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MODEL TEST - ACADEMIC IELTS
(Time: 90 minutes)
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Section 1
Script:
A: Hi - can I help you? B: Hello - yes, um, is your club taking on new members at the moment? A: Oh yes - we're always interested in taking on new members. Just give me a moment and I'll get an application form. Right - here we are. So - let's start with your name. B: It's Harrv. A: OK - and your surname? B: It's Symonds. A: Is that like Simon with an 's'? B: No, um, it's S-Y-M-Q-N-D-S. Most people find it rather difficult to spell. A: I see - it has a silent D. I guess a lot of people miss that. Now let me see - can you tell me when you were born? B: Yes certainly - the 11th of December. A: Thanks - and the year? B: 1996. A: OK good. Now - are you thinking of becoming a full-time member? B: Er, probably not. What kind of memberships do you have? A: Well, we also have off-peak membership which is between 9 and 12 in the morning and 2 and 5 in the afternoon ... and then we do have a weekend membership. B: So a weekend membership is just Saturday and Sunday? A: Yes, that's right. B: OK - well that's not going to work for me. It looks like I'll have to be full-time. I'm afraid off-peak membership won't do as I'm not free at those times and I don't just want to be restricted to weekends. A: OK. I'll make a note of that. Right - we have several facilities at the club including a gym, a swimming pool, tennis and squash courts. What activities are you planning on doing? B: Well, do you have badminton? A: Yes we do. B: And table tennis? A: I'm afraid not - well not at the moment anyway. B: Oh - OK. Well I'm also very keen on swimming so I'm glad you have a pool. I'll certainly be doing a lot of that. A: OK - I've got that. Will you be using the gym? B: No - I'm not interested in that. A: OK. So just let me work out what the cost will be ... Yes - that comes to £450 for the year. You can choose to pay annually for the full year or monthly. It's up to you. B: Oh, I'd prefer to pay regularly in small amounts, rather than have a large amount to pay in one go, if that's OK? A: Sure - that's fine. Right, I've got the most important details for now. Complete the form below. Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer. SARAH’S HEALTH & FITNESS CLUB MEMBERSHIP FORM | Example First name: | Harry | Last name: | (1)………. | Date of Birth: | Day: 11th; Month: December, Year: (2) ………. | Type of Membership: | (3) ………. | Activities: | Badminton and (4) ………. | Payment details: | Total: £450 To be paid (5) ………. |
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swimming
full time/ full-time
Symonds /S-Y-M-O-N-D-S/ S-y-m-o-n-d-s
monthly
1996
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Script:
A: So - I'd just like to ask you a few questions about your lifestyle if that's OK with you? B: Yes that's fine. A: Um, do you do any regular exercise at the moment? B: Yes I do a bit. A: Good - and what do you do? B: Well every few days I go logging. A: Yes - that's good. How long do you go for? B: Well it varies. I guess it depends on how energetic I'm feeling. A: Yes of course. Every little bit helps. Um, do you have any injuries at the moment? B: Well, I did break a bone in my foot playing football a long time ago but that's all healed up now. But, in the last few days I've realised I have a bad ankle. I think I must have injured it last week and it's a bit sore now. But apart from that I'm fine. A: Right - I guess you might need to rest it for a few days to let it recover. B: Yes I will. A: So - let me just ask you what you want to achieve by joining the club. Do you have any targets or goals? B: Well I suppose my main aim is to build up my fitness level. Is that the kind of thing you mean? A: Yes - that's fine. All the activities you're going to be doing should certainly help you with that. B: OK. A: And could you tell me what you do for a living? B: Well - I was a student up until recently. A: OK - so what are you doing at the moment? B: Well - I'm a charity worker. A: Oh that's fine. I'll write that down. OK - nearly done. One last question - can I ask how you heard about the club? Did you see it advertised or did you go to our website for example? B: Well I've been looking for a health club for a while and I asked my friends for suggestions but they weren't much help. And then I was listening to the radio and your club was mentioned, so I thought - I'll go along and see what it's like. A: Great - well we look forward to having you as a member. Answer the questions below. Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS for each answer. Lifestyle questionnaire | What exercise do you do regularly? | (1)……… | Do you have any injuries? | has a (2)………… | What is your goal or target? | a better (3)………… | What is your occupation? | a (4)…………… | How did you hear about the club? | (5)…………… |
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fitness level
charity worker
bad ankle
on the radio/ radio/ on radio/ the radio
jogging/ go jogging/ do jogging
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Section 2
Section 3
Script:
You will hear a conversation between a student, Andrew, and a student adviser, Monica, about the Diploma course. ANDREW: Excuse me. I was told to come here for advice about, erm, Management Diploma courses? MONICA: You've certainly come to the right place. Hi, my name is Monica. ANDREW: Nice to meet you. My name is Andrew. Andrew Harris. MONICA: So, Andrew, have you seen our diploma course prospectus yet? ANDREW: Yes, I‘ve already looked at it. In fact, I thought the information on course content was really useful, but I'm afraid I'm a bit confused by all the different ways you can do the course: full-time intensive, part-time and so on. MONICA: Well, let's see if I can help. I think each course type has its advantages and disadvantages, so it really depends on you, your own study habits, and your financial circumstances, of course. Are you working at the moment? ANDREW: Yes, I’ve been working in the administration section of the local hospital for the last three years. And before that I worked in the office of a computer engineering company for two years. So, I've got about five years of relevant work experience. And what I'm hoping to focus on is Personnel Management, MONICA: I see. And are you planning to leave your current job to study, or are you thinking about just taking a year off? ANDREW: I want to know what my options are, really. I don l want to quit my job or anything and my employers are keen for me to get some more qualifications but obviously, it would be better if I could do a course without taking too much time away from work. MONICA: Right, so you don't really want to do the full-time course, then? ANDREW: No, not really. It’s also a question of finances. You see, my office have agreed to pay the cost of the course itself, but I would have to take unpaid leave if I want to study full-time and, well, I don't think I could afford to support myself with no salary for a whole year. MONICA: OK. Well, you have two other possibilities: you could either do the part-time course that would be over two years and you wouldn't have to take any time off work - or you could do what we call a ‘modular’ course. You could do that in eighteen months if you wanted or longer, it's quite flexible and it would be up to you. Choose the correct answer choice.
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1. Andrew has worked at the hospital for ................
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Explain:
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2. During the course Andrew′s employers will pay ................
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Explain:
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3. The part-time course lasts for ................
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Explain:
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Script:
ANDREW: Mmm. So what does the part-time course involve? MONICA: For that you would join an evening class and have a lecture twice a week Then, you'd have to attend a seminar or discussion workshop one weekend a month. ANDREW: What kind of coursework would I have to do? MONICA: Well, it’s a mixture. You'd be expected to write an essay each month, which counts towards your final assessment. You have a case study to do by the end of the course, which might involve doing a survey or something like that, and also you need to hand in a short report every four weeks. ANDREW: So that's quite a lot of work, then, on top of working every day. It sounds like a lot of studying - and really tiring. MONICA: Yes, you certainly wouldn't have much free time!
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1. What TWO types of coursework are required each month on the part-time course?
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Explain:
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Script:
ANDREW: What about the ‘modular’ course? What would I have to do for that? MONICA: That's where you get the opportunity to study full-time for short periods. That way you can cover a lot of coursework and attend lectures and seminars during the day. And each module lasts for one term, say, about twelve weeks at a time. There are obvious advantages in this - the main one being that you can study in a much more intensive way, which suits some people much better. ANDREW: And how many of these 'modules' would I have to do to get the diploma? MONICA: The current programme is two modules - and then you have to choose a topic to work in more depth but you can base that on your job, and so you don’t need to be away from the office, and how long it takes is up to you. The important thing is that you don’t have to study and work. You can focus on one thing at a time. ANDREW: Yes, I can see that. It certainly sounds attractive! It would be more expensive, though. I mean. I'd have to support myself without pay for each module. MONICA: That's true, so that might be a problem for you. Look, why don't you talk this over with your employers and . . . Complete the summary below. Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer. MODULAR COURSES Students study (1)……………… during each module. A module takes (2)……………… and the work is very (3)…………… . To get a Diploma each student has to study (4)………………… and then work on (5)……………… in depth.
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two modules / for two terms / two terms
intensive
a term / one term
full-time
a topic / one topic
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Section 4
Script:
You will hear a lecturer talking to a group of engineering students about the design of a greenhouse. Good afternoon. This is the first of a series of lectures I’ll be giving about engineering for sustainable development. I’ll be presenting examples of engineering projects from a variety of contexts, and today I’m going to talk about a project to design a new kind of greenhouse for use in the Himalayan mountain regions. First of all, I’ll tell you about the problem which was the context for this project. In the Himalayan mountains, fresh vegetables and other crops can only be grown outside for about ninety days, during the summer, because the altitude of the region is around three thousand five hundred metres, and because the rainfall is so low. In winter, temperatures fall below minus twenty-five degrees celcius, so fresh vegetables have to be imported. They arrive by truck in summer or by air in winter, which makes them expensive. Local people rely on dried leafy vegetables and stored root crops during the winter, and rarely eat fresh vegetables. But despite the sub-zero temperatures, the skies over the region are cloudless, and there are over three hundred sunny days per year. So an engineering solution was needed, to exploit the sun’s energy and protect locally produced plants from freezing during winter. And in fact, there had been programmes in the past to provide greenhouses, but these were unsuccessful. The greenhouses weren’t adapted for local conditions, so they tended to fall into disuse. So, a few years ago, a project was initiated to design a better greenhouse, one which would meet the criteria for sustainability. So, what are the criteria for sustainability? Well, first of all, the new greenhouse is designed to be relatively simple, so construction is cheap. Locally available materials are used wherever possible. The walls are generally constructed of mud bricks, made locally, although in areas of high snow-fall more resilient walls of stone are needed. Rammed earth is also used. The main roof is generally made from locally available poplar wood, with water- resistant local grass for the covering. In addition, the construction and maintenance of the greenhouse is done by local craftsmen. So local stone masons are employed to build the greenhouse walls, and specialised training is provided for them wherever necessary. Then. the greenhouse is designed to run on solar power alone, there’s no supplementary heating. And lastly, families are selected to own one of the new greenhouses with great care. They have to have a site which is suitable for constructing it on. They also have to be keen to make a success of using it, and also to share the produce with the wider community through sale or barter. Potential owners are taken to see existing greenhouses before they make a final decision about having one. So, those are the features which make the project sustainable. And now I’ll briefly describe the design of the greenhouse. The greenhouses are orientated very carefully along an East- West axis, so that there’s a long South-facing side. The transparent cover on the South- facing side is made from a heavy-duty polythene, which should last for at least five years. On the inside of the greenhouse, the walls are painted - the rear and west-facing walls are black, to improve heat absorption, but the east-facing wall is white to reflect the morning sunlight onto the crops inside. Finally, there’s a door in the wall at one end, and vents are incorporated into the roof, the door and the wall at the other end, to enable control of humidity and prevent overheating. I’ll turn now to the benefits which have resulted from the introduction of these new greenhouses. These benefits are of various kinds, but for now I’ll just mention the social benefits. First of all, people who own a greenhouse gain social standing in their communities, because they provide vegetables for the wider community, for regular consumption as well as for festivals, and they also earn income. Secondly, because in rural areas it is women who usually grow the food, the greenhouses have increased their opportunities. They bring the benefits of improved nutrition, and increased family income, from the sale of surplus produce. And thirdly, as a result of their improved financial position, some families can now afford to educate their children for the first time. Complete the notes below. Write ONE WORD ONLY for each answer. Engineering for sustainable development The Greenhouse Project (Himalayan mountain region) Problem • Short growing season because of high altitude and low (1)…………… • Freeh vegetables imported by lorry or by (2)……………, so are expensive • Need to use sunlight to prevent local plants from (3)……………. • Previous programmes to provide greenhouses were (4)……………… New greenhouse Meets criteria for sustainability • Simple and (5)…………… to build • Made mainly from local materials (mud or stone for the walls, wood and (6)…………… for the roof) • Building and maintenance done by local craftsmen • Runs solely on (7)…………… energy • Only families who have a suitable (8)…………… can own one Design • Long side faces south • Strong polythene cover • Inner (9)…………… are parted black or white Social benefits • Owners' status is improved • Rural (10)…………… have greater opportunities • More children are educated
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freezing
women
cheap/inexpensive
rainfall
unsuccessful
air/plane
walls
solar
site/location/place
grass
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Passage 1
Genetically Modified Foods (A) Foods on sale in Australia that use genetically modified (gm) ingredients (mainly- imported) are from the six gm crops listed below. With the exception of cotton oil, none of these crops approved for food use are grown commercially in Australia. Cotton oil - is produced from a gm crop grown in Australia, called Bt Cotton, and can be used in edible oils and margarines. Approved genetically modified crops that can be imported for use in processed foods are: Soybeans — these can be used in soy-based products and ingredients in processed foods such as bread, pastries, snack foods, and edible oil products. Canola oil (rape seed oil)—can be used in edible oils, fried foods and snack foods. Corn - can be in the form of corn oil, flour, and sugar and used in snack foods, fried foods and confectionery. Potatoes - can be used in processed products such as snack foods (this does not include fresh potatoes). Sugar beet - can be used as sugar in some processed foods. Not all imported food and food ingredients, as listed above, are derived from genetically modified crops. (B) Genetic modification involves taking genes from the cells of a plant, animal or microbe and inserting them into another cell to give a desired characteristic. When food products are derived by this process they are known as genetically modified or gm foods. As every form of life has genes, almost everything we eat has genes in it. Plant and animal breeders have sought to modify or improve quality, yield and taste characteristics for hundreds of years through cross breeding techniques. Genetic modification is a new method of identifying and transferring particular characteristics. Genetic modification is part of the science of biotechnology, which has rapidly advanced this century. This has resulted in improvements in traditional ways of making common products such as bread, cheese, beer and vitamins. While the use of genetic modification in commercial food crops is new in Australia, it has been used widely in the USA for several years. (C) The Federal and State Governments are together considering how to best meet consumers' information needs on genetically modified foods, including labelling, to enable consumers to make an informed choice. The Australian and New Zealand Food Standards Council (ANZFSC) have made a commitment to the labelling of genetically modified foods. Further specific information regarding labelling of genetically modified foods or ingredients will be made available through the Australian and New Zealand Food Authority (ANZFA) and Biotechnology Australia. | (D) There is a wide range of opinions in the community about genetically modified foods, with arguments for and against on issues such as their nutritional value, the beneficiaries-consumers, producers or multinationals-and the environmental effects of genetically modified crops. Other issues include the ability to feed the world's poor and consumer acceptance versus ethical concerns about transferring genes across species. (E) Genetic modification has the potential to provide foods that are healthier, safer, cheaper, better for the environment and more efficient to grow. The Federal Government seeks a can-do country where Australian jobs can be kept at home. By embracing innovation and new technology, Australia stands to benefit economically and remain internationally competitive in the food it produces. While there is a window of great opportunity for Australia based on research in gene technology; it is necessary to carefully assess the possible risks as well as the benefits available from gene technology. Some crops have been modified to be pest resistant. For example, a cotton crop has been developed with built-in protection against insects and, as a result, farmers have reduced their pesticide spraying. Results such as this could lessen the use of chemicals in agriculture and lead to a cleaner environment. Using gene technology researchers are planning to develop foods that benefit consumers by having higher vitamin and protein content as well as having their allergy-causing properties removed while including properties to help prevent chronic diseases such as cancer and heart disease. (F) It is the role of the Australian and New Zealand Food Authority (ANZFA) to ensure that all food, including genetically modified food, is safe and ANZFA's safety guidelines are based on world best-practice standards. All companies, both from Australia and overseas, must, by law, comply with Australian regulations before they can sell genetically modified products in Australia. Using ANZFA guidelines, information supplied by companies, and world scientific literature, ANZFA's experts assess the characteristics of genetically modified foods to determine if they have been changed in any way which might make them unsafe. Steps in the approval process are: • An initial safety assessment is made by ANZFA experts, with public comment invited. • A review of all the findings is undertaken. • A full safety assessment is conducted by ANZFA experts. • Final public comment on the proposed genetically modified food is invited. • A recommendation for approval or rejection is made to the Australian and New Zealand Food Standards Council (consisting of the Health Ministers of Australia and New Zealand). The full process can take up to 12 months. Each State and Territory Government is responsible for administering the enforcement of the food standards. |
The passage has 6 sections A-F. Choose the most suitable heading for each section from the list of headings below. NB: There are more headings than sections so you will not use all of them. You may use any of the headings more than once.
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1. Section A
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Explain:
“What crops are genetically modified?” is the correct choice. While Section A tells you what foods genetically modified crops are used in, its main purpose is to list the crops that are genetically modified. Therefore “How are genetically modified foods used?” is not appropriate as a heading. |
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2. Section B
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Explain:
“What is genetic modification?” is the correct choice. Section B provides a definition of genetic modification but does not describe the process in detail, which would be necessary for “How is genetic modification done?” |
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3. Section C
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Explain:
Section C is all about how the government will identify gm foods by labelling. |
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4. Section D
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Explain:
Section D describes community and consumer opinions about gm foods. |
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5. Section E
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Explain:
Section E gives reasons for having gm foods. While it does provide some information and answers to questions, the question structure of heading “Why have genetic modification?” fits more appropriately with the other headings. |
Do the following statements reflect the information in the passage? Yes - if the statement reflects the information in the passage No - if the statement contradicts the information in the passage Not given - if there is no information about this in the passage
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1. Only genetically modified cotton oil is approved for use in Australia.
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Explain:
Section A, sentence 2 says “With the exception of cotton oil, none of these crops approved for food use are grown commercially in Australia.” “none of these crops approved for food use” refers to the list of crops that follows and says they are all approved. “With the exception of cotton oil, none of these crops are grown commercially in Australia” tells you that cotton oil is the only one grown commercially in Australia. |
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2. A considerable number of genetically modified foods have already been rejected by ANZFA.
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Explain:
While Section F point 5 states “A recommendation for approval or rejection is made to the Australian and New Zealand Food Standards Council”, there is no mention of how many foods have been rejected to date. Also note that ANZFA only recommends acceptance or rejection to ANZFSC. |
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3. Labelling is one method that consumers will be able to use to identify whether a food has been genetically modified or not.
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Explain:
Section C is all about the labelling of genetically modified foods. |
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4. Many consumers are deeply concerned about genetic modification and have protested strongly to the government.
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Explain:
While consumer concern is mentioned, there is no mention of consumer protest. |
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5. The growing of genetically modified crops can help farmers reduce the use of harmful chemicals.
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Explain:
This is stated in Section E. |
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6. ANZFA experts may suggest that some genetically modified foods should be rejected for use in Australia and New Zealand.
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Explain:
Section F tells you the steps in the approval process and point 5 states “A recommendation for approval or rejection is made to the Australian and New Zealand Food Standards Council.” |
Choose the appropriate answer for each question.
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1. Which of the following improvements is NOT mentioned as being one of the characteristics to be obtained through cross breeding?
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Explain:
Section B states “Plant and animal breeders have sought to modify or improve quality, yield and taste characteristics for hundreds of years through cross breeding techniques.” Yield is equivalent to quantity. |
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2. According to the passage, which of the following comes in three forms?
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Explain:
In Section A it states “Corn can be in the form of oil, flour and sugar.” |
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3. Which of the following is NOT mentioned as a community concern about genetically modified foods?
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Explain:
The other three are all mentioned as concerns in Section D. |
Passage 2
CHANGE IN BUSINESS ORGANISATIONS (A) The forces that operate to bring about change in organisations can be thought of as wind which are many and varied - from small summer breezes that merely disturb a few papers, to mighty howling gales which cause devastation to structures and operations, causing consequent reorientation of purpose and rebuilding. Sometimes, however, the winds die down to give periods of relative calm, periods of relative organisational stability. Such a period was the agricultural age, which Goodman (1995) maintains prevailed in Europe and western societies as a whole until the early 1700s. During this period, wealth was created in the context of an agriculturally based society influenced mainly by local markets (both customer and labour) and factors outside people’s control, such as the weather. During this time, people could fairly well predict the cycle of activities required to maintain life, even if that life might be at little more than subsistence level. (B) To maintain the meteorological metaphor, stronger winds of change blew to bring in the Industrial Revolution and the industrial age. Again, according to Goodman, this lasted for a long time, until around 1945. It was characterised by a series of inventions and innovations that reduced the number of people needed to work the land and, in turn, provided the means of production of hitherto rarely obtainable goods; for organisations, supplying these in ever increasing numbers became the aim. To a large extent, demand and supply were predictable, enabling companies to structure their organisations along what Bums and Stalker (1966) described as mechanistic lines, that is as systems of strict hierarchical structures and firm means of control. (C) This situation prevailed for some time, with demand still coming mainly from the domestic market and organisations striving to fill the ‘supply gap’. Thus the most disturbing environmental influence on organisations of this time was the demand for products, which outstripped supply. The saying attributed to Henry Ford that 'You can have any colour of car so long as it is black’, gives a flavour of the supply-led state of the market. Apart from any technical difficulties of producing different colours of car, Ford did not have to worry about customers’ colour preferences: he could sell all that he made. Organisations of this period can be regarded as ‘task-oriented’, with effort being put into increasing production through more effective and efficient production processes. (D) As time passed, this favourable period for organisations began to decline. In the neo-industrial age, people became more discriminating in the goods and services they wished to buy and, as technological advancements brought about increased productivity, supply overtook demand. Companies began, increasingly, to look abroad for additional markets. (E) At the same time, organisations faced more intensive competition from abroad for their own products and services. In the West, this development was accompanied by a shift in focus from manufacturing to service, whether this merely added value to manufactured products, or whether it was service in its own right. In the neo-industrial age of western countries, the emphasis moved towards adding value to goods and services - what Goodman calls the value- oriented time, as contrasted with the task- oriented and products/services-oriented times of the past. (F) Today, in the post-industrial age, most people agree that organisational life is becoming ever more uncertain, as the pace of change quickens and the future becomes less predictable. Writing in 1999, Nadler and Tushman, two US academics, said: 'Poised on the eve of the next century, we are witnessing a profound transformation in the very nature of our business organisations. Historic forces have converged to fundamentally reshape the scope, strategies, and structures of large enterprises." At a less general level of analysis, Graeme Leach, Chief Economist at the British Institute of Directors, claimed in the Guardian newspaper (2000) that: ‘By 2020. the nine-to-five rat race will be extinct and present levels of self-employment, commuting and technology use, as well as age and sex gaps, will have changed beyond recognition.’ According to the article, Leach anticipates that: ‘In 20 years time, 20-25 percent of the workforce will be temporary workers and many more will be flexible, ... 25 percent of people will no longer work in a traditional office and ... 50 percent will work from home in some form.’ Continuing to use the ‘winds of change’ metaphor, the expectation is of damaging gale-force winds bringing the need for rebuilding that takes the opportunity to incorporate new ideas and ways of doing things. (G) Whether all this will happen is arguable. Forecasting the future is always fraught with difficulties. For instance, Mannermann (1998) sees future studies as part art and part science and notes: ‘The future is full of surprises, uncertainty, trends and trend breaks, irrationality and rationality, and it is changing and escaping from our hands as time goes by. It is also the result of actions made by innumerable more or less powerful forces.’ What seems certain is that the organisational world is changing at a fast rate - even if the direction of change is not always predictable. Consequently, it is crucial that organisational managers and decision makers are aware of, and able to analyse the factors which trigger organisational change.
The reading passage has SEVEN paragraphs, A-G. Which paragraph contains the following information?
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1. some specific predictions about businesses and working practices
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Explain:
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2. reference to the way company employees were usually managed
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Explain:
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3. a warning for business leaders
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Explain:
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4. the description of an era notable for the relative absence of change
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Explain:
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5. a reason why customer satisfaction was not a high priority
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Explain:
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Look at the following characteristics and the list of periods below. Match each characteristic with the correct period.
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1. a surplus of goods.
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Explain:
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2. an emphasis on production quantity.
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Explain:
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3. the proximity of consumers to workplaces.
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Explain:
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4. a focus on the quality of goods.
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Explain:
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5. new products and new ways of working.
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Explain:
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Complete the summary below. Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer. Businesses in the 21th century It is generally agreed that changes are taking place more quickly now, and that organisations are being transformed. One leading economist suggested that by 2020, up to a quarter of employees would be (1)…………, and half of all employees would be based in the (2)………… . Although predictions can be wrong, the speed of change is not in doubt, and business leaders need to understand the (3)………… that will be influential.
Passage 3
Video game research Although video games were first developed for adults, they are no longer exclusively reserved for the grown ups in the home. In 2006, Rideout and Hamel reported that as many as 29 percent of preschool children (children between two and six years old) in the United States had played console video games, and 18 percent had played hand-held ones. Given young children’s insatiable eagerness to learn, coupled with the fact that they are clearly surrounded by these media, we predict that preschoolers will both continue and increasingly begin to adopt video games for personal enjoyment. Although the majority of gaming equipment is still designed for a much older target audience, once a game system enters the household it is potentially available for all family members, including the youngest. Portable systems have done a particularly good job of penetrating the younger market. Research in the video game market is typically done at two stages: some time close to the end of the product cycle, in order to get feedback from consumers, so that a marketing strategy can be developed: and at the very end of the product cycle to ‘fix bugs’ in the game. While both of those types of research are important, and may be appropriate for dealing with adult consumers, neither of them aids in designing better games, especially when it comes to designing for an audience that may have particular needs, such as preschoolers or senior citizens. Instead, exploratory and formative research has to be undertaken in order to truly understand those audiences, their abilities, their perspective, and their needs In the spring of 2007, our preschool-game production team at Nickelodeon had a hunch that the Nintendo DS* - with its new features, such as the microphone, small size and portability, and its relatively low price point - was a ripe gaming platform for preschoolers. There were a few games on the market at the time which had characters that appealed to the younger set, but our game producers did not think that the game mechanics or design were appropriate for preschoolers. What exactly preschoolers could do with the system, however, was a bit of a mystery. So we set about doing a study to answer the query: What could we expect preschoolers to be capable of in the context of hand-held game play, and how might the child development literature inform us as we proceeded with the creation of a new outlet for this age group? Our context in this case was the United States, although the games that resulted were also released in other regions, due to the broad international reach of the characters. In order to design the best possible DS product for a preschool audience we were fully committed to the ideals of a ‘user-centered approach', which assumes that users will be at least considered, but ideally consulted during the development process. After all when it come to introduce a new interactive product to the child market, and particularly such a young age group within it, we believe it is crucial to assess the range of physical and cognitive abilities associated with their specific developmental stage. Revelle and Medoff (2002) review some of the basic reasons why home entertainment systems commit and other electronic gaming devices, are often difficult for preschoolers to use. In addition, to their still developing motor skills (which make manipulating a controller with small buttons difficult), many of the major stumbling blocks are cognitive. Though preschoolers are learning to think symbolically, and understand that pictures can stand for real-life objects, the vast majority are still unable to read and write. Thus, using text-based menu selections is not viable. Mapping is yet another obstacle since preschoolers may be unable to understand that there is a direct link between how the controller is used and the activity that appear before them on screen. Though this aspect is changing in traditional mapping system real movements do not usually translate into game-based activity.
Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in the reading passage? YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
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1. Video game use amongst preschool children is higher in the US than in other countries.
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2. The proportion of preschool children using video games is likely to rise.
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3. Parents in the US who own gaming equipment generally allow their children to play with it.
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4. The type of research which manufacturers usually do is aimed at improving game design.
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5. Both old and young games consumers require research which is specifically targeted.
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Choose the correct answer.
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1. In 2007, what conclusion did games producers at Nickelodeon come to?
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2. The study carried out by Nickelodeon
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3. Which problem do the writers highlight concerning games instructions for young children?
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4. Which is the best title for the reading passage?
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Complete the summary using the list of words/phrases below. actions | buttons | cognitive skills | concentration | fingers | pictures | sounds | spoken instructions | written menus | Problems for preschool users of video games Preschool children find many electronic games difficult, because neither their motor skills nor their (1) ………… are sufficiently developed. Certain types of control are hard for these children to manipulate: for example, (2) ………… can be more effective than styluses. Also, although they already have the ability to relate (3)........... to real-world objects, preschool children are largely unable to understand the connection between their own (4)………… and the movements they can see on the screen. Finally, very few preschool children can understand (5)………
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actions
fingers
pictures
written menus
cognitive skills
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