KEYNOTE PROFICIENT MID-COURSE TEST | (Units 1–6)

Name of student: _____________________ Total score: __________________________

VOCABULARY
1 Read the text and choose the word (A–D) which best fits each gap. The first one is done
for you.

Ergonomic furniture design

Ergonomics is the scientific study of humans and their working conditions. What this means is that
products, systems and processes are designed to take account of the interaction between them and
the people who use them, the (0) A being that it improves workers’ effectiveness (1) ____ .
Shoddily (2) ____ together office furniture can lead to health problems in workers, whereas
ergonomically designed chairs and desks have been scientifically (3) ____ to provide the comfort and
support required by those who sit for lengthy periods at a computer. This has provided a (4) ____
argument for employers to look after the comfort of their employees, and the practice is now widely
(5) ____ across industries, where it has been (6) ____ admired for its efficacy.
Both functional and comforting, ergonomic design allows companies and individuals to (7) ____
bespoke ideas suited to their particular needs and circumstances. An ergonomic chair forces its sitter
to adopt the right (8) ____ , thereby reducing the risk of injury, pain or discomfort and allowing them to
(9) ____ themselves to their work rather than worrying about strain. These items needn’t be (10) ____
expensive, either, making them an affordable way to keep workers both comfortable and productive.

0 A consensus B whole C unity D accommodation

1 A outstandingly B extremely C intensely D significantly
2 A made B put C got D set
3 A justified B resolved C proven D convinced
4 A compelling B tempting C fascinating D dramatic
5 A serviced B operated C handled D used
6 A incredibly B vastly C greatly D remarkably
7 A come up with B come through C come about D come in for
8 A attitude B posture C mode D aspect
9 A present B assign C devote D reserve
10 A prohibitively B severely C intensely D utterly

Marks (out of 10): ________

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2 Read the text. Use the correct form of the word in CAPITAL LETTERS at the end of
some of the lines to fill the gap in the same line. The first one is done for you.

Innate talent: myth or fact?

Recent research has indicated that talent as an innate characteristic is purely
a myth, and that there is nothing (0) miraculous about someone excelling MIRACLE
in their chosen area of expertise. What really matters is (11) __________ and DILIGENT
what’s become known as ‘purposeful practice’; in other words, (12) __________ EXPLICIT
trying to improve. Only by applying yourself and striving to be better each time
you practise can you be any good at anything, be it playing chess or running
a marathon. The increments in ability may be almost (13) __________ but are PERCEIVE
most certainly there.
Such studies have also suggested that circumstance is as much a requirement
to success as physical attributes (like fast muscle twitch in sprinters). The
(14) __________ of long-distance runners, they claim, come from African MAJOR
countries because they do their training at high altitudes, which is beneficial
when competing at lower ones, where increased oxygen levels are hugely
(15) __________ . ENERGY
While practice and the right conditions may appear to be (16) __________ to DISPENSE
success, is there actually any truth in the idea that innate talent is a myth as
studies like these have (17) __________ proven? What may have been overlooked SUPPOSE
is who participated in the studies. It’s (18) __________ for researchers when REASSURE
they prove that musicians are able to sing a perfect ‘A’ note without hearing
it first – but does the research bear (19) __________ ? Would it be possible SCRUTINIZE
to train someone professing to have no ‘ear’ for music to do the same?
Some later studies have claimed that professional sportspeople have no more
physical advantage than anyone else. If that were true, how would one explain
why (20) __________ all basketball players are exceptionally tall? The results VIRTUAL
of nature versus nurture, it seems, are far from conclusive.

Marks (out of 10): ________

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GRAMMAR
3 Complete the text with a suitable word in each gap. Use only one word in each gap. In
some cases, more than one word is possible. The first one is done for you.

The DIY downturn

The British have long (0) been advocates of DIY. After all, why get someone else
(21) __________ do a chore when you can complete the task yourself?! (22) __________ only are we
able to get on with things like basic car maintenance and gardening, but home decoration and minor
repairs are also relatively straightforward jobs that most of us attend to without repercussions. While
it’s tempting to have a go yourself when you can’t (23) __________ a light to work or the top branches
of a tree need cutting down, once we get onto electrical work and structural repairs or things like tree
surgery, evidence suggests we’d (24) __________ better off leaving it to the experts than taking it into
our own hands.
However, surveys have demonstrated a recent turndown in DIY in the UK, with fewer and fewer
people even owning tools (one survey reports a figure of 71% (25) __________ British men not
owning tools), let alone knowing how to put them to good use, as they (26) __________ have in the
past. There is even some evidence to suggest that less DIY is now (27) __________ done by men,
while women are doing more, and a wealth of DIY clubs professing to help those of us who can’t even
change a light bulb (28) __________ springing up everywhere. Reasons for the downturn could be
attributed to the fact that younger people may (29) __________ been put off attempting jobs at home
due to knowledge of strict health and safety regulations outside it. In addition, many people struggle
even to buy a house, never mind have one to fix, and it doesn’t look like things (30) __________
change in the near future, either.

Marks (out of 10): ________

4 Complete the second sentence so that it has a similar meaning to the first sentence,
using the word given. Do not change the word given. You must use between two and five
words, including the word given. The first one is done for you.

0 Being an artist, do you think you have achieved the standards you’re capable of?
POTENTIAL
Would you say that you have realised your potential as an artist?
31 Over the years I’ve attempted to do different creative activities but I’m no good at anything!
OUT
I have ____________________ different creative activities for years but I’m no good at
anything!
32 I think you will have learned enough Spanish to make you fluent in five years.
SPEAKING
In five years I think you ____________________ Spanish fluently.

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 33 To stop you worrying, check out the consulate’s advice before you travel.
PEACE
Check out the consulate’s advice before travelling ____________________ mind.
34 I really don’t recommend not taking out insurance for your holiday.
ADVISE
I ____________________ against not taking out insurance for your holiday.
35 I think that’s rather a disrespectful way to act towards your teacher.
QUITE
I think you ____________________ disrespectful towards your teacher.
36 Despite what most people believe, music can actually help you to concentrate.
POPULAR
Contrary ____________________, music can actually help you to concentrate.
37 When mobile technology was introduced, communication got faster.
INTRODUCTION
Faster communication came ____________________ mobile technology.
38 Social media has such a lot of influence on us that we often fail to question the truth of
what we read.
WE
So influenced ____________________ what we read on social media that we often fail to
question its truth.
39 The rate of consumption of the world’s resources is rapid.
RAPIDLY
The world’s resources ____________________ .
40 A professional decorator was eventually able to paint Simon’s sitting room for him.
HIS
Simon eventually managed to ____________________ by a professional decorator.

Marks (out of 10): ________

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READING
5 Read the article about social media and communication. Five paragraphs have been
removed from the article. Choose from the paragraphs (A–F) the one which fits each gap
(41–45). There is one extra paragraph which you do not need to use.

How social media is changing the way we communicate

As technological progress speeds up, so too, does interconnectedness. Many of us rarely take time
out from our devices, even leaving them pinging and buzzing whilst we’re asleep. Has this constant
hyperconnectivity affected the way we communicate? One thing at least is certain: the dawn of the
internet revolutionized the lives of billions and changed our behaviour beyond recognition.
(41) _____
This isn’t the only thing dying out. Many young people alive today don’t know what it was like when it
took days to get photos developed from film and libraries were the main source of reference
materials. And if you wanted a new album, you’d have to go and buy a CD. In addition, pre-millennials
(millennials being those born during the late 1900s and early 2000s) probably remember receiving
letters from far-flung friends, and would have had a considerably smaller social circle, comprising only
those they actually met in face-to-face interaction.
(42) _____
In 2014, for example, the ‘ice bucket challenge’ raised awareness online for a serious medical
condition called motor neurone disease. People either agreed to give an amount to the charity
supporting the cause, or they had to throw a bucket of ice-filled water over themselves (many people
did both). It went viral and attracted attention to a life-threatening condition many people knew little
about. Since then, people have been using the internet to inform people of many other causes, and
signing online petitions has become commonplace.
(43) _____
Though most of us have taken to new forms of communication with ease, there are some who go so
far as to suggest that we’ve lost important social and verbal skills along the way. They argue that
some people are so dependent on social media that they struggle to stay in the here-and-now for long
enough to carry out a normal face-to-face conversation.
(44) _____
There are also fears that social media use has led to a deterioration in our written language. Since
platforms like Twitter allow only a very limited number of characters per Tweet, we’ve become
accustomed to having to get our message across succinctly. This can have an effect on the grammar
that’s used, resulting in complex sentences being abandoned in favour of simpler ones.
(45) _____
Proponents of language change say that in adopting new forms, we demonstrate not a decline in our
language skills but an ability to learn new ones. Some even claim that ‘text speak’ is a whole new
dialect in itself. Ultimately, there are no rights or wrongs about how we communicate or who we
communicate with. But perhaps from time to time we might step back in time and pause for a
moment: switch off our gadgets, get to know those around us better, relax and stare into space …

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A Reaching a wide-ranging audience in this way is something that could only have been
dreamed about in the pre-internet age. This is because social media means we interact with
many of the people in our lives in an entirely different way compared to just a few decades
ago.

B While many of us may not recall it, there was a time when if you wanted to speak to a friend,
rather than reaching for your tablet and logging onto social media, you’d probably have to
speak to their parents first, as the only way of reaching them was via the landline, or home
phone. Gradually falling out of use, countless people don’t even have one at all, and many of
those who still do aren’t sure what their number is any more.

C This may be because of a phenomenon known as FOMO, or the fear of missing out. So
concerned are they about what else might be going on that they sit (or walk around!) glued to
their screens rather than engaging in real-life interaction. Relationships can suffer as a result
and attempts at meaningful conversation by those around them fails.

D Of course, it is the older generations who fail to do so, preferring instead what they see as
more reliable forms of communication. They argue that technology often fails, whereas pen
and paper do not. Younger people have never known anything different, and those in
between have generally embraced the changes, while observing that things do not
necessarily happen more quickly.

E We also use far more acronyms (for example, BTW for ‘by the way’) than we would in more
formal styles of writing and different websites even have their own ‘shorthand’. One of the
earliest examples of acronyms is LOL (laugh out loud). Now becoming less prevalent, it
serves to prove how quickly the language we use comes and goes at a speed almost as fast
as our internet connection.

F Since the internet took off in a big way in the mid-90s, however, we have been able to create
huge communication networks the world over. Everyone knows someone who’s got
thousands of friends on social media sites. The vast majority of these they have never even
met. It isn’t only that we can now speak to so many people, but that we can communicate
messages to them that may otherwise have remained unheard.

Marks (Two marks per question). Total marks out of 10: ________

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LISTENING
Track1_Keynote_Prof_Midcourse_test

6 Listen to a woman called Toni talking about visiting a restaurant where you eat in the
dark. Complete the sentences with a word or short phrase. The first one is done for you.
Dark dining
0 Toni was initially full of dread before entering the restaurant.
46 The restaurant customers sat on __________ facing each other.
47 Toni found that __________ patterns between her and her friend changed when dining
with strangers.
48 Toni was unsettled about the idea of eating __________.
49 Toni felt __________ about her dining experience being similar to that of a blind person.
50 Toni describes not being able to identify food through taste as ‘(5) __________’.
51 Toni explains that without __________ cues, a sighted person’s enjoyment of a meal can
be affected.
52 As Toni was eating, she concentrated on the __________ of the food rather than its taste.
53 When Toni checked the truth about blind people’s senses, she learned that they were
better able to __________ smells than sighted people.
54 Toni found out that keeping eyes closed when eating in the dark leads to a greater
__________ of the food.
55 Toni says eating in the dark distracted her but was also __________.

Marks (out of 10): ________

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SPEAKING
7 Work in pairs.
Step 1
Here are some photos of people being creative. Discuss with your partner what the
people might be getting out of doing these activities.
A B

C D

Step 2
Now look at all the photos. Imagine that a TV company wants to interview someone with
a creative job for a documentary. Decide together which of these activities might make
the most interesting documentary.

Marks (out of 10): ________

WRITING
8 An English-language magazine has asked readers to send in articles about their hopes
for the future. You decide to send in an article describing your own hopes for the future
and explaining why it is important for people to have such hopes.
Write your article in 280–320 words.

Marks (out of 10): ________

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