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You will have 45 minutes to complete this test in one sitting. You should time yourself. Do not try to guess the questions, and spend time to make sure you read the questions carefully. This test has five sections: Grammar, Reading, Listening, Writing & Speaking.
Section 1:
Grammar Section
Section 2:
Reading Section
Read the text below and then answer the questions:
Gentrification Among Neighbourhoods - Reading 1
Sandra has been living in the Santa Teresa neighbourhood of Rio for all her life. She has seen many changes with the new developments in the area. The Olympics and World Cup are amazing she says, but we must consider the what has change for the locals. Much of the poverty today still exists and life remains the same for the locals.
Santa Teresa and the famous escalaron steps near Lapa have become famous after Snoop Dog - the American rapper filmed his video there. Tourists from all over flock from all over the world to see the colourful steps. There are even luxury boutique hotels in the area now, but life still remains the same for many. Like all central city areas - eventually they become gentrified. Back in the day Brooklyn was a no-go zone.
Nowadays, it's the place the rich want to buy a fancy apartment. It is the first choice for wealthy upper-middle class Americans. Manhattan is a no go zone for even the upper-middle class nowadays says Susan from London who moved to New York ten years ago. Manhattan is far too expensive for people who only have a million to spend. Even a million dollars doesn't get you much in Brooklyn nowadays. The prices have risen at extortionate levels she went on to add.
Back in Vidigal in Rio - Alberto from Portugal has bought a huge property to convert into a new luxury boutique hotel. The views are absolutely stunning and visitors can walk down to the beach. Vidigal is one of the more recently pacified slums that is now developing. The pacification means the police took control back from the drug cartels, criminals and drug dealers. During weeks if not months of fighting eventually control was clawed back. This was done in order to make the place safer before hosting the Olympics and World Cup games.
Back in New York in trendy Brooklyn. A local resident, John who has lived in the area for 30 years said that Manhattan people hated to come to Brooklyn before. This was considered the poor side of the bridge. We had high crime and now the only crime we have is serving a non-dairy vegan milkshake in the wrong cup. There are so many art galleries - fancy quaint clothing shops, funky coffee shops, organic food and green smoothies along with matcha lattes have brought Brooklyn into the era of millennials.
Back in London, Susan is at home in Hammersmith. London is still more expensive than New York she says and she would love to live in London, but you can only get a cardboard box for a million nowadays. A shoe box if you're lucky she went on to add!
London's house prices are absolutely ridiculous and only foreign investors plunder their money laundered money through the London housing market to drive up prices she says. Having lived in New York for ten years she says she finds London like an old village and backwards mentality.
Whereas, New York is where the new money went to become old money once again. Back in Santa Teresa, Sandra says she has received an offer for her huge house, but has declined. She doesn't want to move out of the area she has lived in her whole life. Sandra says many families have moved out to the newer developments in Barra Di Tijuca, but she loves her area and she will not be leaving any time soon.
Read the text below and then answer the questions:
The History Of Vaccines - Reading 2
A biologically created preparation that provides acquired immunity to a certain disease in question - a vaccine atypically constitutes of disease-causing micro-organisms that are commonly made from weakened or killed forms of the toxins, microbes or surface portions. This injected agent, once into the blood stream can stimulate the body’s immune system to further recognise the agent as a threat, destroy it and keep a record of it. Therefore, if a further encounter or exposure to a certain disease is exposed the body should in theory eliminate this threat and cleanse the system of the disease in question.
Two types of commonly used vaccines are - inactivated vaccines and attenuated vaccines. Inactivated vaccines are micro-organisms that have been eliminated using heat, radiation, antibiotics or chemicals. Examples of these are influenza, cholera, polio and rabies. Attenuated vaccines consist of live microorganisms and these have been cultivated under special conditions that ensure that their virulent and damaging properties are inactive. They are used to create a broader spectrum of immune response in order to effectively combat the disease in question. Examples included typhoid, measles and yellow fever.
The immune system recognises vaccines as foreign agents and destroys them. The body has the ability to remember these agents and thus the vaccine works by training the body to react and recognise certain diseases in order to effectively engage the body’s natural defence systems to react to the disease or virus in question. Vaccines have contributed significantly to the protection of diseases in humans. One of which is smallpox, which is by far one of the most contagious and not to mention incredibly deadly diseases in humans. Nonetheless, other diseases such as polio, measles, chickenpox and typhoid have also been eradicated through the usage of vaccines and they are certainly not as common as they were a century ago.
While vaccines have constituted to the greater good of society by helping humans fight common disease, which were very deadly in the past. There are certain diseases that vaccines simply cannot help with. These include malaria, dengue fever, HIV, AIDS and cancers. To date no cure exists for malaria - a virus transmitted through the bite of a mosquito in certain regions of the world and no cure exists for dengue fever, HIV, AIDS or cancer. Even though they can be fought against vigorously through the advancement of medicine and specialised medical attention, which has involved millions of pounds of investment - not to mention many years of notable research in the attempt to help fight against these incurable diseases.
The history of vaccines includes the Chinese precasting variolation in the year 1000, the smallpox epidemic in India in 1545. In 1578, there was a whooping cough epidemic in Paris. Notable deaths from viruses include Queen Mary II in 1694, who died of smallpox on the 28th of December. Furthermore, Benjamin Franklin’s 4 year old son died of smallpox in 1736. Successful elimination and cornerstones, as well as pillars in the advancement of vaccine development included polio declared eradicated from the Americas in 1994 and eliminated in Europe in 2002. The first HPV vaccine was developed in 2006 and polio was declared to be completely eradicated from India in 2014.
Section 3:
Writing Section
Section 4:
Listening Section