VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HOCHIMINH CITY Student’s Full Name: _______________________________

UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

Student ID: _______________________________________
FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS AND LITERATURE

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE SKILLS Class Code: ______________________________________

Full-Time Program
Instructor: _______________________________________

FINAL EXAMINATION
Course: Advanced Reading C1
Time Allotted: 75-80 minutes Exam Date: __________

Approved by Proctors
Examiner(s) Score
(CBCT)

1. 1. In figures:

2. 2. In words:

Notes: Materials and dictionaries of all kinds are NOT allowed.

Students write their answers on the answer sheet.
ANSWER SHEET

1. ______ 5. ______ 9. ______ 13. ______ 17. ______

2. ______ 6. ______ 10. ______ 14. ______ 18. ______
SECTION 1 _____ x 0.1
(2 points) 3. ______ 7. ______ 11. ______ 15. ______ 19. ______ = _____/2
4. ______ 8. ______ 12. ______ 16. ______ 20. ______

1. ______ 5. ______ 9. * ______

_____ x 0.2
Passage 1

2. ______ 6. ______ ______

+ _____
3. ______ 7. ______ ______
= _____/2
4. ______ 8. ______

10. ______ 13. ______ 16. ______ 19. ______

Passage 2

SECTION _____ x 0.25

2 11. ______ 14. ______ 17. ______ 20. ______
= _____/3
(8 points) 12. ______ 15. ______ 18. ______ 21. ______

22. ______ 25. ______ 28. ______

Passage 3

23. ______ 26. ______ 29. ______ _____ x 0.3

24. ______ 27. ______ 30. ______ = _____/3
31. ______

TOTAL: ______/10

*Question 9: in any other

3 correct answer choices = 0.4 points
2 correct answer choices = 0.2 points
0-1 correct answer choices = 0 points
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Full Name: ________________________________ Class Code: ________ Student ID: _______________
TEST PAPER
ADVANCED READING C1 – [date]
Notes: Materials and dictionaries of all kinds are NOT allowed.
Students write their answers on the answer sheet.
SECTION 1 VOCABULARY (2 points)
Choose the lettered word or phrase that best completes each of the following sentences. (1 point)
1. The government is going to take these measures to ______ the tide of illegal immigration.
A. hinder B. obstruct C. stem D. prohibit
2. People over the age of 85 make up the fastest-growing ______ of the population.
A. segment B. division C. fragment D. sector
3. She had lost her eye when she was fifteen, in a drunken ______ with the Gaschuggers in the street.
A. blow B. surge C. brawl D. mob
4. The accord is expected to ______ in a peace treaty to formally end the Chiapas conflict.
A. decapitate B. precipitate C. estimate D. culminate
5. The owner is making huge profits at the expense of ______ peasants.
A. downtrodden B. squalid C. jerry-built D. derelict
6. Hundreds of refugees have been denied medical attention for injuries ______ by the police.
A. inferred B. inflicted C. inhibited D. indicted
7. The crime crackdown is simply an attempt to ______ attention from social problems.
A. avert B. convert C. divert D. subvert
8. During their ______ from the summit, a storm swept in.
A. distress B. descent C. dissent D. despair
9. He is held in high ______ by colleagues in the construction industry.
A. assessment B. esteem C. evaluation D. appraisal
10. The dad-of-two received a special award for courage in the face of ______ at the glittering ceremony.
A. affliction B. mishap C. calamity D. adversity
Choose the lettered word or phrase that is closest in meaning to the underlined part in each of the
following sentences. (1 point)
11. Five people were indicted for making and selling counterfeit currency.
A. complained about B. blamed for C. sentenced to D. charged with
12. Last year witnesses saw a young woman being abducted by security forces who bundled her into a car
and sped off.
A. captured B. kidnapped C. arrested D. removed
13. Darwin’s observations led him to deduce that plants and animals could adapt to their surroundings.
A. indicate B. suppose C. imply D. infer
14. Public broadcasting is supposed to be strictly impartial during an election campaign.
A. biased B. neutral C. subjective D. indifferent
15. The tests have been carefully scrutinized for balance and consistency to ensure they are reliable.
A. explored B. investigated C. examined D. discovered
16. We sit down to our morning bowl of coffee savoring everything we can see, touch, taste, or smell.
A. enjoying B. fancying C. flavoring D. desiring
17. By 2015, two populations, composed of very different ethnic groups, faced each other as adversaries.
A. competitors B. opponents C. contestants D. rivals
18. When the imitation worked and the ball went in, I could barely contain myself.
A. involve B. include C. restrict D. restrain
19. The new disease was a threat to public health and was highly contagious.
A. harmful B. poisonous C. infectious D. transferable
20. Because Jack works for a lot of indigent clients, he does not earn a lot of money as an attorney.
A. destitute B. bankrupt C. apathetic D. disadvantaged

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SECTION 2 READING COMPREHENSION (8 points)
PASSAGE 1 (2 points)
THE POST-REVOLUTION UNITED STATES
(1) The years immediately following the Revolutionary War were precarious ones for the newly formed
United States. While the pressures of the war had forced the widely disparate colonies to put aside their
differences, the Treaty of Paris and the resulting peace brought them quickly bubbling to the surface once
again. One fundamental problem was that Americans still lacked a definitive sense of nationhood.
Allegiance to one’s individual state was far more powerful than allegiance to the nation. Americans were
likely to think of themselves first as Virginians or Pennsylvanians, and as Americans second.
(2) Compounding the problems caused by this lack of national identity was the weakness of the federal
government and the Articles of Confederation on which it was based. The Articles of Confederation
created the weakest form of federal government that could be imagined. Under the Articles of
Confederation, Congress had the power to declare war and set foreign policy but little else. Congress
could not even levy taxes, or set tariff rates for imports. Such vital powers were left in the hands of the
individual states.
(3) Considering how different the states were from each other, and the manner in which their individual
interests often clashed, it is not surprising that the weakness of the federal government resulted in grave
problems for the new nation. In New England, where the state economies were heavily dependent on
shipping, each state set its own tariff rates, seeking to out-compete its neighbors for essential import
business. For example, Connecticut set lower tariff rates than its neighbor, New York. Connecticut
merchants would unload their goods in their own ports and then transport them over land to New York,
where they could sell them at a cost that New York merchants were unable to match due to the higher
tariffs they had to pay. Such practices quickly brought about economic chaos as well as rising levels of
resentment between the states. Further south, Virginia and Maryland, both of which lay on the shores of
the Potomac River, were feuding bitterly over water rights to this valuable fishery and shipping lane. This
conflict was as old as the two colonies themselves, but under the colonial government it had been
arbitrated and kept in check by the power of the English crown. Congress lacked the power to arbitrate
between the two states, and the dispute quickly escalated.
(4) Clearly the American system of government was in serious need of revision. In 1787, representatives
from each state met to discuss changes in the Articles of Confederation. In the end, they decided to
completely scrap the Articles of Confederation and draft a separate document creating an entirely new
government. This, however, was more easily said than done. Each state had its own ideas about what that
document should contain. While all agreed that the federal government must have more power than
provided for in the Articles of Confederation, exactly how much power it should have was a matter of
debate. Furthermore, larger, more populous states wanted more representation in government, while
smaller states naturally argued for equal representation, regardless of size. The end document was a stroke
of political genius. The new Constitution gave the federal government the power to levy taxes and regulate
trade while leaving each state to manage its own internal affairs. It also addressed the concerns of both
small and large states by creating a two-part Congress. The House of Representatives had a membership
that was based on the population of each state. The Senate gave equal representation to each state. Since
a bill had to pass both the House of Representatives and the Senate before it could become law, both large
and small states felt that their voices would be fairly heard in the new government.
Questions 1-9: Choose the correct answer(s) to the following questions.
1. The word them in the paragraph 1 refers to
A. the years following the Revolutionary War. C. the differences between the colonies.
B. the newly formed United States. D. the pressures of the war.
2. According to paragraph 1, what was a central problem in the early United States?
A. It lacked a strong army with which to defend itself.
B. Its citizens lacked a genuine sense of national identity.
C. Individual states were more powerful than the nation itself.
D. The Treaty of Paris was a weak document on which to base a government.
3. The word levy in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to
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 A. charge B. owe C. raise D. incur
4. Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence in
paragraph 3? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.
A. Each of the New England states was forced to set its own tariff rates because their economies were
based on shipping and trade with their neighbors.
B. Setting their own tariff rates was essential for the New England states, who were trying to out-compete
their neighbors.
C. States which are heavily dependent on shipping set different tariff rates for essential import business
to out-compete their neighbors.
D. Each of the New England states, whose economies were reliant on shipping, sought to win essential
imports by setting its own import tax rates to beat out its neighbors.
5. Why does the author mention merchants in Connecticut and New York in paragraph 3?
A. to give examples of states with the best tariff rates
B. to illustrate the negative effects brought on by the weakness of the Articles of Confederation
C. to introduce a detailed discussion of highly different state economies and their competing needs
D. to demonstrate how severely the Revolutionary War damaged the economies of New England states
6. It can be inferred in the passage that Maryland and Virginia
A. opposed the drafting of the Constitution.
B. shared a common border.
C. had fought many battles over the use of the Potomac River.
D. relied on fishing for their entire economies.
7. According to paragraph 4, what was the conflict between large and small states?
A. Both large and small states wanted more power to set tariffs and control trade.
B. Smaller states wanted more territory and larger populations.
C. Large and small states wanted different methods of representation in the federal government.
D. Large states were in favor of the Articles of Confederation while smaller states wanted to draft a new
document.
8. According to paragraph 4, what was one of the new powers that the federal government gained under the
Constitution?
A. to effectively govern the national economy
B. to do away with ineffective forms of government
C. to set insider trading policy in each individual state
D. to set representation in its Congress any way it pleased
9. Directions: An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provided below. Complete the
summary by selecting the THREE answer choices that express the most important ideas in the passage.
Some sentences do not belong in the summary because they express ideas that are not presented in the
passage or are minor ideas in the passage.
The federal government of the United States in the years following the Revolutionary War was weak
and ineffective.
• _________ • _________ • _________
Answer Choices
A. Since most Americans were more loyal to their state than to their nation, regionalism was a significant
problem.
B. Virginians and Pennsylvanians were especially loyal to their states and created many problems for the
new nation.
C. States where the economy was based on shipping caused economic chaos in the new nation.
D. The fact that the federal government lacked the power to set nationwide policies or mediate disputes
between the states added to the problems of the nation.
E. Small states were the ones most vocab in calling for the formation of a new government.
F. The problems of the new nation led to a restructuring of the federal government and the creation of the
Constitution.
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 Hooked on TOEFL iBT Reading – Actual Test – Passage 1 – Page 172

PASSAGE 2 (3 points)
INTERNAL MARKET: SELLING THE INSIDE
When you think of marketing, you more than likely think of marketing to your customers: How can you
persuade more people to buy what you sell? But another “market” is just as important: your employees, the
very people who can make the brand come alive for your customers. Yet in our work helping executives
develop and carry out branding campaigns, my colleagues and I have found that companies very often ignore
this critical constituency.
Why is internal marketing so important? First, because it’s the best way to help employees make a powerful
emotional connection to the products and services you sell. Without that connection, employees are likely to
undermine the expectations set by your advertising. In some cases, this is because they simply don’t
understand what you have promised the public, so they end up working at cross-purposes. In other cases, it
may be that they don’t actually believe in the brand and feel disengaged or, worse, hostile toward the company.
We’ve found that when people care about and believe in the brand, they’re motivated to work harder and their
loyalty to the company increases. Employees are united and inspired by a common sense of purpose and
identity.
Unfortunately, in most companies, internal marketing is done poorly, if at all. While executives recognize the
need to keep people informed about the company’s strategy and direction, few understand the need to convince
employees of the brand’s power—they take it as a given.
Employees need to hear the same messages that you send out to the marketplace. At most companies, however,
internal and external communications are often mismatched. This can be very confusing, and it threatens
employees’ perceptions of the company’s integrity: They are told one thing by management but observe that
a different message is being sent to the public. One health insurance company, for instance, advertised that
the welfare of patients was the company’s number one priority, while employees were told that their main
goal was to increase the value of their stock options through cost reductions. And one major financial services
institution told customers that it was making a major shift in focus from being a financial retailer to a financial
adviser, but, a year later, research showed that the customer experience with the company had not changed. It
turned out that company leaders had not made an effort to sell the change internally, so employees were still
churning out transactions and hadn’t changed their behavior to match their new adviser role.
Enabling employees to deliver on customer expectations is important, of course, but it’s not the only reason a
company needs to match internal and external messages. Another reason is to help push the company to
achieve goals that might otherwise be out of reach. In 1997, when IBM launched its e-business campaign
(which is widely credited for turning around the company’s image), it chose to ignore research that suggested
consumers were unprepared to embrace IBM as a leader in e-business. Although to the outside world this
looked like an external marketing effort, IBM was also using the campaign to align employees around the idea
of the Internet as the future of technology. The internal campaign changed the way employees thought about
everything they did, from how they named products to how they organized staff to how they approached
selling. The campaign was successful largely because it gave employees a sense of direction and purpose,
which in turn restored their confidence in IBM’s ability to predict the future and lead the technology industry.
Today, research shows that people are four times more likely to associate the term “e-business” with IBM
than with its nearest competitor.
Perhaps even more important, by taking employees into account, a company can avoid creating a message that
doesn’t resonate with staff or, worse, one that builds resentment. In 1996, United Airlines shelved its “Come
Fly the Friendly Skies” slogan when presented with a survey that revealed the depth of customer resentment
toward the airline industry. In an effort to own up to the industry’s shortcomings, United launched a new
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campaign, “Rising”, in which it sought to differentiate itself by acknowledging poor service and promising
incremental improvements such as better meals. While this was a logical premise for the campaign given the
tenor of the times, a campaign focusing on customers’ distaste for flying was deeply discouraging to the staff.
Employee resentment ultimately made it impossible for United to deliver the improvements it was promising,
which in turn undermined the “Rising” pledge. Three years later, United decided employee opposition was
undermining its success and pulled the campaign. It has since moved to a more inclusive brand message with
the line “United”, which both audiences can embrace. Here, a fundamental principle of advertising—find and
address a customer concern—failed United because it did not consider the internal market.
When it comes to execution, the most common and effective way to link internal and external marketing
campaigns is to create external advertising that targets both audiences. IBM used this tactic very effectively
when it launched its e-business campaign. It took out an eight-page ad in the Wall Street Journal declaring its
new vision, a message directed at both customers and internal stakeholders. This is an expensive way to
capture attention, but if used sparingly, it is the most powerful form of communication; in fact, you need do it
only once for everyone in the company to read it. There’s a symbolic advantage as well. Such a tactic signals
that the company is taking its pledge very seriously; it also signals transparency—the same message going out
to both audiences.
Advertising isn’t the only way to link internal and external marketing. At Nike, a number of senior executives
now hold the additional title of “Corporate Storyteller”. They deliberately avoid stories of financial successes
and concentrate on parables of “just doing it”, reflecting and reinforcing the company’s ad campaigns. One
tale, for example, recalls how legendary coach and Nike cofounder Bill Bowerman, in an effort to build a
better shoe for his team, poured rubber into the family waffle iron, giving birth to the prototype of Nike’s
famous Waffle Sole. By talking about such inventive moves, the company hopes to keep the spirit of
innovation that characterizes its ad campaigns alive and well within the company.
But while their messages must be aligned, companies must also keep external promises a little ahead of internal
realities. Such promises provide incentives for employees and give them something to live up to. In the 1980s,
Ford turned “Quality Is Job 1” from an internal rallying cry into a consumer slogan in response to the threat
from cheaper, more reliable Japanese cars. It did so before the claim was fully justified, but by placing it in
the public arena, it gave employees an incentive to match the Japanese. If the promise is pushed too far ahead,
however, it loses credibility. When a beleaguered British Rail launched a campaign announcing service
improvements under the banner “We’re Getting There”, it did so prematurely. By drawing attention to the gap
between the promise and the reality, it prompted destructive press coverage. This, in turn, demoralized staff,
who had been legitimately proud of the service advances they had made.
Questions 10-15: Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-E, below. You can use any letter MORE
THAN ONCE.
10. A health company _______ A. alienated its employees by its apologetic branding campaign.
11. A financial institution _______ B. attracted negative publicity through its advertising campaign.
12. A computer company _______ C. produced conflicting image between its employees and the
13. An airline _______ general public.
14. A sport shoe company _______ D. successfully used an advertising campaign to inspire
15. A railway company _______ employees.
E. draws on the legends of the company spirit.
10. C
11. C
12. D
13. A
14. E
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 15. B

Questions 16-21: Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in the reading passage?
Write
YES if the statement agrees with the views of the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the views of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
16. A strong conviction in the brand can contribute to higher job performance. _______
17. Consumers were ready to view IBM as a leader in e-business before the advertising campaign. _______
18. United Airlines eventually abolished its campaign as the result of employee dissent. _______
19. It is an expensive mistake for IBM to launch its new e-business campaign. _______
20. Nike employees claimed that they were inspired by their company tales. _______
21. A slight difference between internal and external promises can create a sense of purpose. _______
16. YES
17. NO
18. YES
19. NO
20. NOT GIVEN
21. YES
IELTS Reading Recent Actual Tests – Vol 3 – Test 1 – Passage 3 – Page 9
PASSAGE 3 (3 points)

TELL US SOMETHING ABOUT YOURSELF

A My first interview for a job taught me a great deal. I was applying for the position of junior account
executive in an advertising company, which involves dealing with clients on a face-to-face basis. It follows
that you have to be good at interpersonal skills, and unfortunately, that’s not the impression I gave. Like a
lot of people, I tend to babble when I’m nervous. The interviewer began by asking me to say something
about myself, and I started talking about my hobbies. But I got carried away and went off at a tangent,
which made a bad impression. The other lesson I learnt was that if you are asked what your weaknesses
are, you really shouldn’t be evasive. You could mention a weakness that can also be a strength. For
example, being pedantic is not always a bad thing in certain circumstances, and you should explain how
you cope with that weakness, but you have to say something.
B In my present job I have to interview applicants, and I can offer a few general tips. Firstly, a candidate
should not learn a speech off by heart; you will come across as insincere, as if you have practiced everything
in front of a mirror. Secondly, it is crucial to understand what the interviewer wants you to talk about. For
instance, an interviewer might ask about a situation where your supervisor or manager had a problem with
your work. Now, what the interviewer is really after is to see how you react to criticism, and the best thing
is to say that you tried to learn from this. Finally, don’t try to conceal your real character. When I was
interviewed for a job many years ago, the interviewer asked me at the end of our talk if I had any questions.
I was very keen to get the job, so I asked what opportunities there were for promotion if I were hired. I
wondered if perhaps I had been too direct, but I later discovered that employers like you to seem eager, and
I think they were impressed by my enthusiasm and ambition.
C One good way to prepare for an interview is to find out as much as you can about the company you have
applied to from its website and promotional material. When you are asked if you have any questions, you
can show that you have done this preparatory work, which will impress the interviewer. I also think a lot
of candidates are too defensive in interviews. It’s not enough just to avoid giving the “wrong” answers;
you should also actively try to make a good impression. Make it clear that the interview is a two-way
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 process: after all, you want to be sure the company is the right place for you. It’s acceptable to take the
opportunity, when one is offered, to interview the interviewer! One way to do this is to ask him or her some
penetrating questions such as why he or she has stayed with the company for so long. Some people might
think such a question is arrogant, so size up the interviewer first and decide whether it would be an
appropriate thing to ask.
D I remember one interview I attended with a company that makes ice cream and other dairy products. I
didn’t know much about the company, and it was brought home to me that I should have found out some
basic facts. I turned up in a smart business suit and tie, only to find that my prospective employers were in
jeans! They believed in being casual: no private offices, everyone ate in the same canteen, people all used
first names with each other etc. I realized I should have done more research. Needless to say, I didn’t get
the job. On another occasion, at the end of an interview, I was asked if I had anything to say, I was so
relieved that the interview was over that I just smiled and blurted out: “No thanks!” I later realized this was
a mistake. A candidate should decide in advance on at least ten things to ask the interviewer: it’s not
necessary to ask more than two or three questions, but you need to have some in reserve in case the question
you wanted to ask is answered in the course of the interview.
E Preparation is of extreme importance; things like finding out what form the interview will have. Will there
be any sort of written component, for instance, and will you be talking to one person or a panel? And of
course, you need to prepare answers to those awkward questions designed to find out more about your
character. For example, you might be asked about your most important achievement so far; don’t answer
this in a way that makes you seem swollen-headed or complacent as this will suggest that you don’t learn
easily. Actually, it’s not so much what people say that makes them seem arrogant as the way they sit, how
they hold their heads, whether they meet the interviewer’s eyes, so bear that in mind. Another question
interviewers sometimes ask, to find out how well you work in a team, is about mistakes you have made.
You should have an example ready and admit that you were at fault, otherwise it looks as though you are
the kind of person who shifts the blame onto others. But you should also show that you learnt from the
mistake and wouldn’t make it again.
Questions 22-31: Write your answers to the following questions. Choose from the people (A–F). Some people
may be chosen more than once.
Which person mentions
22. establishing how the interview will be conducted? (22) ________
23. the importance of keeping to the point? (23) ________
24. revealing what motivates you? (24) ________
25. sources of information about your prospective employer? (25) ________
26. appearing to have rehearsed responses? (26) ________
27. preparing inquiries to put to a prospective employer? (27) ________
28. an abrupt ending to an interview? (28) ________
29. indicating that you view the interview as a transaction? (29) ________
30. a relaxed atmosphere in the workplace? (30) ________
31. advantages in being honest about your failings? (31) ________

22. E
23. A
24. B
25. C
26. B
27. D
28. D
29. C
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 30. D
31. A

Exam Essentials – CAE Practice Tests (2008) – Page 106

-------e END OF TEST f-------

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