B1.2 Exam practice

Listening
Reading

B1.2 EXAM

Reading: 30'

• gapped text
• T/F
• multiple choice

Listening: 30'

• T/F
• multiple choice
• gap filling
• open questions

Writing: 45'

• an article
• an informal letter or e-mail

Speaking: 3'

• 2' note taking

Talking: 4-5'

• 1' preparation

Topics:

• names and brands
• colours
• personality
• travelling
• shopping
• childhood, memories
• photography
• environment

Read the article about taking a gap year before going to university. Five sentences have been removed. Choose from the sentences A–G the one which fits each gap (1–5). There is one extra sentence which you do not need to use.

A  The second most important was that they wanted to find out more about themselves.

B  And while living abroad was a good way for her to learn a language, her other academic skills suffered.

C  She needed time for herself, and actually found that the whole experience increased her interest in art.

D  They have different reasons for wanting to do this.

E  A few weeks of living in a hut was enough to change her mind.

F   But nowadays, organized gap-year programmes are becoming more popular there too.

G  So, after secondary school, she took a gap year – a year off before going to university.

Filling in the gaps

18-year-old Monika Lutz had dreams of a career helping to solve economic and social problems in poor countries. 0  G  During that time, she worked with a company that is trying to bring solar power to villages in such countries.

A growing number of students are deciding to take a gap year. 1      Some want to try out a career to see if they like it, while others travel with the aim of seeing more of the world. Others want to make some money, but doing unpaid work is also popular, as is taking classes in something completely different from school subjects.

Gap years have been common for many years in the United Kingdom. This hasn’t been the case in the United States, however. 2      These help students who haven’t made their own plans for their year off to prepare for it or find work. More colleges and universities are introducing new rules to allow students to delay entry to higher education more easily. There are at least 30 ‘gap fairs’ all over the country which advertise various programmes.

After joining a gap-year programme last June, Casey Santi, 18, of Winnetka, Illinois, studied French and History, travelled, and did community work in Europe and Africa. According to Casey, stress during the final year of high school put her off going straight to university. 3      This left her better prepared for starting her degree in the subject.

Several surveys seem to show that Casey is not the only student saying that stress during the last years of school causes them to ‘burn out’. In one survey, carried out by authors Karl Haigler and Rae Nelson for their guidebook on the topic of gap years, students said this was the main reason they wanted to have a year off. 4      The writers also discovered that students who take a gap year seem to have more energy and enthusiasm for their subject when they do start university.

Beth Parker says her gap year experience meant a complete turnaround. She knew going to university straight after school would have been a waste because she just wasn’t ready. However, 12 months later, Beth is now in her first year of a degree course. She’s doing well and getting very good grades.  She’s even become the editor of the university magazine. So gap years may work out well for many students. Monika Lutz, for example, realized after her year abroad that she was not ready to spend her whole life solving the problems of poor countries. 5      She now plans to look into other careers. So if you are thinking about taking a gap year, the best thing is to do your research and think carefully about your reasons for doing it.

Travel, trip and journey

The explanations should help clarify the meaning and use of vocabulary related to travel.

Travel	The word 'travel' is used to talk about going from one place to another. It can be a verb, a noun or an adjective : Verb :        Paul travels a lot in his job. Noun :       Travel nowadays is faster than before. Adjective : There is a travel agency beside the bank.
Trip	The word trip is used to talk about a short journey somewhere for a purpose, business or pleasure. For our wedding anniversary, we went on a trip to Venice. My boss is often away on business trips. During our holiday we took a boat trip to the islands.
Journey	A journey is the distance covered when travelling from one place to another. 'Journey' can refer to a long distance or a short regular one. The journey was long and tiring. It took us 5 hours to get there. Did you have a good journey? Yes, it was quite pleasant. How long is your journey to work? Just about 20 minutes.

A Christmas Carol 1997 film

Travel English Lesson on Car Rental

Click here

2B1 Reading

Read the article about childhood. Five sentences have been removed. Choose from the sentences A–G the one which fits each gap (1–5). There is one extra sentence which you do not need to use.

Happy days

Behind the house where I lived as a child, there was an old caravan. There were trees all around it, the windows were filthy, and inside were some smelly old yellow and brown cushions. 0  G  It was our camp, where adults never came, nor wanted to.

There were three of us: Roger, the farmer’s son who was our leader, and Anne, his sister.
1      I’ll always remember the good times we had together.

I know I was younger than nine at the time because that’s how old I was when we moved to a different part of the country due to my father’s job. Even now, 50 years later, I haven’t forgotten the house we left behind. 2     

That house is the safe place I return to in my mind time after time as I recall the happiest of memories. It was there that I saw my first badger and learned to swim in the river and fish for crabs. It was there that I was given my first pet, too. 3     

My parents let me go out and about to explore, and I loved spending time with my friends.
4      And if there was nobody around, I would spend my days in the caravan or down by the river doing whatever I wanted. Best of all, though, was the beach. When the tide was out, there was what looked like a beautiful tablecloth of white sand. It stretched across the huge bay and down to the sea. There, horses would gallop, children would sail dinghies, and people would walk their dogs. At high tide, it was covered in seaweed, driftwood, and shells. I called it my beach.

After I had learned to drive, I returned regularly to have a look at my special place. 5      Some people say it’s a mistake to return to the treasured places of our past because they will probably have changed so much that we won’t recognize them. Now, decades later, do I want to go back to the house? Well, I’m not sure. Perhaps it’s best to leave those memories in my head, untouched and unspoiled. And perhaps it’s best not to chase a dream. After all, I’m an adult now with four grown-up children of my own.

A  Often my mother let my classmates from school come and spend the night at our house.

B  But that wasn’t the problem, I realized.

C  And best of all, I got to be a bridesmaid at a neighbour’s wedding.

D  Then there was little me, the hanger-on, who was allowed, and sometimes even encouraged, to join in.

E  I found myself driving along the country roads every year, just so that I could see the house.

F   There was never another one that meant as much to me.

G  But to the gang of small children I was part of it was a special place.