DIAGNOSTIC ENGLISH TEST

Akademi Pengajian Bahasa

Pusat Asasi, Universiti Teknologi Mara
26 January 2022
4.00 – 5.00pm

SECTION I: GRAMMAR (40 marks)

A) PARTS OF SPEECH: Choose the best option.

1) She’s children’s tutor and has been teaching them to play the piano for years.
a. a
b. an
c. the
d. one

2) The laptop has been sitting idle for several hours. laptop is that?
a. What
b. Who’s
c. Which
d. Whose

3) They school every day at 8:00 a.m. So the boys are up and about around 6:00
a.m.
a. start
b. starts
c. are starting
d. have starting

4) If I a million ringgit, I would buy a red Ferrari.

a. had
b. have
c. will have
d. would have

5) It is October. By the end of November, I submitted most of my assignments.

a. have
b. should
c. will have
d. am going to

6) She put her glasses one of the bedside table drawers.

a. at
b. by
c. into
d. onto

(6 marks)

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B) ERROR ANALYSIS: There is an error in each sentence. Underline the error and correct
it.

1. Isn’t that your brother’s fiancée car over there in front of Hafiz’s house?

2. My siblings doesn’t have to attend school tomorrow as it’s a holiday.

3. I think this chocolate cake would have tasted more nice if you had
added extra sugar.

4. I wanted to buy the book but it was enough expensive. Therefore, I

borrowed a copy from the library instead.

5. I have been to London in 2015 and I enjoyed myself very much.

6. My mother has to go to the hospital to have an operation at her leg.

7. I want to open a window for let some fresh air into this room.

8. My brother was unemployed at the moment, but he is looking for a job

as a computer programmer.

9. I’m currently rent a small apartment but I’d like to buy my own house
one day.

10. I feel upset because they did not invited me to their party.

(10 marks)

C) TENSES: Choose the correct option.

1. By the time we got to the bus station, Nisa for us for more than two hours.

a. is waiting
b. was waiting will
c. had been waiting
d. have been waiting

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2. When Sara called last night, I my favourite TV show.

a. watched
b. did watch
c. was watching
d. have watched

3. The students are usually taught by Mr. Kamarul. However, this week, they by the
substitute teacher.

a. are taught
b. are teaching
c. will have taught
d. are being taught

4. I for this company for more than twenty years and I will remain here until I retire.

a. worked
b. was working
c. had been working
d. have been working

5. Anna was shocked when she found out that the apartment by her husband
because they were facing financial problems. (passive)

a. will be recently purchased

b. is being recently purchased
c. had been recently purchased
d. have been recently purchased

6. Suresh loves to travel. He abroad almost every year. Next year, he plans to go
to Beijing.

a. goes
b. will go
c. is going
d. has been going

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7. Hamidah on the phone for over an hour. I wonder when she will end the
conversation.

a. is
b. was
c. has been
d. had been

8. Mansor his children to a football match yesterday evening.

a. will be taking
b. has taken
c. is taking
d. took
(8 marks)

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D) CLOZE PASSAGE 1: Choose the correct
option.

Bullying is a problem in many schools, 1. a. only

although staff and students are (1) b. many
reluctant to admit it. They tend to say that it c. much
d. rather
happens in other schools, but not in theirs.
So, the problem remains until a (2) 2. a. almost
serious incident brings it to light. b. really
c. many
Boys would d. only
(3) use physical
violence against their victims, while girls use
3. a. then
(4) obvious methods to make a b. lately
classmate suffer. Neeta, an intelligent but shy c. usually
girl, was bullied by a group of noisy, popular d. immediately
girls, who (5) tried to make sure 4. a. nearly
she was friendless and isolated. By b. many
slandering and embarrassing her in class, the c. only
d. less
bullies made other students afraid to
approach her, in case they too were isolated. 5. a. honestly
Neeta became (6) lonely and b. cruelly
c. slowly
miserable, to a point where she refused to go
d. well
to school. Her parents became (7)
concerned about her and suspected that she 6. a. gradually
might have been bullied. However, when they b. sufficiently
c. increasingly
brought this up with Neeta’s class teacher,
d. magnificently
she turned a deaf ear to the matter. Her class
teacher, towards whom the bullies behaved 7. a. overly
b. trickily
(8) , refused to believe that bullying
c. tragically
exists in her class. d. excitingly

8. a. politely
b. openly
c. quietly
d. rudely

(8 marks)

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E) CLOZE PASSAGE 2: Choose the
correct option.

The International Organisation of

1. a. who
Consumers Union (IOCU) has come up with b. what
eight basic rights of consumers. Firstly, c. when
d. which
consumers have the right to basic goods
and services (1) guarantee 2. a. education
survival. They must have adequate food, b. educating
clothing, shelter, health care, (2) c. educators
d. educational
and sanitation. Secondly, they must have
the right to be protected against the 3. a. is
marketing of goods and services that b. are
c. was
(3) hazardous to health and life.
d. were
Thirdly, they should be protected against
(4) advertising or labelling. 4. a. misled
b. mislead
Consumers should also have the right to c. misleads
choose products and services at competitive d. misleading
prices and which are of satisfactory quality,
5. a. nevertheless
(5) to express consumer b. as well as
interests in the making and execution of c. such as
government policy. They should also be d. but

compensated if they have accidentally 6. a. buy

(6) damaged goods. It is important that b. buys
consumers have the right to (7) c. bought
d. buying
the knowledge and skills necessary to be an
informed consumer. Lastly, they (8) 7. a. provide
the right to live and work in an b. acquire
c. catch
environment which is neither threatening nor
d. send
dangerous and which permits a life of dignity
and well-being. 8. a. should have
b. would have
c. could have
d. will have

(8 marks)

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SECTION II: READING (10 MARKS)
Passage 1

Our Digital footprint

Every time we go online we leave a trail. This is just like a real footprint. It reveals where we’ve
been, how long we stayed and what we’ve been doing there. Every time we register for an
online service, send an email, download a video or upload a photo, the information can be
accessed and our digital footprint can be revealed. This shouldn’t necessarily be worrying but it
is advisable to be aware of our digital footprint and to be cautious and sensible when we are
online.

We must do the following to take care of our digital footprint:

1. Not forget to log off when we leave a website, especially if we are using a shared computer. If
we don’t, someone can easily pretend to be us!
2. Not tell anyone our passwords and don’t write them down in an obvious place. Make them
more complex by using a combination of letters, numbers and punctuation marks.
3. Tell an adult if we come across anything online that makes us upset, anxious or concerned.
There are ways to report inappropriate or abusive content and in most cases web managers
respond rapidly.
4. Remember our favourite websites by using the history button and the bookmark function on
our computer or mobile device. This ensures that our digital footprint works in our favour.
However, we must clear the browser history regularly.
5. Not use our own name if we want to post comments online. It is advisable to invent a
nickname and use a picture instead of a real photo.

6. Protect our identity online by not sharing our personal information like our email, home
address, and school or phone number with others.

Think about the future

All kinds of people are interested in our digital footprint. It's now quite common for colleges,
universities and employers to check out the online profiles of possible candidates as part of their
application process. There are cases of people having missed out on jobs and places in college
because their digital footprint didn’t impress the recruiters. So, we must remember to keep safe,
not put too much personal information online and always think carefully before we post
something.

Adapted from https://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/skills/reading/upper-intermediate-b2 -reading/

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Question 1

What happens every time we go online?

Question 2

How is our digital footprint revealed?

Question 3

What happens if we forget to log off when abandoning a site?

Question 4

How does a graduate’s digital footprint affect his employment opportunities?

Question 5

How can we post comments online without leaving our digital footprint?

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Passage 2

Video games are good for you!

For years, video games have been criticised for making people more antisocial, overweight or
depressed. But now researchers are finding that games can actually change us for the better
and improve both our body and mind.

Games can help to develop physical skills. Pre-school children who played interactive games
such as the ones available on Wii have been shown to have improved motor skills, for example
they can kick, catch and throw a ball better than children who don’t play video games. A study of
surgeons who do microsurgery in Boston found that those who played video games were 27 per
cent faster and made 37 per cent fewer errors than those who didn't. Vision is also improved,
particularly when telling the difference between shades of grey. This is useful for driving at night,
piloting a plane or reading X-rays.

Games also benefit a variety of brain functions, including decision-making. People who play
action-based games make decisions 25 per cent faster than others and are no less accurate,
according to one study. It was also found that the best gamers can make choices and act on
them up to six times a second, four times faster than most people. In another study by
researchers from the University of Rochester in New York, experienced gamers were shown to
be able to pay attention to more than six things at once without getting confused, compared with
the four that most people can normally keep in mind. Additionally, video games can also reduce
gender differences. Scientists have found that women who play games are better able to
mentally manipulate 3D objects.

There is also evidence that gaming can help with psychological problems. At the University of
Auckland in New Zealand, researchers asked 94 young people diagnosed with depression to
play a 3D fantasy game called SPARX and in many cases, the game reduced symptoms of
depression more than conventional treatment. Another research team at Oxford University
found that playing Tetris shortly after exposure to something very upsetting – in the experiment,
a film of traumatic scenes of injury and death was used – can actually prevent people having
disturbing flashbacks.

The effects are not always so positive, however. Indiana University researchers carried out
brain scans on young men and found evidence that violent games can alter brain function after
as little as a week of play, affecting regions in the brain associated with emotional control and
causing more aggressive behaviour in the player. But Daphne Bavelier, one of the most
experienced researchers in the field, says that the violent action games that often worry parents
most may actually have the strongest beneficial effect on the brain. In the future, we may see
many treatments for physical and neurological problems which incorporate the playing of video

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games.
Adapted from https://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/skills/reading/upper-intermediate-b2 -reading/

Question 1

Why have video games been criticised for years?

Question 2

What is the connection between women and video games?

Question 3

In what way is gaming better than conventional treatment to manage depression?

Question 4

Substitute the word incorporate in the last paragraph with another word.

Question 5

In your opinion is playing violent video games safe? Why?

SECTION III: WRITING (20 marks)

Write an essay between 100 and 120 words on the following topic:
”If you could change one thing in your life, what would it be and why?”
(20 marks)