The Business 2.

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Review Test 1 Units 1–4 Name:
 Total:
Part 1 Reading
Text 1 7 points
Questions 1–7
Look at the statements below and the extracts from an article on work placements.
Which section (A, B, C or D) does each statement 1–7 refer to?
For each statement 1–7, mark one letter (A, B, C or D).
You will need to use some of these letters more than once.
1 The employer should offer their opinion on how successful a student has been on
the placement.
2 You might have to do many different tasks.
3 There are many advantages for students doing a work placement.
4 Doing a work placement will make you more attractive to future employers.
5 You can watch how one person does their work.
6 It is better for a company to employ someone they know already.
7 Doing an internship can help you check if you have chosen the most appropriate career.

A
There are many benefits if you do a work placement or
internship. You will have the opportunity to practise your
skills in the workplace and you can test your career plans C
to see if you have made the right decision. You can make There are different kinds of work placements. ‘Work
contacts for the future, if you make a good impression. You shadowing’ means following someone around as they do
will learn how to take responsibility for your work and how their work to see how they do it. A general role will mean
to behave in an environment which is different from being being involved in many different aspects of work in a
a student. A work placement also enhances the look of your department or company and learning how a wide range of
CV (many jobs are unavailable to those with no experience) things work in the organisation. Taking on a specific role on
– and, of course, you’ll earn some money. a project or in a department is more like having a real job
and you will probably be responsible for a specific area of
work.

B
Employers can also benefit from work placements. Students
have up-to-date knowledge and skills which can be put to D
good use on a project. Students are often highly motivated The most important quality the employer is looking for
and work hard, and staff and students learn from each is attitude. When you approach an employer for a work
other as they do their work tasks. If a student works really placement you must show that you are enthusiastic and
well, the employer can offer them a full time job with less willing to learn. This is more important than previous
risk than with an unknown person. The student will be experience. You will be able to learn from any work
familiar with the organization and its unwritten rules and experience but it is best to apply for a role which you are
will fit in better than someone who is completely new. interested in and in which you can offer the employer some
benefit. You should also expect the employer to assess
your work and to offer you a written appraisal of how you
performed in such areas as meeting deadlines and dealing
with your workload.

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Text 2 5 points
Questions 8–12
Read the article below about Global Volunteers. Choose the best sentence from A–E below to fill
each of the gaps. For each question 8–12, mark one letter. Do not use any letter more than once.
Are you bored with the nine to five routine? Are you and medical insurance. And we aren’t just looking for
looking for a new challenge? (8) If you answered ‘yes’ to professional skills. Your personal integrity, strength and
any of these, then you are who we are looking for. fitness are important, as well. (10) Working closely
We need enthusiastic, qualified and passionate people of all with local people, you will find the experience extremely
ages to work with us to help in the developing world. We satisfying, and you will return home having really achieved
send volunteers all over the world on one-year placements something.
to train local people in your skills. When you return home, This is a really exciting opportunity. You’ll be able to test
your skills remain and enrich the lives of the people you yourself and your knowledge in demanding conditions.
worked with – how’s that for job satisfaction? (9) (11)
We need experts in many different sectors – from When you return home you’ll find employers really take a
accountancy to project management to teaching. You positive attitude to these experiences on your CV. You’ll be
will receive a local salary and housing, as well as flights seen as being more mature and responsible. (12)

A Your investment in the lives of the people you work with will be an investment in yourself.
B You’ll really find out what your strengths and weaknesses are.
C This is an opportunity for you to work with a passion, where you can make a real difference.
D Would you like to make a valuable contribution in an underprivileged area of the world?
E You will be working in difficult situations which are physically demanding.

Text 3 5 points
Questions 13–17
Read the article on being a customer service advisor and sentences 13–17 below.
For each sentence 13–17, mark one letter (A, B, C or D).

Being a customer service advisor in a call centre in India skills. Having dealt with the high pressure of taking non-
is not sweatshop work. It is highly skilled and not easy to stop calls from the UK in the middle of the night, advisors
do well. Advisors need to be educated and able to master have proved themselves capable of dealing with a heavy
complex areas such as motor insurance and to be able to workload.
deal with many different English accents. Not everyone can The job is not an easy one but then many jobs are difficult.
cope with this. Some just learn the standard responses and Compared with coal mining or industrial manufacturing,
repeat these without real understanding and this causes the kind of pressures are completely different and different
problems when something unusual or difficult occurs. people can cope with different pressures.
Compared with working conditions in other industries in Working in a call centre is not just answering the phone.
India, the working environment in call centres is extremely It’s being able to cope with many different problems and
good and the wages are high. There is fierce competition situations. It is a real skill to be able to sound patient and
for jobs and the best companies attract the best people. understanding with equally stressed customers who many
Advisors often see working in a call centre as a step up the have been on hold for a long time and who are calling
corporate ladder to a management position or to another because they have a problem which needs to be solved.
job, having worked on their language and customer care

13 To be a good customer service advisor you need 16 Jobs in call centres

A to be able to deal with a variety of challenges well. A are as difficult as coal mining and industrial
B to learn what to say and say it. manufacturing.
C to be able to speak in many English accents. B are done by people who could be coal miners.
D to know everything about cars and car insurance. C do not have the same pressures as coal mining.
14 Experienced customer service advisors D are harder than coal mining and industrial
A have a choice of career moves for the next stage in manufacturing.
their career. 17 When a customer service advisor talks to a customer,
B can all become managers. they
C can easily find a job. A both want to finish the call quickly.
D can start to learn English and customer care skills. B both have a problem.
15 Experienced customer service advisors have shown C both should be patient and understanding.
that they D are both under pressure.
A can use the telephone.
B can improve their language skills.
C can work at night.
D can cope well with a lot of pressure and a high
volume of work.

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Text 4 15 points
Questions 18–32
Read the text below about colours used in packaging.
Choose the best word to fill each gap from A, B, C or D below.

It’s been a busy quarter. You (18) one of your main products and it’s been a disaster.
(19) are down 10%. What went wrong? Did you try to (20) your
product too much from the competition? Or not enough?
Have you thought about the (21) colour? In your redesign you changed a lot –
perhaps too much?
Colour is a key factor in packaging, especially in today’s highly (22) marketplace. When
a consumer walks along the supermarket shelves they will take a few seconds to decide what to buy
and you need to (23) the worth of your product from three metres away. The packaging
should be (24) . It should grab the (25) of the consumer and shout ‘Buy
me!’. It’s not just a case of putting yellow and red ‘new and improved’ labels on. The whole colour
combination of the product and packaging should be considered. The colour combination should be
(26) , as some colours are not (27) when put together. The colour should
suit the contents of the package – the background colour of the package should reflect the colour or
properties of the product itself.
Green is seen as environmentally friendly. White and blue indicate freshness, while purple, gold and
black reflect luxury.
Colour should be a prime consideration in product development right from the initial
(28) and should be thoroughly tested with focus (29) and during
(30) studies. Only when you have a package with the right combination of colours,
which reflects the product’s qualities and is (31) , should you go into
(32) .

18 A replaced B relaunched C retried D returned

19 A sales B losses C products D stocks
20 A change B alter C adapt D differentiate
21 A pack B box C packaging D product
22 A competitive B competition C compete D uncompetitive
23 A tell B communicate C make D show
24 A eye-opening B eye-watering C eyeful D eye-catching
25 A attend B attentive C attention D attended
26 A efficient B attractive C affect D impact
27 A working B contrasting C impacting D effective
28 A specifications B drawings C mock-ups D prototypes
29 A people B sets C groups D meetings
30 A focus B market C shop D group
31 A distinctive B distinct C distinction D indistinct
32 A producing B production C productive D product

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Text 5 18 points
Questions 33–50
Read the article below about unwritten rules. In most of the lines 33–50 there is one extra word.
It is either grammatically incorrect or does not fit in with the meaning of the text. Some lines,
however, are correct. If the line is correct, write CORRECT in the space provided.
If there is an extra word in the line, write the extra word in CAPITAL LETTERS in the space
[Link] are two examples at the beginning.
00 In many businesses, an unwritten rule states that a working long hours is A
0 more important than achieving results. In one medium-sized company, CORRECT
33 the boss never leaves the office until it is in dark. Outside in the car park,
34 he checks to see who is still working, and whose office windows are dark.
35 Staff who risk leaving soon earlier now leave their office lights on all night.
36 Other common unwritten rules state that the important boss is always right,
37 even when he’s wrong; if you’re not at your desk, you’re not working;
38 nobody complains, often because nothing ever changes; women, ethnic
39 minorities and the over 50s are not promoted; the customer is the king, but
40 don’t tell anyone, because a management are more interested in profitability.
41 Often nobody really knows where these real unwritten rules came from; but
42 like new monkeys, new recruits pick them up very quickly, despite
43 the good best intentions of induction and orientation programmes. The way
44 staff speak to management, to customers and to each other gives out subtle
45 but the strategic clues to an organization’s culture, as do the differences
46 between what is said, made, decided or promised, and what actually gets done.
47 New staff quickly learn when their ideas and opinions are listened to and
48 valued, and when it’s better to keep them to themselves. They learn which
49 assignments and aspects of their high performance will be checked and
50 evaluated, and whose own objectives and instructions they can safely ignore.

Part 2 Writing

Task 1 10 points
Write an email based on the following brief. Write about 50–60 words.

You have just finished half of your English language course. Write an email to your teacher and
include the following information:
• Say what you have learned, and what skills you have developed.
• Identify one occasion where he/she really helped you.
• Give your opinion on your strengths and weaknesses as a language learner.
• Say what you hope to achieve in the second part of the course, and how your teacher could
help you.

To:

Cc:

Subject: The English Course

Dear

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Task 2 10 points
A colleague of yours wants to rewrite their CV. Write some advice for him or her on how they
should lay out their CV, and give reasons. Use the notes below to help you. Write about 120
words.
• Name, address, nationality at top.
• Work experience since leaving university. Latest job first.
• Include details of job and responsibilities – why?
• Education and qualifications– start with university.
• Voluntary roles/positions of responsibility – why?
• Additional skills – why? For example?
• References – where? How many?

Part 3 Listening
Task 1 1:06 5 points
Listen to Sandra talking about her placement and complete the sentences below with the right
number of words. Each space is one word. The first one is done as an example for you.
0 The first day, I arrived at 8.30 and I was a bit surprised …
1 But everybody was .
2 … and I thought, great, I can really do a good job here and, you know,
.
3 … I only got home about eight, but, , I wanted to ...
4 … I couldn’t understand why they were giving me these .
5 … I was breaking the .

Task 2 1:23 5 points

Listen to Guess the Product and complete the answers. Five answers have already been done
for you.
1 No, it isn’t.
2
3 Yes, you would.
4
5 No, it didn’t.
6
7 No, you don’t.
8
9 No, it doesn’t.
10

Task 3 1:36–1:38 5 points

Listen to these three customer ratings of telephones. Are these statements T (true) or F (false)?
The first one is done as an example for you.
Caller 1
0 It is an excellent phone for beginners. T
1 The battery life is the best feature.
Caller 2
2 The user needs to use two hands to open the phone.
3 The caller has upgraded to another phone.
Caller 3
4 The caller has not dropped the phone.
5 The caller says the problem with the signal is the company’s fault.

Task 4 1:44 5 points

Listen to Part 2 of Charlie Schumann talking about career choices. Answer these questions.
1 What four things can make people happy?
2 What are the type of activities that help people forget about everything called?

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Part 4 Speaking
Task 1 5 points
Work in pairs or threes and discuss one of the two options below.

Option 1 Work placement

Your company has decided to offer a one-month work placement to a small group of business
students from the local university.
You have been asked to prepare the programme.
Discuss the situation together and decide:
• What kind of information you should provide to the students at the start of their placement.
• What kind of work the students could do.
• What kind of evaluation of the programme should be done.
Option 2 Career advice
You are part of a small team set up in your company to offer career advice to junior members
of staff.
You have been asked to advise Will Smith, who is considering taking a career break.
Discuss the options together and decide:
• What are the different options.
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of each.
Task 2 5 points
Prepare a one-minute presentation on one of these topics. You have one minute to prepare
your talk.

A
What is important when talking about a problem to someone
you are supervising?
• being objective
• being friendly

B
What is important when prioritizing?
• important and urgent
• urgent but not important

C
What is important when deciding to buy new software?
• compatibility
• cost

2.0 B1+ Intermediate Teacher’s Resource Disc © Macmillan Publishers Limited 2013 Tests 6