C1 EIKEN Grade 1

EIKEN Grade 1 Practice Tests

5 full-length practice tests in the official EIKEN Grade 1 format. Each test has three papers — Reading & Writing, Listening and Speaking — with audio and instant feedback.

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📖 Reading & Writing🎧 Listening🗣️ Speaking

EIKEN Grade 1 Practice Test 1 with Answers

A free, interactive EIKEN Grade 1 practice test with answers, about 145 minutes.

TopicsAlgorithm aversionMedieval craft guildsPainted ancient statuesManaging the commonsThe decline of local newsCompulsory voting

This EIKEN Grade 1 Practice Test 1 has 3 papers — Reading & Writing, Listening and Speaking. Choose a paper below to start; your browser will load the interactive version automatically.

Reading & Writing

Part 1 — Vocabulary

To complete each item, choose the best word or phrase from among the four choices.

The investigative report revealed a ( ) of evidence for the company's claims; in fact, almost no data supported them at all. (glut / pinnacle / facade / paucity)
The defense lawyer worked for months to ( ) her client, and when the real culprit finally confessed, all charges against him were dropped. (incriminate / extradite / reprimand / exonerate)
Critics dismissed the minister's apology as ( ), pointing out that he had repeated the same offensive remarks only a day later. (magnanimous / meticulous / disingenuous / inadvertent)
The new manager tried to ( ) the angry staff by promising a review of working hours, but many still threatened to go on strike. (embellish / disparage / placate / expedite)
Tom has a ( ) for exaggeration, so his friends rarely believe his stories about meeting famous people. (remnant / deference / stipulation / propensity)
The climbers found themselves in a ( ) position when the narrow ledge they were standing on began to crumble beneath them. (gregarious / lucrative / pristine / precarious)
The company moved quickly to ( ) rumors that it was about to go bankrupt, releasing its full financial records to the press. (foment / quash / bequeath / emulate)
The report criticized the regulator's ( ) in failing to act on repeated warnings about the bank's risky lending. (animosity / profundity / complacency / frugality)
The review was criticized for being ( ); its authors had clearly spent only a few hours on thousands of pages of documents. (cursory / exhaustive / belligerent / venerable)
Having lost the leadership election, the party chair agreed to ( ) her position to a younger colleague at the end of the month. (reiterate / relinquish / vilify / usurp)
The documentary examines the ( ) of the new trade law, including its unexpected effects on small farmers. (accolades / ramifications / reprisals / inklings)
The author's ( ) style, full of long sentences and obscure references, makes her novels difficult for casual readers. (convoluted / succinct / candid / docile)
A: Is it still raining heavily out there? B: Yes, but the forecast says the storm should ( ) by this evening, so we can probably still walk to the restaurant. (abate / escalate / permeate / reciprocate)
The candidate's speech was full of ( ) such as "we must all pull together," and offered no concrete policies. (epiphanies / indictments / platitudes / stipends)
Known for his ( ) nature, the retired professor would happily spend whole afternoons helping students who were struggling. (callous / pompous / frivolous / benevolent)
Before the election, the opposition party tried to ( ) public anger over rising taxes in order to win more votes. (absolve / stoke / rescind / emancipate)
After decades of ( ) between the two families, a marriage between their children finally brought peace to the village. (affinity / solvency / enmity / brevity)
The charity held a series of concerts to ( ) support for its campaign against child poverty. (quell / garner / forgo / rebuke)
The contractor tried to ( ) his obligation to repair the roof, claiming that the damage had been caused by the storm. (rope in / rattle off / bottle up / wriggle out of)
When customers complained about the faulty heaters, the shop tried to ( ) them with small discount vouchers instead of offering full refunds. (fob off / size up / tone down / jot down)
After a poor showing in the early polls, the candidate decided to ( ) the race and support her main rival instead. (drop by / stand in for / chime in on / bow out of)
Soaring property prices have ( ) many young families, who can no longer afford to move to larger homes. (bailed out / talked down / hemmed in / summed up)

Part 2A — The Colors of Ancient Statues

Read each passage and choose the best word or phrase from among the four choices for each gap.

( 23 ) (A) preferred marble to other materials (B) deliberately covered their work in bright paint (C) copied Egyptian building methods (D) worked without the help of assistants
( 24 ) (A) confirmed the views of earlier scholars (B) made such evidence far harder to ignore (C) reduced the value of museum collections (D) made ancient statues easier to clean
( 25 ) (A) should be made using only modern paints (B) are too expensive for most museums to produce (C) can exaggerate how bold the colors originally were (D) prove that the statues were never painted

Part 2B — Rethinking the Commons

Read each passage and choose the best word or phrase from among the four choices for each gap.

( 26 ) (A) only two solutions could prevent such a disaster (B) herders should be taught to value their animals more (C) shared resources were rarely worth protecting (D) the problem would eventually solve itself
( 27 ) (A) Having abandoned their traditional rules (B) Unlike most successful groups (C) Rather than relying on outside authorities (D) Because they lacked any system of punishment
( 28 ) (A) the success of a commons depends heavily on local circumstances (B) private ownership is always the most efficient option (C) large groups manage resources better than small ones (D) governments should take control of all shared land

Part 3A — Trusting the Machine

Read each passage and choose the best answer from among the four choices for each question.

According to the passage, what was surprising about the results of the 2015 experiments? (A) Participants became more willing to use the model after seeing it make a small number of errors. (B) The model made less accurate forecasts of students' performance than the participants did. (C) Participants who had watched the model perform trusted it less, even though it was more accurate than they were. (D) Participants judged human forecasters more harshly than the model when both made mistakes.
What does the later research by the same team suggest about people's willingness to use algorithms? (A) It increases only when people are given complete freedom to change the algorithm's forecasts. (B) It declines once people discover that their adjustments make the predictions less accurate. (C) It has little to do with whether people feel involved in making the final decision. (D) It depends less on how much control people have over the forecasts than on whether they have any control at all.
The author of the passage mentions governments' use of automated systems in order to (A) argue that algorithms should never be used for decisions that involve moral judgment. (B) show that algorithm appreciation has now become more common than algorithm aversion. (C) emphasize why it matters to understand the conditions under which people accept algorithmic decisions. (D) suggest that citizens have recently grown more comfortable with advice from machines.

Part 3B — The Guild Debate

Read each passage and choose the best answer from among the four choices for each question.

Based on the first two paragraphs, what can be inferred about the traditional view of guilds? (A) It was based on the same kind of systematic analysis of records that Ogilvie later carried out. (B) It may have been shaped partly by some writers' dissatisfaction with the economic system of their own time. (C) It recognized that guilds excluded many workers but regarded this as a necessary price for security. (D) It was first put forward by historians who studied weavers' guilds in the region of Württemberg.
According to the passage, why have critics questioned the claim that guilds guaranteed the quality of goods? (A) Inspections were irregular, and some quality rules seem to have been used to block new methods. (B) Medieval buyers were usually able to judge the quality of goods such as cloth and bread for themselves. (C) Municipal officials were not permitted to inspect goods that had been produced by guild members. (D) Guilds were more concerned with encouraging new techniques than with maintaining existing standards.
What does the author suggest about the debate over guild apprenticeships? (A) Neither side has been able to settle the question, partly because the surviving evidence is incomplete. (B) Epstein's argument has been disproved by evidence that apprenticeships existed only in guild trades. (C) Critics accept that guilds improved workers' skills but argue that this came at too high a cost. (D) Most historians now agree that apprenticeships played no role in Europe's technological progress.
The author of the passage mentions occupational licensing laws in order to (A) show that modern consumers are far better protected than consumers were in medieval times. (B) argue that such laws should be abolished because they closely resemble the rules of guilds. (C) explain why guilds survived longest in places where rulers depended on them for money. (D) illustrate how the concerns raised by critics of guilds remain relevant to regulations today.

Part 4 — Writing: Summary

Read the article below and summarize it in your own words as far as possible in English. Summarize it between 90 and 110 words. Write your summary in the space provided. Any writing outside the space will not be graded.

Across many developed countries, local newspapers have been closing at an alarming rate. In the United States alone, more than a quarter of the newspapers that existed in the mid-2000s have disappeared, leaving large areas, sometimes called "news deserts," with no dedicated source of local reporting. The main cause is financial: advertising, which once paid for most journalism, has shifted to online platforms that can target consumers more precisely and at a lower cost.

The consequences extend well beyond the newspaper industry. Researchers have found that when a local paper closes, fewer candidates run for local office and fewer residents vote in local elections. Some studies have even found that the cost of borrowing for local governments rises, apparently because lenders assume that without reporters watching, officials are more likely to waste public money. Moreover, as residents lose access to information about their own communities, they tend to turn to national news, which often focuses on divisive issues, and this may contribute to growing political polarization.

To tackle the problem, some experts have proposed that governments provide financial support for local journalism, for example through tax credits for news organizations that employ local reporters or vouchers that let citizens direct a small amount of public money to the outlet of their choice. Supporters argue that local reporting, like a public library, benefits society as a whole, and they note that many countries already fund public broadcasting in a similar way. Such proposals, however, face considerable obstacles. Many journalists worry that relying on government money could make them reluctant to criticize the very officials who control their funding. It is also unclear which organizations should qualify and how partisan outlets that merely resemble news organizations could be excluded. Furthermore, when public budgets are under pressure, spending on newspapers may be politically difficult to justify.

Part 5 — Writing: Essay

Write an essay on the given TOPIC. Give THREE reasons to support your answer. Structure: introduction, main body, and conclusion. Suggested length: 200–240 words. Write your essay in the space provided. Any writing outside the space will not be graded.

TOPIC
Should voting be made compulsory in democratic countries?

Listening

Part 1 — Dialogues

Listen to each dialogue and the question that follows. Choose the best answer from among the four choices. The dialogues and questions will be played once.

Question 1 (heard only): (A) He missed the early registration deadline. (B) The organizers have rejected his presentation. (C) His department cannot fund his trip for now. (D) He has not been repaid for an earlier trip.
Question 2 (heard only): (A) He may not be allowed to make the demand he made. (B) He has refused to send anyone to look at the boiler. (C) He wants the tenants to move out of the apartment. (D) He has broken the terms of the lease before.
Question 3 (heard only): (A) Take part in the half marathon as planned. (B) Stop exercising until his bone has healed. (C) Stay fit by swimming instead of running. (D) Have another scan before the race.
Question 4 (heard only): (A) It is concerned about a competing product. (B) It has agreed to launch without the payment feature. (C) It has asked Mark's team for help. (D) It is unhappy with the testing done so far.
Question 5 (heard only): (A) He has to judge the entries on that day. (B) The school needs help only from mothers. (C) He is busy setting up on Thursday evening. (D) His work schedule makes it impossible.
Question 6 (heard only): (A) It will arrive before the man's interview. (B) It will be left with a neighbor this time. (C) It must be collected from one of the stores. (D) It is not possible until an investigation is complete.
Question 7 (heard only): (A) Ask Dr. Weiss to write an extra letter. (B) Finish the letter before he leaves for his research. (C) Upload the letter when he returns from the field. (D) Help Lucy write her personal statement.
Question 8 (heard only): (A) The license should not be renewed next month. (B) The team should switch to simpler software. (C) The vendor's training sessions are too expensive. (D) The team's difficulties may be due to a lack of training.
Question 9 (heard only): (A) Whether the city has a shortage of housing. (B) Whether the park by the river is likely to flood. (C) Whether the library lot could be used for a garden. (D) Whether the railway yard should be sold for housing.
Question 10 (heard only): (A) Ken should not turn down the offer yet. (B) Ken should use all his savings for the trip. (C) Ken should ask the bookstore to keep his job. (D) Ken should apply for a larger scholarship.