EXAM PRACTICE 17

SECTION A: GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY (50 pts)

I. Choose the best option (A, B, C or D) to complete each of the sentences. Write the answer on
the Candidate Answer Sheet. (20 pts)
1. John is the _______ of his parents’ eye. In fact, they love him more than any other in the family.
A. orange B. grape C. apple D. banana
2. The _______ to make quick decisions is vital in an emergency.
A. ability B. knowledge C. skill D. talent
3. She’s going to have her room _______ next week.
A. painting B. be painted C. painted D. paint
4. I would rather you _______ the office phone for personal purposes.
A. shouldn’t use B. didn’t use C. not to use D. mustn’t use
5. When celebrities behave badly, it can have a negative influence _______ young people.
A. for B. on C. in D. to
6. She’s been spending money like it’s going out of _______.
A. fashion B. habit C. custom D. trend
7. We might be able to persuade more people to use the bus, but it is _______ impossible to stop
people from driving cars altogether.
A. highly B. absolutely C. very D. a little
8. I watched the play until the end of the first act, _______ I found I had seen enough.
A. on which point B. at that point C. from which point D. at which point
9. We've been together through _______ in our friendship, and we will never desert each other.
A. bad and good B. thick and thin C. odds and ends D. long and short
10. It took the jury some time to _______ the conclusion that she was guilty.
A. show B. solve C. reach D. come
11. She is traveling to work by train today because her car is being _______.
A. stopped B. broken C. serviced D. driven
12. He was told that _______ his work improved, he would lose the job.
A. unless B. if not C. otherwise D. meanwhile
13. James never shows his emotions; no matter what happens, he always keeps a stiff upper _______.
A. mouth B. eye C. head D. lip
14. His passion for food _______, so after leaving school, Adriano went on to study cookery in a nearby
city.
A. raised B. grew C. extended D. enlarged
15. Given the rapid growth of our population, there is a _______ need to improve our infrastructure.
A. pressing B. huge C. booming D. catastrophic
16. _______ amount of encouragement would make him jump into the pool.
A. No B. None C. Never D. Not only
17. The poor child was in floods of _______ because his bicycle had been stolen.
A. weeping B. crying C. tears D. unhappiness
18. It is imperative that everyone _______ punctual for this afternoon’s conference.

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 A. is B. must be C. be D. will be
19. The mosquito bite made my eyelid _______ and I couldn’t open my eye properly.
A. grow B. swell C. spread D. stretch
20. Mr. Brown is writing a book about his experiences. He ______ two chapters.
A. has been writing B. wrote C. has written D. has been written
II. Use the word given in capitals at the end of some of the lines to form a word that fits in the
gap on the same line. Write the answer on the Candidate Answer Sheet. (10 pts)

The position of sport in today’s society has changed out of all (1)_______. 1. RECOGNIZE
People no longer seem to think of sport as ‘just a game’ – to be watched or
played for the sake of enjoyment. Instead, it has become big business
worldwide. It has become accepted practice for (2)_________ companies to 2. LEAD
(3)_________ sponsorship. TV companies pay large sums of money to 3. PROVISION
screen important matches or (4)_________. The result has been huge 4. COMPETE
(5)_________ rewards for athletes, some of whom are now very wealthy, 5. FINANCE
particularly top footballers, golfers and tennis players. In addition, it is not
(6)_________ for some athletes to receive large fees on top of their salary, 6. USUALLY
for advertising products or making personal (7)_________. 7. DISAPPEAR
A trend towards shorter working hours means that people (8)_________ 8. GENERAL
tend to have more free time, both to watch and take part in sporting activity;
sport has become a (9)_________ part of the recreation industry that we now 9. SIGNIFY
rely on to fill our leisure hours. Professional sport is a vital part of that
industry, providing (10)_________ for millions of ordinary people all over the 10. PLEASE
world.

III. Complete each of the following sentences with one suitable phrasal verb. Change the form
of the verb if necessary. Write the answer on the Candidate Answer Sheet. (10 pts)

put off come down ward off go with run out of

mix up run for slow down hang over wear out

1. The little girl said, “Digital cameras have ______ in price. Let’s get one for me, Mom.”
2. I am going to get some new boots this weekend. This pair is ______.
3. The test was ______ until the following week as so many students were absent.
4. I can only offer you black coffee as we’ve ______ milk.
5. Giving up smoking is just one of the ways to ______ disease.
6. My sister wanted to buy some curtains that would ______ his furniture, so she had brought a photo
of her sofa with her to the store.
7. Silence ______ the theatre as the audience awaited the opening curtain with expectation and
excitement.
8. Having seen a sharp bend ahead, Tim pressed hard on the brake pedal to ______.
9. Hillary Clinton ______ the American presidency in the election that took place last year.
10. He ______ his grandmother’s phone number with his girlfriend’s, which led to some embarrassment
for him.

IV. Read the text below carefully. There are TEN mistakes in the text. UNDERLINE each mistake
and write the correction on the corresponding line in the box provided. (10 pts)

True relax is most certainly not a matter of flopping down in Eg: relax à relaxation

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front of the television with a welcomed drink. Nor is it about drifting into
an exhausted sleep. Useful although these responses to tension and
(Write the answer on the
over-tired may be, we should distinguish between them and conscious
Candidate Answer
relaxation with terms of quality and effect. Irrespective of the level of Sheet.)
tiredness, real relaxation is a state of alert yet at the same time passive
awareness, in that our bodies are at rest while our minds are awake.
Moreover, it is as natural for a healthy person to be relaxed
when moving as resting. Be relaxed in action means we bring the
appropriate energy to everything we do, so as to have a feeling of
healthy tiredness by the end of the day, more than one of exhaustion.
Fortunately, as a result of living in today’s competitive world, we are
under constant strain and have difficulty in coping, let alone nurture our
body’s abilities. What needs to be rediscover is conscious relaxation.
With that in mind we must apply ourselves to understanding stress and
the nature of its deep-seated causes.

SECTION B: READING (30 pts)

I. Read the text below and decide which answer (A, B, C, or D) best fits each gap. Write the
answer on the Candidate Answer Sheet. (5 pts)

Norwich, a city in the east of England, is a popular shopping centre for thousands of people. In
particular, visitors love to explore the small, unusual shops (1)______ away in Norwich’s narrow
streets. The Mustard Shop is usually high on everybody’s list of (2)______ shops to see.
The (3)______ between mustard, a type of sauce, and Norwich (4)______ back to the
nineteenth century. Jeremiah Colman began to make mustard in 1814 in a nearby village. The yellow
fields, full (5)______ mustard flowers whose seeds were required for Colman’s factory, soon changed
the appearance of the local scenery. The company (6)______ rapidly and in 1854 it moved to a suburb
on the (7)______ of Norwich. By this time, Colman’s mustard was famous in many countries. The
company is still in existence and many people continue to enjoy eating mustard with meat, cheese and
other food.
In 1973, the company opened The Mustard Shop. It is a careful reproduction of a typical
mustard shop of a hundred years ago and sells a wide (8)______ of mustards. Upstairs there is a small
museum (9)______ visitors can examine a collection of old Colman’s posters and an exhibition
explaining the history of mustard. It is a shop not to be (10)______ when visiting Norwich.

1. A. hidden B. hide C. hiding D. hid

2. A. interest B. interested C. interesting D. interests
3. A. join B. tie C. union D. link
4. A. comes B. goes C. belongs D. leads
5. A. in B. of C. about D. for
6. A. expanded B. enlarged C. increased D. strengthened
7. A. limits B. frontiers C. sides D. outskirts
8. A. amount B. extent C. range D. set
9. A. where B. which C. that D. whose
10. A. unnoticed B. missed C. escaped D. left

II. You are going to read a newspaper article written by an air traffic controller about her job. For
questions 1-15, choose from the paragraphs (A-F). The paragraphs may be chosen more than
once. When more than one answer is required, these may be given in any order.
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Write the answer on the Candidate Answer Sheet. (15 pts)

Which paragraph mentions the following?

the need for perseverance 1. _____

activity during rest periods 2. _____
a common misconception 3. _____
the importance of being able to work with others 4. _____
the variety of possible career paths open to controllers 5. _____
a source of personal satisfaction 6. _____ 7. _____
the advantage of the predictability in the working hours 8. _____
the writer’s previous experience in a related field 9. _____
informing others of changes 10. _____
the need for concentration 11. _____ 12. _____
receiving individual on-the-job guidance 13. _____
variety within the same job 14. _____ 15. _____

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS

Sonia Avogadro, 31, is an area controller at the London Terminal Control Centre, West Drayton, which
controls air space in South-East England.

A. My job is about giving instructions and any other relevant information to aircraft, so they can fly as
quickly and safely as possible. I work on air traffic flying into Gatwick, organizing the planes into a
neat sequence so they all come in one after another. I’m in constant radio contact with the pilots,
keeping them up-to-date on the weather and any unusual conditions or alterations in flight plans.
The main thing I need to monitor is the level or altitude I want them to fly at. A lot of people think
air-traffic controllers work in a control tower, but in fact, only 20 per cent do. They are the ones who
deal with take-offs and landings. Most of us work at area control centres away from the airport.

B. I work in shifts on radar for up to two hours, then I always have a half-hour break, where I’ll move
around and give my eyes a good rub. The breaks are for safety purposes. I suppose that working
shifts might not suit everybody. Because it’s a 24-hour business, there’s a lot of getting up early
and night shifts. We work a repetitive roster – two mornings, two afternoons, then two nights – so
there are six night-shifts a month. The good thing is that the shift pattern is always the same, so at
least you can plan your life around it.

C. The busier it is, the more you have to focus, but you really feel like you’ve achieved a lot. And it’s a
job that means something – you’re looking after people’s safety, so there’s a real consequence to
what you do. I really like the fact that it’s always different. You might be working with completely
different people, traffic, and weather conditions every day. And at the end of your shift, you take
your headset off and that’s it. You don’t have to take the job home with you.

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D. You’ve got to be the sort of person who can really focus on the task in hand, and process large
amounts of complete data. Because very complicated air traffic situations can happen extremely
quickly, you’ve got to be calm, stay on the ball, and react very quickly. You also need excellent
spatial awareness. And a key quality in the job is the need to be a good team player, someone who
can get on with a lot of different people.

E. I was an air hostess for a while after university, so I’ve seen the other side of the business. One
day, I went up to the control tower for a visit, and thought the job looked fascinating. So I applied,
and luckily I got a place to train. You have to spend up to 12 months at a college of air traffic
control, using super hi-tech computer simulators, so it’s almost like working in a real airspace
environment. Once you graduate from the college, you get posted to a unit where you do more
practical training, with the help of a mentor, for six months to two years. And when that’s finished,
you have to sit a final exam. I’d say that if you decide to apply, stick with it and be prepared for
some very tough training. It’s not a walk in the park, but it’s very rewarding once you get through it.

F. You get paid £10,000 while you’re training at the college, and once you’re fully qualified you could
progress to earning up to £85,000. There are lots of different job options at the control centres –
supervisors, watch managers. You could become an instructor at the college or you could just carry
on working as a tower or radar controller, expanding your repertoire and working on different
airspace areas.

III. Read the text below and think of the word which best fits each gap. Use only one word in
each gap. Write the answer on the Candidate Answer Sheet. (10 pts)

Even the most studious among you will probably have difficulty studying at some stage in your
academic career. If or when this (1)______, the only way to overcome this problem is to go back to
basics. First, make sure you have a (2)______ environment to study in. Some students need to have a
quiet space to themselves and can’t concentrate if there are too many (3)______. Others need some
sort of background noise, such as music or the company of friends. Whatever your personal preference
(4)______, you need to organize this first of all. Next, make sure you have all of the equipment or tools
(5)______ you need. For example, (6)______ you are taking a geography course and you have to
learn about countries and their capital cities then you will need to have your atlas to hand. If you’re
doing your maths homework then be sure to find your calculator, ruler, protractor and compass before
you start. Perhaps you’re not preparing a homework assignment or project, but are trying to revise for
an exam. If so, you need to know (7)______ what is on your curriculum. You should also review your
notes and make sure that you have a (8)______ understanding of what your lecturers have taught you.
Of course, people (9)______ a learning disorder such as dyslexia may need to work (10)______ than
others at their studies as they often struggle to read even relatively simple texts.

SECTION C: WRITING (20 pts)

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I. Complete each of the following sentences in such a way that it is closest in meaning to the
one printed before it, using the word given in CAPITALS. Do not alter the word given. Write the
answer on the Candidate Answer Sheet. (5 pts)

1. Last year the heavy rain caused the postponement of the tennis tournament. BECAUSE

Last year the tennis tournament ……………………………….. so heavily.

2. So far this year the cost of petrol has not increased. INCREASE

So far this year there ……………………………….. in the cost of petrol.

3. Such success has not been achieved by many players in the world of ice hockey. FEW

Only ……………………………….. such success in the world of ice hockey.

4. We discussed the problem but nobody had a solution. CAME

We discussed the problem but …………………………………… a solution.

5. People expect that tax cuts will be announced today. BE

Tax cuts ………………………………………………………..………… today.

II. Rewrite the sentences below beginning with the words given. Write the answer on the
Candidate Answer Sheet. (5 pts)

1. All the trees apart from that big apple tree were blown over in the storm.
That big apple tree was the……………………………………………………………………………….. .
2. That dress is a third of the cost of the blue one.
The blue dress is three……………………………………………………………………….……………. .
3. I was very annoyed by his refusal to listen to the reason.
What I found…………………………………………………………………………………………….…… .
4. You can choose from over fifty different dishes on our menu.
There is a wide ……………………………………………………………………………………………… .

5. “It was Pierre who left the door unlocked!” said Mary.

Mary accused ………………………………………………………………………………..…………... .

III. Write a paragraph to answer the question: “What makes you choose to study at a gifted
school?”
You should write about 150 words on the Candidate Answer Sheet. (10 pts)

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