Practice Test

SECTION 3 Questions 21–30

Questions 21–22
What TWO reasons did Beth give for choosing sign language as the topic for her
project?
Choose TWO answers and write the correct letters A–E in boxes 21 and 22 on your
answer sheet.

A she feels embarrassed that she knows so little about it

B it will help her see how well she can learn a new language
C it will help her understand broader linguistic concepts
D it will improve her employment prospects
E she has personal experience of using the language

Questions 23–24
What TWO things from her reading surprise Beth about sign language?
Choose TWO answers and write the correct letters A–E in boxes 23 and 24 on your
answer sheet.

A that there are numerous different kinds

B that the international version is seldom used
C that some versions don’t have legal status
D that it has all the features of spoken language
E that the earliest version was developed centuries ago

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Questions 25–30
Complete the flow chart below, which shows Beth’s plans for her research sequence.
Choose SIX answers and write the correct letter A–I in boxes 25–30 on your
answer sheet.

A ways to learn
B own performance
C a video record
D an ethics form
E research reports
F fellow students
G a diary
H people with hearing problems
I a questionnaire

Plan for research sequence

Learn some sign language

Keep 25 (for duration of learning)

Review 26

Draft 27

Trial with 28

Complete 29

Conduct main research

Share findings with 30

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SECTION 4 Questions 31–40

Complete the notes below.
Write ONE WORD ONLY for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 31–40 on your answer sheet.

CHEETAHS

Background information
• hunts in open grassland – prey mainly antelope
• numbers in decline
- previously mainly hunted for its 31
- now affected by environment change
• currently found in Africa and Iran

Adaptations
• black tear-marks help keep 32 out of its eyes
• slender, long-legged body
• large nostrils, 33 and lungs aid oxygen absorption

Recent research
• undertaken by veterinary scientists
• recognised previous research was limited to the 34 and straight-
line chases
• attached collars to wild cheetahs
- used 35 energy and batteries
- can be controlled from a nearby 36

Findings
• semi-retractable claws mean it can 37 rapidly
• uses its 38 to steer its body during a chase
• muscles are four times more powerful than the fastest 39
• female cheetahs are less 40 than males

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READING PASSAGE 3 Questions 27–40

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27–40, which are based on Reading Passage 3 below.

The development of the brain in early humans

Although our ancestors, Homo sapiens, had already informing one another of the whereabouts of food.
populated East Africa 150,000 years ago, they began Neither was it the first language involving the use of
to spread across the rest of the earth and drive out a voice. Many animals, including all ape and monkey
other species only about 70,000 years ago. Until species, have vocal languages. For example, green
then, even though these ancestors looked just like us, monkeys use calls of various kinds to communicate.
and their brains were as big as ours are, they did not Scientists have identified one call that means ‘Careful!
enjoy any marked advantage over the other human An eagle!’ A slightly different call warns, ‘Careful! A
species that existed at that time. In addition, they did lion!’ Homo sapiens can produce many more distinct
not produce particularly sophisticated tools, and did sounds than green monkeys, but whales and elephants
not accomplish any other special feats. This lack of have equally impressive abilities. A parrot can say
achievement has led scientists to speculate that the anything a person could say, as well as mimicking the
internal structure of the brain of Homo sapiens was sounds of phones ringing, doors slamming, and police
probably different from ours. They looked like us, cars with their sirens switched on. What, then, is so
but their cognitive abilities – learning, remembering, special about our language?
communicating – were far more limited.
The most common answer is that our language is
But then, beginning about 70,000 years ago, Homo amazingly flexible. We can connect a limited number
sapiens started doing very special things. Around that of sounds and signs to produce an infinite number of
date, bands of Homo sapiens left Africa for a second sentences, each with a distinct meaning. Therefore
time. This time they drove all other human species from we can take in, store and communicate an enormous
the face of the earth. Within a remarkably short period, amount of information about the surrounding world.
our ancestors reached Europe and East Asia. About A green monkey can yell to its comrades, ‘Careful!
45,000 years ago, they somehow crossed the open A lion!’ But a modern human can tell her friends that
sea and landed in Australia – a continent untouched by this morning, near the bend in a river, she saw a lion
humans until then. The period from about 70,000 years tracking a herd of bison. She can then describe the
ago to about 30,000 years ago witnessed the invention exact location, including the different paths leading
of boats, oil lamps, bows and arrows and needles to the area. With this information, the members of her
(essential for sewing warm clothing). The first objects group can discuss whether they should approach
that can reliably be called art also date from this era, the river, chase away the lion, and hunt the bison
as does the first clear evidence for religion, commerce themselves.
and social organisation.
A second theory agrees that our unique language
Most researchers believe that these unprecedented evolved as a means of sharing information about the
accomplishments were the product of a revolution in world. But according to this theory, the most important
Homo sapiens’ cognitive abilities. They maintain that information that needed to be conveyed was about
the people who drove the Neanderthals to extinction, humans, not about lions and bison: our language
settled Australia, and carved the ivory figure of a lion- evolved as a way of gossiping. Homo sapiens is chiefly
man found in a cave in Germany, were as intelligent, a social animal, and social cooperation is our key for
creative and sensitive as we are. survival. It is not enough for men and women to know
the whereabouts of lions and bison. It is much more
The appearance of new ways of thinking, and
important for them to know who in their group hates
communicating, between 70,000 and 30,000 years ago
whom, who is sleeping with whom, who is honest, and
constitutes the Cognitive Revolution. We are not sure
who is a cheat.
what caused it. The most commonly believed theory
argues that accidental genetic changes altered the The amount of information that one must obtain
inner wiring of the brains of Homo sapiens, enabling and remember, in order to track the ever-changing
them to think in new ways, and to communicate using relationships of even a small number of individuals,
an altogether new type of language. Why did it occur is huge. All apes show a keen interest in such social
in Homo sapiens rather than in other species, like information, but they have trouble gossiping effectively.
Neanderthals? It was just a matter of pure chance, as The new linguistic skills that Homo sapiens acquired
far as we can tell. But it's more important to understand about seventy millennia ago enabled them to gossip
the consequences of this change than its causes. What for hours on end. Reliable information about who could
was so special about Homo sapiens’ new language be trusted meant that small groups could expand into
that it enabled us to conquer the world? larger groups, and Homo sapiens could develop tighter
and more sophisticated types of cooperation. The
It was not the first language; every animal has some
gossip theory might sound like a joke, but numerous
kind of language. Even insects, such as bees and
studies confirm it.
ants, know how to communicate in sophisticated ways,

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Questions 27–28
Choose the appropriate letters A, B, C or D.
Write your answers in boxes 27 and 28 on your answer sheet.

27 Between 150,000 and 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens

A were the dominant species of East Africa.
B demonstrated considerable manual skill.
C developed faster than other human species.
D equalled modern humans in terms of their brain size.

28 How do most scientists account for Homo sapiens’ achievements after leaving
Africa for the second time?
A They experienced a biological change.
B They made use of new raw materials.
C They encountered fewer predators.
D They learned from other human species.

Questions 29–35
Do the following statements agree with the claims made in Reading Passage 3?
In boxes 29–35 on your answer sheet write
YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

29 There is evidence that Homo sapiens was very creative between 70,000 and
30,000 years ago.
30 The great improvements in Homo sapiens' thinking ability between 70,000
and 30,000 years ago were due to luck.
31 The reasons for the Cognitive Revolution are more worthy of investigation
than the results.
32 Compared to other species of monkey, the green monkey expresses a wider
range of meanings in its calls.
33 The vocal features of human language are generally superior to the vocal
features of other animals’ languages.
34 Humans can express a greater range of meanings than any other animal.
35 Warnings are the most common function of non-human language.

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Questions 36–40
Complete the summary using the list of words, A–I, below.
Write your answers in boxes 36–40 on your answer sheet.

The primary function of human language

Scientists generally agree that human language developed out of the need to
share information. However, they disagree concerning which type of information
was the most important.
Some think that humans first used language to discuss 36 or how to
avoid danger. Others, however, think that sharing information about 37
was more important. 38 seems to have been the main function of early
language. Although this idea may appear unlikely, there is plenty of evidence to
support it.
Even for small groups, the 39 of such information was considerable.
Acquiring it enabled human societies to increase in size and 40 .

A planning
B quantity
C power
D gossiping
E hunting
F complexity
G territory
H people
I tools

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