PRACTICE TEST

I. LISTENING
PART 1: Match names 1-5 with the correct information A-G. Two letters are redundant. Use each letter ONCE.
(0.5p)
Geniuses without Education
A. objected to the approach to formal education B. worked for someone else until aged 21
C. acquired knowledge by reading all kinds of books D. worked in the same place as Twain
E. founded his own company F. believed that education really began after primary school
G. had alcohol addicted parents

1. Michael Faraday C 2. Mark Twain A 3. Benjamin Franklin D

4. Jimi Hendrix G 5. Nikola Tesla E
PART 2: Fill in each blank with NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR NUMBERS for each answer (1.0p)
Christmas songs
The ‘festive classic’ song by Bing Crosby was entitled (1) ‘White Christmas’.
For those involved in music industry, Christmas is the time of (2) [Big Business]
The (3) Christmas market is now dominated by certain songs which people tend to listen to year after year.
Mariah Carey’s Christmas hit was released in (4) 1994
‘All I want for Christmas is you’ has earned more than (5) $60 million dollars in total for the singer.
‘Last Christmas’ is still among top twenty all-time best-selling records in the (6) UK
ASCAP, BMI and SESAC granted over $2 billion to songwriters, composers and (7) music publishers last year.
Performance Rights Organizations monitor the time a song is (8) reproduced as a physical product.
In Britain, market researchers are hired to carry out (9) music surveys
‘Merry Xmas everybody’ by Noddy Holder is claimed to have been heard by (10) 42% of the world population.

II. LEXICO-GRAMMAR
PART 1. Choose the one word or phrase that best completes the sentences (2.0 points)
1. The doctor warned him that if he continued to pick the sore he would ____ it.
A. demolish B. designate C. exasperate D. aggravate
2. I bumped into John in Athens and he _____ me before I had time to speak first.
A. accosted B. ajar C. brawled D. jolted
3. I can't bear ___ in a child. Her cheek will not go unpunished.
A. decency B. vigilance C. grievance D. audacity
4. After his outburst, a long silence _____.
A. ensued B. eventuated C. supervened D. transpired
5. The book contains a great deal of _____ detail which makes it extremely lengthy.
A. serene B. peripheral C. atrocious D. diligent
6. He was filled with _____ for not believing her.
A. exasperation B. anguish C. indignation D. remorse
7. Some people go to great _____ to make their homes attractive.
A. distances B. strengths C. lengths D. efforts
8. Don't trust him; he's cruel, _____ and unscrupulous.
A. chivalrous B. slack C. treacherous D. trustworthy
9. Environmentalists are _____ bloody murder at what they perceive to be a total disregard for the environment in
some parts of the “Third World".
A. shouting B. yelling C. screaming D. calling
10. He was in an extreme state of _____ when his wife left him.
A. calamity B. mishap C. distress D. trial
11. Prices are _____ out of control.
A. spiralling B. coiling C. revolving D. curving
12. They were able to set sail when the storm _____.
A. enraged B. abated C. shrank D. permitted
13. He _____ avoided answering my questions.
A. adroitly B. intensely C. viciously D. austerely
14. The _____ of the company was sudden and unexpected.
A. dementia B. demise C. detachment D. amputation
15. Every aspect of their private lives has been laid ______ by the press.
A. flat B. open C. naked D. bare
16. Students with bachelor’s degrees can ____ postgraduate education to get master’s or doctoral degrees.
A. purchase B. pursue C. persuade D. perform
17. I can't wear that! I'd be a laughing _____.
A. source B. stack C. store D. stock
18. I hope he didn't think I was being _____ when I asked him about his private life.
A. affable B. dormant C. boisterous D. impertinent
19. The theatre faces closure unless it gets an urgent _____ of funds.
A. cluster B. injection C. conviction D. incurrence
20. The dealer wanted £40 and I was only willing to pay £30, but we finally agreed to _____ the difference
A. drop B. decrease C. split D. divide
PART 2: Give the correct forms of provided words to complete the passage (1.0 points)
1. The defence witnesses were found guilty of perjury. PERJURE
2. The judge said that the option was an irrevocable offer by the owner to sell. REVOKE
3. Burglars, trespassers, and even hardened criminals must be guaranteed basic rights. PASS
4. Fighting around the capital has intensified in the last few hours. INTENSE
5. A growing number of researchers have been taking a fresh look at large-scale ‘geo-engineering’ projects that might
be used to counteract global warming. ACT
6. Such a defamation might cause injury to the business goodwill of the corporation. FAME
7. The unions are unlikely to accept any sort of wage restraint. RESTRAIN
8. Fees in elite schools are prohibitively expensive. PROHIBIT
9. We can only hypothesize that the cases we know about are typical. HYPOTHESIS
10. John’s sister is an undergraduate at Oxford University. She’s going to earn her Bachelor’s degree next week.
GRADUATE

III. READING
PART 1: Read the following passage and choose the best option A, B, C or D to complete the passage. (1.0
point)
SHARING A ROOM
Everyone who goes to college knows how important it is to get along with a roommate. Well, at least, they know how
important it is after they have tried it. When I first went to college, I hadn’t (1) ___ it much thought. Until I was
introduced to Martin, that is. It's not that Martin was (2) ___ terrible monster or anything - just that we were, well,
incompatible. The (3) ___ sharing of the space didn't (4) ___ much of a problem. He had his side and I had mine; that
worked very well. No, the problem was more to (5) ___ with sharing time. Martin, you see, was a night (6) ___ and I
am not. So, when, at midnight, I was (7) ___ up in bed with a book. Martin was just (8) ___ started. And when, at
three in the morning, his friends were still coming round to pay a social visit, my smile was (9) ___ thin. Despite all
this, Martin and I remained (10) ___ friends throughout college. Surprised? OK, perhaps our friendship was helped
along a little by the fact that we were able to swap roommates after our first week.
1. A. paid B. given C. dedicated D. had
2. A. some B. much C. any D. little
3. A. real B. virtual C. actual D. potential
4. A. impose B. present C. introduced D. induced
5. A. cope B. come C. do D. link
6. A. owl B. eagle C. bird D. mare
7. A. plucked B. stucked C. sucked D. tucked
8. A. having B. being C. about D. getting
9. A. wearing B. fading C. breaking D. tearing
10. A. strong B. tight C. solid D. firm
PART 2: Fill in each blank in the following paragraph with a suitable word
EVENING CLASS
In (1) the 1960s, going to an evening class was something that poor people might do for a night out; it was a leisure
thing, something (2) to be enjoyed. You tried your hand (3) at anything that took your fancy, not with a (4) view to
improving your career prospects but simply because you wanted to see (5) what it was like. The central theme
guiding further education was strictly non-vocational; (6) there was never a particular goal at the end of it-it was all
done simply for fun. A woman once wandered (7) into my poetry class by mistake looking for the pottery class and
stayed on to become a pretty good poet. She was even published at one point. Non-vocational courses meant
freedom to experiment (8) because no qualifications or commitments were involved. It also meant freedom for
teachers for (9) whom teaching was (10) more of a hobby than a career. The teachers often had (11) little more
education than their students, but they came with practical experience in their particular art or craft. It was a
wonderful idea while it lasted.
That has all changed. The leisure-learning culture has been (12) dealt an almost fatal blow in the need for cost
cutting. In many institutes of further (13) education, creative courses have been (14) replaced by courses in practical
skills; book-keeping, literacy, or English as a foreign language to (15) name but a few.
PART 3: Read the following passage and complete tasks below it.
Choose the correct heading for sections A-H
List of Headings
i. A historical delicacy vii. Western practices harm locals
ii. The poor may benefit viii. Good source of nutrients
iii. Presentation is key to changing attitudes ix. Growing popularity
iv. Environmentally friendly production x. A healthy choice
v. Tradition meets technology xi. A safety risk
vi. A cultural pioneer
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
1. A. vi
Why not eat insects? So asked British entomologist Vincent M. Holt in the title of his 1885 treatise on the benefits of
what he named entomophagy - the consumption of insects (and similar creatures) as a food source. The prospect of
eating dishes such as “wireworm sauce” and “slug soup” failed to garner favour amongst those in the stuffy, proper,
Victorian social milieu of his time, however, and Holt’s visionary ideas were considered at best eccentric, at worst an
offense to every refined palate. Q1 Anticipating such a reaction, Holt acknowledged the difficulty in unseating deep-
rooted prejudices against insect cuisine, but quietly asserted his confidence that “we shall some day quite gladly cook
and eat them”.
2. B. ix
Q2 It has taken nearly 150 years but an eclectic Western-driven movement has finally mounted around the
entomophagic cause. In Los Angeles and other cosmopolitan Western cities, insects have been caught up in the
endless pursuit of novel and authentic delicacies. “Eating grasshoppers is a thing you do here”, bug- supplier Bricia
Lopez has explained. “There’s more of a ‘cool’ factor involved.” Meanwhile, the Food and Agricultural Organization
has considered a policy paper on the subject, initiated farming projects in Laos, and set down plans for a world
congress on insect farming in 2013.
3. C. v
Eating insects is not a new phenomenon. In fact, insects and other such creatures are already eaten in 80 per cent of
the world’s countries, prepared in customary dishes ranging from deep-fried tarantula in Cambodia to bowls of baby
bees in China. With the specialist knowledge that Western companies and organisations can bring to the table,
however, Q3 these hand-prepared delicacies have the potential to be produced on a scale large enough to lower
costs and open up mass markets. A new American company, for example, is attempting to develop pressurisation
machines that would de-shell insects and make them available in the form of cutlets. According to the entrepreneur
behind the company, Matthew Krisiloff, this will be the key to pleasing the uninitiated palate.
4. D. iv
Insects certainly possess some key advantages over traditional Western meat sources. According to research
findings from Professor Arnold van Huis, a Dutch entomologist, Q4 breeding insects results in far fewer noxious by-
products. Insects produce less ammonia than pig and poultry farming, ten times less methane than livestock, and 300
times less nitrous oxide. Huis also notes that insects - being coldblooded creatures - can convert food to protein at a
rate far superior to that of cows, since the latter exhaust much of their Q9 energy just keeping themselves warm.
5. E. x
Although insects are sometimes perceived by Westerners as unhygienic or disease-ridden, they are a reliable option
in light of recent global epidemics (as Holt pointed out many years ago, insects are “decidedly more particular in their
feeding than ourselves”). Q5 Because bugs are genetically distant from humans, species-hopping diseases such as
swine flu or mad cow disease are much less likely to start or spread amongst grasshoppers or slugs than in poultry
and cattle. Furthermore, the squalid, cramped quarters that encourage diseases to propagate among many animal
populations are actually the residence of choice for insects, which thrive in such conditions.
6. F. ii
Then, of course, there are the commercial gains. As FAO Forestry Manager Patrick Durst notes, in developing
countries many rural people and traditional forest dwellers have remarkable knowledge about managing insect
populations to produce food. Until now, they have only used this knowledge to meet their own Q10 subsistence
needs, but Durst believes that, with the adoption of modern technology and improved promotional methods,
opportunities to expand the market to new consumers will flourish. Q6 This could provide a crucial step into the global
economic arena for those primarily Q11 rural, impoverished populations who have been excluded from the rise of
manufacturing and large-scale agriculture.
7. G. vii
Nevertheless, much stands in the way of the entomophagic movement. Q7 One problem is the damage that has been
caused, and continues to be caused, by Western organisations prepared to kill off grasshoppers and locusts -
complete food proteins - in favour of preserving the incomplete protein crops of millet, wheat, barley and maize. Q7
Entomologist Florence Dunkel has described the consequences of such interventions. While examining children’s
diets as a part of her field work in Mali, Dunkel discovered that a protein deficiency syndrome called kwashiorkor was
increasing in incidence. Children in the area were once protected against Q13 kwashiorkor by a diet high in
grasshoppers, but these had become unsafe to eat after Q12 pesticide use in the area increased.
8. H. iii
A further issue is the persistent fear many Westerners still have about eating insects. Q8 ‘The problem is the ick
factor—the eyes, the wings, the legs,” Krisiloff has said. “It’s not as simple as hiding it in a bug nugget. People won’t
accept it beyond the novelty. When you think of a chicken, you think of a chicken breast, not the eyes, wings, and
beak.” For Marcel Dicke, Q8 the key lies in camouflaging the fact that people are eating insects at all. Insect flour is
one of his propositions, as is changing the language of insect cuisine. “If you say it’s mealworms, it makes people
think of ringworm”, he notes. “So stop saying ‘worm’. If we use Latin names, say it’s a Tenebrio quiche, it sounds
much more fancy”. For Krisiloff, Dicke and others, keeping quiet about the gritty reality of our food is often the best
approach.
I. It is yet to be seen if history will truly redeem Vincent Holt and his suggestion that British families should gather
around their dining tables for a breakfast of “moths on toast”. It is clear, however, that entomophagy, far from being a
kooky sideshow to the real business of food production, has much to offer in meeting the challenges that global
societies in the 21st century will face.
Complete the notes below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Van Huis
• Insects are cleaner & do not release as many harmful gases
• Insects use food intake economically in the production of protein as they waste less 9. energy
Durst
• Traditional knowledge could be combined with modern methods for mass production instead of just covering
10. subsistence needs
• This could help 11. rural, impoverished people gain access to world markets.
Dunkel
• Due to increased 12. pesticide use, more children in Mali are suffering from 13. kwashiorkor
PART 4: Read the text and complete task below it
Green virtues of green sand
Revolution in glass recycling could help keep water clean
A. For the past 100 years, special high-grade white sand dug from the ground at Leighton Buzzard in the UK has
been used to filter tap water to remove bacteria and impurities but this may no longer be necessary. A new factory
that turns used wine bottles into green sand could revolutionise the recycling industry and help to filter Britain’s
drinking water. Q7 Backed by $1.6m from the European Union and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural
Affairs (Defra), a company based in Scotland is building the factory, which will turn beverage bottles back into the
sand from which they were made in the first place. The green sand has already been successfully tested by water
companies and is being used in 50 swimming pools in Scotland to keep the water clean.
B. The idea is not only to avoid using up an increasingly scarce natural resource, sand but also to solve a crisis in the
recycling industry. Britain uses 5.5m tonnes of glass a year, but recycles only 750,000 tonnes of it. The problem is
that half the green bottle glass in Britain is originally from imported wine and beer bottles. Q4 Because there is so
much of it, and it is used less in domestic production than other types, green glass is worth only $25 a tonne. Clear
glass, which is melted down and used for whisky bottles, mainly for export, is worth double that amount.
C. Howard Dryden, a scientist and managing director of the company, Dryden Aqua, of Bonnyrigg, near Edinburgh,
has spent six years working on the product he calls Active Filtration Media, or AFM. Q8 He concedes that he has
given what is basically recycled glass a ‘fancy name' to remove the stigma of what most people would regard as an
inferior product. He says he needs bottles that have already contained drinkable liquids to be sure that drinking water
filtered through the AFM would not be contaminated. Crushed down beverage glass has fewer impurities than real
sand and it performed better in trials. 'The fact is that tests show that AFM does the job better than sand, it is easier
to clean and reuse and has all sorts of properties that make it ideal for other applications.' he claimed.
D. The factory is designed to produce 100 tonnes of AFM a day, although Mr Dryden regards this as a large-scale
pilot project rather than full production. Q5 Current estimates of the UK market for this glass for filtering drinking
water, sewage, industrial water, swimming pools and fish farming are between 175.000 to 217.000 tonnes a year,
which will use up most of the glass available near the factory. Q1 So he intends to build five or six factories in cities
where there are large quantities of bottles, in order to cut down on transport costs.
E. The current factory will be completed this month and is expected to go into full production on January 14th next
year. Q10 Once it is providing a ‘regular’ product, the government’s drinking water inspectorate will be asked to
perform tests and approve it for widespread use by water companies. Q2 A Defra spokesman said it was hoped that
AFM could meet approval within six months. The only problem that they could foresee was possible contamination if
some glass came from sources other than beverage bottles.
F. Among those who have tested the glass already is Caroline Fitzpatrick of the civil and environmental engineering
department of University College London. Q6 ‘We have looked at a number of batches and it appears to do the job.'
she said. ‘Basically, sand is made of glass and Mr Dryden is turning bottles back into sand. It seems a straightforward
idea and there is no reason we can think of why it would not work. Since glass from wine bottles and other beverages
has no impurities and clearly did not leach any substances into the contents of the bottles, there was no reason to
believe there would be a problem,’ Dr Fitzpatrick added.
G. Q3 + Q9 Mr Dryden has set up a network of agents round the world to sell AFM. It is already in use in central
America to filter water on banana plantations where the fruit has to be washed before being dispatched to European
markets. It is also in use in sewage works to filter water before it is returned to rivers, something which is becoming
legally necessary across the European Union because of tighter regulations on sewage works. So there are a great
number of applications involving cleaning up water. Currently, however, AFM costs $670 a tonne, about four times as
much as good quality sand. ‘But that is because we haven't got large-scale production. Obviously, when we get going
it will cost a lot less, and be competitive with sand in price as well.’ Mr Dryden said. ‘I believe it performs better and
lasts longer than sand, so it is going to be better valued too.'
H. If AFM takes off as a product it will be a big boost for the government agency which is charged with finding a
market for recycled products. Crushed glass is already being used in road surfacing and in making tiles and bricks.
Similarly. AFM could prove to have a widespread use and give green glass a cash value.

Which paragraph contains the following information?

1. a description of plans to expand production of AFM D
2. the identification of a potential danger in the raw material for AFM E
3. an example of AFM use in the export market G
4. a comparison of the value of green glass and other types of glass B
5. a list of potential applications of AFM in the domestic market D
6. the conclusions drawn from laboratory checks on the process of AFM production F
7. identification of current funding for the production of green sand A
8. an explanation of the chosen brand name for crushed green glass C
9. a description of plans for exporting AFM G
10. a description of what has to happen before AFM is accepted for general use E
PART 5: You are going to read an article about sustainable forestry. Seven paragraphs have been removed
from the extract. Choose from the paragraphs A-H the one which fits each gap.
Against the grain
The fate of the rainforests is in our hands. Experts in tropical timber have concluded that developing countries lack
either the will to stop the onslaught which sees an area of rainforest the size of England destroyed each year.
(1) H
But as I discovered in a building project at my own home, putting conservation principles into practice is far from
easy. For the past five months, my family has been enduring the misery that comes with the construction of a kitchen
extension. When all the work is finished we will have a stylish modern space built with minimal environmental impact.
The lightweight construction has highly-insulated walls and glazing which passes the eco-test; but it fails with the
timber.
(2) F
The top timber certificate comes from the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), which claims to ensure that the timber
has been cut in a way that protects the environment and safeguards the conditions of workers. I clicked on their
website and searched for patio doors. No mention of them. I phoned the main office and was referred back to the
website. I phoned listed FSC timber merchants at random. There are very few of them. One told me that he could not
inform me about FSC timber without knowing the joinery specification. The joiner said he could not specify sizes
without knowing the qualities of the timber.
(3) B
I made an instant decision to put my faith in another FSC merchant, who assured me that some nice South American
wood was being delivered that should fit the bill. But my brother warned that this particular timber was so oily that any
paint applied to it would simply peel off.
(4) A
I chose softwood doors which would, I assumed, be made from Scandinavian timber. A month later a set of honey-
coloured doors arrived. They seemed very hard for a softwood. The technical chap from the supplier explained that
they used the term ‘softwood’ to mean wood that wasn’t the red colour people associated with hardwoods.
(5) G
As I sat In my new extension pondering my wasted effort, I stared at the walls and realised that I had ignored a far
greater problem - the ply panels which line the walls and ceiling are made from tropical hardwood. They are not
certified either and probably come from trees illegally cut.
(6) C
The department is trying to persuade a government body to take part in a pilot project with FSC timber, but it cannot
find a volunteer. Government green procurement guidelines are said by consultants to be lax and open to abuse. Big
refurbishments are under way at the Ministry of Defense, but these appear to have specified European wood - a
policy which avoids controversy but does nothing for the sort of sustainable tropical forestry that the development
department has been anxious to promote.
(7) E
Environmentalists say that councils will have to move more quickly on the issue if they are to reflect the concerns of
their voters that action should be taken to preserve the rainforests - before it is too late.

A. The winter chill was setting in and our sneezing three-year-old had begun to ask about the sheet of plastic hanging
where the kitchen door should be. I abandoned the idea of certified hardwood and picked up a catalogue from a
worldwide joinery supplier. The company’s environmental statement promises that care is taken of the environment
wherever possible.
B. Time was ticking on the building schedule. Another timber merchant from the list told me he had stopped selling
FSC timber because no one would buy it, even though he had priced it at the same level as regular timber. Builders
did not recognise the types of wood in the yard, and architects had not specified it.
C. The tiny impact on rainforests of my kitchen extension is being replicated millions of times over across the
developed world. The government says it is taking a lead in insisting that public buildings use wood from sustainable
sources, but research by the environment department has failed to find any evidence that the policy is being carried
out.
D. The living room had posed fewer problems when, four years ago, we decided to redecorate it and replace the door
that leads out into the side garden. It was easy to find wood in a shade which was in keeping with the rest of the
house and the colour scheme we chose for the walls turned out to be a very wise choice.
E. In a significant step towards helping the department do this, the Royal Institute for British Architects has committed
itself to taking forest conservation seriously. But, even so, the hoardings that dad building sites are often ignored in
the architects’ and planners’ specifications and come from unsustainable forests. Local authorities are also major
buyers of timber, but a survey last week showed that only 27% of councils have a policy on sustainable wood.
F. My attention was focused on finding a set of patio doors that did not involve any rainforest destruction. My builder
brother told me that, ideally, the doors should be made out of hardwood which would not twist or swell. Local oak is
out of my price-range, so I resolved to buy doors made from wood certified as being from a sustainably-managed
forest.
G. The doors transpire to be wawa, a hardwood from Ghana. They are not independently certified. A spokesman for
the company said that although some of their products contain certified timber, supplies are too erratic to commit their
entire manufacturing process to certified wood.
H. The only hope, say conservationists, lies with the purchasing power of the rich countries in the north. If we insist
on timber that is sustainably harvested it will put pressure on the loggers to ply their trade with greater care. Western
governments must act much more swiftly. So must local government and business.