhibits the protein's effect and
prolonged the lifespan in a mouse model of accelerated aging. The rapidly aging mice fed the experimental drug lived more
than four times longer than a control group, and their lungs and vascular system were protected from accelerated aging, the
new study reports.
6)___________________
The experimental drug could potentially be used to treat human diseases that cause accelerated aging such as chronic kidney
disease, diabetes and HIV infection as well as the effects of cigarette smoking. “A drug like this could help reduce
complications in clinical conditions that reflect accelerated aging,” said Douglas Vaughan, M.D., author of the study. “This
would have a very robust effect in terms of prolonging life span.”
7)___________________
Vaughan is the chair of medicine and the Irving S. Cutter Professor at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
and physician-in chief at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
An innovative substance
This is a completely different target and different drug than anything else being investigated for potential effects in
prolonging life, Vaughan noted. While the experimental drug is in the early stages of testing, Vaughan said, “It makes sense
that this might be one component of a cocktail of drugs or supplements that a person might take in the future to extend their
healthy life.”
8)___________________
The study was published April 28 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The experimental drug, TM5441, is one
of only several chosen each year by the National Institute on Aging to be tested in its Interventions Testing Program, which
investigates treatments with the potential to extend lifespan and delay disease in mice. The discovery is the result of 25 years
of research by Vaughan's lab.
9)___________________
When cells or tissue age, they lose the ability to regenerate and secrete certain proteins, like a distinctive fingerprint. One of
those proteins, PAI-1 (plasminogen activator inhibitor) has been the focus of Vaughan's research, originally as it relates to
cardiovascular disease. “We made the intellectual leap between a marker of senescence and physiological aging,” Vaughan
said. “We asked: is this marker for cell aging one of the drivers or mechanisms of rapid physiological aging?”
10)___________________
For the study, he and colleagues used mice bred to be deficient in a gene (Klotho) that suppresses aging. These mice exhibit
accelerated aging in the form of arteriosclerosis, neurodegeneration, osteoporosis and emphysema and have much shorter
life spans than regular mice. Vaughan determined that these rapidly aging mice produce increased levels of PAI-1 in their
blood and tissue. Then scientists fed the rapidly aging mice TM5441 -- the experimental drug -- in their food every day. The
result was a decrease in PAI-1 activity (the aging protein Vaughan's team had identified), which quadrupled the mice's life
span and kept their organs healthy and functioning.
Breeding long-living mice
Northwestern scientists also genetically produced the same life prolonging results when they crossed the mice deficient in
the age-suppressing gene with mice deficient in PAI-1. Importantly, partial genetic deficiency of PAI-1 and the experimental
PAI-1 antagonist produced provided similar benefits in the mice, Vaughan noted.

1. The new experimental drug 4. In Vaughan’s study,

a. is the invention of Japanese scientists
b. has not been used to treat human diseases
c. can potentially stop people from smoking
2. Vaughan says the new drug
a. could become the only component of new supplements
b. might be used as a source of protein in supplements
c. may help people to make their life longer
3. The Interventions Testing Program
a. deals with drugs that may prolong life
b. investigates a lot of different drugs
a. mice with an additional gene were used to test the drug
b. scientists worked with mice that got older more quickly
c. mice didn’t get diseases such as osteoporosis
5. PAI-1 activity
a. decreases in mice that get TM5441 in their food
b. is very limited in mice that do not have the Klotho gene
c. can be intensified using the new experimental drug
 c. allowed Vaughan to do research for 25 years

Now choose the best heading (A – F) for each paragraph 6 – 10. There is one heading you should not use.

A. The project’s originator D. Scientific bodies & literature

B. Potential applications E. The experiment explained
C. The aging factor discovered F. The data that can mislead
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

PART III USE OF ENGLISH (20 p.)

Task 5 Use of English _______ /5

p

1. One of the useful management skills is the ability to ____________ tasks. PRIORITY
2. The staff were trained how to be ____________ to the customers' needs. RESPOND
3. She could never make up her mind about anything – she was so _____________. DECIDE
4. The company's share prices grew _____________ over the last few months. SUBSTANCE
5. John's gone on a temporary ___________ to Paris to work in the Finance Department there. SECOND

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Task 6. Use of English 2 _______ / 8 p.

Read the text and complete it with ONE word in each gap. Write your answers in the box below.

The future at your fingertips

There is a scene in the film Minority Report in (0) WHICH Tom Cruise stands in front of a vast Perspex-like
screen housed in the police department's Pre-Crime Unit. He gazes in earnest at the transparent surface, waving his hands across the tablet
to swirl great chunks of text and moving images across the screen to form a storyboard of yet-to-be-committed crimes. With a simple twist
of his finger or a flick of his wrist, pictures expand and enlarge, words scroll , and whole trains of thought come to tangible fruition ( 1) ____
there on the board. The year is 2054.
Yet it seems the era of true touch-screen technology is (2)______here. Indeed, when Apple boss Steve Jobs unveiled the
iPhone in San Francisco a few years ago, he grandly declared: "We're reinventing the cell phone."
(3) ________ of the main reasons for Jobs' bold claim was the iPhone's futuristic user interface -"multi-touch".
As demonstrated on stage by Jobs (4) _______ , multi-touch was created to make the most of the iPhone's large screen.
Unlike most existing smart phones, the iPhone has only one conventional button - all the rest of the controls appear on the screen,
adapting and morphing around your fingertips as you use the device, almost ( 5) _______ the giant tablet in Minority Report.
The demonstration iPhone handset certainly looked like re-invention, but multi-touch, while it was new for Apple, is
( 6) __________no means a new technology. The concept has been around for years, waiting for the hardware
side of the equation to get small enough, smart enough and cheap enough to make it a reality. While it stil l remains
something of a novelty now, there's a good chance that the ( 7) _______ years will bring many more computers and consumer gadgets
that depend wholly or ( 8) _______ on multi-touch concepts.

1. 5.
2. 6.
3. 7.
4. 8.

Task 7. Use of English 3 _______ / 7 p.

Complete the sentence so that it has a similar meaning. You must use between three and six words, including the word
given but you must not alter it in any way.

1. Paul tends to play his music loudly when he's not feeling very happy. HABIT
Paul is ______________________his music loudly when he is not feeling very happy.
2. They could easily win the game. CHANCE
They _____________________________ the game.
 3. Icy road conditions are thought to have caused the accident. BROUGHT
The accident seems to _________________________ the icy road conditions.
4. Ben needs to clean his car. HIGH
lt's _________________________________ his car.
5. I didn't find it hard to answer their questions. DIFFICULTY
I _____________________________________ their questions.
6. You should never leave the baby alone under any circumstances. SHOULD
Under ___________________________________ be left alone.
7. Women outnumber men by two to one on the art course. TWICE
There ______________________________________ men on the art course.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

PART IV WRITING (20 p.)

Write a REPORT or a FORMAL EMAIL of 200-250 words following the points provided below.

Task 1

You have just finished a three-week study and work programme in an English-speaking country. You studied English language
in the mornings and worked for a local company in the afternoons. The programme organiser has asked you to write a report
about your experience. In your report, you should:

 evaluate the programme,

 explain which part of the programme was more useful
 describe any problems you have had
 suggest changes you would recommend for next year’s programme.

Task 2

Lodz University of Technology is offering an exchange opportunity co-financed by EU Erasmus Programme. Write your email
in the appropriate style in 200-250 words, containing the following elements:

 your academic results and qualifications;

 any relevant features of character and information that would make you a viable candidate for the exchange;
 ask about the duration of your stay at the host institution;
 ask about the ECTS points you will receive when completing your course.

NOTE: all applicants have to have a certified command of English or a foreign language of the host institution at

intermediate level and have been credited with at least a semester of a university course at their home institution.

Writing: Grading Scale

Organisation: Accuracy: Range: Register: Total: Comments:

0-5 points 0-6 points 0-6 points 0-3 points 20 points