Mock Test 1

Reading (Academic)

READING PASSAGE 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-12, which are based on Reading Pas-
sage 1 below.

The
Smallest
Bird
in the
World
A. Related to most other North American hummingbirds, the bee hummingbird is
so named because it is roughly the size of a honeybee, a proportion that has won
it the title of smallest bird in the world. Taxonomically, the bee hummingbird is
referred to as mellisuga helenae, which is a name that reflects its feeding pattern.
‘Mellifluence’ suggests sweetness, ‘suga’ to suck and ‘helen’ refers to the bee hum-
mingbird’s torch shaped beak. While the female is slightly larger than the male,
the average bee hummingbird is approximately 1.6–2 grams and 5–6 centimetres
in length. It has an average wingspan of only 3.25 cm and boasts a bill that is
markedly shorter than other species of hummingbirds. Gender differentiation is
rather easy, as the female is both larger and lacks the pink throat found among
males.

B. As with other hummingbirds, the bee hummingbird responds to a scarcity of food

by going into torpor, a state similar to hibernation, where the bird’s metabolism is
 slowed to 1/15th its normal rate. Its aerial capabilities are multi-fold. Not only can
the bee hummingbird hover in midair and fly backwards, it can also accelerate to
speeds exceeding 15 metres per second. The bee hummingbird is only capable
of such feats because of its remarkable ability to beat its wings an estimated 80
times per second. Hovering allows the bird to feed on the nectar of flowers; a
staple of the bee hummingbird’s diet. In this manner, the bee hummingbird once
again resembles the bumblebee, as it assists in the pollinating of flowering plants.
At the height of spring, the bee hummingbird may visit up to 1500 different flow-
ers in a single day.

C. The bee hummingbird, endemic to Cuba, has a proclivity to reside in dense forests
and woodland edges and typically will not venture far from where its born during
its lifetime. The bird’s patchy distribution has been found chequered across the
geographical areas of Havana, Sierra de Anafe, Guanahacabibes Peninsula, Za-
pata Swamp, Jucaro, Moa, Cuchillas del Toa, Sierra Cristal, Mayarí and the coast of
Guantánamo. Today, the smallest bird in the world is rare, and its numbers have
diminished enough that it is qualified as “near-threatened” by the IUCN (Interna-
tional Union for Conservation of Nature). This decline in numbers is mostly due to
the destruction and modification of the bee hummingbird’s basic habitat. Be-
cause of Cuban land cultivation for cattle, tobacco, coffee and cocoa production,
the bee hummingbird’s natural habitat has been reduced to 20% of what it was in
1900. This sad trend is unfortunately continuing unabated.

D. For sustenance, the bee hummingbird habitually favours high fructose flowers
and plants and has been known to feed regularly on the solandra grandiflora
plant (translated to “cup of gold wine plant”). Protein sources are supplemented
by ingesting small insects and spiders. Also known to be territorial, bee hum-
mingbirds tend to defend feeding areas from bumblebees, hawk moths and each
other using frenetic aerial displays of dominance. Having an extremely high
metabolism, bee hummingbirds feed constantly and often consume up eight
times their body mass in a single day. When feeding, their straw like tongues can
extend and retract up to 13 times per second.

E. Throughout most of its life, bee hummingbirds are solitary creatures. They do not
exist in communities and congregate only during mating season. Male bee hum-
mingbirds select a patch of ground known as a lek from which they sing to fertile
females. These songs vary from high-pitched notes and twittering to squawking.
Females choose mates based on virility and lek suitability, and it is not uncom-
mon for both male and female bee hummingbirds to have more than one partner
in a given mating season. After mating, the female builds a small cup shaped
nest from plant fibers anywhere from 3 to 20 feet above the ground. Measuring
only about 3 cm in diameter, the nest exterior is then coated with moss for added
camouflage. On average, the female bee hummingbird will lay two pea-sized
eggs from which her young are born blind, bald and immobile. The female alone
is responsible for protecting and feeding these young on her regurgitated food.
In fact, studies have shown the average nesting female can capture and consume
 up to 15 insects a day.

F. Among human societies, hummingbirds (and with them bee hummingbirds) are a
source of myth, folklore and religion. To many indigenous tribes in the Americas,
hummingbirds represent resurrection and health due to their ability to appear
dead in torpor. The Aztecs were known to wear talismans made of bee humming-
bird parts and feathers, decorations considered emblematic of power, prestige
and potency. The great Aztec God, Huitzilopochtli, was given the name simply
for the reason that saying it resembles the sound of hummingbird wings. Among
the Nazca lines in Peru, illustrations of hummingbirds have been found on animal
pelts.

G. The bee hummingbird and its hummingbird relatives have thus awed and in-
spired observers for centuries and are creatures humanity should work towards
preserving.
Questions 1-4

Reading Passage 1 has six paragraphs, A-G.

Which paragraph contains the following information?

Write the correct letter, A-G.

1. The distribution and location of the bee hummingbird _____________

2. The bee hummingbird’s diet _____________

3. Cultural impact of the bee hummingbird _____________

4. Courtship rituals of the bee hummingbird _____________

Questions 5-8

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

5. The bee hummingbird’s primary response to further destruction of its food sourc-
es would likely be
a. reduced mating
b. territoriality
c. hibernation
d. building a nest

6. Which of the following is most critical to the bee hummingbird’s ability to feed?
a. its lek
b. beating its wings up to 80 times per second
c. its nest
d. the availability of tiny insects and spiders

7. The bee hummingbird is endemic to Cuba. The closest synonym to endemic is

a. roosting
b. migrating
c. habitually
d. indigenous
8. The bee hummingbird’s habitat
a. is changing very little.
b. will continue to shrink.
c. no longer exists.
d. is overpopulated with bee hummingbirds.

Questions 9-12

Do the following statements agree with the information in Reading Passage 1?

In the spaces provided, write

TRUE if the statement agrees with the information

FALSE if the statement contradicts the information

NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

9. The bee hummingbird migrates to other geographical locations. _________

10. The lifespan of the bee hummingbird varies. _________

11. The bee hummingbird lives a predominantly social life. _________

12. Indigenous Americans believed the hummingbird symbolized the ability to rise
from the dead. _________
READING PASSAGE 2

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 13-25, which are based on Reading
Passage 2 below.

The Alaska/British Columbia Border Dispute

The Dominion of Canada was proclaimed July 1, 1867. Over the coming decades,
Canada would expand westward to encompass the modern prairie provinces, British
Columbia, Prince Edward Island and the territories above the 60th parallel. While the
Dominion ruled over its citizens, Canada did not have control over its foreign affairs.
Rather than having diplomatic missions across the world as it does today, Canada’s
foreign affairs were handled by the British Colonial Office.

Months earlier, the geography of the United States also began to take its modern
shape. In March 1867, American Secretary of State William H. Seward negotiated the
Alaska Purchase from Czar Alexander II of Russia. On October 18 of that same year, the
transfer of 1.5 million square miles of territory was completed at a cost of $7.2 million.
With the stroke of a pen, “Seward’s Folly”, as the agreement came to be known by some
of his contemporaries and critics, added more than 20 percent to the entire landmass
of the United States.

The agreement also had a dramatic effect on Canada’s geopolitical motivations. Still
consisting of only the four original provinces—Ontario, Quebec, Nova, Scotia, and
New Brunswick; the Alaska Purchase motivated the Dominion’s leaders to bring the
remainder of the British colonies into the newly formed Canada, lest they be annexed
through an American pincher move by forces from the north in Alaska, and forces
below the 49th parallel.

Seward and Czar Alexander II had very different motivations for participating in the
purchase, yet both were influenced by the British presence in North America. While
Seward, like many 19th century American politicians, wanted to achieve Manifest Des-
tiny— the perceived American divine destiny to control and bring freedom to North
America by invading Canada and the remainder of British North America; Alexander
feared that his far-flung new world territory was vulnerable to British takeover follow-
ing his defeat in the Crimean War by the combined forces of Great Britain, the Ottoman
Empire, and France. Rather than gamble and lose his territory, he actively solicited its
sale to both the United States and Great Britain in hopes of receiving some compensa-
tion for this territory.

While Canadian and American opinion on the Alaska Purchase was strong and often
emotional, the British reaction was largely muted. When Alexander approached the
British in hopes of initiating a bidding war over Alaska with the United States, the Czar
found his former adversary indifferent. Alaska’s size, its distance from the British Isles,
and its lack of known resources or riches made it expensive to administer and defend.
It was an offer easily refused—and easily left for the United States. In the eyes of the
British, “Seward’s Folly” was an attempt to expand American power that was unlikely to
be worth the cost. In the preceding decades, Britain had attempted to extricate itself
from North America and turn its focus elsewhere. In 1858 Great Britain formalized con-
trol of India, gained control over vast resources of gold, spices, and silks— and shifted
the Empire’s colonial epicentre from North America to the Indian subcontinent.

Great Britain’s lack of interest in North America could not, however, prevent it from
entirely ignoring its new world colonial holdings. Gold was struck in the Canadian ter-
ritories of northern British Columbia in 1872 and the Yukon in 1897. The news rever-
berated across the western United States and thousands of prospectors travelled to
the Klondike. While most had little to show for their efforts, the mass hysteria created
by the Klondike Gold Rush brought a boundary dispute dating back half a century to
the forefront. In the Treaty of St. Petersburg of 1825, the Russian and British Empires
agreed on boundaries separating their North American colonies. The lack of detailed
knowledge of the geography of the region, however, left many areas as contested and
its ownership open to different interpretations. With the sale of Alaska, the United
States replaced Russia in the dispute. Growing more concerned about American pros-
pecting activities in the loosely defined territorial borders, the Royal Canadian Mount-
ed Police, as well as 200 men of the newly formed Yukon Field Force, were assigned to
travel to the area to protect and assert Canadian sovereignty.

By 1898 the situation required a formal diplomatic solution. Representatives of the

United States, Canada, and Great Britain met in the American capital to establish a
High Commission to weigh evidence presented by each side on territorial claims on
the Alaska Panhandle. While the disputed area stretched hundreds of kilometres from
Alaska south to the coast of British Columbia, the primary focus for both was the Lynn
Canal, a natural fjord and the entrance to Skagway—an important land route for pro-
spective gold miners in search of Klondike gold.

Both the Americans and the Canadians took extreme positions unsupported by evi-
dence. The United States claimed a significant part of the Yukon Territory and a stretch
of northern British Columbia, while Canada laid claim to Skagway and the Lynn Canal,
which was designated as Russian territory by the 1825 Treaty of St. Petersburg, and
transferred to the United States, as well significant territory beyond the Canal. Dis-
agreement ensued and the negotiations broke down unresolved.

In 1901 President McKinley was assassinated and Vice-President Theodore Roosevelt

became the 26th president of the United States. Roosevelt, known for his aggressive
and strong personality, took a much harder line against Canada in the Alaska bound-
ary dispute than his predecessors—going so far as to threaten military force if Ameri-
can control and sovereignty was not recognized. Roosevelt pushed for a quick resolu-
tion to the dispute, offering less than subtle warnings about possible military action.

In 1903 a new commission was established to settle the territorial disagreement. While
the boundary dispute had a direct effect on the domestic affairs of Canada, Great Brit-
ain retained rights as the colonial power to negotiate agreements with foreign gov-
ernments. The British and the Americans agreed to establish a six person commission;
with three members appointed by each power. Of the six committee members, three
were American, two senators and the Secretary of War; two were Canadian, a Toronto
lawyer and the lieutenant governor of Quebec; and one, Lord Alverstone, Chief Justice
of England, was a Briton.

The commission ruled in the favour of the United States 4-2. The deciding vote was
cast by Lord Alverstone, Chief Justice. The two Canadian representatives, outraged by
what they viewed as a betrayal of Canada, refused to the sign agreement. Neverthe-
less, the Hay-Hebert Treaty was signed on January 24, 1903 by the United States and
Great Britain ending the Alaska boundary dispute. Canadian reaction to the agreement
was one of bitter anger—directed not at the United States, but at Great Britain, for its
perceived betrayal of Canada.

For the British, the decision to rule in favour of the United States made sense both on
the grounds of physical evidence and British national interest. Maps created by the
British and the Russians almost a century earlier gave credence to American claims
on the Alaska Panhandle. Moreover, Britain had a strong desire to maintain a friendly
relationship with the United States. While it did not work aggressively to support Cana-
dian claims in the dispute, it also did not recognize the full extent of American claims,
including parts of the Yukon Territory and British Columbia.
Questions 13-17

Complete the flow-chart below.

Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.

The Alaska/British Columbia Border Dispute Timeline

1825

By signing the 13____________, Russians and

Britons agree on Alaskan border

14____________

American Secretary of State negotiates Alaskan purchase from Czar Alexander II

July 1867

Dominion of Canada proclaimed and includes all 15___________

up to the Alaskan border

1898

Discovery of 16____________ in British Columbia and the Yukon Territory ignites

border disagreements

1903

17____________ committee member commission decides final border

Questions 18-21

Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-H, below.

Write the correct letter, A-H, in the spaces provided.

A sought Alaskan independence

B was a partner in creating the first maps of the border

C felt Alaska could be lost to the British

D wanted Alaska carved up equally between the four countries

E claimed more land than that stipulated in the Treaty of St. Petersburg

F discovered gold in Alaska

G threatened military confrontation

H sought Russian control of Alaska

18. the Russians _________

19. the Americans _________

20. the British _________

21. the Canadians _________

Questions 22-25

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2?

In the spaces provided, write

TRUE if the statement agrees with the information

FALSE if the statement contradicts the information

NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

22. The British had a voice in the establishing of the final boundary between American
Alaska and Canadian British Columbia. __________

23. The 1903 commission resulted in stronger British-Canadian relations. __________

24. The final boundary ceded major territory to the Canadians. __________

25. Part of American negotiating strategy was to preserve relations with the British.
__________
READING PASSAGE 3

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 26-40, which are based on Reading Pas-
sage 3 below.

Early Climate Change Theory

Manmade climate change theory has proven to be among the most contentious of
scientific subjects in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Although climate change is a
controversial theory today, the debate over the ability of human activities to affect the
climate change process has not been limited to the modern age.

In the late 19th century a climate theory emerged that prompted hundreds of thou-
sands of Americans to move to west of 100th meridian, running through the Dakotas
and down to eastern Texas, and settle the Great American Plains. Although theorized
previously, it was popularly described as “rain follows the plow” by land speculator
Charles Dana Wilber in an 1881 publication. The theory argued that human land culti-
vation had a direct impact on the precipitation levels of the area. It also held that land
cultivation acted as a “sponge”, which increased the ability of soil to retain moisture.
The eventual evaporation of the moisture into the atmosphere would lead to its return
into the soil through precipitation. This continuous cycle would in time turn barren
wasteland into arable land suitable for large human settlement.

While the theory was often supported with great enthusiasm, it had little basis in
scientific fact. Indeed, what little scientific evidence existed was often ignored. The
theory was directly in contradiction to the experiences of the first American surveyors
in the area. Such was the arid state of the land that in the 1840s and the 1850s the
Great American Plains were interchangeable with the Great American Desert.

Those few that had ventured west of the 100th meridian into what had yet to become
formally organized territories of the United States reported not only much lower levels
of precipitation than in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois—they also reported much more
variability in precipitation levels from year to year. While areas in Ohio had an average
of 38 inches of precipitation per year, many areas of Montana would only receive 14
inches; far below the 20 inches required that would make irrigation unnecessary.

Fervour hit many communities in the eastern United States when a particularly wet
cycle occurred in the 1870s and 1880s. Many soon came to believe that the area was
undergoing permanent climate change spurred by a small but growing number of
homesteaders who found success growing the same crops and using the same meth-
ods as had been used in more humid landscapes in the eastern United States. Aca-
demics widely promulgated the theory and asserted a direct relationship between
increased precipitation and human settlement.

The idea soon captured the imagination of a variety of backers, from the academic
community that came to almost entirely support it, to politicians, and even railroad
owners. Academics used the theory to neatly explain the sudden increase in precipita-
tion; politicians saw it as means to achieve Manifest Destiny and American control of
all of North America; railroad owners hoped to realize greater profits from the home-
steaders. Regardless of their motivation, all urged their fellow citizens to settle the
Great Plains and cultivate the land.

Sadly, none of these families had farming experience in such a climate; many had no
experience farming at all. Hundreds of thousands heeded the call and made the deci-
sion to transplant their families and homes—often leaving proven soil and techniques
behind to discover land that was unfamiliar and techniques that were useless.

The return of the dry cycle lead to years of drought in the 1890s—almost simultane-
ously as many of the homesteaders arrived. Forced into poverty and suffering from
starvation, thousands made an exodus just as quickly. Between 1890 and 1900 the
population of western Kansas decreased by 27 percent; the number of farms de-
creased by 37 percent. Montana homesteads were abandoned en masse—estimates
suggest that almost a third of settlers left between 1900 and 1920. The theory quickly
lost support following repeated droughts and was heavily criticized in the 1930s by
the United States Department of Agriculture.

Today agriculture remains an increasingly important activity in the Great Plains, which
retains the climate first discovered. While the climate theory proposed in the 19th cen-
tury argued that irrigation would become unnecessary following large settlement, 2.3
million people, many times the population in the late 19th century, depend on a large
water table beneath Nebraska called the Ogallala Aquifer to irrigate the soil beneath
them.
Questions 26-34

Complete the table below.

Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer. Some fields may have “no informa-
tion”.

Write your answers in the blanks provided.

Period Migration Pattern Climate Cycle Farming success

Pre-1840s 26. 27. 28.
1840s-1850s Surveyor arrival 29. No
1870s-1880s 30. 31. Yes
1890s-1920s 32. Dry cycle No
Today Increased population 33. 34.

Questions 35-40

Identify which SIX of these 11 statements, A-K, are reported in the text.

Write the correct letters, A-K, in the blanks provided.

A Climate theory played a very small in the United States in the late 19th century
role.

B The Great American Plains were originally found to have very little precipitation
by the first surveyors.

C Based on precipitation levels, land west of the 100th meridian does not meet
the 20-inch rain threshold.

D Land cultivation is scientifically proven to increase precipitation.

E For the most part, growing techniques in the eastern United States did not
achieve similar results in the Great Plains.

F Charles Dana Wilber is credited with being the first to propose the theory and
gave the theory its name.

G Today, the Great Plains require no irrigation because of the Ogallala Aquifer.

H Several states saw a significant number of farmers leave following drought.

I 19th century scientists concluded increased rainfall in the Great Plains was the
result of land cultivation.

J Significant soil evaporation is responsible for the droughts in the 1890s.

K The theory was first supported and then criticized by politicians and agencies
of the US government.

35. ___________

36. ___________

37. ___________

38. ___________

39. ___________

40. ___________
Answers:

1. C 21. E
2. D 22. true
3. F 23. false
4. E 24. false
5. C 25. not given
6. B 26. no information
7. D 27. no information
8. B 28. no information
9. false 29. dry cycle
10. not given 30. farmer arrival
11. false 31. wet cycle
12. true 32. farmer exodus
13. Treaty of St. Petersburg 33. dry cycle
14. March 1867 34. yes
15. British territories 35. B
16. gold 36. C
17. six 37. E
18. B/C 38. H
19. E/G 39. I
20. B 40. K

Band score calculator:

Band score 9 8.5 8 7.5 7 6.5 6 5.5

Score / 40 39-40 37-38 35-36 32-34 30-31 26-29 23-25 18-22

5 4.5 4 3.5 3 2.5

16-17 13-15 10-12 8-10 6-7 4-5