Friday, February 14, 2025

Exam insight 2

Listening
1Match the words to the definitions. 

forest rangers

farmers

zoos

conservation

  • these places keep animals in captivity
  • protecting the environment
  • these people keep animals for food
  • these people protect the forest

 Listening

2EXAM TASK Play the recording and listen to a radio interview. Then answer the questions with no more than four words or numbers. 
You need to use normal letters and capital letters correctly in this task.

EXAM STRATEGY

  •  Look at the questions before you listen.

     Think about what kind of information you need to answer them, for example:

    a number

    a price

    a verb

    a noun

  • 1How many mountain gorillas are there in the wild?

  • 2How many mountain gorillas are there in zoos and wildlife parks?

  • 3Where does The Gorilla Organization send information about mountain gorillas?

  • 4What is the mountain gorillas' habitat?

  • 5What does the organization teach forest rangers to do?

  • 6What meat are local farmers now producing?

Reading
3Read the text quickly and choose the best answers. 

EXAM STRATEGY

  •  Read the gapped sentences carefully. Think about what kind of information you need to complete them.

     Read the text and underline the key information.

     Remember to check your answers for grammar and spelling.

  • 1Farm:shop is in a .

  • 2There are  and plants in the shop.

  • 3Susan and Pierre  visit the shop.

It's a warm day in April when I visit the Farm:shop in Dalston, London. Outside, the street is busy and noisy, with cars, buses and people. But when I walk into the shop, I find a very different part of London: a peaceful, calm and green space.

Farm:shop in Dalston is a farm, it's a shop, it's a café and it's a school. The shop has got a small garden, where they grow lots of vegetables, herbs and mushrooms. There are more plants and fruit inside the shop – on the floor, on shelves and growing up the walls! There are also large tanks of fish and even chickens on the roof!

You can eat food from the shop at the café and you can learn about farming and gardening at special classes. Upstairs, on the third floor, there is a meeting room for local businesses. You can have a party here or you can hire a desk and work here.

Susan Turner visits the shop once or twice a week. 'I love the fresh food,' she says, 'and I like visiting the chickens on the roof! There are always new things in the shop. Today I'm buying carrots, potatoes and some eggs.'

Pierre Dupont is enjoying a cup of coffee and a piece of homemade cake in the café. 'I'm a writer,' he says, 'but it's difficult and boring to stay at home all day. I come here in the afternoons and I use a desk upstairs in the meeting room. Sometimes I help in the shop. There are always interesting people here.'

Reading
4EXAM TASK Read the text. Complete the sentences 1–6 with the missing words. 
You need to use normal letters and capital letters correctly in this task.

EXAM STRATEGY

  •  Read the gapped sentences carefully. Think about what kind of information you need to complete them.

     Read the text and underline the key information.

     Remember to check your answers for grammar and spelling.

It's a warm day in April when I visit the Farm:shop in Dalston, London. Outside, the street is busy and noisy, with cars, buses and people. But when I walk into the shop, I find a very different part of London: a peaceful, calm and green space.

Farm:shop in Dalston is a farm, it's a shop, it's a café and it's a school. The shop has got a small garden, where they grow lots of vegetables, herbs and mushrooms. There are more plants and fruit inside the shop – on the floor, on shelves and growing up the walls! There are also large tanks of fish and even chickens on the roof!

You can eat food from the shop at the café and you can learn about farming and gardening at special classes. Upstairs, on the third floor, there is a meeting room for local businesses. You can have a party here or you can hire a desk and work here.

Susan Turner visits the shop once or twice a week. 'I love the fresh food,' she says, 'and I like visiting the chickens on the roof! There are always new things in the shop. Today I'm buying carrots, potatoes and some eggs.'

Pierre Dupont is enjoying a cup of coffee and a piece of homemade cake in the café. 'I'm a writer,' he says, 'but it's difficult and boring to stay at home all day. I come here in the afternoons and I use a desk upstairs in the meeting room. Sometimes I help in the shop. There are always interesting people here.'

  • 1The writer of the text thinks that the shop is very  from the noisy street outside.

  • 2Some of the plants are not inside the shop, they are in  .

  • 3The chickens live    of the shop.

  • 4  can have meetings on the third floor.

  • 5Susan Turner is buying vegetables and  at the shop.

  • 6Pierre Dupont works as a .

Use of English
5EXAM TASK Read the text and choose the correct answers to complete gaps 1–9. 

exam strategy

  •  Read through the text first.

     Look at the words before and after each gap.

     Read the complete sentences aloud. Do they make sense?

We live in a small house in the country. It's got a big garden and we grow 1 of food in it. We grow potatoes, beans, onions, peas and tomatoes. We haven't got 2 carrots in our garden because no one in our family likes carrots! We've got 3 apple trees at the bottom of the garden, but they don't produce 4 fruit at the moment because they're very young. We also keep some animals; we've got 5 pigs and a goat called Tilly. I love the pigs, but I don't like Tilly. She's always trying to eat the plants!

It's early April now and 6 rains quite often at this time of year. I don't like getting wet, but I know it's really good for the plants. Today, though, it isn't raining. It's a warm, 7 day and my dad and I are in the garden. My dad 

8

 

a hole for some new potatoes. It's hard work and he's very tired and hot. I'm chasing Tilly, but she's running 

9

 

from me!

EXAM STRATEGY

  • Look at the photo carefully and think about the vocabulary you need to describe it.
  • Remember to use phrases like: in the background, in the forground, on the left/right, etc. to describe where things are in a picture.
  • Use the present continuous to describe what people are doing in the photo.


  • 6 Look at the photo below and think about how to describe it. Make notes about:
    • the people (their appearance, what they are feeling, what they are doing)
    • the animals
    • the scenery
    • the weather

     Speak for no longer than one minute.













  1.  Select Record Audio to record yourself.
  2.  If you want to add a note to your teacher, write it in the Comments box.
  3.  Select Submit to dropbox to send the recording to your teacher.

EXAM STRATEGY

  • Look at the photo carefully and think about the vocabulary you need to describe it.
  • Remember to use phrases like: in the background, in the forground, on the left/right, etc. to describe where things are in a picture.
  • Use the present continuous to describe what people are doing in the photo. 

EXAM TASK

 Answer the questions about the photo. Give reasons for your answers. Speak for no longer than one minute.

  1.  What are the people in the photo doing?
  2.  Do you think they are enjoying this activity? Why / why not?
  3.  What kinds of outdoor activities do you enjoy doing? How often do you do them?
























  1.  Select Record Audio to record yourself.
  2.  If you want to add a note to your teacher, write it in the Comments box.
  3.  Select Submit to dropbox to send the recording to your teacher.
Writing
8Look at the sentences (1–6) below. Are they Formal or Informal? 
  • 1Dear Mrs Smith

  • 2Best wishes

  • 3Hi John

  • 4Yours sincerely

  • 5Write soon!

  • 6I look forward to hearing from you.

EXAM STRATEGY

  • Read the task carefully and think about the type of text. Is it formal or informal?
  • Write a plan first. Make a list of five or six key words to include in each paragraph.
  • Remember to check your grammar, punctuation and spelling.

EXAM TASK

9  Write an email to a foreign friend. Describe a traditional meal from your country. Answer these questions in your email:

  • when do people usually eat this food?
  • do people usually eat it at home or at a restaurant?
  • is the food healthy or unhealthy?
  • do you like it?
  1.  Write your task in another program (e.g. Word).
  2.  Save the file to your computer.
  3.  Upload your file.
  4.  If you want to add a note to your teacher, write it in the Comments box.
  5.  Select Submit to Dropbox to send your work to your teacher.


No comments:

Post a Comment