Real Exam Reading 01.06.24 - Reading Passage 1 PDF

REAL EXAM 01.06.24 READING PASSAGE 1 You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26, which are based on Reading Passage 2 below The history of chicken Short introduced project-based learning, which has...

REAL EXAM 01.06.24 READING PASSAGE 1 You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26, which are based on Reading Passage 2 below The history of chicken Short introduced project-based learning, which has given students more opportunities to ask questions and follow their interests. For one popular project—the Chicken Challenge— students investigate the driving question, “What’s the most effective way to produce the best chickens for market in the least amount of time?” As they raise chickens in a school greenhouse, students conduct nutrition trials, do research, and prepare marketing materials to explain their approach. It’s an academically rich project that also appeals to students’ desire for hands-on learning. “There’s the real life of caring for animals that rely on you,” Short says. The changes in her curriculum have made a difference. Enrollment in the school’s agro program has doubled in 10 years, with girls now outnumbering boys in many classes. Technology has become an integral part of teaching and learning in a classroom equipped with a polymerase chain reaction machine and other real-world lab equipment for genetic studies. Interest has also spread to the junior high, where Short’s STEM students are investigating the use of robotics in fishing lures and asking about using drones to gather data. “They’re teaching me,” she says, when it comes to emerging technologies. A Growing Movement Four of Short’s students were among the 40,000 young people who gathered in Indianapolis in October for the National FFA convention. This annual event showcases the work of student researchers, FFA leaders, and young entrepreneurs, along with innovations developed by industry partners and technologists. “We have more members now than at any point in history,” says Blaze Currie, team leader for the leadership development team at FFA. The organization used to be known as Future Farmers of America but has rebranded to reflect a wider range of opportunities. “We still have students who come from rural communities, but we also have chapters in 18 of the 20 largest cities in the country.” Poor Office Lighting Poor lighting (which includes light being too bright or creating glare) can cause us to lose our ability to focus through eyestrain, fatigue and headaches. This can result in lower productivity; absenteeism and a recent study by the HSE has shown that it also has an adverse effect on our daily moods. If you imagine sitting in an intensely lit room all day, squinting at another bright light; you can start to visualize how it might begin to affect you. Another condition associated with prolonged exposure to computer light is computer vision syndrome (CVS) or visual display unit (VDU) glare, affecting between 64% and 90% of the UK office population. While this hasn’t been found to have any long Johnny’s IELTS REAL EXAM 01.06.24 term complications, it can cause all the problems previously mentioned as well as dry eyes and temporary myopia (difficulty in seeing distant objects). Overhead lighting is generally fixed in the early phases of office development at an overly bright 500 lux, often over areas that do not need the light. After all, it’s surely better to have too much light than not enough? Johnny’s IELTS REAL EXAM 01.06.24 Questions 1-5 Do the following statements agree with the information given in the text? In boxes 18-22 on your answer sheet, 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. 1. This project can help build both academic knowledge and experimental learning. 2. There has been an increase in the number of student in the agri School where males have outnumbered females. 3. Children in Short’s School has become more enthusiastic than before. 4. Four Shorts Students who took part in Indianapolis won awards. 5. Interest of urban student towards agricultural sector is increasing. Questions 6-8 Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS OR A NUMBER from the text for each answer. 6. The changes in ……………. have brought a great change in the perspective of students. 7. Students have asked the teacher to use ……………. for data collection. 8. The future farmers of America program have appealed urban students with subject knowledge and ……………. skills. Johnny’s IELTS REAL EXAM 01.06.24 Questions 9-13 Do the following statements agree with the information given in the text? TRUE if the statement agrees with the information FALSE if the statement contradicts the information NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this. 26. Headaches are the common cause of loss of vision. 27. A person can develop negative psychology because of bad lighting. 28. Glare from computer screen has been commonly affecting UK population then other countries. 29. Difficulty seeing near objects can be a cause of poor lighting. 30. 500lux is the most desirable lighting Johnny’s IELTS REAL EXAM 01.06.24 READING PASSAGE 2 You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26, which are based on Reading Passage 2 below. Early Approaches to organisational design A review of the classical and neoclassical theories of organisational structures Determining the ‘best’ type of organisational structure for a particular situation has long been an important task for managers in all types of organisations. All structures have advantages and disadvantages and managers luce the challenge of developing the most appropriate design for changing circumstances. The Classical Approach Early management writers attempted to approach organisational design using a set of principles that would make an organisational structure perform efficiently in most situations, independent of external conditions and internal objectives. The sociologist Max Weber and management writers Frederick Taylor and Henri Fayol were major contributors to this so-called classical approach. They believed that the most efficient organisations had a legalised formal and hierarchical structure called a ‘bureaucracy’. Members of the organisation were guided by a sense of duty to the organisation and by a set of rational rules and regulations. According to Weber, such organisations were characterised by the specialisation of tasks, appointment by merit, and an impersonal climate. Today the word ‘bureaucracy’ sometimes has negative connotations. Early management writers, however, commended bureaucracy as an organisational design for its rationality, rules for decision-making, clear chain of command, and promotion of people based on ability and experience, rather than favouritism or whim. Weber also believed that clearly specified authority and responsibility made performance easier to evaluate and reward. Weber, Taylor and Fayol developed their theories when organisations that resembled this bureaucratic model were modern and efficient. It became evident, however, that some of the major advantages of the bureaucratic structure could become disadvantages if the theory were applied dogmatically. For example, the safeguards against favouritism could be rigidly imposed by adhering excessively to rules- resulting in both managers and subordinates becoming depersonalised. The classical approach has been criticised from two major perspectives. First, the theory may not have a basis in reality. Have organisations like those described by Weber and the others ever existed? Second, it claims that organisations designed and managed according to bureaucratic principles will enjoy the predicted benefits. But critics argue that the world no longer fits the assumptions in Weber’s model (if it ever did), and so a bureaucracy might not yield beneficial results. Johnny’s IELTS REAL EXAM 01.06.24 Early human relations researchers and behavioural scientists attempted to deal with the major inadequacy of the classical bureaucratic model: neglect of the human element. They argued that an industrial organisation has two objectives: economic effectiveness and employee satisfaction. They also wrote that the bureaucratic structure could be improved by permitting more subordinate participation in decision-making. Because these researchers tried to improve, and not reject the classical model. They are sometimes called neoclassical theorists and include Douglas McGregor, Chris Argyris and Rensis Likert. The Neoclassical Approach McGregor believed that the vertical division of labour that characterised bureaucratic organisations was derived from negative and false assumptions about workers which he called ‘Theory X’. Managers assume lower-level employees lack ambition and need orders to work effectively. The rigid formal hierarchy is designed to maintain managers’ power over subordinates. Decision-making takes place at upper levels of management while the decisions are carried out by people at lower levels. McGregor argued that organisations based instead on ‘Theory Y’ assumptions use their members’ potential. Theory Y assumes that most people find work satisfying, commit themselves willingly to organisational goals and seek responsibility. Members have more independence than in bureaucratic organisations and lower-level participation in decision-making is encouraged. Argyris was concerned that managers in bureaucratic organisations had near-total responsibility for controlling their subordinates’ work. He argued that managerial domination makes subordinates passive and dependent, and decreases their sense of responsibility and self-control. Argyris argued for an alternative organisational design that acknowledged human needs and feelings, and increased workers’ satisfaction. Like McGregor, he favoured giving subordinates more independence and decision-making power to create a more informal organisational culture. Likert shared the perspectives of McGregor and Argyris. In his research, he found that managers who encouraged their subordinates could motivate them more than traditional authoritarian managers. Likert based on model of four possible systems on these findings. In System 1 power and authority are distributed strictly according to the classical management subordinate relationship: a manager gives orders to lower-level members. In System 4 organisations, by contrast, there is extensive participation in decision-making and problem solving groups. Some individuals in each group also belong to other work groups to ensure communication between them. System 4 represents Likert’s view of an ideal organisation. Johnny’s IELTS REAL EXAM 01.06.24 Criticisms of the Neoclassical Approach The neoclassical approach to organisational design compensates for limitations in the traditional classical model, but it has also been criticised. First, the neoclassicists share the classical assumption that there is one best way to design an organisation. They overlook environmental, technological, and other variables that might affect an organisation’s design, and overemphasise psychological and behavioural variables. Second, Theories X and Y oversimplify human motivation and neglect indivdual differences. Not everyone is motivated by the non-monetary aspects of work, nor is all work satisfying. Finally, the coordination of work groups to achieve organisational goals may be more difficult than the neoclassicists suggest, particularly when the objectives of lower-level employees are not consistent with those of upper-level managers. Questions 14 - 15 Choose TWO letters A-E. Write the correct letters in boxes 14 and 15 on your answer sheet. According to the writer which TWO of the following are characteristics of the classical approach to organizational design? A a marked ranking order for employees B giving importance to everyone’s work C the advancement of older workers D a neutral working environment E increased benefits for workers Questions 16-17 Choose TWO letters A-E. Write the correct letters in boxes 16 and 17 on your answer sheet. According to the writer, which TWO of the following are criticisms of the classical approach to organizational design? A Too many guidelines are proposed B Certain practices become negative if they are implemented too strictly C Managers and workers are unable to co-operate with each other D The administrative standards are unsuited to some work environments E Positive outcomes which were expected in the past would be unlikely today Johnny’s IELTS REAL EXAM 01.06.24 Questions 18 - 19 Choose TWO letters A-E. Write the correct letters in boxes 18 and 19 on your answer sheet. According to the writer, which TWO of the following are aims of the neoclassical approach to organizational design? A to ensure workers are treated as individual people B to create a formal atmosphere in the workplace C to change the methods of production D to allow workers a greater say in what happens at the workplace E to standardise the procedures for promotion of workers Questions 20 - 21 Choose TWO letters A-E. Write the correct letters in boxes 20 and 21 on your answer sheet. According to the writer, which TWO of the following are criticisms of the neoclassical approach to organizational design? A It suggests that workers are involved in too many decisions B The effects of some psychological factors are given low importance C The effects of the workplace surroundings are ignored D It exaggerates the success of the organisations that use this approach E It assumes that all people work for enjoyment rather than financial gain. Johnny’s IELTS REAL EXAM 01.06.24 Questions 22 - 26 Look at the following beliefs (Questions 22-26) and the list of people below. Match each belief with the correct person A-D. Write the correct letter, A-D, in boxes 22-26 on your answer sheet. NB You may use any letter more than once. List of people A Max Weber B Douglas McGregor C Chris Argyris D Rensis Likert 22 The classical approach relied upon managers having incorrect views about workers. 23 In the best organizational model, there is shared decision-making and interaction between teams at work. 24 In an efficient organisation, workers develop expertise in particular areas. 25 An organization must take into account the emotional demands of people. 26 The classical approach allowed workers’ skills to be assessed in a straightforward way. Johnny’s IELTS REAL EXAM 01.06.24 READING PASSAGE 3 You should spend about 25 minutes on Questions 27-40, which are based on Reading Passage 2 below. Avalanche Nature’s destructive fury is unleashed on mountainsides around the world. A) Hurtling down a mountainside at speeds of up to 300 kilometres an hour, an avalanche is at once both a terrifying sight and a spectacle of nature. The power of gravity pulls the snow mass down the mountain slope, capturing all in its path, from rocks, trees, and ice to, from time to time, human victims. Avalanches are caused by a wide range of factors, including the steepness of the mountainside, the weather, the terrain, the snowpack conditions and human activity. Avalanches occur in all parts of the world, in the northern hemisphere and the southern—wherever there are slopes steep enough for the snow to slide down, sometimes recording as much as 250,000 cubic metres of snow descending at unimaginable speeds and force, destroying all in its path. B) An avalanche is an occurrence of nature whereby an entire layer of snow, or snowpack, separates naturally, or from human activity, and descends with rapid downward force, building up speed and air pressure ahead of it, with phenomenal destructive force. An avalanche has three main parts, the starting zone, the avalanche track and the runout zone. The starting zone is a volatile area of a slope where snow that is unstable can fracture and separate from the compacted snow and start to move downward. Usually, this occurs high up the slope of a mountain, but can happen anywhere there is a slope, and the usual cause is when the weight or force of the snow is greater than the strength holding it together. The avalanche track is the route the cascading snow follows, and is often a noticeable track following open or chute-like terrain, away from dense growths of trees, which indicates that other avalanches may have occurred, and often ending with large collecting areas where there is an abundance of debris, such as in gullies or flattened open areas. This is known as the runout zone, which is where the snow is usually piled the highest, with mounds of debris deposits. C) There are three main types of avalanches: wet snow avalanches, dry snow avalanches and slab avalanches. Wet snow avalanches are often thought of as the least dangerous, usually occurring naturally in the spring season because of melting snow from the increasing temperatures. They are considered less dangerous because of the slow speed, due to friction, but can cause significant destruction because of their large mass. Water saturation is a key point, due to the melting, and they pull boulders, earth and vegetation with them. Dry snow avalanches are normally the largest, consisting of an enormous powder cloud masking huge volumes of a rapidly moving snowpack and occur at any time or for any reason. These avalanches can reach speeds of 300 km/hr, and can carry up to 10,000,000 tonnes of snow for incredibly long distances, and often uphill as they come to rest. Finally, some experts consider slab avalanches as the most dangerous, as a slab, or block, of snow separates from the main body of snow and cascades downward. A ‘crown fracture’ appears at the top and ‘flank fractures’ are created vertically, separating the block of snow which speeds downhill, destroying everything. Interestingly, these types of avalanches often leave Johnny’s IELTS REAL EXAM 01.06.24 ‘walls’ carved in the snow where the avalanche has broken away. Slab avalanches account for most related fatalities, and are often caused by human activity, notably skiers. D) Other factors that can cause avalanches include natural conditions such as wind, weather, composition of the snow, storms, sunlight and moisture. Interestingly, coastal environments limit many of the dangerous aspects of mountainous conditions, with an ongoing stabilization of the snowpack due to a continuous freeze-thaw cycle moderating weather extremes. Very cold temperatures can also cause critical circumstances which give rise to avalanches, by affecting the stability of the snow pack, with differences in ground temperatures contrasting with the ambient air temperature, thus affecting moisture content, crystal formation and varying thicknesses of snow. Storms, be they rain or snow, lead to weight variations, with heavy precipitation on top, and less chance of snow bonding to secure a stable weight-load. And sunlight introduces a number of factors, melting, re-freezing and radiation loss which means significant variations in the heat/cooling process, which impacts on the stability of the snow pack. E) So, what can be done to prevent, predict or control this unleashing of nature’s destructive forces? In areas where avalanches present a major threat, such as mountainous communities, ski resorts and transportation facilities, there are a number of initiatives being introduced, because holding back Mother Nature has always been a long-held, but not always successful, dream. Explosives are regularly used in mountainous areas, armies being employed to fire high-decibal cannons which trigger shock waves to loosen snow packs, and other concussion devices dropped from helicopters or hand-launched. Protective fences can direct snow build-up to help prevent snow packs being formed, and there is often construction of avalanche dams to re-direct falling snow, or the building of earth mounds to slow the slide of avalanches. Lastly, to protect human life in the possibility of avalanche conditions, snow shelters have been constructed to withstand the impact of the force of snow, shielding human life, vehicle traffic and residential dwellings. F) Avalanches cannot accurately be predicted, although the conditions can be monitored, studied and assessed. Snow and weather conditions, including temperature, wind and moisture, are a reliable guide, as well as human activity, recent history and forecasts of worsening conditions. However, unfortunately, disasters have occurred. And will continue so. During World War I, between 40,000 and 80,000 soldiers died in the mountainous regions of central Europe, in particular on the Austrian-Italian battlefields, and it has been determined that many were killed as a result of artillery fire, the concussive effects resulting in avalanches. Numerous ski resorts and their communities have unfortunately suffered devastating avalanches, notably in Turkey in 1993, when 43 climbers lost their lives, and in France in 1999, when 12 people were buried under 100,000 tonnes of snow, and in the same year, 31 people died in Austria in one avalanche. G) There are various classification systems for avalanches, but none that is universally recognized. Canada and the United States use one system, defining risk levels using various factors, while Europe employs a different rating system with different criteria, and other alpine nations utilize varying systems which reflect different aspects of risk and outcomes. Avalanches pose a constant threat, and work is constantly being done to forecast, and mitigate, the risks and outcomes of avalanches. Survival is possible for those caught in this most terrible of natural circumstances, and future work and Johnny’s IELTS REAL EXAM 01.06.24 investigation is vital to ensure the safety of those caught in one of nature’s most destructive unleashings. Questions 27-40 Choose the most suitable headings for sections A – G from the list of headings below Write the appropriate numbers i – ix on your answer sheet. List of Headings i The components which make up an avalanche. ii Wide-ranging facts about avalanches. iii Different systems at work to try to reduce risk and minimize loss. iv The worse avalanches in history. v Governments try to categorize different kinds of avalanches. vi More factors that lead to avalanches. vii Forecasting avalanches is not an exact science, and does not always prevent loss of human life. viii What are governments doing to prevent the loss of human life? ix What constitutes the different kinds of avalanches? 27 Paragraph A 28 Paragraph B 29 Paragraph C 30 Paragraph D 31 Paragraph E 32 Paragraph F 33 Paragraph G Johnny’s IELTS REAL EXAM 01.06.24 Questions 34-37 Classify the following statements as characteristics of Write the appropriate letters A – C in boxes 21 – 24 on your answer sheet. NB You may use any letter more than once. A wet snow avalanches B dry snow avalanches C slab avalanches 34 Generally, there are two main parts to this type of avalanche. 35 This avalanche is common during one particular time of the year. 36 Specific lines demarcating the actual avalanche are formed when it is created. 37 One key point, moisture, is necessary to generate the force to cause the avalanche to break away and begin to move. Questions 38-39 Choose the appropriate letters A – D and write them in boxes 25 and 26 on your answer sheet. 38. Measures to control avalanches include A. large weapons being fired in mountainous areas to create huge sound waves to loosen the snow. B. helicopters being used to blow the snow off mountainsides. C. teams of men manually moving densely-packed snow away from inhabited areas. D. avalanche dams stopping falling snow. 39. The classification systems for avalanches A. in Canada and the United States differ according to the mountain regions. B. are used to determine the possibility of an avalanche. C. vary in different areas of the world. D. use the European criteria to classify avalanches. Johnny’s IELTS