APTIS READING PRACTICE

PRACTICE TEST 2
(25 Questions – 30 minutes)
Task 1.
Choose one word (A, B or C) for each gap and write the letter on your answer paper. The first one (0) is done
for you as an example with the answer A marked on your answer paper.
Dear Sir,
My son, Kevin, left (0) __A__ two months ago and now he is looking for his first (1)______. The problem is that
companies always (2)____ they want people with experience, but how can he get experience if no one gives him a
job? He reads the (3)________ in the paper every day, but there is nothing for people like him. Today he’s
(4)________ some gardening for our neighbours to (5)________ a bit of money, but he needs a real job.
Mr. G Carter
EXAMPLE 0 A school B home C me
1 A work B job C occupation
2 A say B tell C ask
3 A news B text C adverts
4 A making B having C doing
5 A earn B get C spend
Answers: (0) ___A___ (2) ___C____ (4) ___C____
(1) ___B____ (3) ___C____ (5) ___A____
Task 2.
Order the sentences (B-G) below to make a story. Write your answers on the answer paper. (Questions 6-11).
The first sentence of the story (A) is given for you on the answer paper as an example.
A Harland Sanders was born in the USA in 1890, but his childhood wasn’t a happy one.
B That was when he first learned to cook.
C Over the next nine years Harland developed his secret chicken recipe that made him famous.
D Sanders continued to work for KFC as a public spokesman and visited restaurants all over the world until
he died in 1980, aged 90.
E His father died when he was four and his mother had to find a job to support the family, so Harland stayed
at home to look after his younger brother and sister.
F In the 1950s he decided to close down his restaurant and sold the secret recipe to other businesses one of
which became Kentucky Fried Chicken.
G He left home when he was twelve and he had a number of different jobs, including being a service station
manager in Corbin, Kentucky, where he cooked for hungry travellers.
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APTIS READING PRACTICE
Answers: (0) ___A___
(6) ___E____ (09) ___C____
(7) ___B____ (10) ___F____
(8) ___G____ (11) ___D____
Task 3.
Read the text and match each space (12-18) with one word from the box below. Write the letters (A-L) on the
answer paper. The answer to question (00) is given on your answer paper as an example (L). You will not need
four of the words.
A Hong Kong hotel has sold individual (00) _______ to be used as homes. It's one of the ways (12) ________ are
trying to cope with soaring housing prices, which are among the highest in the world. The hotel suites are cheaper
than apartments in Hong Kong. Hundreds of people (13) _______ up for hours to buy a unit at the Apex Horizon
Hotel this week. It's not clear whether investors can legally live in the suites but buyers are still eager. The hotel
was able to sell all 360 of its suites in two days - a sign there is a (14) ______ for affordable housing. Hong Kong's
low (15) _______ rate has attracted hordes of mainland Chinese investors. It pushed home prices to record highs
last year. Flats (16) _______ an average of US$14,000 per square metre in central locations. Many residents feel
they can no longer (17) _______ to buy apartments.
Hong Kong people cope by renting makeshift homes on rooftops, while others move into so-called cage homes -
hutches made from wire-mesh, stacked on top of each other in a tiny room. The government's efforts to cool down
(18) _______ prices have not worked. So Hong Kong residents have to be creative in finding space to live.
Your answers:
(00) L rooms
A queued H save (12) _G______
B interest I lined (13) _I______
C afford J cost (14) _K______
D spend K demand (15) _F______
E residents L rooms (16) _J______
F investors (17) _B______
G property (18) _C______

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APTIS READING PRACTICE
Task 4
Read the text below. Match the headings A-H to the paragraphs (19-25). Write your answers (A-H) on the
answer paper. There is one more heading than you need.
Your answers:
A Tension and daily routine (19) ___H___
B Fitting the technique to the disability (20) ___B___
C Challenges for the Alexander teacher (21) ___G___
D Retraining limbs (22) ___C___
E Helping the disabled through their helpers (23) ___E___
F Pain problems (24) ___A___
G Better body ‘use’ for all (25) ___F___
H Breaking bad habits
THE ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE AND DISABILITY
(19). The Alexander Technique is a method of psychophysical re-education developed by F. Matthias Alexander
more than a century ago, initially as a result of trying to solve a vocal problem. It is a - technique for the
elimination of ingrained habits of 'misuse' that interfere with the healthy and harmonious functioning of ourselves
as a whole, often the underlying cause of many conditions, such as back pain, neck and shoulder tension, fatigue,
breathing disorders and other stress-related illnesses.
(20). Our natural reflex mechanisms for balance and posture are largely dependent on the co-ordination of the
head, neck and back. The Technique addresses the causes of 'misuse' and lack of poise that may be interfering with
this relationship. When these mechanisms are allowed to work in harmony, 'good use' spontaneously returns,
resulting in easier breathing, freer, lighter movement and a greater ability to control our reactions and our
movements. In other words, the Technique enables us to 'use' ourselves better, and, in that sense, is concerned with
helping anybody - the so called 'able bodied' as well as disabled people to overcome their disabilities. Hence, the
Alexander teacher's approach when working with the disabled is, in essence, the same as with any pupil of the
Technique.
(21). For example, if we take a violinist with a 'misuse' problem of the upper limbs causing technical limitations to
his or her playing, the Alexander teacher will work on improving the pupil's overall 'use' by encouraging the
inhibition of the habitual muscular tension pattern that interferes with the co-ordination of the head/neck/back
relationship in order to enable him/her to play with more ease. Similarly, when working with a pupil who has lost
mobility in the left arm from a stroke, the teacher will first of all address the head/neck/back relationship, and the
inhibition of extraneous tension that prevents maximum use of the affected limb. In this way, it is possible to
enable the stroke patient to retrain mobility of the paralysed part of the body.

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APTIS READING PRACTICE
(22). The approach and what results can be expected vary greatly depending on the disability. For the stroke
patient, especially if lessons are commenced early after the stroke, the Alexander Technique can play an important
role in rehabilitation and mobility retraining. With a blind person, the work is likely to focus instead more directly
on eliminating tension habits that have developed to compensate for the loss of sight, e.g. insecurity leading to stiff
and overcautious walking, balancing difficulties and poor head poise.
(23). Working with the disabled pupil, the Alexander teacher can offer help with everyday activities, things that
the average person takes for granted, such as the ability to brush one's teeth, shave, tie one's shoelaces or cut a
slice of bread. By looking at compensatory tension patterns, the teacher can, in many instances, help the disabled
person find a new means whereby they can perform these everyday tasks.
(24). In this respect, the lessons may extend to include the disabled person's carer, for example the person who
regularly has to help someone in and out of a wheelchair. Using the Alexander Technique, the carer learns not
only to lift and give support in the most efficient way to avoid damaging his/her own back, but, as the two learn
together, they also become better skilled at working out strategies enabling the disabled person to become more
independent.
(25). There are, of course, several factors which have to be taken into consideration when working with disabled
pupils. They may suffer intense pain and discomfort, loss of Kinaesthetic awareness (sometimes with total loss of
sensitivity in parts of the body), severe lack of co-ordination, loss of mobility, memory loss, blindness, deafness,
and speech impairment. The effect this has on the person's emotional and psychological state also has to be taken
into account. Some disabled pupils may need longer lessons, because of the time required to move them from the
wheelchair, take off casts, slings and other movement aids, etc. Others may only be able to concentrate for short
periods of time and, therefore, require shorter lessons more frequently. It often requires a certain amount of
inventiveness on the part of the Alexander teacher, both as far as practical arrangements and the approach to
teaching are concerned, a challenge that, in most cases, is greatly rewarded by the positive results.
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