Exam insight 5

Listening

exam strategy

• ■ Read the gapped sentences before listening and try to predict the main topic of the listening.

  ■ Think about the information you need for each gap – is it a number, a date, a place, a name, a noun?

  ■ Read the sentences again after you have completed them. Do they make sense?

1Match the question number of the sentences in exercise 2 to the gaps A–D. 

• Aa type of person / people and 

• Ba place,  and 

• Can amount of money

• Da possession

2EXAM TASK Play the recording and listen to Tara talking about her bike ride from Ireland to Croatia. Complete sentences 1–7 with information from the text. Write only one word or number in each gap. 

• 1Tara spent time in  when she was a child.

• 2She stayed with different  during her journey.

• 3She didn't always cycle 100 km per day because she had to cross some .

• 4She rode her bike in seven different .

• 5Someone stole her  in France.

• 6Some  helped her when she was lost in Switzerland.

• 7She donated more than £ to Guy's Hospital in London.

Answers

Reading

3EXAM TASK Read the text quickly. Which text is about: 

• aa place for dead people

• ba very old city

• ca place which has got trees and plants all around it

exam strategy

• ■ Read the text quickly first.

  ■ Then read through the multiple choice options. Decide which options are definitely wrong.

  ■ Look for key words in the text. Remember – they are usually not the same words as those in the questions.

1 ASIA

Angkor Wat, in Cambodia, is the largest religious monument in the world. It's a group of 12th century temples, originally dedicated to the Hindu God Vishnu. In the 14th century it became a Buddhist site and today it is

a major religious monument for both Hindus and Buddhists. The temples are still in good condition, but the jungle has grown around them so that between and inside the temples there are trees and plants. The whole monument covers more than 400 square kilometres – that's an area bigger than Paris! About 500,000 tourists visit Angkor Wat every year.

2 SOUTH AMERICA

In the fifteenth century, high up in the Andes mountains in Peru, the Incas built a stone city, Machu Picchu, with palaces, temples and about 150 houses. The construction of this city was an amazing achievement. The Incas cut huge steps into the side of the mountain and then carried the stone up the mountain to build the city. When Spain conquered the Inca people in 1533, they destroyed many Inca cities, but they never discovered Machu Picchu at the top of the mountain. Between 1570–1580, all the Incas left Machu Picchu. Perhaps they became ill, but no one really knows why. Then, in 1911, Hiram Bingham discovered it again.

3 AFRICA

More than 3,500 years ago, the Ancient Egyptians began to build amazing tombs – places for their dead kings. They built them in a valley by the Nile River, and we now call this the 'Valley of the Kings'. The most famous tomb in the Valley of the Kings is probably the tomb of Tutankhamun. Howard Carter discovered it in 1922. Inside the tomb there were beautiful objects, gold jewellery and decorations on all the walls. There was also the body of the Pharaoh (Egyptian King) Tutankhamun. Cairo Museum is now the home of many of these objects and sometimes there are special exhibitions in other major museums, including London and New York, but Tutankhamun still rests in his tomb in the Valley of the Kings.

Answers

Reading

4EXAM TASK Read the text and choose the correct answers. 

1 ASIA

Angkor Wat, in Cambodia, is the largest religious monument in the world. It's a group of 12th century temples, originally dedicated to the Hindu God Vishnu. In the 14th century it became a Buddhist site and today it is a major religious monument for both Hindus and Buddhists. The temples are still in good condition, but the jungle has grown around them so that between and inside the temples there are trees and plants. The whole monument covers more than 400 square kilometres – that's an area bigger than Paris! About 500,000 tourists visit Angkor Wat every year.

2 SOUTH AMERICA

In the fifteenth century, high up in the Andes mountains in Peru, the Incas built a stone city, Machu Picchu, with palaces, temples and about 150 houses. The construction of this city was an amazing achievement. The Incas cut huge steps into the side of the mountain and then carried the stone up the mountain to build the city. When Spain conquered the Inca people in 1533, they destroyed many Inca cities, but they never discovered Machu Picchu at the top of the mountain. Between 1570–1580, all the Incas left Machu Picchu. Perhaps they became ill, but no one really knows why. Then, in 1911, Hiram Bingham discovered it again.

3 AFRICA

More than 3,500 years ago, the Ancient Egyptians began to build amazing tombs – places for their dead kings. They built them in a valley by the Nile River, and we now call this the 'Valley of the Kings'. The most famous tomb in the Valley of the Kings is probably the tomb of Tutankhamun. Howard Carter discovered it in 1922. Inside the tomb there were beautiful objects, gold jewellery and decorations on all the walls. There was also the body of the Pharaoh (Egyptian King) Tutankhamun. Cairo Museum is now the home of many of these objects and sometimes there are special exhibitions in other major museums, including London and New York, but Tutankhamun still rests in his tomb in the Valley of the Kings.

• 1What can visitors see in Angkor Wat?

  One main Hindu temple and some other, smaller Buddhist temples.Lots of Buddhist temples and a few Hindu temples.Lots of temples that are important for Buddhists and Hindus.One large temple that was Hindu and is now Buddhist.

• 2Why does the writer mention Paris?

  Angkor Wat and Paris are the same size.Paris is smaller than Angkor Wat.Angkor Wat is 4,000 kilometres from Paris.Paris and Angkor Wat both get a lot of tourists.

• 3It was difficult to build Machu Picchu because the buildings used lots of different materialsthe Inca people took stone from the mountains to build itthere was a war with Spain at the same timethe main material for the buildings was at the bottom of the mountains.

• 4You can see Tutankhamun's body in Cairoin Londonin the Valley of the Kingsin New York.

Answers

Use of English

5EXAM TASK Read the text about Kira Salak. Complete gaps 1–8 with the missing words. Use one word in each gap. 

exam strategy

• ■ Read the text quickly to understand the general meaning.

  ■ Look at the words before and after the gap.

  ■ Think about the kind of word you need – preposition, pronoun, auxiliary verb, etc.

  ■ Read through the completed text to check that it makes sense.

Kira Salak is a novelist, a travel writer and an adventurer. She ¹ visited some of the world's ² dangerous places, including Madagascar, Borneo, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Book Magazine described her as '³ craziest woman adventurer of our day.' And the New York Times said, 'She's a real life

Lara Croft.'

Kira was born ⁴ Chicago, USA, in 1971. She loved sport ⁵ school, and when she was a teenager she wanted to train as an Olympic athlete. But she was also very interested in writing and finally she decided to give 

⁶

 

her Olympic training and to focus on travel writing.

When Kira was twenty-four ⁷ old, she became the first woman to travel across Papua New Guinea, and later she wrote a book about her experience. In 2005 she cycled over 1,200 kilometres across Alaska to the Arctic Ocean

and in 2006 she travelled 966 kilometres by kayak down the Niger River to Timbuktu.

She's also written a novel, won several journalism awards, and when she isn't travelling, she enjoys taekwondo, camping and mountain climbing.

What are her plans for the future? 'I want ⁸ ride a horse across Mongolia,' she says.

Answers

Speaking

exam strategy

■ Use adjectives and adverbs to make your description more interesting.

■ Make sure you include information about each point.

■ You can always include extra information about the topic.

6Write at least three more holiday words for each heading.

Activities   sightseeing, 

Places       beach, 

People       friends, 

Adjectives  exciting, 

7EXAM TASK Talk about your favourite holiday experience. Include answers to the questions below. Speak for no longer than one minute.

• Where did you go?
• What did you do there?
• Who did you go with?
• Why did you enjoy it?

Writing

exam strategy

■ Read the task carefully and make notes for each point.

■ Include your personal opinion as well as facts and information.

■ Remember to check your writing carefully for grammar, spelling and punctuation.

8EXAM TASK Your friend in the USA is going to visit your country. Write a letter about the best places to visit and things to do in your country. Include information about:

• the best time of year to visit and why
• different ways of travelling around your country
• some important buildings or monuments
• some beautiful scenery in your country - e.g. mountains or beaches