IELTS MOCK TEST 1

1. LISTENING

(30 mnts + 10 mnts) C10 L2

Questions 1–10

Complete the notes below.

Write ONE WORD for each answer.

Transport Survey

Example

Travelled to town today: by bus

Name: Luisa 1 ……………………….. 

Address: 2   ………………………..   White Stone Rd

Area: Bradfield

Postcode: 3  ………………………..  

Occupation: 4   ……………………….. 

Reason for visit to town: to go to the 5   ……………………….. 

Suggestions for improvement:

• better 6   ……………………….. 

• have more footpaths

• more frequent 7   ……………………….. 

Things that would encourage cycling to work:

• having 8 ………………………..   parking places for bicycles

• being able to use a 9………………………..    at work

• the opportunity to have cycling 10 ………………………..   on busy roads

Questions 11–20

Questions 11-14

Choose the correct letter, A, В or C.

New city developments

11 The idea for the two new developments in the city came from

1.  local people
2.  the City Council
3.  the SWRDC

12 What is unusual about Brackenside pool?

1. its architectural style
2. its heating system
3. its method of water treatment

13 Local newspapers have raised worries about

1. the late opening date
2. the cost of the project
3. the size of the facilities

14 What decision has not yet been made about the pool?

1.  whose statue will be at the door
2.  the exact opening times
3.  who will open it

Questions 15–20

Which feature is related to each of the following areas of the world represented in the playground? Choose SIX answers from the box and write the correct letter A-I, next to questions 15  to 20. 

Features

A. ancient forts

B. waterways

C. ice and snow

D. jewels

E. local animals

F. mountains

G. music and film

H. space travel

I. volcanoes 

Areas of the world

15 Asia  …………

16 Antarctica  …………

17 South America  …………

18 North America  …………

19 Europe  …………

20 Africa  …………

Questions 21–30

Questions 21 and 22

Choose TWO letters, A — E.

Which TWO hobbies was Thor Heyerdahl very interested in as a youth?

A. camping

B. climbing

C. collecting

D. hunting

E. reading

Questions 23 and 24

Choose TWO letters, A-E.

Which do the speakers say are the TWO reasons why Heyerdahl went to live on an island?

A. to examine ancient carvings

B. to experience an isolated place

C. to formulate a new theory

D. to learn survival skills

E. to study the impact of an extreme environment

Questions 25-30

Choose the correct answer, 1, 2 or 3.

The Later Life of Thor Heyerdahl

25 According to Victor and Olivia, academics thought that Polynesian migration from the east was impossible due to

1. the fact that Eastern countries were far away.
2. the lack of materials for boat building.
3. the direction of the winds and currents.

26 Which do the speakers agree was the main reason for Heyerdahl’s raft journey?

1. to overcome a research setback
2. to demonstrate a personal quality
3. to test a new theory

27 What was most important to Heyerdahl about his raft journey?

1. the fact that he was the first person to do it
2. the speed of crossing the Pacific
3. the use of authentic construction methods

28 Why did Heyerdahl go to Easter Island?

1. to build a stone statue
2. to sail a reed boat
3. to learn the local language

29 In Olivia’s opinion, Heyerdahl’s greatest influence was on

1. theories about Polynesian origins.
2. the development of archaeological methodology.
3. establishing archaeology as an academic subject.

30 Which criticism do the speakers make of William Oliver’s textbook?

1. Its style is out of date.
2. Its content is over-simplified.
3. Its methodology is flawed.

Complete the notes below.

Write ONE WORD ONLY for each answer.

The Future of Management

Business markets

• greater 31 ………………………………  among companies

• increase in power of large 32  ………………………………  companies

• rising 33 ………………………………  in certain countries

External influences on businesses

• more discussion with 34 ………………………………  before making business decisions

• environmental concerns which may lead to more 35 ………………………………

Business structures

• more teams will be formed to work on a particular 36 ………………………………

• businesses may need to offer hours that are 37 ………………………………  or the chance to work remotely

Management styles

• increasing need for managers to provide good 38 ………………………………

• changes influenced by 39 ………………………………  taking senior roles

• increase in number among 40 ………………………………  specialists

READING (1 hr.)

On the move

Economic analysis sheds light on the history of migration and on its future

A.  DURING successive waves of globalisation in the three centuries leading up to the first world war, migration of labour was consistently one of the biggest drivers of economic change. Since 1945 the world has experienced a new era of accelerating globalisation, and the international movement of labour is proving once again to be of the greatest economic and social significance. As a new study by Barry Chiswick of the University of Illinois at Chicago and Timothy Hatton of the University of Essex makes plain, it is economic factors that have been uppermost throughout the history of migration.

B.  For many years after the discovery of America, the flow of, free migrants from Europe was steady but quite small: transport costs were high, conditions harsh and the dangers of migration great. In 1650 a free migrant’s passage to North America cost nearly half a year’s wages for a farm labourer in southern England. Slavery predominated until the slave trade was stopped in the first half of the 19th century. By around 1800, North America and the Caribbean islands had received some 8m immigrants. Of these, about 7m were African slaves.

C.  The first era of mass voluntary migration was between 1850 and 1913. Over 1m people a year were drawn to the new world by the turn of the 20th century. Growing prosperity; falling transport costs and lower risk all pushed in the same direction. Between 1914 and 1945, war, global depression and government policy reduced migration. During some years in the 1930s, people returning to Europe from the United States, even though comparatively few, actually outnumbered immigrants going the other way. After the second world war the cost of travel fell steeply. But now the pattern changed. Before long Europe declined as a source of immigration and grew as a destination. Emigration from developing countries expanded rapidly: incomes there rose enough to make emigration feasible, but not enough to make it pointless. Many governments began trying to control immigration. Numbers, legal and illegal, surged nonetheless, as economics had its way.

D.  Migration, it is safe to assume, is in the interests of (voluntary) migrants: they would not move otherwise. The evidence suggests that it is also very much in the overall interests of the receiving countries. But, as Mr Chiswick and Mr Hatton point out, there are losers in those countries. The increase in the supply of labour means that the wages of competing workers may fall, at least to start with.

E.  The economic conditions now seem propitious for an enormous further expansion of migration. On the face of it, this will be much like that of a century ago. As before, the main expansionary pressures arc rising incomes in the rich countries and rising incomes in the poor ones. (This second point is often neglected: as poor countries get a little less poor, emigration tends to increase, because people acquire the means to move.) The study emphasises, however, two crucial differences between then and now.

F.  One is that, in the first decade of the 20th century, the receiving countries needed lots of unskilled workers in industry and farming. In the first decade of the 21st century, in contrast, opportunities for unskilled workers are dwindling. In the United States, wages of unskilled workers are falling. The fall is enough to hurt the workers concerned, but not to deter new immigrants.

G.  And the other big difference between now and a century ago? It is that the affected rich-country workers are in a stronger position to complain, and get something done. The most likely result is that a trend that is already well established will continue: countries will try to restrict the immigration of unskilled workers, giving preference to workers with skills.

H.  This does help, in one way, quite apart from narrowing the rich countries’ shortage of skilled workers: it reduces the pressure to make low wages even lower. However, the idea has drawbacks too. It turns away many of the poorest people who want to migrate, which is hard to justify in humanitarian terms. Also, it pushes others from this group into illegal immigration, which exposes them to dangers, makes integration more difficult and may even make the wages of low-paid workers even lower than if the same migrants entered legally. On top of all this is the loss of skilled workers in the sending countries. Already some of the world’s poorest nations lose almost all the doctors they train to jobs in Europe or North America. Money immigrants send home offsets some of that loss, but not all.

I.  Today’s migration, much more than the migration of old, poses some insoluble dilemmas. Belief in individual freedom suggests that rich countries should adopt more liberal immigration rules, both for unskilled migrants and skilled ones. With or without such rules, more migrants are coming. And in either case, the question of compensation for the losers, in rich countries and poor countries alike, will demand some attention.

Questions 1-5

Complete the notes below.

Choose ONE OR TWO WORDS from the passage.

Write your answers in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet.

1. Until the early 19th century the majority of migrants to North America were …………………….. .
2. However, in the second half of the 19th century, ……………………..  and cheaper travel meant that more people could afford to emigrate voluntarily.
3. At the beginning of the 20th century, immigrants to receiving countries found jobs as ……………………..  in factories and on farms.
4. After the second world war there was a great increase in emigrants from …………………….. .
5. Nowadays, receiving countries generally prefer immigrants …………………….. .

Questions 6-11

Which paragraphs in the passage contain the following information?

Write the correct letter, A-I, in boxes 6-11 on your answer sheet.

• changing departure points and destinations for migrants  ……….
• disadvantages of present immigration policies  ……….
• the immigrants who rich countries find more acceptable  ……….
• how earning more money affects migration  ……….
• migration was mainly compulsory  ……….
• changing the laws on immigration  ……….

Questions 12-13

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

1. Pressure to migrate is increasing now because
2. economic conditions have become more desperate.
3. immigration restrictions are being relaxed.
4. people generally earn more.
5. there is a greater need for unskilled workers.
6. Lower incomes for unskilled workers in receiving countries have
7. encouraged countries to import skilled workers.
8. led to protests about immigration.
9. reduced the amount of money immigrants send home.
10. provided opportunities for immigrants in manufacturing and agriculture.

Questions 14-16

The list below gives some of the effects of immigration restrictions.

Which THREE effects are mentioned in the passage?

1. It is more difficult for illegal immigrants to integrate.
2. Jobs in sending countries become more secure.
3. More unskilled workers immigrate illegally.
4. Unskilled workers in receiving countries may become poorer.
5. Workers in rich countries complain.
6. Skilled workers may lose their jobs.

Questions 17-18

The list below gives reasons for relaxing immigration restrictions.

Which TWO reasons are mentioned in the passage?

1. Immigrants send money back to their country of origin.
2. Immigration in greater numbers is inevitable.
3. It would be ethically correct.
4. It would ease population pressures in poor countries.
5. Rich countries need more skilled workers.

Australia’s Convict Colonies

A.  The 1700s in Britain saw widespread poverty and rising crime, and those convicted of crimes faced harsh penalties, including transportation to one of Britain’s overseas colonies. Since 1615, convicts had been transported to Britain’s American colonies, both as punishment and a source of labour, but this practice was halted by the Revolutionary War in America (1775-1783). The British government decided to establish a new prison colony, and Botany Bay in New South Wales was chosen as the site, (Captain Cook, exploring the southeast coast of Australia in 1770, had named the land New South Wales and claimed it for Britain.) Between 1787 and 1868, almost 160,000 convicts, of whom about 25,000 were women, were sent to Australia to serve sentences ranging from 7 years to life.

B.  Eleven ships set sail from England in 1787 to take the first group of about 750 British convicts to Australia. The fleet reached Botany Bay in January 1788, but nearby Sydney Cove was selected as a more suitable site for the new settlement, which later became the city of Sydney. The first few years were difficult, with severe food shortages; by 1792, however, there were government farms and ovate gardens. Convicts worked on these farms, or on construction projects such as building roads and bridges. Although the settlement was a prison colony, few convicts served their sentences in jail. They lived in houses they had built themselves, and established families, businesses and farms. A settlement was also established on Norfolk Island, where some convicts were sent for crimes committed after arrival in the colony. Two more settlements were established on Van Diemen’s Land (now Tasmania), in 1803 and 1804.

C.  Convicts not involved in public work were assigned to free settlers, providing labour in exchange for food, clothing and shelter. Some masters treated the convicts cruelly, and the punishment of convicts, particularly in the early days, could be arbitrary and savage. Lachlan Macquarie, governor of New South Wales from 1809 to 1819, adopted a more humane approach. He encouraged convicts to reform by rewarding good behaviour, even granting pardons to convicts before their sentence was completed. These emancipists, as they were called, were given land and government assistance to help them start farming. His policies were unpopular both with British authorities and wealthy free settlers, however, and the next governors were under orders to ensure that life for convicts became much stricter and more controlled. There were harsher punishments for second offenders, such as working in the ‘iron gangs’, where men were chained together to carry out exhausting work on the roads, or being sent to penal settlements where punishment was deliberately brutal so that it would act as a deterrent.

D.  In the early years of settlement, the convicts greatly outnumbered free immigrants and settlers. In 1810, convicts made up almost 60 percent of the population, and over 20,000 new convicts arrived between 1821 and 1830. Even in 1831, convicts still comprised 45 percent of the population, with ex-convicts and emancipists making up another 30 percent. 25 percent of the population now consisted of people born in the colonies, and free people outnumbered convicts.

E.  The first group of free settlers had arrived in Australia in 1793 to seek their fortune in the new land. Their numbers grew, with about 8,000 free settlers arriving in the 1820s to take advantage of free land grants and cheap convict labour. In 1831, the British government offered money to support new settlers, hoping to attract skilled workers and single women as immigrants. Between 1831 and 1840, more than 40,000 immigrants arrived in Australia.

F.  During the 1820s there was a lengthy campaign to win certain rights for emancipists, which was opposed by wealthy free settlers. In the 1830s, free immigrants to New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land, unhappy about living in a prison colony where civil liberties were restricted and convict labour resulted in low wages, increasingly voiced their opposition to transportation. Again, wealthy landowners disagreed, but a growing number of reformers in England were also opposed to convicting transportation. In 1838, a committee set up by the British Parliament recommended that the government end transportation to New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land, and abolish assignment. The British duly abolished assignment, and transportation – at least to New South Wales – was halted in 1840.

G.  Transportation continued, however, to other colonies and settlements. In the 1840s, most British convicts were sent to Van Diemen’s Land, where the British government introduced a convict system based on stages of reform, with the convicts gaining increasing levels of freedom for continued good behaviour. Transportation to the eastern colonies was abolished in 1852. In contrast, the convict system in Western Australia began in 1850, at the request of the Western Australian government, and continued until 1868. Convicts served part of their sentences in Britain before being transported to the colony, where they worked on badly-needed public construction projects under a system similar to that tried in Van Diemen’s Land.

Questions 19-21

Which THREE of the following statements are true of free settlers in the Australian prison colonies, according to the text?

Choose THREE letters A-H.

1. They were mainly skilled workers and single women.
2. They all welcomed Governor Macquarie’s policies.
3. 25 percent of them were born in the colonies.
4. 160,000 of them went to Australia between 1787 and 1868.
5. 8,000 of them arrived in Australia in the 1820s.
6. They established families, businesses and farms.
7. Convicts who were assigned to them provided them with labour.
8. They campaigned in favour of emancipist rights.

Questions 22-27

The Reading Passage has seven paragraphs A-G.

Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below.

Write your answers in boxes 4-9 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings

1. Free settlers
2. Transportation of convicts
3. The end of transportation
4. Convict life
5. The colonial population
6. The treatment of convicts
7. Opponents of transportation
8. The first settlements

ExampleParagraph A ii

22. Paragraph B ……….

23. Paragraph C ……….

24. Paragraph D ……….

25. Paragraph E ……….

26. Paragraph F ……….

27. Paragraph G ……….

Questions 28-31

Complete the notes below.

Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 28-31 on your answer sheet.

Australia’s Convict Colonies : Events preceding first settlement

•1615 – convicts first transported to 28 ……………  controlled by Britain

•1770 – Cook claims SE Australian coast for Britain, calling it 29 ………………..

•1775 – 1783 – Revolutionary War in America halts transportation there

•1787 – Botany Bay chosen as site for new 30 ……………….. ; first convict fleet sets sail

•1788 – fleet reaches Botany Bay but 31 ……………………. chosen instead

The Birth of Blue

As a primary colour, blue has been the most difficult for artists and scientists to create.

Artists have always been enhanced by blue, yet fine blues have long been difficult to obtain. Blues are relatively rare in nature, and painters throughout the ages have therefore found themselves at the mercy of what contemporary chemical technology could offer. Some blues have been prohibitively expensive, others were unreliable. The quest for a good blue has driven some crucial technological innovations, showing that the interaction of art and science has not always been a one-way affair.

The first pigments were simply ground-up coloured minerals dug from the earth. But few blue minerals are suitable as pigments – so there are no blues in cave art. Ancient Egyptian artists used blue prominently, however, because they knew how to make a fine artificial pigment, now known as Egyptian blue.

The discovery of Egyptian blue, like that of many other artificial pigments, was almost certainly an accident. The Egyptians manufactured blue-glazed stones and ornaments called faience using a technique they inherited from the Mesopotamians. Faience manufacture was big business in the ancient world-it was traded all over Europe by 1500 BC. Faience is made by heating stone ornaments in a kiln with copper minerals such as malachite. Egyptian blue, which was made from at least 2500 BC, comes from firing chalk or limestone with sand and copper minerals, and probably appeared by the chance mixture of these ingredients in a faience kiln.

Scientists recently deduced the secrets of another ancient blue: Maya blue, used for centuries throughout central America before the Spanish Conquest. This is a kind of clay – a mineral made of sheets of atoms – with molecules of the blue dye indigo wedged between the sheets. Using indigo in this way makes it less liable to decompose. No one has made colours this way since the Mayas, and no one knows exactly how they did it. But technologists are now interested in using the same trick to make stable pigments from other dyes.

The finest pigment available to mediartists was ultramarine, which began to appear in Western art in the 13th century. It was made from the blue mineral lapis lazuli, of which only one source was known: the remote mines of Badakshan, now in Afghanistan. In addition to the difficulty of transporting the mineral over such distances, making the pigment was a tremendously laborious business. Lapis lazuli turns greyish when powdered because of impurities in the mineral. To extract the pure blue pigment, the powder has to be mixed to a dough with wax and kneaded repeatedly in water.

As a result, ultramarine could cost more than its weight in gold, and medieval artists were very selective in using it. Painters since the Renaissance craved a cheaper, more accessible, blue to compare with ultramarine. Things improved in 1704, when a Berlin-based colour maker called Diesbach discovered the first “modern” synthetic pigment: Prussian blue. Diesbach was trying to make a red pigment, using a recipe that involved the alkali potash. But Diesbach’s potash was contaminated with animal oil, and the synthesis did not work out as planned. Instead of red, Diesbach made blue.

The oil had reacted to produce cyanide, a vital ingredient of Prussian blue. Diesbach kept his recipe secret for many years, but it was discovered and published in 1724, after which anyone could make the colour. By the 1750s, it cost just a tenth of ultramarine. But it wasn’t such a glorious blue, and painters still weren’t satisfied. They got a better alternative in 1802, when the French chemist Louis Jacques Thenard invented cobalt blue.

Best of all was the discovery in 1826 of a method for making ultramarine itself. The French Society for the Encouragement of National Industry offered a prize of 6,000 francs in 1824 to anyone who could make artificial ultramarine at an affordable price. The Toulouse chemist Jean-Baptiste Guimet was awarded the prize two years later, when he showed that ultramarine could be made by heating china clay, soda, charcoal, sand and sulphur in a furnace. This meant that there was no longer any need to rely on the scarce natural source, and ultramarine eventually became a relatively cheap commercial pigment (called French ultramarine, as it was first mass-produced in Paris).

In the 1950s, synthetic ultramarine became the source of what is claimed to be the world’s most beautiful blue. Invented by the French artist Yves Klein in collaboration with a Parisian paint manufacturer, Edouard Adam, International Klein Blue is a triumph of modern chemistry. Klein was troubled by how pigments lost their richness when they were mixed with liquid binder to make a paint. With Adam’s help, he found that a synthetic resin, thinned with organic solvents, would retain this vibrant texture in the dry paint layer. In 1957, Klein launched his new blue with a series of monochrome paintings, and in 1960 he protected his invention with a patent.

Complete the summary below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

The colours used in cave paintings and other early art were made by crushing . However, later artists have generally had to rely on the  of the day for their supplies of blue. Among the first examples of the widespread use of blue was in  art. Over the centuries, many more attempts to create acceptable blues have been made, some of which have led to significant .

Questions 32-33

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

32. What was the main disadvantage in using ultramarine for medieval artists?

1. It contained a number of impurities.
2. It was excessively expensive.
3. The colour wasn’t permanent.
4. The preparation process was hazardous.

33. The discovery of Prussian blue was the result of

1. using the wrong quantity of an ingredient.
2. mixing the wrong ingredients together.
3. including an ingredient that was impure.
4. using an ingredient of the wrong colour.

Questions 34-39

Look at the following notes that have been made about the types of blue described in  Reading Passage. Match each description with a type of blue.

Types of Blue

1. Egyptian blue
2. Maya blue
3. ultramarine
4. Prussian blue
5. cobalt blue
6. French ultramarine
7. International Klein Blue

34. derived from a scarce natural resource  ……….

35. specially designed to retain its depth of colour when used in paint  ……….

36. was cheap to produce but had limited appeal for artists  ……….

37. made using a technique which is not yet fully understood  ……….

38. thought to have been produced during another manufacturing process  ……….

39. came to be manufactured inexpensively in large quantities  ……….

WRITING

Task 1 (20 mnts)

A friend has agreed to look after your house and pet while you are on holiday. Write a letter to your friend.

In your letter

• give contact details for when you are away
• give instructions about how to care for your pet
• describe other household duties

Write at least 150 words. You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear …………………,

You have completed the first section of your Writing test. Now move on to Writing task 2.

Task 2 (40 mnts)

Some people believe that teaching children at home is best for a child’s development while others think that it is important for children to go to school.

Discuss the advantages of both methods and give your own opinion. Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Write at least 250 words.

You have now reached the end of your Writing test; download the answers and see how well you have done.

Christian Cappeluti