Name ____________________________
Class ____________________________
Progress Test Files 1–5
Grammar, Vocabulary, and Pronunciation A
GRAMMAR
1 Complete the sentences with the correct form of the verb in brackets.
Example: How many CDs have you got (got) in your collection?
1 Betty isn’t very good at DIY, so last year she ________ her house ________ (decorate) by a
painter.
2 I’m upset because Agatha isn’t here yet and I ________ (wait) for two hours.
3 Karl ________ (be) given a new job in marketing.
4 ________ he ________ (have to) start work at 7.00?
5 I was watching TV when I ________ (hear) a strange noise outside in the garden.
6 You ________ (not have) time to go to the cinema tonight – you need to study.
7 James ________ (work) for the company for 20 years when he finally received a pay rise.
8 It ________ (say) that getting enough sleep is a very important part of staying healthy.
9 I wish I ________ (know) how to help you, but I’m afraid I don’t know how to fix computers.
10 There are thought ________ (be) tribes living in the Amazon that no one has ever contacted.
11 While my brother ________ (ride) his bike to school, he had a minor accident.
12 Would you rather we ________ (have) Chinese food tonight?
13 If only Ian ________ (be) a little happier. It makes me sad to know that he doesn’t like his new
school.
14 If only you ________ (not forget) to close the windows, the rain wouldn’t have come in.
15 The weather ________ (expect) to be mild and rainy this summer.
16 We’d rather you ________ (not borrow) money for university. We’re happy to pay for you to
go.
16
2 Underline the correct word(s).
Example: I lost my wallet, so / because I had to phone the bank and cancel my credit card.
1 He’s stopped working due to / since he turned 70 last year.
2 Warren is understood to / understood have driven to Mexico on a motorcycle with a suitcase
full of money.
3 It’s seem / It seems that we no longer need to worry about Adam. He got a job and he’s going to
marry Louisa.
4 He was late for the interview and owing / consequently, he didn’t get the job.
5 We had to work quietly so that / so as not to wake the children.
6 We worked hard to prepare the garden for the party. As a result / Nevertheless, it looked
beautiful and everyone enjoyed being outdoors.
7 Brian’s sure / bound to come back home when he realizes he’s left his mobile phone here.
8 Brad can’t / should be in Tunis now. It’s a four-hour flight, and he left about four hours ago.
9 Marsela unlikely / won’t be here until after lunch.
10 We used / would go skiing in the Alps every winter.
11 Apparently / According Fred is going to buy a house in Manchester.
12 We’ll probably / probably be go on holiday to California next August.
12
Name ____________________________
Class ____________________________
Progress Test Files 1–5
Grammar, Vocabulary, and Pronunciation A
3 Complete the sentences with the correct word(s).
Example: They say you should get eight hours of sleep every night, but I usually get about six.
They They’re Their
1 My brother and I give ________ a box of chocolates every year on our birthdays.
another each other by one another
2 I need to spend some time ________ every day. I need time to think and to relax on my own.
ourselves yourself by myself
3 Could you get Mario ________ and see me this afternoon, please?
coming come to come
4 It’s ________ late and I need to go home.
get getting gets
5 Rarely ________ so happy. The interview went perfectly and they offered me the job!
have been I have been have I been
6 ________ can use your computer for video conferencing, and it’s free.
One Each other You
7 ________ all have problems remembering things sometimes.
One We Ourselves
8 A Did you ever ________ to living away from the seaside?
B Not really. Actually, I really miss walking on the beach every day.
get use get used to get use
9 ________ we got to the shopping centre than all the shops closed.
As soon Sooner as No sooner had
10 I’m afraid my little sister ________ taking some sweets from the shop.
got someone caught got caught was got caught
11 Never ________ such a terrible, shocking story.
I have heard have I heard I heard
12 Not until someone tells me ________ who wrote the letter.
will I know do I know I know
12
Grammar total 40
VOCABULARY
4 Underline the odd word out.
Example: mumble slam scream giggle
1 idiom collocation synonym orthography
2 benefits a rise salary skills
3 got rid of praised dumped broke up with
4 monotonous tedious redundant repetitive
5 colleague career profession job
6 thought-provoking competitive gripping intriguing
7 yell splash slurp drip
Name ____________________________
Class ____________________________
Progress Test Files 1–5
Grammar, Vocabulary, and Pronunciation A
8 affluent well-off penniless loaded
9 creak sigh groan stammer
10 bang crash crunch whistle
10
5 Complete the sentences with one word.
Example: Don’t put off going to college. If you wait, it may be too late.
1 I didnʼt know which way to go at the junction, so I just went with my ________ feeling and
turned right.
2 It’s best to meet your problems ________ on and solve them before they get worse.
3 If you spend too much money, you’re living beyond your ________.
4 Lilly was very lucky to get a ________ to study abroad, otherwise she wouldnʼt have been able
to afford it.
5 A ________-fisted person is not generous with money.
6 A ________ is a frequent combination of words. Often they are the only possible combination
to express a concept, like light snow.
7 The hospitals were struggling to cope with the number of ________ as the fighting got more
and more intense between the army and the rebels.
8 Allen loves living in Barcelona. He’s having the time of his ________.
9 If you keep trying, it’s only a matter of ________ before you find a job.
10 When you ______ money, you put it into your bank account.
10
6 Underline the correct word(s).
Example: The book made me laugh. The writing was really witty / moving.
1 If you get some qualifications / benefits, then you’ll probably get a better job.
2 What’s got on / into Pat? She seems very upset.
3 I’m going to get a new car next month, but for the time being / now I’m taking the bus.
4 You have to teach kids that they can’t always get their own way / together. Sometimes you have
to do what someone else wants you to do.
5 I find it hard to work in a team where people refuse / seem to compromise and everything has to
be done their way.
6 I wish more people were as sensible and quick / down to earth as you are. It would make life a
lot easier.
7 I wanted to be a cartographer when I was little, but I changed / swapped my mind at secondary
school and decided to be a psychologist.
8 Lucy and Robert are getting on / along really well. They’re really happy together.
9 I need to get around / back home by midnight. I have an early start tomorrow.
10 It took George a long time to get over / anywhere losing his job, but now that he’s working
again, he’s happy.
10
Name ____________________________
Class ____________________________
Progress Test Files 1–5
Grammar, Vocabulary, and Pronunciation A
7 Complete the words in the sentences.
Example: The book was really fast-moving and full of action, so it didnʼt take me long to finish it.
1 My husband is very s________: he decided on Saturday morning that we should go to Wales
for the weekend and we were on the road an hour later!
2 When you buy furniture from IKEA, itʼs best to follow the assembly instructions to the
l________ if you donʼt want to waste your time.
3 A story that makes you feel sad is d________.
4 He thinks very highly of himself for no reason and he really looks d________ on other people
in the office.
5 I did a lot of u________ work as a volunteer but now I really need to find job that pays my
bills.
6 Manuel speaks English without an accent, itʼs hard to believe that his mother t________ is
actually Spanish.
7 There was this gorgeous strawberry cheesecake in the café and just couldnʼt resist the
t________ to buy one.
8 If you want to become a childrenʼs book writer you need to have a very v________ imagination
first of all.
9 You can all go back to the building now, there is no i________ danger anymore.
10 Roman soldiers wore a h________ to protect their heads from injury.
10
Vocabulary total 40
Name ____________________________
Class ____________________________
Progress Test Files 1–5
Grammar, Vocabulary, and Pronunciation A
PRONUNCIATION
8 Match the words to the same sound.
enormous experience joke mortgage mumble
profession profoundly screech synonym
turnover value
Example: yell mumble
1 tedious _________________
2 question _________________
3 gadget _________________
4 environment _________________
5 planner _________________
6 usually _________________
7 round _________________
8 giggle _________________
9 sheep _________________
10 makes _________________
10
9 Underline the stressed syllable.
Example: ma|na|ger
1 com|pete
2 kid|napped
3 con|ti|nual|ly
4 do|mi|nant
5 mere|ly
6 tran|scribe
7 re|gi|ster
8 mi|se|ry
9 haun|ting
10 en|qui|ry
10
Pronunciation total 20
Grammar, Vocabulary, and Pronunciation total 100
Name ____________________________
Class ____________________________
Progress Test Files 1–5
Reading and Writing A
READING
1 Read the article and tick ( ) A, B, or C.
WHO WANTS TO BE RICH?
A
It’s very common for people to say, ʻMoney doesn’t bring you happinessʼ. They point to the
very public problems of wealthy people and the evident misery some of them have. Money,
the theory goes, makes them superficial and selfish, their lives often fall apart, and they miss
out on the simple pleasures of life. Money is their top priority and because of this, they’ve
got it all wrong.
Attitudes to the rich are also characterized by hatred. Typical images of wealthy people are
that they are greedy, cruel people who’ve got what they’ve got by exploiting or abusing other
people. The rich are often seen as bad characters whose pursuit of wealth has led them to
treat good people with brutal force and whose behaviour has been either morally
questionable or completely corrupt. They can’t have got that rich by honourable methods,
the thinking goes, so they must have done something truly inexcusable.
Connected with this is a common belief that some of the rich, especially the young ones,
don’t deserve their wealth. Some of them are spoilt brats, benefiting from the wealth of their
parents and living empty lives of laziness and luxury, with nothing between their ears. Their
lives have been all reward and no effort. And then there are the people in sport and the arts
whose immense earnings are well-publicized. Surely, people say, no one can be worth such
sums. It’s outrageous that these people get such high incomes for doing what they do.
Even when people aren’t actually rich by most conventional definitions of the word, their
lifestyles attract criticism from others. There is, among many people, a dislike of what they
regard as a materialistic attitude to life. When they see people with big houses, luxury cars,
and a mass of the top-of-the-range gadgets, they dismiss them as empty, foolish people with
the wrong priorities in life. How can they afford these things? Have they got heavily in debt
to fund this lifestyle? If so, how silly they are. Of course, some of this feeling can be
attributed to envy. Most people have no direct contact with the truly rich, seeing them only
via the media, but materialistic people are all around. The truly rich are considered to belong
almost to another species, but the materialistic ones might well be in your neighbourhood.
So there’s a fairly common belief that money is ʻa bad thingʼ, or at any rate, having lots of it
is. But I think that in this envy and dislike of the rich, people are missing the point. Money’s a
big factor in just about everyone’s life. It’s often the only reason they get up and go to work.
If you haven’t got it, life is very difficult. You need to get it for food, clothes, and shelter, for
Name ____________________________
Class ____________________________
Progress Test Files 1–5
Reading and Writing A
yourself and maybe others. It’s the main reason why most people work – not for pleasure
but to provide the necessities of life. What they are effectively doing is exchanging their time
for money.
And this brings us to the key point about wealth. It buys freedom, it buys time. If you’re rich,
you don’t have to exchange your time for money, you don’t have to give so much time to an
employer or dedicate all that time to the business of earning a living. You can use your time
in any way you please, in ways that bring you some fulfilment. If you’re wealthy, you don’t
have to be materialistic, nor do you have to be superficial and selfish. These are not iron
rules. Disliking the rich because of what you read or learn about some of them in the media
results from only a partial view of what having wealth means. Getting annoyed with
materialistic people is based on a narrow view of what money brings. Some people
squander wealth, some people don’t deserve it, some people want it for reasons you might
take a dim view of. But the fact is, wealth provides opportunities for the kind of life you would
like to have.
So don’t knock it. Instead, think of ways you might be able to attain it. Focus on the goal of
getting yourself into a position where you’re no longer trading your time for money. Take
control of your own time by becoming independently wealthy. You might say that’s easier
said than done. Well, you might be right, but have you tried yet?
1 What is the writer’s point in section A?
A People take too much interest in the lives of the wealthy.
B There is evidence to support a common belief about money.
C Being wealthy changes people.
2 The writer says in section B that a common view of the wealthy is that they ________.
A have acquired wealth dishonestly
B have been exceptionally lucky
C enjoy feeling superior to others
3 A criticism of rich people mentioned in section C is that ________.
A they should keep quiet about the amount of money they have
B the financial rewards in their fields are too great
C they don’t appreciate the money that they receive
4 In section D, the writer says that many people think that materialistic people ________.
A don’t care what other people think of them
B don’t really enjoy their lifestyles
C aren’t as rich as they might appear to be
5 In section D, the writer suggests that most people ________.
A are materialistic to some extent
B have an issue with rich neighbours
C don’t understand the truly rich
Name ____________________________
Class ____________________________
Progress Test Files 1–5
Reading and Writing A
6 The writer’s main point in section E is that ________.
A money is important to everyone, not just the rich
B the rich give people the wrong ideas about money
C most people would like to have a lot of money
7 In section F, the writer suggests that wealthy people ________.
A sometimes dislike other wealthy people
B are able to avoid something that most people do
C often sympathize with people who have little money
8 The writer says in section F that common attitudes to rich people ________.
A fail to take into account a key advantage of wealth
B are based on a false picture of what wealthy people are like
C place too much emphasis on one particular group of people
9 The writer’s intention in section G is to ________.
A emphasize that everybody can become wealthy
B encourage readers to change their lives
C regret the importance of wealth
10 What is the writer’s purpose in the article as a whole?
A To argue against a common belief about money
B To defend wealthy people against criticism
C To analyse the advantages and disadvantages of wealth
10
2 Which section of the article (A–G) contains the following?
1 agreement that an aim may be hard to achieve __
2 a reference to something that wealthy people are unable to experience __
3 a belief that some wealthy people lack intelligence __
4 the opinion that not all wealthy people have certain attitudes __
5 assumptions about what wealthy people did to get their wealth __
5
Reading total 15
WRITING
Choose one of the titles below and write approximately 250 words:
1 Write an article for an English website about how education has changed in your country over
the last 50 years.
Name ____________________________
Class ____________________________
Progress Test Files 1–5
Reading and Writing A
2 Write your letter of application for the advertisement below:
Barista required to work every morning in coffee shop in centre of town.
Job description: To serve customers, bake fresh pastries, keep coffee shop clean…
Requirements: You must be aged 16 or over, friendly, polite, and able to work in a
demanding atmosphere. You should have a high level of English, and some experience of
dealing with the public.
How to apply: Email CV to Charles Combibos ([email protected]).
Writing total 10
Reading and Writing total 25
Name ____________________________
Class ____________________________
Progress Test Files 1–5
Listening and Speaking A
LISTENING
1 Listen to five people talking about various gadgets. Match the speakers (1–5) to what
they say about the gadgets (A–H).
Speaker 1
Speaker 2
Speaker 3
Speaker 4
Speaker 5
A I intend to get a better one.
B Sometimes I wish I didn’t have it.
C It has had unexpected benefits for me.
D It often doesn’t work properly.
E I can’t imagine being without it.
F I don’t use it as much as I used to.
G It’s more useful to others than to me.
H I sometimes can’t use it when I want to.
5
2 Listen to a talk about a connection between sport and language. Tick () A, B, or C.
1 What did the research involve?
A Examining people’s brains while they answered questions.
B People listening to sentences in two different categories.
C One set of sentences for each group of people.
2 The results of the tests were not ________.
A as important as the results of the brain scans
B what some of the subjects expected
C consistent for all the subjects
3 The research indicated a connection between ________.
A being interested in sports and understanding language in general
B planning actions and understanding language
C the language of sport and other kinds of language
4 The conclusion that can be drawn is that the same parts of the brain ________.
A help with both learning languages and learning sports
B are used by players and people watching sports differently
C are used both for watching sport and understanding language
5 It is suggested that people who are learning language connected with a topic should ________.
A learn the language and then do activities connected with it
B do activities connected with that topic at the same time
C do activities connected with that topic before learning the language
5
Listening total 10
Name ____________________________
Class ____________________________
Progress Test Files 1–5
Listening and Speaking A
SPEAKING
1 Ask your partner these questions.
1 What’s the most successful thing you’ve ever done?
2 Which three personality characteristics do you admire the most?
3 What are you good at remembering and not so good at remembering?
4 How much do you discuss your relationships with other people?
5 What’s your favourite character in a novel you’ve read or film you’ve seen?
2 Now answer your partner’s questions.
3 Now talk about one of these statements, saying if you agree or disagree. Give reasons.
1 ʻYour family are the most important people in your life.’
2 ʻIn modern life, people spend too much time on their own.’
3 ʻIt is possible to be poor but happy.’
4 Now listen to your partner. Do you agree with him / her?
Speaking total 15
Listening and Speaking total 25
