Placement Test 1

General Directions

The Placement Test has three sections: Listening, Reading, and Language
Use. There are 70 questions. You are allowed 50 minutes to complete the
test.

In Section I, the Listening section, you will hear nine conversations and
answer one or more questions about each one. Before you listen to a
conversation, read the question or questions. Then listen to the conversation.
Answer the questions after the conversation ends. Choose the correct answer
for each question and fill in your choice on your answer sheet. You will hear
the conversation only once. The first conversation is an example. You have 15
minutes to complete this section.

Section II, the Reading section, has several short passages. After you read
each passage, choose the correct answer for each question and fill in your
choice on your answer sheet. You have 20 minutes to complete this section.

Section III, the Language Use section, has 30 items. Choose the correct
completion for each item and fill in your choice on your answer sheet. You
have 15 minutes to complete this section.

Mark your answers clearly on your answer sheet. If you want to change an
answer, erase your first answer completely.
Placement Test 1
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Section I: Listening

In this section of the test, you will hear conversations and answer some
questions about them. For each conversation, first read the situation and the
question or questions. Then listen to the conversation. Answer the questions
after you hear the conversation. Respond to the questions by marking the
correct answer (a, b, c, or d) on your answer sheet.

Read the example situation and question.

Example

Situation: Bill Sanchez calls Dr. Stocktons office to make an appointment.

Bill is going to see the doctor on _______ .

a. Tuesday at 10:00
b. Tuesday at 4:00
c. Wednesday at 10:00
d. Wednesday at 4:00

Now listen to the example conversation.

EXAMPLE CONVERSATION]

Now answer the example question.

The answer for the example is d, Wednesday at 4:00. The letter d is filled in
on your answer sheet.
Now go on to page 3.

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Situation 1: David is talking with Tomomi when Monica comes into the room.

A1. _______ are meeting for the first time.

a. David and Monica c. Tomomi and Monica

b. David and Tomomi d. David, Monica, and Tomomi

Situation 2: Ken and Nancy are at a restaurant.

A2. Ken _______.

a. is having steak tonight c. eats steak a lot

b. stopped eating steak d. prefers chicken to steak

Situation 3: Karen calls Jasons home. Jasons father answers the telephone.

A3. Karen is going to _______.

a. speak with Jason at work c. wait for Jason to call

b. call back in an hour d. send a written message

Situation 4: A reporter is giving todays weather forecast.

A4. It will be clear in _______.

a. the Northeast c. Boston

b. Seattle d. Miami

A5. In Seattle, the weather is _______.

a. hot c. cool
b. snowy d. rainy

Situation 5: Bill invites Jennifer to go to dinner and a movie.

A6. Theyre going to _______.

a. leave work a little early c. see the movie tomorrow

b. go to the movie before dinner d. have dinner at 7:00
A7. Jennifer doesnt accept right away because she cant _______.

a. eat a late lunch c. go to dinner

b. leave work early d. see the movie

Now go on to page 4.

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Situation 6: Linda is asking Jim about his plans for the summer.

A8. In the summer, Jim usually _______.

a. stays in the mountains c. visits his parents

b. takes trips with his family d. goes to the beach

A9. This summer hes planning to _______.

a. stay at home c. fish with his dad
b. go to the beach d. hike in the mountains

Situation 7: Phil is talking with Susie about money.

A10. Phil is upset because _______.

a. Susie cant lend him any money c. Albert hasnt returned his money
b. his parents wont give him money d. his friends never lend him money

A11. Albert _______.

a. didnt borrow $100 c. doesnt need the money
b. isnt working now d. cant return the money yet

A12. Susie doesnt lend money to friends because _______.

a. she has just enough for herself c. people wont lend her money
b. lending money can change a d. her friends dont need it
friendship

Situation 8: Natalie and Chuck are talking about their experiences abroad.

A13. Chuck went backpacking _______.

a. in Brazil c. after high school
b. by himself d. with his father

A14. Chuck says he would have liked to have seen Portugal. He means that he
_______.
a. went there, and he liked it b. didnt go there, but he wanted to
c. went there, but he didnt like it d. didnt go there, and he didnt want
to

A15. While Natalie was in Japan, she _______.

a. traveled all over the country c. learned Japanese quickly
b. lived with a Japanese family d. got very homesick

A16. Chuck doesnt want to _______.

a. travel anymore c. stay at home
b. learn a foreign language d. live abroad

Now go on to page 5.
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Situation 9: Diane and Conrad are talking about their careers.

A17. Conrad got into advertising because he _______.

a. studied advertising in college c. liked to help people

b. heard about a job opening d. was tired of his old job

A18. When he was young, Conrad wanted to _______.

a. work in advertising c. stay in school

b. become a doctor d. go into business

A19. Dianes parents didnt want her to _______.

a. start her own business c. be too successful

b. finish college d. change her career

A20. Conrad _______.

a. owns his own company c. thinks his job is boring

b. enjoys working in advertising d. wants to leave his job
Now go on to page 6 and begin the Reading section.

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Section II: Reading

In this section of the Placement Test, you will read some short passages and answer
questions about them. Choose the word or words that best complete the sentence.
For each item, fill in your answer on the answer sheet.

You will have 20 minutes to complete this section.

Passage 1: What are you doing today?

PEDRO:I usually go out with friends on Saturday night. But todays Friday, and were
going out to a football game tonight. So tomorrow night Im staying home.

B21. This Saturday night, Pedro is _______.

a. playing football
b. visiting friends
c. staying home
d. going out

Passage 2: What do you do?

EILEEN SWEET:
Im a hostess at a big restaurant. I greet people at the door and take
them to their tables. Day after day, I always do the same thing. Someday I hope to
have a more interesting job, but its OK for now.

C22. Eileen thinks that her job is _______.

a. difficult
b. interesting
c. important
d. boring

Now go on to page 7.

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Passage 3: A vacation postcard

Dear Sal,
Greetings from France its so good to be back here again! We left the kids with
their grandparents in Chicago, and were biking across the French countryside by
ourselves. We brought a tent and sleeping bags, so we can camp out if we want to,
but were really enjoying the small hotels we find along the way.
Love,
Michael and Paula

A23. Michael and Paula _______.

a. have been to France before c. are visiting their grandparents
b. took their children with them d. prefer to sleep outside

Passage 4: Meditation

You observe a person in meditation. On the surface, he appears to be asleep, but

hes simply in a trance a kind of half-sleep in which the person is conscious but
able to ignore the situation around him. For the meditator, the ability to concentrate
is so strong that everything around him sounds, smells, movement seems to fade
in importance. At the same time, decision making and deep thinking are often
greatly improved.

B24. In this reading, meditation refers to a persons _______.

a. state of mind c. physical condition
b. intelligence d. ability to sleep

B25. Meditation doesnt help a person _______.

a. hear better b. think deeply
c. make decisions d. ignore smells

Passage 5: The Scot and the tea kettle

According to one story, a Scottish boy watched the steam lift the top off his mothers
tea kettle and realized the power of steam to make machines work. That boy, James
Watt, would then go on to invent the modern steam engine in 1769. Actually, the
history of steam technology records the successful work of several scientists and
engineers before Watt. For example, in 1698, Thomas Savery had introduced a
simple steam pump to remove water from mines, and 14 years later Thomas
Newcomen invented a better pump. But these pumps werent efficient because they
used so much fuel. In 1769, the Scottish boy, James Watt, figured out a way to save
three-quarters of the fuel. To honor him, his last name became the name of a unit of
energy.

C26. The example of the boiling tea kettle shows that steam is _______.
a. useful c. powerful
b. efficient d. necessary

C27. The first steam engines _______.

a. didnt pump water c. were difficult to make
b. cost too much to build d. used too much fuel

Now go on to page 8.
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Passage 6: Its a big country!

When it comes to body weight, Americans stand out. Most visitors to the United
States, no matter where they go across this vast country, comment on the size of
many Americans. In fact, these impressions are backed by numerous statistics. For
example, the average 5'4" American weighs 162 pounds, or 15 pounds more than
the average person of the same height from Western or Central Europe. Another
comparison: At 150 pounds, the average 5'4" American woman is 24 pounds heavier
than her Japanese counterpart.

Why are Americans so heavy? Some blame the American diet. Certainly its true that
Americans eat more high-fat foods meat, dairy products, and processed food and
fewer grains and vegetables than people in other countries. But fat isnt the whole
story. Lifestyle factors including the tendency for Americans to drive rather than
walk or ride a bicycle to work, to snack throughout the day, and to have so many
labor-saving devices in the home appear to contribute to the problem.

A28. According to the article, visitors to the United States often comment on the size
of the _______.
c. country
a. population d. people
b. cities

A29. According to the article, the average Western European weighs _______.
a. more than an American
b. more than a Central European d. less than a Japanese person
c. less than an American

A30. In comparison with Americans, people in other countries eat more _______.
c. processed food
a. meat d. grains
b. dairy products

A31. The article implies that Americans would lose weight if they _______.
c. stayed at home more
a. snacked more often d. ate fewer vegetables
b. rode bicycles to work

Now go on to page 9.

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Passage 7: Personality types

What makes people the way they are? Why do some people get angry easily, others
always seem to be cheerful, while still others are often depressed? The early Greek
doctor Hippocrates thought that personality was linked to the fluids that were known
to exist in the human body: the blood, the bile, the black bile, and the phlegm.
These fluids were called the four humors. He believed that inside each person, one
kind of body fluid was dominant and that this fluid or humor caused a tendency
toward a particular kind of behavior.

If the blood (sanguinis) was dominant, the person was sanguine, or cheerful and
willing to help others. If the yellow bile of the liver (called choler) was the most
important, the person would be irritable and quick to anger. If the person was often
sad and depressed, the black liquid of the spleen and kidneys (melan-choler or black
bile) was blamed. And the person who had too much phlegm (the thick mucus of the
nose and throat) was likely to be lazy, calm, and dull (not very intelligent).

Today we know that personality results from a combination of lifestyle and natural
factors, and has little or nothing to do with the balance of body fluids. However,
even today the words remain: humorous, sanguine, choleric, melancholy,
phlegmatic. Although psychologists no longer use them, they have become part of
the common vocabulary with some changes, of course. For example, today to say
that a person is humorous means that the person laughs and makes others laugh,
from the idea of having good humor.

B32. According to the article, the early Greeks knew that _______.

a. there are different fluids in the c. people who laugh a lot are
human body humorous
b. everyone shows the same basic d. personality is the result of lifestyle
behavior factors

B33. For the early Greeks, humor was the name for a type of _______.

a. personality type c. natural fluid

b. body part d. internal organ

B34. Hippocrates believed that _______ was dominant in a happy person.

a. blood c. black bile

b. bile d. phlegm

B35. Today the word humorous is used to describe a persons _______.

c. personality
a. blood type d. body fluids
b. lifestyle

Now go on to page 10.

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Passage 8: Biofeedback

When biofeedback was first developed a number of years ago, it caused a lot of
excitement. People hoped that biofeedback could be used to cure all kinds of
physical and mental problems.
Biofeedback is the name for a medical technique that helps people treat certain
problems by becoming more aware of their own bodies. In biofeedback, instruments
that measure bodily functions such as muscle tension, temperature, and blood flow
are attached to the body. The instruments produce signals for example, a series of
sounds (beeps) or a flashing light that the person can hear or see. The patient then
uses the information to help gain control over the function.
The most widely used biofeedback instrument is the electromyograph, or EMG. The
EMG is used to measure muscle tension. It is made up of several electrodes, which
are placed on the skin near a particular area, depending on the symptom. For
example, for headaches, a symptom often caused by excessive tension in the neck
muscles, the electrodes are placed on the forehead or near the back of the neck.
When the tension is present, the EMG produces a signal and the patient is taught to
respond by relaxing the appropriate muscles. In many cases, the relaxation of these
muscles causes the headache to go away.
While biofeedback has not turned out to be a cure-all, it has been used successfully
to treat a limited number of problems especially those caused by chronic tension.

C36. At first, people were very _______ biofeedback.

a. nervous about c. familiar with

b. interested in d. opposed to

C37. Biofeedback instruments ______.

a. act like a kind of medicine c. are put on a patients body

b. cause people to get excited d. teach people to exercise

C38. Blood flow is an example of a _______.

a. technique c. function
b. signal d. problem

C39. The EMG _______.

a. relaxes the muscles c. causes movement

b. measures tension d. produces symptoms

C40. According to the article, biofeedback _______.

a. is more popular than ever c. cures all types of headaches

b. causes chronic tension d. has had limited success

Now go on to page 11 and begin the Language Use section.

Placement Test 1
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Section III: Language Use
In this section, you will answer questions about the use of English. Choose the word
or words that best complete the sentence. For each item, fill in your answer on the
answer sheet.
You will have 15 minutes to complete this section.

A41. _______ several good restaurants in our neighborhood.

a. There c. There are
b. Theyre d. Their

B42. My office is _______ downtown.

a. on c. close
b. near d. at

C43. I like to cook.

_______ do I.

a. And c. Also
b. So d. Too

A44. I enjoy _______ out two or three times a week.

a. to eat c. eat
b. eating d. I eat

B45. I dont have a computer, but _______ my friends do.

a. the most c. most of

b. almost d. most

C46. Yesterdays game caused a lot of _______.

a. excited c. excite
b. exciting d. excitement

47. After finishing college, I hope _________ married.

a. get c. getting
b. that get d. to get

B48. Cairo is _______ any other city in Egypt.

a. the large c. the largest

b. larger than d. large as

Now go on to page 12.

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C49. Toms bought a new car, _______ he?

a. doesnt c. wasnt
b. isnt d. hasnt

A50. Ive run out of money. I wish I _______ more.

a. am saving c. had saved
b. have saved d. will save

B51. Excuse me. Could you tell me where _______?

a. the bus station is c. it is the bus station

b. is the bus station d. is it the bus station

C52. My suitcase would have been much lighter if I _______ all my books.

a. dont pack c. hadnt packed

b. not packing d. not pack

A53. Yolanda _______ part time for several years now.

a. has been working c. works

b. is working d. was working

B54. The movies great! Its really worth _______.

a. seeing c. you see

b. to see d. see

C55. If fewer people drove cars to work, _______ less pollution.

a. weve had c. were having

b. wed have d. well have

A56. Would you mind _______ the window?

a. open c. to open
b. opening d. I open

B57. My sister is interested _______ about Japanese literature.

a. learn c. to learn
b. learning d. in learning

C58. The washing machine needs _______.

a. being fixed c. to fix

b. to be fixed d. you fix it

Now go on to page 13.

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59. By 2020, scientists _______ a cure for cancer.
a. had found c. are finding
b. will have found d. have been finding

B60. The grounds wet. It must _______.

a. raining c. to rain
b. have rained d. rained

C61. I am used _______ the bus to work.

a. to take c. took
b. to taking d. taking

A62. Chicago, _______ is nicknamed the Windy City, is the largest city in Illinois.
a. it c. what
b. which d. that

B63. I wont go _______ you come with me.

a. instead c. unless
b. except d. although

C64. Before _______ to bed, I usually brush my teeth.

a. going c. to go
b. go d. that go

A65. Im taking a class _______ learn more about my computer.

a. so that c. in order to
b. in order d. that

B66. Helen is _______ serious student I have ever seen.

a. more c. the more
b. most d. the most

C67. Youd better tell Joe _______ in here.

a. not to smoke c. no smoke
b. not smoking d. dont smoking

A68. I feel sick. I shouldnt _______ so much.

a. to eat c. have eaten
b. eaten d. eating

B69. Bettys husband suggested that she _______ a few days off from work.
a. has took c. take
b. taking d. will take

C70. The more you practice speaking English, _______ it gets.

a. easy c. easier
b. the easiest d. the easier

END OF TEST
Placement Test 1
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Placement Essay
Name ____________________________________ Date ________________ Rating
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Directions: Please write about ONE of the following topics. Do not write on
all three.
Write a well-organized essay about the topic you choose. When you finish
your essay, read it over and correct any mistakes you find. Give your essay to
the instructor.

Topic 1: Describe a person you know well. Why is that person special to you?

Topic 2: What sports have you learned to play? Based on your experience,
what advice would you give to someone who wants to learn to play one of
these sports?

Topic 3: Describe your favorite free- time activity. Why is it fun?

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Placement Conversation Rating Form

Students Name _______________________________________Date ____________
Placement Conversation Rating: ________

RUBRICS FOR PLACEMENT CONVERSATION QUESTIONS

1 The participant provides a short answer and/or an inadequate response to the question.

2 The participant is hesitant in their responses, pronunciation is not clear , and/or asks assistance
about native language equivalents
3 The participant shows confidence, expands their answers, uses clear pronunciation and applies
language focus.

TASKS Language Focus 1 2 3

American Headway Starter
Providing Personal Information
Hello, how are you? Greetings
Nice meeting you. Im ___________________ Simple Present
1 Can you introduce yourself? /Whats your name? Personal Pronouns
Where are you from? Cities
Where do you study/work?
Talking about Family and Friends
Do you have a small family? Simple Present
2 How many brothers/sisters/ do you have? Family members
What are their names? How many?
Do you have a favorite friend? Possessive Pronouns
Likes and Dislikes
Whos your favorite /artist/ singer/soccer player? Simple Present
3 Where is he/she from? Nationalities/Countries
How old is she/he? Telling Age
Why do you like him/her?
American Headway 1
Describing Routines Simple present
What do you do in the morning? Simple Present
 4 What time do you go to school? Prepositions of time
What do you do on weekends? Adverbs of Frequency
Talking about Past Events
Did you have a good day yesterday? Simple Past
5 What did you do in the morning? Time Expressions
Did you go out? Where? Past Verbs Forms

TASKS Language Focus 1 2 3

American Headway 1
Describing Plans in the Future
What are you going to do after the test? Future with Be going
6 Are you going to have a Christmas Party? To
Where are you going to celebrate Christmas? Time Expressions
American Headway 2
Describing Abilities
What sports can you play? Use of Can
7 Can you play any musical instrument? Abilities
Please describe one of your abilities.
Talking about Life Experiences
Have you been to another country/city? Present Perfect vs.
8 When did you go there? Simple Past
Have you practiced any extreme sports? For/Since
How long have you lived in El Salvador / studied
English /practiced a sport/ ?
Giving Advice/Suggestions
Whats your advice for someone who wants to lose Modals: Should
9 weight? Have to
Should he/she visit a nutritionist? Must
Should he/she join a gym? Suggest + Gerund
American Headway 3
Making Offers and Requests
What typical dish would you offer a foreign tourist? Modals: Could
10 What place would you recommend for him to visit? Would
What question would you ask if youre lost in another Excuse me, would
country? you/could you
Talking about Changes - Comparing
How is this city different now from 5 years ago? Present Perfect
11 What is something that has gotten more expensive in Simple Past
the last 5 years? Adjectives
Describe something three ways in which life is Comparatives
different from ten years in the past.
Talking about Hopes and Dreams
What would you do if you won the lottery? Conditionals
12 What famous artist/politician would you like to meet? Would
What will you be doing in 5 years from now? Future Continuous