READING PASSAGE 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading
Passage 1 on pages 2 and 3.

Ahead of its time

A chance discovery in New Zealand has challenged the country’s recorded history.

One October afternoon, a young New Zealander, Sam Tobin, called his dogs and went
for a walk down to the nearby Ruamahanga River. Having been very high for days, the
river had at last fallen, and Tobin was eager to see what changes the floods had
brought. The family farm borders the river, and a four-metre-high flood bank testifies to
its natural tendency to flood.

Tobin stepped out onto a broad shoulder of river sand, where he noticed what he initially
took to be a whitish rock, lit by the sun. Then, getting closer, he realised it was a bone.
Such a thing was not uncommon in these parts - he had often come across bone
fragments, or even whole skeletons, of cows and sheep. But as he scraped aside the
stones, he realised it was a human bone, something quite new in his experience. As he
picked it up, he saw it was a skull, discoloured with age.

Tobin replaced the skull and hurried home to tell his mother what the river had delivered
to their doorstep. It would prove to be a spectacular find, setting in motion an
investigation by some of the country's most respected specialists, and ultimately
challenging our most firmly held assertions about the human settlement of New
Zealand.

The police were immediately called, but despite a thorough search could find nothing
that might shed light on the identity of the Ruamahanga skull, or the circumstances of its
sudden appearance. The skull was then taken north to be examined by forensic
pathologist Dr Ferris, at Auckland Hospital. Despite being hampered by its damaged
and incomplete condition -the jawbone and lower left portion of the cranium were
missing - Dr Ferris determined that the skull was that of a female. He then consulted
with a colleague, Dr Koelmeyer, who believed that the deterioration of the bone placed
the time of death 'before living memory' and, most significantly as it would turn out, the
skull appeared to be European in origin.

Wellington-based forensic anthropologist Dr Watt also examined the skull, and

suggested it belonged to a 40–45-year-old. He believed that it could be the remains of
an old farm burial, but was not certain, and proposed the use of radiocarbon dating to
make sure it wasn't a recent death. As a result, the Institute of Geological and Nuclear
Sciences (GNS) in Lower Hutt was contacted and provided with a sample of bone that
had originated in the top of the skull. In a little over three weeks the seemingly
astonishing results from the GNS laboratory came back. Cutting through the bewildering
complexity of the scientific analysis was a single line reading: conventional radiocarbon
age approximately 296 years. This was staggering, for the skull was
about 200 years older than Dr Koelmeyer had believed.

Of course, a skull of this age wasn't particularly unusual in New Zealand. The Maori
people have been living in the country for at least 800 years and scientists frequently
come across human remains of considerable age. The fascinating question, however,
was how a skull of this race, let alone this gender, had reached these remote islands in
the South Pacific at such a time, long before the arrival of the explorer Captain Cook in
1769, and perhaps even before the very first European landfall - the fleeting visit of the
Dutch explorer Tasman in 1642 - neither of whom had women among their crews.

The first known European women in the Pacific came with a doomed colonising venture
which sailed from Peru in 1595 under the command of Spanish captain Mendana.
However, it is unlikely the Ruamahanga skull originated from this expedition because no
evidence of Mendana's ships has ever been found in New Zealand, while a team of
archaeologists working in the Solomon Islands in 1970 did discover the remains of
European vessels dating from the 16th century.

Two centuries were to pass before the first recorded European females arrived in New
Zealand, both having escaped from prison in Australia. Kathleen Hagerty and Charlotte
Edgar are known to have reached the country in 1806. How then do we account for the
Ruamahanga skull, which appears to be about 100 yers older than that? It is impossible
to say with certainty, but the most likely explanation is that a Spanish or Portuguese
trading-hip was washed onto these wild shores as a result of a shipwreck and a woman
got ashore. Implausible, perhaps, but the Ruamahanga skull, today resting in the
Wellington Museum, could be the kind of concrete evidence that demands such a
drastic reevaluation of history

Questions 1-4
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?
In boxes 1-4 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 The Ruamahanga River often floods.

2 When Tobin first found the object in the river, he mistook it for something else.
3 Tobin could not decide what part of the body the bone came from.
4 Tobin's mother was surprised that the skull caused debate among specialists.
Questions 5-9
Complete the flow-chart below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for
each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 5-9 on your answer sheet.
The events after the river flooded

Tobin found a human skull.

The 5 …………… were initially involved in trying to explain the presence of the skull.

Dr Ferris believed the skull belonged to a female.

Dr Koelmeyer suggested it was a 6 ………….. skull

Dr Watt recommended 7 ................. to establish the skull's age.

A bone 8 …………. was sent to the GNS.

The age of the skull was about 9 ……………. Years.

Questions 10-13
Complete the notes below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 10-13 on your answer sheet.

Problem of the skull's origins

Old bones common in NZ - Maori living there for 800 years - Ruamahanga skull
surprising because of its
- age
10 ………………
- gender
Mendana expedition

Possible source of skull

But probably did not visit NZ
Evidence of this expedition found elsewhere by 11………………

New Zealand

First European explorer arrived in 1642

Hagerty and Edgar arrived in 1806 from 12……………. where they had been imprisoned

Possible solution
Ruamahanga skull may have reached NZ in 17th century after a 13 …………….
READING PASSAGE 2
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26, which are based on Reading
Passage 2 on pages 6 and 7.

The gender gap in New Zealand’s high school examination results

Results from New Zealand’s new national examination for secondary schools are giving
that country some cause for concer

A The issue is the difference in pass rates between the sexes: at each level of the
examination and across all school types, the difference is about 10 percentage points.
Girls are doing better in every subject, and those in girls-only schools are taking top
honours. The results are not a surprise: high school girls have been outperforming boys
academically for more than a decade. It is an international phenomenon, and within
Australia was the subject of much debate and controversy. Within New Zealand back in
the 1980s, there was a concerted campaign, called ‘Girls Can Do Anything', which was
aimed at lifting girls participation rates, achievement levels and aspirations. This was so
successful that the pendulum has now swung to the other extreme. Views differ on how
worried people should be. After all, for much of history, girls were excluded from any
form of education, and this new phenomenon could be seen as a temporary over-
correction before the balance is righted.

B However the New Zealand State Ministry of Education says it is taking the issue
seriously. It is working with a reference group on boys' education which has been set
up, and it has commissioned an Australian academic to report on interventions that
have been found to work for boys, drawing particularly on Australia's experience. But
some, such as former prison manager Celia Lashlie, the author of a book for parents of
teenage boys, believe there is still fesistance within the Education Ministry towards
doing anything about the problem.

C Education Ministry learning policy manager Steve Benson says that the ‘National
Certificate in Educational Achievement', or NCEA, as New Zealand's high school exams
are called, is useful to employers and to universities because it provides a finegrained
picture of pupils performance in every aspect of a subject, rather than just a pass or fail
in an overall area. ‘In most parts of the curriculum, for example in maths, there isn't
really a gender gap. But literacy is a different matter. Even boys who are good at writing
tend not to write so much. There's actually a quantity issue.’

D The discrepancy in reading and writing skills between males and females shows
up as early as preschool, and the difference is clear by the time these children enter
high school. Not being good at literacy was not such a problem in the old days when
many students left school for manual jobs after Year 11. But nowadays many more stay
on to higher education, and almost all jobs require literacy skills. Roger Moses, the
headmaster of Wellington College, says that the written content of NCEA papers is
more demanding than the previous system of secondary school qualifications in New
Zealand, even in subjects such as statistics and accounting.

E New Zealand 15-year-olds in international reading tests, but beneath this

average lies a wide variance, with New Zealand European girls most represented at the
top and New Zealand Pacific Island boys at the bottom. Yet some European girls drop
out, and some Pacific Island boys excel. In other words, the range in performance within
each gender group is much greater than the gender differences. Ethnic differences, and
differences in socio-economic status, may be more significant than the simple boy/girl
explanation.

F This makes the Education Ministry nervous about pushing solutions that
emphasise stereotyped gender differences, rather than looking at underachievement as
a whole. Rob Burroughs, principal of Linwed High School in Christchurch, agrees. For
three years his school ran separate boys’ classes to try to address the disparity in
performance, before abandoning them. The research showed that the boys did better in
their own class than in the co-educational environment. But when he looked at which
teachers they had, and how well those teachers' other classes did, it became clear that
the difference was, instead, to do with the quality of instruction.

G At Onslow College, Dr Stuart Martin would do away with the NCEA Level 1 exam
if he could. He says that in Year 11, aged 15, boys are simply not mature enough to
cope. 'They tend to think that just passing is enough, and that it's not necessary to work
hard for a Merit or an Excellence grade. Often they are busy with other activities and
part-time jobs. Boys' competitive instinct tends to come out later in their schooling
years, especially if there is money attached or other tangible rewards. By 17, boys are
catching up academically with the girls, and by the end of Year 13, boys are again
winning the top prizes.'

H Boys in single-sex schools do better in NCEA across all levels, something

economist Brian Easton reported after analysing data from the first year of NCEA's
implementation. He said the results were valid, evep when socioeconomic status was
taken into account. Dr Paul Baker, head of Waitaki Boys’ High School in Oamaru,
agrees. He thinks that although it is possible for all schools to do more to boost boys'
performance, it is easier in a boys' school, where activities cannot be 'captured by girls'.
Questions 14 - 16
Complete the summary below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer. Write your
answers in boxes 14-16 on your answer sheet.

High school assessment in New Zealand

New Zealanders are worried at the outcomes of their high school assessment system,
because the 14 …………. of girls are higher than those of boys by 10%. A gender gap
has been apparent for over a 15……………. This situation is not unique to New Zealand
and has been noticed in 16 …………………...also.

Questions 17 - 20
Reading Passage 2 has eight paragraphs, A-H.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-H, in boxes 17-20 on your answer sheet.

17 an advantage of New Zealand's secondary school tests

18 a mention of current government initiatives to boost male achievement
19 when gender difference in literacy skills first becomes evident
20 findings that relate academic achievement to race

Questions 21 - 26
Look at the following people (Questions 21-26) and the list of statements below.
Match each person with the correct statement, A-H.
Write the correct letter, A-H, in boxes 21-26 on your answer sheet.
21 Celia Lashlie
22 Steve Benson
23 Roger Moses
24 Rob Burroughs
25 Stuart Martin
26 Paul Baker

List of Statements
A Boys gain lower marks on NCEA if they attend an all-boys' school.
B Boys are disadvantaged by girls tending to take over at school.
C Good teaching is more important than whether classrooms are single-sex or
mixed D Mathematical skills were not so important in the past.
E The difference in achievement between school boys and girls is only evident in
some subjects.
F Older boys are more motivated to study than younger boys.
G The NCEA exams have higher literacy standards than past exams did.
H The New Zealand government is reluctant to take action on behalf of boys
READING PASSAGE 3

First Memories

Psychologist Richard Worrington reviews research into our earliest memories.

People have sometimes told me they dread the question, ‘What is your earliest
memory?’ Perhaps they find the whole notion too simplistic, like being asked to name a
favourite film or book, when the choice is almost limitless. But we should welcome
enquiries about our first memories – it is a compliment if others are interested in our
lives and experiences. Besides that, the human memory is a fascinating area of study.
Research shows that some subjects can provide rich details of a first memory very
quickly while others struggle to come up with anything at all. Their range of memories is
also predictably diverse, from holidays and injuries to routine activities such as walking
in the park or having a family meal. Most studies show that around 25% of first
memories are of a negative event, while nearly double that proportion are positive, and
these findings are constant regardless of the subjects’ ages or backgrounds.

Historically, the topic of human memory in general most certainly attracted a great deal
of scholarly attention. But our earliest memories were largely overlooked by
researchers, which turns out to have been an important omission. Scientists developed
a reasonable understanding of what we now call ‘semantic memory’, which is the ability
to recall what might loosely be called data, such as dates, times or places in which a
particular incident occurred. In general terms, semantic memory is fixed and static.
However, there are other forms of memory, which collectively I call ‘subjective
memories’, and these are much more fluid. For example, numerous experiments
studying the memories held by witnesses to an event have shown conclusively that
recollections of what happened can vary dramatically between individuals, and even in
the same person over time. Our earliest memories are another example of subjective
memory.

So what do we know about when, why and how our earliest memories form? Scientists
today recognise what has been termed ‘childhood amnesia’. This is the finding that
babies and toddlers do not form lasting memories. For the majority of adults, their
earliest memories begin once the period of childhood amnesia has come to an end, at
about three and a half years of age. These are the memories that will endure for the rest
of their lives. However, beyond that fixed starting point much variation exists. For
example, one study found that the earliest memories of American children were more
likely to feature solitary play or events where they were the central character. Asian
children, in contrast, tended to remember family or school events in which they might
have played no central role. Based on the assumption that American society places
greater emphasis on individualism, this implies that earliest memories are influenced by
social priorities.

Another important idea is that of ‘autobiographical memory’. This is the concept that
many people construct a narrative of their lives and select memories that contribute
most forcefully to that narrative. This seems to be relevant to our earliest memories in
the following sense. Once people reach maturity, they often develop a strong feeling of
who they are, perhaps based on their chosen line of work or their interests. Studies
show that, for example, the earliest memories of an accomplished sportswoman were of
herself as a child athlete, whereas a chef recalled preparing a meal as a young boy.
Thus, who we are now appears to have some bearing on what we choose to recall from
long ago.

A picture is emerging, then, of the unreliability of our earliest memories. Certainly,

studies show that some earliest memories are simply made up. However, these seem to
be a small minority. Much more common is that our earliest memories may be pieced
together from different elements of reality. They may feature an item that we do
remember from our childhood, such as a pram or toy, but embellished in some way to
include a larger event. Or they may feature information that actually comes from a
photograph, a family story, a memory that we’ve heard from somebody else, or some
combination of all of these. Research shows that some memories stand out from the
rest as much clearer and more colourful. These are usually formed during what’s known
as the ‘reminiscence bump’, which occurs between the ages of 16 and 25. But even
these memories are no less likely to be created.

In fact, research shows that only so-called ‘flashbulb memories’ are likely to be
completely true. These are memories that derive from events about which we have
particularly strong feelings, perhaps of intense sadness or happiness. But most of our
other early memories are, at least to some extent, chosen by us. The question is,
though, does this really matter? They are still muchloved memories and perhaps we can
learn about ourselves from them. Often these memories are strong indicators of who we
are, or would like to be, and exchanging first memories with others fosters connection
and intimacy. Such factors represent important elements of our humanity, whether or
not the memory itself is completely accurate.
Questions 27 – 31

Choose YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer of the text,
Choose NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer, or
Choose NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this.

27 People ought to be pleased when asked, ‘What is your earliest memory?’

28 Most research subjects have surprisingly similar first memories.
29 Negative first memories are more interesting than positive ones.
30 In the past, academics completed enough studies of earliest memories.
31 Experiments using witnesses to events have provided reliable results.

Questions 32 – 35
Choose the correct answer.

32 The writer refers to American and Asian children

A to suggest that most people’s earliest memories are of themselves.
B to illustrate how earliest memories reflect cultural values.
C to contrast two methods of researching earliest memories.
D to explain why some earliest memories last longer than others.

33 In the fourth paragraph, the writer concludes that earliest memories

A may depend on an adult’s sense of identity.
B might not affect later character development.
C could help an adult select a suitable career.
D should not influence decisions in later life.

34 What is the writer’s main point in the fifth paragraph?

A Certain types of memories are often invented.
B Members of the same family have similar memories.
C Some people have more reliable memories than others.
D Memories are constructed from a variety of sources.

35 What is the writer doing in the final paragraph?

A asking why false memories are so common
B arguing for more research into false memories
C suggesting that false memories still have value
D comparing the value of true and false memories
Questions 36 – 40
Choose the correct explanation (A – G) for each term.

36 semantic memory
37 childhood amnesia
38 autobiographical memory
39 reminiscence bump
40 flashbulb memory

List of explanations
A It describes recollections that are associated with very strong emotions.
B It is associated with a period of our lives that we would like to return to.
C It describes the period after which lifelong memories begin.
D It is associated with the memories that we recall most vividly.
E It describes certain events that we wish we could forget.
F It describes hard facts, such as when or where an event happened.
G It is associated with a story we have created about ourselves.