GENERAL TRAINING

READING & WRITING

PRACTICE TEST 1

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 General Training Practice Test 1
Reading

Reading Passage 1 ADVICE ON PERSONAL WELFARE

Questions 1-14 Your safety is the upmost importance when working
Read the text below and answer Questions 1-7 in a busy and bustling station filled with trains and
passengers coming and going regularly in peak
hours. You are strongly urged always to remain alert
VOLUNTEERS FOR TRAIN STATION HELPERS and vigilant because of this. In addition, any existing
health concerns and conditions you have must be
Many thanks for offering your valuable time to notified to the coordinator for legal reasons.
volunteer as a train station helper to help those in
need of assistance. ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

REGISTRATION To be situated in pairs at designated help desks

located at certain points around the station to assist
Please remember to sign in and sign out every time passengers with general enquiries and information.
you work a shift. This is essential owing to insurance
law and emergency situations. The book is located Questions 1-7
in the staffroom on the ‘office on duty’ desk. Please
Do the following statements agree with the
remember to collect an official ‘volunteer’ badge
information given in the reading passage?
from the orange box on the desk, and you are
reminded to return it promptly after your shift. It is
In boxes 1 - 7 on your answer sheet write:
policy that this badge must be worn and visible at all
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
times.
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOTGIVEN if there is no information on this
GUIDELINES ON SMOKING

Smoking is banned entirely at all locations in and

1. You are required to record your attendance
around the train station except for two clearly
at the beginning of your shift only.
designated smoking rooms where it is permitted to
smoke. Please note that this includes both real 2. The volunteer badges to be worn by the
cigarettes and e-cigarettes. volunteers are bright orange.

REFRESHMENTS POLICY 3. The volunteer badges are optional to wear

when working in the station.
As an official volunteer you are entitled to a
4. Work schedules prepared seven days prior
complimentary meal voucher for each full 5-hour
to the working week can be checked via a
shift that you work. This can only be redeemed in
the official staff canteen that is easily found towards weekly email.
the rear of the West building. Complimentary hot 5. Current health issues should be passed on
drinks and cold water is constantly available too in to the coordinator for reasons of good
the staff changing rooms. working practices.

AVAILABILITY FOR WORK 6. Volunteers shall be placed individually at

specific locations in and around the station
It is understood that you are offering up your own to offer help to passengers.
free time to volunteer as a helper and therefore you
are flexible. If anything should change in your 7. Vigilance and alertness are essential
availability please contact the volunteer coordinator characteristics for maintaining health and
directly on the phone number given (text or call). safety in the station for both staff and for
Your work shifts will be prepared a week in passengers.
advance, and will be both emailed to you and
posted on the staff notice board schedule.

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 General Training Practice Test 1
Reading

Read the text below and answer Questions 8- FALLS

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Falls can cause some of the most serious injuries in
the commercial kitchen. They may disable or
KITCHEN ACCIDENTS AND THEIR CAUSES
incapacitate a person for life. Falls are caused by
extreme carelessness, wet floors and aisles, spilled
Over 90% of all accidents are preventable, and
food or grease, and by torn mats or warped floor
three basic rules of kitchen safety, if enforced, will
boards.
significantly reduce the likelihood of kitchen
mishaps.

1. Do not run. People who rush around in the

kitchen tend to take chances that increase
the likelihood of an accident.
2. Keep your mind on your work: People who
let their attention wander are a hazard to
themselves and others around them.
3. Observe all the rules for operating kitchen
equipment. Never operate kitchen
equipment until instructed in the correct
procedures.

Cooking is considered a fairly safe occupation, but

hazards certainly do exist, not only in food
preparation but in other related tasks as well. The
most common accidents in the kitchen are cuts,
burns, falls, and strains.

STRAINS
CUTS

Strains may not be as serious as other types of

Cuts are all too common in commercial kitchens
injuries, but they are painful and can result in the
because knives and other cutting implements are
loss of many working hours. They are caused by
constantly in use. These cuts, and the seriousness
carrying loads that are too heavy and by improper
of the cuts, however, can be kept to a minimum by
lifting practices. Most strains do not require medical
using ordinary good sense, by paying attention to
attention, but they do require time and care to heal
the proper safety rules, and by practising proper
properly
cutting procedures.

BURNS
Questions 8-14
Do the following statements agree with the
Two types of burns occur in the commercial kitchen: information given in the reading passage?
minor and serious. Minor burns are usually a result
of wet or damp towels used to handle hot pots and In boxes 8 - 14 on your answer sheet write:
pans, or from bumping an exposed area of your arm TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
against a hot surface like and oven rack. More FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
serious burns occur when grease is splashed, when NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
steam escapes or is released too quickly, or when
gas is turned on or released unknowingly.

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 General Training Practice Test 1
Reading

QUALIFICATIONS
8. It is said that nine out of ten kitchen
accidents can be avoided if three basic Qualifications for the position are minimal in that
safety steps are followed. there are no specific qualifications required.
9. Hurrying around the kitchen is a guaranteed However, regarding experience, previous library
way to cause an accident. experience is preferred but not absolutely
necessary. What is considered to be beneficial for
10. Because some tasks may be considered the applicant is having good people skills and a
simple and straightforward, it is occasionally strong desire to help people. A good knowledge of
acceptable to use kitchen equipment when software programs and computers is required, so
you have not read the instructions. this position would favour an applicant with excellent
computer literacy. A valid driving license is
11. Cuts are definitely the most typical incident essential.
causing great harm to people in kitchens.
BENEFITS
12. The unexpected release of very hot air when
cooking is one of the ways to cause very The employee will also be eligible for certain other
bad burns. benefits, such as full health insurance, whilst
pension contributions and paid annual leave will be
13. In restaurant kitchens we see the most calculated on a pro rata basis. Free access to all
prolific instances of such things as broken library materials both physical and digital will be
bones through falling on food that hasn’t offered to the employee with certain limits
been cleaned up. depending on customer demand.
14. Strains generally will involve the injured
WORKING DAYS
person to seek professional attention from a
doctor at a hospital or clinic. These could be scheduled anytime from 9am-9pm
midweek and 8am-8pm over the weekends. Breaks
(per day) will be calculated as follows: 0-3 hours =
no break, 3-5 hours = 20 minutes, 5-7 hours = 40
Reading Passage 2 minutes, 7-9 hours = 60minutes (taken as 2 x 30
minutes), and working 9-11 hours = 80 minutes
Questions 15-27 (taken as 2 x 40 minutes). These breaks are
Read the text below and answer Questions 15-20 mandatory by law.

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS & NOTIFICATIONS

POSITION AVAILABLE
The local education department is looking to recruit Firstly and most importantly is that the employee
an additional two part-time employees to support its must be completely flexible to work any shifts as
ongoing and expanding mobile library van project. needed, and that work schedules will be planned
The projected working hours shall be an average 23 monthly in advance. On Mondays the mobile library
hours per week spread out over 5 or 6 days from van is closed for regular maintenance and cleaning.
Tuesday to Sunday. The employee will never be asked to work over 30
hours per week unless agreed upon in advance with
PAY RATES the employee.
Pay rates are competitive and are split in to three
pays bands: Weekdays 9am-6pm paid at $5 per
hour, weekdays 6pm-9pm paid at $7.50 per hour,
and work on weekends anytime 8:00am-8:00pm will
be paid at $10 per hour.

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 General Training Practice Test 1
Reading

Questions 15–21
19. A couple of new staff will be ___ by the
Multiple Option Choice relevant authority due to increased needs in
staffing.
Chose the most suitable
word 20. Payments will be ___ and calculated owing to
the various hours worked on different days and
A Minimal times of the week as scheduled.
B Competitive 21. Complimentary books and magazines will be
___ to the staff member for a set period of time if
C Excellent
customers are not using them.
D Advantageous
E Valid Read the text below and answer Questions 22-27
F Complimentary
G A CURRICULUM VITAE (CV for short and Latin for
Obligatory “the story of your life”) is a detailed summary of your
H past experience. Its purpose is to set out your
Flexible
details in a precise, factual and interesting manner.
It allows you to tell an employer what you can do
and what skills you have, letting him or her know
15. Compared with similar jobs the salary is quickly and easily whether or not you have
considered to be ___ something to offer each other. First of all, we’ll
outline some crucial data that should always be
16. Official requirements for the positions are
included in your CV. Information that should be
considered to be ___
included:
17. To obtain the position, if a person felt strongly
about wanting to assist others it would be PERSONAL DETAILS:
considered___
These should include your full name, address, date
18. For legal reasons, regular set rest periods are
and place of birth, telephone number, fax number,
considered to be ___
e-mail address and any other details you wish to
include, eg. marital status, nationality.
Multiple Option Choice
Chose the most suitable EDUCATION, QUALIFICATIONS AND TRAINING:
word
As well as schools and any exams passed, mention
any part-time courses you have been on. Accurate
A Hired dates are very important. You can also include here
B Divided the information concerning grants or awards you
may have obtained during your academic life.
C Forecasted
D Gifted WORK EXPERIENCE (includes school work
experience, part-time work, and voluntary work)
E Questioned
F Shared Put these in order starting with the first or last job
you had. Say where the job was, give the job title
G Consulted and say briefly what you did. If you had any gaps,
H Given eg. because of unemployment or bringing up a
family, include them. Try to highlight the experience
you have had and try to be positive.

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 General Training Practice Test 1
Reading

SKILLS:

This can be, for some people, a very important Questions 22–27
section because it tells the employer what you have
learned from past experiences and what you can Do the following statements agree with the
information given in the reading passage?

In boxes 22 - 27 on your answer sheet write:

MUST DO if the statement agrees with the
information
MAY NOT DO if the statement contradicts the
information
MAY DO if there is no information on this

22. The Inclusion of being married.

23. Contact information so you can be contacted.

24. Describing part-time courses completed.

25. Being vague with dates for courses and exams

taken.

26. Mentioning grants and awards given.

bring to the new job.
27. Order work experience from the very first to the
LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY: most recent.

In this section you should list the languages you

know and how well you know them. As a guide, you
can use the following scale in order to rate your Reading Passage 3
knowledge of those languages: basic, average,
fluent, native. Example: Spanish: native, English: Questions 28-40
fluent, French: basic. Read the text below and answer Questions 28-35

INTERESTS/ HOBBIES:
MISSION TO MARS
This area is important because it says a lot about SpaceX, a cutting edge rocket technology company
the type of person you are. Try to include one where recently managed to successfully land one of its
you mix with others. rocket’s spent boosters, achieving a monumental
milestone in the quest for reusable rockets. A few
REFEREES: minutes into a Falcon 9 rocket launch (built and
designed by SpaceX), the boosters separated from
Always ask a person´s permission to use his/her the rest of the rocket as usual as thousands before
name. You usually need to supply two names, have done, but on this occasion it flipped over and
preferably including one who has known you in a reignited auxiliary engines to slow and guide it to a
work setting. Give their job titles and full address nearby launch pad where it landed safely and
and telephone number. successfully.

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 General Training Practice Test 1
Reading

A.
F.
NASA, landed men on the moon in the late 1960s,
and has been sending exploratory satellites and It is proposed that firstly a crew vehicle would
robotic probes since that time too, and now it plans transport the crew to an earth orbit where they
to send astronauts to the red planet sometime in the would rendezvous with a habitat module. These two
2030s, but then only to orbit the planet. The ultimate would be attached together to make the arduous
goal of actually landing a spacecraft with confidence journey through deep space to Mars. Upon reaching
/ success is the extremely dangerous and tricky feat Mars, the crew would transfer to the ‘Mars Descent’
to achieve some decades after that. vehicle, which would already have been sent ahead,
to make the final descent to the surface of the
B. planet.

Thus, NASA is now working with companies such as G.

SpaceX and other private enterprises on projects
such as a ‘Mission to Mars’ to develop the Getting there requires a lot of fuel, and getting back
technology and expertise to consistently overcome just might require the making of chemical fuel and
such challenges that SpaceX recently triumphed at, the oxygen to burn it, on Mars itself. Chemical fuels
and numerous other challenges too. though are comparatively bulky and inefficient;
therefore nuclear power and solar power are
C. mentioned as serious and viable alternatives to this.
Safety concerns regarding the installing of a nuclear
Problems to face are not only technical in nature, reactor on a spaceship is the disadvantage that
they are physiological too, for instance the very real weighs against its huge positive which is that it
and well-known issue of weightlessness will need to creates enormous power efficiently. Solar power is
be addressed. Hollywood conveys the fun of considered to be relatively weak in comparison but it
weightlessness, however the reality is that it makes is reliable and may be more suited to the slower
astronauts sick and weak as their bones waste moving of cargo ships over longer distances.
away in zero gravity and also vision impairment
occurs as fluid collects in the brain and presses on H.
the eyeballs.
Living in space for a lengthy period of time is quite a
D. problematic scenario as it is estimated to be a 6-
year trip away from home that includes the journey
The natural environment throws up further out, orbiting, time on the planet’s surface and then
considerations too as radiation is a constant hazard, the long haul back; however there are four
and in particular a long journey in space exposes considerations that NASA and other scientists are
the crew to potentially high doses of radiation engaging themselves in with various research
through solar flares and cosmic rays. On moon projects to prepare for this.
missions and orbiting the earth this is not something
to be concerned about as the earth’s magnetic field I.
essentially protects us from most of this. Feeding
the crew and keeping them hydrated are further First of all, is the consideration of morale, whereby
complications on top of this. having enough space and good food to keep all on
board comfortable and positive for the entire
E. operation is strongly desirable. Crops from ‘green
walls’ for example could supplement a space-food
Mars at its closest is 34 million miles away – which diet. Protection from the unavoidable hazard of
is approximately 140 times farther than the moon, radiation is essential and one proposition on the
thus to send a space mission there requires a drawing-board current is utilising water-filled walls to
radically upgraded spacecraft that would house shield the astronauts. Another consideration is
them comfortably for months on end. It is projected repairs, as critical systems including air and water
that a three-piece space ship would be required recycling will be core systems to maintain. Finally,
according to conceptual designers, one that can exercise is considered critical to both mental and
both provide the power to get there, the shields from physical health, so plenty of vigorous workouts will
radiation and the supplies needed. somehow have to be devised.

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 General Training Practice Test 1
Reading

Questions 28-35

Paragraph 36. The Falcon 9 rocket itself went on to

Label the paragraphs (letter complete a hugely successful mission.
A,B,C etc.) ______________________________

28 Close collaboration with similarly 37. It is predicted that by the 2030s the latest
focused institutes and wave of space explorers will be touching down
organisations on Mars. _____________________
29 Misleading movie industry
38. NASA and SpaceX are solely focusing on
conceptions ignore the very real
the ‘Mission to Mars’ project.
physical demands on the crew.
________________________________
30 The multitude of hazards that an
extended period of time away 39. Weightlessness concerns related to lengthy
from Earth throws up. periods of time in space are due to the
gravitational field being half that of on Earth.
31 The pros and cons regarding the
______________________________
propulsion systems under
consideration.
40. The exposure to possible large amounts of
32 The longer term aim would be to radiation on the space flights is a routine fear.
possibly land with confidence on ______________________________
Mars in the middle to late 21st
Century.
33 The worries concerning
scientists of the mission to Mars
are providing enough water and
sufficient food, plus losing
Earth’s natural defences against
radioactive particles.
34 A complicated and complex
three step procedure to get
there.
35 The vastly greater distance
requires a greatly improved
vehicle providing the protection
and the adequate materials to
sustain the project.

Questions 36-40

Do the following statements agree with the

information given in the reading passage?

In boxes 36–40 on your answer sheet write:

TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

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 General Training Practice Test 1
Writing

Writing Task 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on this task

Your company is sending you to another country for one month. Your friend is living there and you
would like more information about visiting the country.
Write to your friend.
In your letter:
Explain why you will visit the country
Ask for some information about visiting the country
Suggest how you and your friend could meet there

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Write at least 150 words

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear .....................,

________________________________ ________________________________

________________________________ ________________________________

________________________________ ________________________________

________________________________ ________________________________

________________________________ ________________________________

________________________________ ________________________________

________________________________ ________________________________

________________________________ ________________________________

________________________________ ________________________________

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 General Training Practice Test 1
Writing

Writing Task 2
You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

These days, in some countries, an increasing number of young adults are choosing to spend their whole
weekend inside their own homes

Why do you think this is happening?

Is this a positive or negative development?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Write at least 250 words

________________________________ ________________________________

________________________________ ________________________________

________________________________ ________________________________

________________________________ ________________________________

________________________________ ________________________________

________________________________ ________________________________

________________________________ ________________________________

________________________________ ________________________________

________________________________ ________________________________

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