Placement Test 1
General Directions
The Placement Test has three sections: Listening, Reading, and Language
Use. There are 70 questions. You are allowed 50 minutes to complete the
test.
In Section I, the Listening section, you will hear nine conversations and
answer one or more questions about each one. Before you listen to a
conversation, read the question or questions. Then listen to the conversation.
Answer the questions after the conversation ends. Choose the correct answer
for each question and fill in your choice on your answer sheet. You will hear
the conversation only once. The first conversation is an example. You have 15
minutes to complete this section.
Section II, the Reading section, has several short passages. After you read
each passage, choose the correct answer for each question and fill in your
choice on your answer sheet. You have 20 minutes to complete this section.
Section III, the Language Use section, has 30 items. Choose the correct
completion for each item and fill in your choice on your answer sheet. You
have 15 minutes to complete this section.
Mark your answers clearly on your answer sheet. If you want to change an
answer, erase your first answer completely.
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Section I: Listening
In this section of the test, you will hear conversations and answer some
questions about them. For each conversation, first read the situation and the
question or questions. Then listen to the conversation. Answer the questions
after you hear the conversation. Respond to the questions by marking the
correct answer (a, b, c, or d) on your answer sheet.
Read the example situation and question.
Example
Situation: Bill Sanchez calls Dr. Stockton’s office to make an appointment.
Bill is going to see the doctor on _______ .
a. Tuesday at 10:00
b. Tuesday at 4:00
c. Wednesday at 10:00
d. Wednesday at 4:00
Now listen to the example conversation.
EXAMPLE CONVERSATION]
Now answer the example question.
The answer for the example is d, Wednesday at 4:00. The letter d is filled in
on your answer sheet.
Now go on to page 3.
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Situation 1: David is talking with Tomomi when Monica comes into the room.
A1. _______ are meeting for the first time. a. David and Monica
b. David and Tomomi c. Tomomi and Monicad. David, Monica, and Tomomi
Situation 2: Ken and Nancy are at a restaurant.
A2. Ken _______.
a. is having steak tonight
b. stopped eating steak c. eats steak a lotd. prefers chicken to steak
Situation 3: Karen calls Jason’s home. Jason’s father answers the telephone.
A3. Karen is going to _______. a. speak with Jason at work
b. call back in an hour c. wait for Jason to calld. send a written message
Situation 4: A reporter is giving today’s weather forecast.
A4. It will be clear in _______. a. the Northeast
b. Seattle c. Bostond. Miami
A5. In Seattle, the weather is _______. a. hot
b. snowy c. coold. rainy
Situation 5: Bill invites Jennifer to go to dinner and a movie.
A6. They’re going to _______. a. leave work a little early
A7. Jennifer doesn’t accept right away because she can’t _______. a. eat a late lunch
b. leave work early c. go to dinnerd. see the movie Now go on to page 4.
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Situation 6: Linda is asking Jim about his plans for the summer.
A8. In the summer, Jim usually _______. a. stays in the mountains
b. takes trips with his family c. visits his parentsd. goes to the beach
A9. This summer he’s planning to _______. a. stay at home
b. go to the beach c. fish with his dadd. hike in the mountains
Situation 7: Phil is talking with Susie about money.
A10. Phil is upset because _______. a. Susie can’t lend him any money
b. his parents won’t give him money c. Albert hasn’t returned his moneyd. his friends never lend him money
A11. Albert _______. a. didn’t borrow $100
b. isn’t working now c. doesn’t need the moneyd. can’t return the money yet
A12. Susie doesn’t lend money to friends because _______. a. she has just enough for herself
b. lending money can change a friendship
c. people won’t lend her money d. her friends don’t need it
Situation 8: Natalie and Chuck are talking about their experiences abroad.
A13. Chuck went backpacking _______. a. in Brazil
b. by himself c. after high schoold. with his father
A14. Chuck says he “would have liked to have seen Portugal.” He means that he _______.
c. went there, but he didn’t like it d. didn’t go there, and he didn’t want to
A15. While Natalie was in Japan, she _______. a. traveled all over the country
b. lived with a Japanese family c. learned Japanese quicklyd. got very homesick
A16. Chuck doesn’t want to _______. a. travel anymore
b. learn a foreign language c. stay at homed. live abroad Now go on to page 5.
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Situation 9: Diane and Conrad are talking about their careers.
A17. Conrad got into advertising because he _______. a. studied advertising in college
b. heard about a job opening c. liked to help peopled. was tired of his old job
A18. When he was young, Conrad wanted to _______. a. work in advertising
b. become a doctor c. stay in schoold. go into business
A19. Diane’s parents didn’t want her to _______. a. start her own business
b. finish college c. be too successfuld. change her career
A20. Conrad _______. a. owns his own company
Now go on to page 6 and begin the Reading section.
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Section II: Reading
In this section of the Placement Test, you will read some short passages and answer questions about them. Choose the word or words that best complete the sentence. For each item, fill in your answer on the answer sheet.
You will have 20 minutes to complete this section.
Passage 1: What are you doing today?
PEDRO: I usually go out with friends on Saturday night. But today’s Friday, and we’re going out to a football game tonight. So tomorrow night I’m staying home.
B21. This Saturday night, Pedro is _______. a. playing football
b. visiting friends c. staying home d. going out
Passage 2: What do you do?
EILEEN SWEET: I’m a hostess at a big restaurant. I greet people at the door and take them to their tables. Day after day, I always do the same thing. Someday I hope to have a more interesting job, but it’s OK for now.
a. difficult b. interesting c. important d. boring Now go on to page 7. Placement Test 1
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Passage 3: A vacation postcard
Dear Sal,
Greetings from France – it’s so good to be back here again! We left the kids with their grandparents in Chicago, and we’re biking across the French countryside by ourselves. We brought a tent and sleeping bags, so we can camp out if we want to, but we’re really enjoying the small hotels we find along the way.
Love,
Michael and Paula
A23. Michael and Paula _______. a. have been to France before
b. took their children with them c. are visiting their grandparentsd. prefer to sleep outside
Passage 4: Meditation
You observe a person in meditation. On the surface, he appears to be asleep, but he’s simply in a trance – a kind of half-sleep in which the person is conscious but able to ignore the situation around him. For the meditator, the ability to concentrate is so strong that everything around him – sounds, smells, movement – seems to fade in importance. At the same time, decision making and deep thinking are often
greatly improved.
B24. In this reading, meditation refers to a person’s _______. a. state of mind
b. intelligence c. physical conditiond. ability to sleep
B25. Meditation doesn’t help a person _______.
c. make decisions d. ignore smells
Passage 5: The Scot and the tea kettle
According to one story, a Scottish boy watched the steam lift the top off his mother’s tea kettle and realized the power of steam to make machines work. That boy, James Watt, would then go on to invent the modern steam engine in 1769. Actually, the history of steam technology records the successful work of several scientists and engineers before Watt. For example, in 1698, Thomas Savery had introduced a simple steam pump to remove water from mines, and 14 years later Thomas Newcomen invented a better pump. But these pumps weren’t efficient because they used so much fuel. In 1769, the Scottish boy, James Watt, figured out a way to save three-quarters of the fuel. To honor him, his last name became the name of a unit of energy.
C26. The example of the boiling tea kettle shows that steam is _______. a. useful
b. efficient
c. powerful d. necessary
C27. The first steam engines _______. a. didn’t pump water
b. cost too much to build c. were difficult to maked. used too much fuel Now go on to page 8.
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Passage 6: It’s a big country!
When it comes to body weight, Americans stand out. Most visitors to the United States, no matter where they go across this vast country, comment on the size of many Americans. In fact, these impressions are backed by numerous statistics. For example, the average 5'4" American weighs 162 pounds, or 15 pounds more than the average person of the same height from Western or Central Europe. Another comparison: At 150 pounds, the average 5'4" American woman is 24 pounds heavier than her Japanese counterpart.
Why are Americans so heavy? Some blame the American diet. Certainly it’s true that Americans eat more high-fat foods – meat, dairy products, and processed food – and fewer grains and vegetables than people in other countries. But fat isn’t the whole story. Lifestyle factors – including the tendency for Americans to drive rather than walk or ride a bicycle to work, to snack throughout the day, and to have so many labor-saving devices in the home – appear to contribute to the problem.
A28. According to the article, visitors to the United States often comment on the size of the _______.
a. population b. cities
c. country d. people
A29. According to the article, the average Western European weighs _______. a. more than an American
b. more than a Central European
c. less than an American d. less than a Japanese person
A30. In comparison with Americans, people in other countries eat more _______. a. meat
b. dairy products
c. processed food d. grains
A31. The article implies that Americans would lose weight if they _______. a. snacked more often
b. rode bicycles to work
c. stayed at home more d. ate fewer vegetables
Now go on to page 9.
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Passage 7: Personality types
What makes people the way they are? Why do some people get angry easily, others always seem to be cheerful, while still others are often depressed? The early Greek doctor Hippocrates thought that personality was linked to the fluids that were known to exist in the human body: the blood, the bile, the black bile, and the phlegm. These fluids were called the four humors. He believed that inside each person, one kind of body fluid was dominant and that this fluid – or humor – caused a tendency toward a particular kind of behavior.
If the blood (sanguinis) was dominant, the person was sanguine, or cheerful and willing to help others. If the yellow bile of the liver (called choler) was the most important, the person would be irritable and quick to anger. If the person was often sad and depressed, the black liquid of the spleen and kidneys (melan-choler or black
bile) was blamed. And the person who had too much phlegm (the thick mucus of the
nose and throat) was likely to be lazy, calm, and dull (not very intelligent).
Today we know that personality results from a combination of lifestyle and natural factors, and has little or nothing to do with the balance of body fluids. However,
even today the words remain: humorous, sanguine, choleric, melancholy,
phlegmatic. Although psychologists no longer use them, they have become part of
the common vocabulary – with some changes, of course. For example, today to say that a person is humorous means that the person laughs and makes others laugh, from the idea of having “good” humor.
B32. According to the article, the early Greeks knew that _______. a. there are different fluids in the
human body
b. everyone shows the same basic behavior
c. people who laugh a lot are humorous
d. personality is the result of lifestyle factors
B33. For the early Greeks, humor was the name for a type of _______. a. personality type
b. body part c. natural fluidd. internal organ
B34. Hippocrates believed that _______ was dominant in a happy person. a. blood
b. bile c. black biled. phlegm
B35. Today the word humorous is used to describe a person’s _______. a. blood type b. lifestyle c. personality d. body fluids Now go on to page 10. Placement Test 1
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Passage 8: BiofeedbackWhen biofeedback was first developed a number of years ago, it caused a lot of excitement. People hoped that biofeedback could be used to cure all kinds of physical and mental problems.
Biofeedback is the name for a medical technique that helps people treat certain problems by becoming more aware of their own bodies. In biofeedback, instruments that measure bodily functions such as muscle tension, temperature, and blood flow are attached to the body. The instruments produce signals – for example, a series of sounds (beeps) or a flashing light – that the person can hear or see. The patient then uses the information to help gain control over the function.
The most widely used biofeedback instrument is the electromyograph, or EMG. The EMG is used to measure muscle tension. It is made up of several electrodes, which are placed on the skin near a particular area, depending on the symptom. For
example, for headaches, a symptom often caused by excessive tension in the neck muscles, the electrodes are placed on the forehead or near the back of the neck. When the tension is present, the EMG produces a signal and the patient is taught to respond by relaxing the appropriate muscles. In many cases, the relaxation of these muscles causes the headache to go away.
While biofeedback has not turned out to be a cure-all, it has been used successfully to treat a limited number of problems – especially those caused by chronic tension.
C36. At first, people were very _______ biofeedback. a. nervous about
b. interested in c. familiar withd. opposed to
C37. Biofeedback instruments ______. a. act like a kind of medicine
b. cause people to get excited c. are put on a patient’s bodyd. teach people to exercise
C38. Blood flow is an example of a _______. a. technique
b. signal c. functiond. problem
C39. The EMG _______. a. relaxes the muscles
b. measures tension c. causes movementd. produces symptoms
C40. According to the article, biofeedback _______. a. is more popular than ever
b. causes chronic tension c. cures all types of headachesd. has had limited success
Now go on to page 11 and begin the Language Use section.
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Section III: Language Use
In this section, you will answer questions about the use of English. Choose the word or words that best complete the sentence. For each item, fill in your answer on the answer sheet.
You will have 15 minutes to complete this section.
a. There
b. They’re c. There ared. Their
B42. My office is _______ downtown. a. on
b. near c. closed. at
C43. “I like to cook.” “_______ do I.” a. And
b. So
c. Also d. Too
A44. I enjoy _______ out two or three times a week. a. to eat
b. eating
c. eat d. I eat
B45. I don’t have a computer, but _______ my friends do. a. the most
b. almost
c. most of d. most
C46. Yesterday’s game caused a lot of _______. a. excited
b. exciting
c. excite d. excitement 47. After finishing college, I hope _________ married.
a. get
b. that get c. gettingd. to get
B48. Cairo is _______ any other city in Egypt. a. the large
b. larger than c. the largestd. large as
Now go on to page 12.
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C49. Tom’s bought a new car, _______ he? a. doesn’t
b. isn’t c. wasn’td. hasn’t
a. am saving
b. have saved c. had savedd. will save
B51. Excuse me. Could you tell me where _______? a. the bus station is
b. is the bus station c. it is the bus stationd. is it the bus station
C52. My suitcase would have been much lighter if I _______ all my books. a. don’t pack
b. not packing c. hadn’t packedd. not pack
A53. Yolanda _______ part time for several years now. a. has been working
b. is working c. worksd. was working
B54. The movie’s great! It’s really worth _______. a. seeing
b. to see c. you seed. see
C55. If fewer people drove cars to work, _______ less pollution. a. we’ve had
b. we’d have c. we’re havingd. we’ll have
A56. Would you mind _______ the window? a. open
b. opening c. to opend. I open
B57. My sister is interested _______ about Japanese literature. a. learn
b. learning c. to learnd. in learning
C58. The washing machine needs _______. a. being fixed
b. to be fixed c. to fixd. you fix it
Now go on to page 13.
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59. By 2020, scientists _______ a cure for cancer. a. had found
b. will have found c. are findingd. have been finding
a. raining
b. have rained c. to raind. rained
C61. I am used _______ the bus to work. a. to take
b. to taking c. tookd. taking
A62. Chicago, _______ is nicknamed the Windy City, is the largest city in Illinois. a. it
b. which c. whatd. that
B63. I won’t go _______ you come with me. a. instead
b. except
c. unless d. although
C64. Before _______ to bed, I usually brush my teeth. a. going
b. go c. to god. that go
A65. I’m taking a class _______ learn more about my computer. a. so that
b. in order c. in order tod. that
B66. Helen is _______ serious student I have ever seen. a. more
b. most c. the mored. the most
C67. You’d better tell Joe _______ in here. a. not to smoke
b. not smoking c. no smoked. don’t smoking
A68. I feel sick. I shouldn’t _______ so much. a. to eat
b. eaten c. have eatend. eating
B69. Betty’s husband suggested that she _______ a few days off from work. a. has took
b. taking
c. take d. will take
C70. The more you practice speaking English, _______ it gets. a. easy
b. the easiest c. easierd. the easier
END OF TEST
Placement Test 1
Placement Essay
Name ____________________________________ Date ________________ Rating
_________
Directions: Please write about ONE of the following topics. Do not write on
all three.
Write a well-organized essay about the topic you choose. When you finish
your essay, read it over and correct any mistakes you find. Give your essay to
the instructor.
Topic 1: Describe a person you know well. Why is that person special to you?
Topic 2: What sports have you learned to play? Based on your experience,
what advice would you give to someone who wants to learn to play one of
these sports?
Topic 3: Describe your favorite free- time activity. Why is it fun?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________