PRACTICE TEST 6

A. LISTENING (50 points)

Part 1. Listen and complete the notes below. Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS OR A NUMBER
for each answer. Write your answers in the corresponding numbered boxes. (10 points)

Student is studying 1. ....................................

Student is in the 2. .................................. year of the course.
Position Available Where Problem
Receptionist In the Sport Centers 3. ..................................
Cleaner In the 5. .................................. Too early
4.................................. In the library Evening lectures

Part 2. You will hear an interview with a man called O’Toole, who works as a teacher trainer. Listen to
the conversation carefully and choose the correct answer A, B, C or D for each question. Write your
answers in the corresponding numbered boxes. (10 points).

1. Why are many teachers leaving the profession, according to Mike?

A. They don’t feel it is financially rewarding any more.
B. They are not being given the respect they once were.
C. They are investing too much in it without getting enough back.
D. They find the subject matter they have to teach too difficult.
2. Mike believes that without radical changes _______
A. education in the UK will begin to get worse.
B. UK schools will lose their ability to compete with one another.
C. the UK will soon no longer be a leader in education.
D. the educational system in the UK can be transformed.
3. The main failing of the UK education system is _______
A. the inability of students to use computers.
B. the resistance within schools to the introduction of technology.
C. the failure of government to invest in hardware for schools.
D. the lack of training for teachers in the use of technology in the classroom.
4. Why is teacher training failing teachers, according to Mike?
A. It is not helping them to keep pace with developments.
B. It does not use technology in its training classrooms.
C. It uses hardware and software that are out of date.
D. It is suffering from a lack of trainers with specialist knowledge.
5. Teachers can only benefit from technology if _______
A. they cease to see it as a threat.
B. they can combine it with traditional methods.
C. they are allowed to use it in their own way.
D. they are willing to research its possibilities on their own.
Part 3. You will hear a lecture about the history of April Fools’ Day. Decide whether the statements are
true (T) or false (F). Write your answers in the corresponding numbered boxes. (10 points)
1. April Fools’ Day is for people who love magic tricks.
2. A TV program in the UK broadcast that spaghetti grew on trees on April 4th, 1957.
3. Hundreds of people fell for the spaghetti-growing-on-trees prank.
4. People know for a fact that April Fools’ Day originated in France.
5. People who continued to celebrate New Year’s Day on April 1st after the change were called “April
fools.”
Part 4: You will hear a radio report about summer jobs for students. For questions 1-10, complete the
sentences with NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each gap. Write your answers in the
corresponding numbered boxes. (20 points)

The Jersey Farm Company is looking for students aged (1) __________________________
There are two types of work available in (2) __________________________ and administrative jobs.
Students working at social functions are needed at least (3) __________________________
The catering staff take responsibility for serving guest, setting and (4) __________________________
tables.
The office work involves taking (5) __________________________, doing seating plans and receiving
guests.
Experience in (6) __________________________ is required to deal with e-mail, faxes and filing.
For students who want to do delivery work, a (7) __________________________is required.
The rate of payment is (8) __________________________ an hour.
Students can expect to work (9) __________________________ hours a week.
During the academic year, (10) a __________________________job in the farm restaurant is available.
B. LEXICO - GRAMMAR (50 points)
Part 1. Choose one of the words marked A, B, C, or D which best completes each of the following
sentences. Write your answers in the corresponding numbered boxes. (20 points)
1. I assure you that I _________ no hostile feelings towards you.
A. shelter B. harbour C. embrace D. cover
2. The salesman demonstrated how a push of the button would cause the aerial to _________.
A. rebound B. retreat C. recoil D. retract
3. He cannot _________ ignorance as his excuse; he should have known what was happening in his own
department.
A. insist B. plead C. refer D. defend
4. I thought I had made it_________ that I didn’t want to discuss this matter.
A. distinct B. plain C. frank D. straight
5. Maria is a very good student. She is, __________, an excellent one.
A. in most parts B. for most parts
C. for the most part D. in most of the parts
6. _________ is a belief generally held by people who live in colder climates.
A. That weather affects a person’s mood
B. Weather affects a person’s mood
C. A person’s mood is affected by weather
D. Although a person’s mood is affected by weather
7. In the director’s opinion, it was high time the actress began to _________ her age.
A. be B. reach C. act D. perform
8. As soon as he read the letter, tears _________ in his eyes.
A. filled in B. soaked up C. welled up D. weighed down
9. Whenever he watched detective films, his imagination ran _________.
A. raging B. riot C. unchecked D. furious
10. He had such a bad stomach that he was _________ with pain.
A. bent down B. folded over C. snapped off D. doubled up
11. State pensions are currently at the centre of a(n) _________ debate.
A. scorching B. fiery C. exploded D. flamed
12. I didn’t suspect anything at first, but when I noticed her going through the office drawers I began to
smell _________.
A. a rat B. a pig C. a culprit D. a thief
13. Did you see Jonathan this morning? He looked like _________. It must have been quite a party last
night.
A. a wet blanket B. a dead duck
C. death warmed up D. a bear with a sore head
14. If you have a minor illness, it’s usually better just to let the nature take its _________.
A. time B. path C. way D. course
15. The little children watched the performance in _________ amazement.
A. wide-eyed B. open-eyed C. eagle-eyed D. hawk-eyed
16. That’s exactly what I mean, Tom. You’ve _________!
A. put your foot in it B. killed two birds with one stone
C. put two and two together D. hit the nail on the head
17. You are advised not to engage in _________ activity during very hot weather.
A. strenuous B. strained C. stringent D. stern
18. Critics agree that Trevor Richmond gave a particular _________performance as King Lear.
A. holding B. arresting C. apprehensive D. detaining

19. She found the novel absolutely _________ and impossible to put down.
A. riveting B. pinning C. enfastening D. nailing
20. _________, scientists have greatly increased the yield of crops such as corn, rice, and wheat.
A. As using the laws of genetics B. Using the laws of genetics
C. The laws of genetics D. The laws of genetics are to be used
Part 2. Read the following text which contains 10 mistakes. Identify the mistakes and write the
corrections in the corresponding numbered boxes. (10 points)
LINE RAIN MAKING
0 When it rains, it doesn't always pour. During a typical storm, a comparative small amount of the
1 locking up moisture in each cloud reaches the ground like rain. So the idea that human
2 intervention a rain dance, perhaps - might encourage the sky to give up a little additional water
3 has been around in prehistoric times. More recently, would-be rain-makers have attempted direct
4 intervention, by lobbing various chemicals out of aeroplanes in the effort to wring more rain from
5 the clouds, a practice knowing as 'cloud seeding'.
6 Yet such techniques, which were first developed in the 1940s, are notoriously difficult to
7 evaluate. It is hard to ascertain, for example, how much rain would have fallen anyway. So,
8 though much anecdotal evidence of the advantages of cloud seeding, that has led to its adoption
9 in more than 40 countries around the world, as far as scientists are concerned, results are still
10 inconclusive. That could be about to changing. For the past three years researchers have been
11 carrying out the most extensive and rigorous evaluation to date of a revolutionarily new technique
12 which will substantially boost the volume of rainfall.
13 The preliminary finding of their experiments indicate that solid evidence of the technique's
14 effectiveness is now within the scientists' grasp.
15
16
Part 3. Complete each of the following sentences with a suitable preposition or particle. Write your
answer in the boxes provided. (10 points)
1. Winter is coming. It's getting darker and the days are really starting to draw ______________.
2. The unforeseen expense on the new house ate ______________ my savings but it was worth it.
3. Gareth Bale is a brilliant young footballer who is ______________ the up and up.
4. We were walking through the woods when we chanced ______________ a trap set by hunters.
5. Running ______________ your workmates certainly doesn’t influence the atmosphere in the office in a
positive way, so I expect you to stop doing that from now on.
6. It took Terry a while to cotton ______________ the fact I was joking.
7. There’s no point lashing ______________ at Dr. Baker. She’s not responsible for what’s happened.
8. That chair is not very strong. Do you think it is ______________your weight?
9. I wish you wouldn’t fly ______________me like that every time I make a mistake.
10. I don’t know what happened. I was just sitting at my desk and I suddenly blacked ______________
for a few minutes.

Part 4. Give the correct form of the words in brackets. Write your answers in the corresponding
numbered boxes. (10 points)
SWANS
Swans are graceful long-necked, heavy-bodied, big-footed birds that glide majestically when
swimming and fly slowly with (1. HURRY) wingbeats and necks outstretched. They migrate in a diagonal
(2.FORM) at great heights. No other waterfowl moves as fast on the water or in the air. Swans are social
except in the breeding season. When they mate, it is for life. (3. COURT) involves mutual bill dipping or
head-to-head posturing. The female incubates, on average, a half-dozen pale; in some species he takes his
turn at brooding. After repulsing an enemy, swans utter a (4. TRIUMPH) note as geese do. The young,
although capable of running and swimming a few hours after hatching, are (5. CARE) tended for several
months. Juvenile birds may ride about on their mother’s back. These (6. MATURE) birds can be recognized
by their mottled grey or brown plumage which they wear for at least two years until reaching (7. ADULT)
in their third or fourth year. In (8. CAPTIVE) they can live for 50 years or more. There are approximately
7 to 8 species of Swan in (9. EXIST). The Southern Hemisphere has the only all black variety, whereas
South America is home to the black-necked swan, an especially (10. AGREE) but beautiful bird.
C. READING (60 points)
Part 1. Read the following passage and decide which answer (A, B, C, or D) best fits each gap. Write
your answers in corresponding numbered boxes. (15 pts)
Very few of us would admit putting much trust in horoscopes and the fact that the movements of
astronomical bodies (1) ___________ to earthly occurrences affecting peoples’ everyday lives.
We all know about the zodiac signs which reflect the position of the sun, the moon and the planets
at the moment of a man’s birth and about the peculiar characteristics (2)___________ to them by
astrologers. We say we will take these phenomena with a (3)___________ of salt while we keep running
our eyes over them in every tabloid we (4)___________ our hands on. Most frequently, we expect
horoscopes to predict the future, to (5)___________ our optimistic mood with a piece of comforting
information or to (6)___________ our ego by confirming the superlative features that we tend to attribute
to our zodiacs.
 However, there’s no scientific evidence to corroborate the assumption that human existence is so
closely (7)___________ with the parameters of the celestial bodies. Our curiosity in horoscopes may, then,
stem our sheer fascination with the horoscopes offer, thus establishing the sense of our (8)___________ an
extreme power over our own lives. An additional explanation is that humans tend to have a soft
(9)___________ for any form of flattery, which is the fact to which astrologers and the horoscope writers
seem to (10)____________ the greatest deal of weight.
1. A. rely B. correspond C. match D. compare
2. A. identified B. associated C. incorporated D. ascribed
3. A. speck B. pinch C. grain D. scrap
4. A. settle B. draw C. grab D. lay
5. A. restore B. adjust C. upgrade D. reassure
6. A. boost B. escalate C. revitalize D. improve
7. A. fused B. adhered C. coalesced D. intertwined
8. A. disposing B. wielding C. effecting D. committing
9. A. pit B. dot C. spot D. nick
10. A. instill B. consign C. fasten D. attach
Part 2. Read the text below and think of the word which best fits each space. Use only ONE word in each
space. Write your answers in the corresponding numbered boxes. (15 points)
During the last 25 years, Britain's urban sparrow population has declined by as (0) _MUCH _ as
two-thirds, and the bird has almost disappeared from many of (1) _________ former haunts. The decline
has been blamed on everything from cats to garden pesticides. Moreover, modern buildings have far (2)
_________ few nooks and crannies (3) _________ the birds can nest. Factors (4) _________ these may
well be involved, but alone they fail to explain the severity of the decline, or the fact that other urban birds
have been less affected.

Denis Summers-Smith is the world's leading expert on sparrows, so when he (5) _________ up
with a theory to explain their decline, it has to be (6) _________ listening to. He suggests that the culprit is
a chemical added to unleaded petrol. It would be deeply ironic if a policy that was intended to improve the
nation's health was to prove responsible for the decline of (7) _________ of its favourite species.

According to Summers-Smith, social species such as the sparrow require a minimum population in
a specific area to breed successfully. If, (8) _________ whatever reason, numbers drop (9) _________ this
threshold, the stimulus to breed disappears. The most dramatic example is the passenger pigeon, which in
the late nineteenth century went from (10) _________ the world's most common bird to total extinction
within 50 years.

Part 3. Read the passage and choose the best option A, B, C, or D to answer the questions. Write your
answers in the corresponding numbered boxes. (15 points)
The Creators of Grammar
No student of a foreign language needs to be told that grammar is complex. By changing word
sequences and by adding a range of auxiliary verbs and suffixes, we are able to communicate tiny variations
in meaning. We can turn a statement into a question, state whether an action has taken place or is soon to
take place, and perform many other word tricks to convey subtle differences in meaning. Nor is this
complexity inherent to the English language. All languages, even those of so-called 'primitive' tribes have
clever grammatical components. The Cherokee pronoun system, for example, can distinguish between 'you
and I', 'several other people and I' and 'you, another person and I'. In English, all these meanings are
summed up in the one, crude pronoun 'we'. Grammar is universal and plays a part in every language, no
matter how widespread it is. So the question which has baffled many linguists is - who created grammar?
At first, it would appear that this question is impossible to answer. To find out how grammar is
created, someone needs to be present at the time of a language's creation, documenting its
emergence. Many historical linguists are able to trace modern complex languages back to earlier languages,
but in order to answer the question of how complex languages are actually formed, the researcher needs to
observe how languages are started from scratch. Amazingly, however, this is possible.
Some of the most recent languages evolved due to the Atlantic slave trade. At that time, slaves
from a number of different ethnicities were forced to work together under colonizer's rule. Since they had
no opportunity to learn each other's languages, they developed a make-shift language called a
pidgin. Pidgins are strings of words copied from the language of the landowner. They have little in the
way of grammar, and in many cases it is difficult for a listener to deduce when an event happened, and who
did what to whom. [A] Speakers need to use circumlocution in order to make their meaning
understood. [B] Interestingly, however, all it takes for a pidgin to become a complex language is for a
group of children to be exposed to it at the time when they learn their mother tongue. [C] Slave children
did not simply copy the strings of words uttered by their elders, they adapted their words to create a new,
expressive language. [D] Complex grammar systems which emerge from pidgins are termed creoles, and
they are invented by children.
Further evidence of this can be seen in studying sign languages for the deaf. Sign languages are
not simply a series of gestures; they utilise the same grammatical machinery that is found in spoken
languages. Moreover, there are many different languages used worldwide. The creation of one such
language was documented quite recently in Nicaragua. Previously, all deaf people were isolated from each
other, but in 1979 a new government introduced schools for the deaf. Although children were taught speech
and lip reading in the classroom, in the playgrounds they began to invent their own sign system, using the
gestures that they used at home. It was basically a pidgin. Each child used the signs differently, and there
was no consistent grammar. However, children who joined the school later, when this inventive sign
system was already around, developed a quite different sign language. Although it was based on the signs
of the older children, the younger children's language was more fluid and compact, and it utilised a large
range of grammatical devices to clarify meaning. What is more, all the children used the signs in the same
way. A new creole was born.
Some linguists believe that many of the world's most established languages were creoles at
first. The English past tense –ed ending may have evolved from the verb 'do'. 'It ended' may once have
been 'It end-did'. Therefore it would appear that even the most widespread languages were partly created
by children. Children appear to have innate grammatical machinery in their brains, which springs to life
when they are first trying to make sense of the world around them. Their minds can serve to create logical,
complex structures, even when there is no grammar present for them to copy.

Question 1: In paragraph 1, why does the writer include information about the Cherokee language?

A. To show how simple, traditional cultures can have complicated grammar structures
B. To show how English grammar differs from Cherokee grammar
C. To prove that complex grammar structures were invented by the Cherokees.
D. To demonstrate how difficult it is to learn the Cherokee language
Question 2: What can be inferred about the slaves' pidgin language?
A. It contained complex grammar.
B. It was based on many different languages.
C. It was difficult to understand, even among slaves.
D. It was created by the land-owners.
Question 3: All the following sentences about Nicaraguan sign language are true EXCEPT:
A. The language has been created since 1979.
B. The language is based on speech and lip reading.
C. The language incorporates signs which children used at home.
D. The language was perfected by younger children.
Question 4: In paragraph 3, where can the following sentence be placed?
“It included standardised word orders and grammatical markers that existed in neither the pidgin
language, nor the language of the colonizers” .
A. [A] B. [B] C. [C] D. [D]
Question 5: 'From scratch' in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to:
A. from the very beginning
B. in simple cultures
C. by copying something else
D. by using written information
Question 6: 'Make-shift' in paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to:
A. complicated and expressive
B. simple and temporary
C. extensive and diverse
D. private and personal
Question 7: Which sentence is closest in meaning to the highlighted sentence?
Grammar is universal and plays a part in every language, no matter how widespread it is.
A. All languages, whether they are spoken by a few people or a lot of people, contain grammar.
B. Some languages include a lot of grammar, whereas other languages contain a little.
C. Languages which contain a lot of grammar are more common that languages that contain a little.
D. The grammar of all languages is the same, no matter where the languages evolved.
Question 8: All of the following are features of the new Nicaraguan sign language EXCEPT:
A. All children used the same gestures to show meaning.
B. The meaning was clearer than the previous sign language.
C. The hand movements were smoother and smaller.
D. New gestures were created for everyday objects and activities.
Question 9: Which idea is presented in the final paragraph?
A. English was probably once a creole.
B. The English past tense system is inaccurate.
C. Linguists have proven that English was created by children.
D. Children say English past tenses differently from adults.
Question 10: Look at the word 'consistent' in paragraph 4. This word could best be replaced by which
of the following?
A. natural B. predictable C. imaginable D. uniform

Part 4. Read the text and do the following tasks. (15 points)
TRY IT AND SEE
In the social sciences, it is often supposed that there can be no such
thing as a controlled experiment. Think again.
A. In the scientific pecking order, social scientists are usually looked down on by their peers in the natural
sciences. Natural scientists do experiments to test their theories or, if they cannot, they try to look for natural
phenomena that can act in lieu of experiments. Social scientists, it is widely thought, do not subject their
own hypotheses to any such rigorous treatment. Worse, they peddle their untested hypotheses to
governments and try to get them turned into policies.
B. Governments require sellers of new medicines to demonstrate their safety and effectiveness. The
accepted gold standard of evidence is a randomised control trial, in which a new drug is compared with the
best existing therapy (or with a placebo, if no treatment is available). Patients are assigned to one arm or
the other of such a study at random, ensuring that the only difference between the two groups is the new
treatment. The best studies also ensure that neither patient nor physician knows which patient is allocated
to which therapy. Drug trials must also include enough patients to make it unlikely that chance alone may
determine the result.
C. But few education programmes or social initiatives are evaluated in carefully conducted studies prior to
their introduction. A case in point is the ‘whole-language’ approach to reading, which swept much of the
English-speaking world in the 1970s and 1980s. The whole-language theory holds that children learn to
read best by absorbing contextual clues from texts, not by breaking individual words into their component
parts and reassembling them (a method known as phonics). Unfortunately, the educational theorists who
pushed the whole-language notion so successfully did not wait for evidence from controlled randomised
trials before advancing their claims. Had they done so, they might have concluded, as did an analysis of 52
randomised studies carried out by the US National Reading Panel in 2000, that effective reading instruction
requires phonics.
D. To avoid the widespread adoption of misguided ideas, the sensible thing is to experiment first and make
policy later. This is the idea behind a trial of restorative justice which is taking place in the English courts.
The experiment will include criminals who plead guilty to robbery. Those who agree to participate will be
assigned randomly either to sentencing as normal or to participation in a conference in which the offender
comes face-to-face with his victim and discusses how he may make emotional and material restitution. The
purpose of the trial is to assess whether such restorative justice limits re-offending. If it does, it might be
adopted more widely.
E. The idea of experimental evidence is not quite as new to the social sciences as sneering natural scientists
might believe. In fact, randomised trials and systematic reviews of evidence were introduced into the social
sciences long before they became common in medicine. An apparent example of random allocation is a
study carried out in 1927 of how to persuade people to vote in elections. And randomised trials in social
work were begun in the 1930s and 1940s. But enthusiasm later waned. This loss of interest can be attributed,
at least in part, to the fact that early experiments produced little evidence of positive outcomes. Others
suggest that much of the opposition to experimental evaluation stems from a common philosophical malaise
among social scientists, who doubt the validity of the natural sciences, and therefore reject the potential of
knowledge derived from controlled experiments. A more pragmatic factor limiting the growth of evidence-
based education and social services may be limitations on the funds available for research.
F. Nevertheless, some 11,000 experimental studies are known in the social sciences {compared with over
250,000 in the medical literature). Randomised trials have been used to evaluate the effectiveness of driver-
education programmes, job- training schemes, classroom size, psychological counselling for post-traumatic
stress disorder and increased investment in public housing. And where they are carried out, they seem to
have a healthy dampening effect on otherwise rosy interpretations of the observations.
G. The problem for policymakers is often not too few data, but what to make of multiple and conflicting
studies. This is where a body called the Campbell Collaboration comes into its own. This independent non-
profit organisation is designed to evaluate existing studies, in a process known as a systematic review. This
means attempting to identify every relevant trial of a given question (including studies that have never been
published), choosing the best ones using clearly defined criteria for quality, and combining the results in a
statistically valid way. An equivalent body, the Cochrane Collaboration, has produced more than 1,004
such reviews in medical fields. The hope is that rigorous review standards will allow Campbell, like
Cochrane, to become a trusted and authoritative source of information.

For questions 1-6, choose the correct heading for paragraphs A-F from the list of headings below
Write the correct number, i-ix.
List of Headings
i. Why some early social science methods lost popularity
ii. The cost implications of research
iii. Looking ahead to an unbiased assessment of research
iv. A range of social issues that have been usefully studied
v. An example of a poor decision that was made too quickly
vi. What happens when the figures are wrong
vii. One area of research that is rigorously carried out
viii. The changing nature of medical trials
ix. An investigative study that may lead to a new system
x. Why some scientists’ theories are considered second-rate

Example: Paragraph A Answer: X

1. Paragraph B
2. Paragraph C
3. Paragraph D
4. Paragraph E
5. Paragraph F
6. Paragraph G
For questions 7-10, complete the summary below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from
the passage for each answer.
Fighting Crime
Some criminals in England are agreeing to take part in a trial designed to help reduce their chances
of 7 …………………... . The idea is that while one group of randomly selected criminals undergoes the
usual 8 ………………….. the other group will discuss the possibility of making some repayment for the
crime by meeting the 9 ………………….. . It is yet to be seen whether this system, known
as 10 ………………….. will work.
D. WRITING (40 points)
Part 1. Finish each of the following sentences in such a way that it means the same as the one printed
before it. Write your answers in the space provided. (10 points)
1. The first sign of the disease is blurred vision.
The onset __________________________________________________________________.
2. I will only be satisfied if the manager apologizes fully.
Nothing short _______________________________________________________________.
3. Julia isn’t to blame for the negligence by any means.
Byno means _______________________________________________________________.
4. It rumored that we will have a new manager.
Rumor has _________________________________________________________________.
5. No one stands a chance of beating Mansell in this year’s championship.
It’s a foregone ______________________________________________________________.
Part 2. Rewrite the sentences below in such a way that their meanings stay the same. You must use the
words in capital without changing their forms. Write your answers in the space provided (10 points)
1. I remained neutral during their disagreement because I like both of them. (SIDES)
________________________________________________________________________
2. A great many people will congratulate her if she wins. (SHOWERED)
3. He is a generous person. (NAME)
________________________________________________________________________
4. Several runners have withdrawn from the race because of health problems. (BACKED)
________________________________________________________________________
5. Returning from the battle, they had no money left. (RUB)
______________________________________________________________________
Part 3. Essay writing (20 points)
Competitiveness is considered a positive quality among people.
Do you agree with this statement? Write an essay of 200-250 words to state your viewpoint.