EIKEN Grade Pre-1 Practice Tests

Part 1 — Vocabulary and phrasal verbs

To complete each item, choose the best word or phrase from among the four choices. Then, on your answer sheet, find the number of the question and mark your answer.

1. The two witnesses gave very different descriptions of the accident, and the police are now trying to understand the ( ) between their stories. (hierarchy / apprenticeship / hospitality / discrepancy)
2. A: Your new assistant seems very reliable. B: Yes, she's extremely ( ). She always finishes her work on time and checks every figure twice before sending me a report. (hostile / gullible / flamboyant / conscientious)
3. Heavy rain continued to ( ) the rescue team's efforts, and it took them two days to reach the isolated village. (flatter / irrigate / mourn / hinder)
4. After the town's largest factory closed, there was a sudden ( ) of young workers to neighboring cities in search of jobs. (exodus / verdict / ailment / surplus)
5. Because the software is now ( ), the company will no longer provide updates or technical support for it. (candid / obsolete / frugal / lucrative)
6. A: Did the hotel give you your money back for the broken air conditioner? B: Not yet, but the manager promised to ( ) us for the cost of one night. (refute / reimburse / provoke / inhabit)
7. The mayor's decision to close the public library caused a strong ( ) from residents, who organized protests outside city hall. (pitfall / remnant / stamina / backlash)
8. Mike ( ) deleted his essay when he pressed the wrong key, so he had to write the whole thing again from memory. (generously / unanimously / punctually / inadvertently)
9. Scientists are working to ( ) the effects of the drought by developing crops that need much less water. (mitigate / stipulate / scrutinize / embezzle)
10. The judge was criticized for being too ( ) after she gave the man only a small fine for a very serious crime. (arbitrary / conspicuous / feasible / lenient)
11. A: Do you have any experience with rock climbing? B: None at all. I'm a complete ( ), so I'll need someone to teach me the basics. (veteran / hostage / tenant / novice)
12. The government has decided to ( ) the tax on imported books, saying that it made education too expensive for many families. (verify / simulate / deteriorate / abolish)
13. Many small businesses are ( ) to sudden changes in the economy because they do not have large savings to fall back on. (prudent / vulnerable / reluctant / versatile)
14. Students must pass Introduction to Statistics before joining the advanced course, as it is a ( ) for all higher-level classes. (precaution / contingency / prerequisite / testimony)
15. After the cold medicine began to ( ), Karen's headache returned and she found it hard to concentrate on her work. (hand over / win over / size up / wear off)
16. A: Have you decided whether to accept the job in Singapore? B: Not yet. I want to ( ) the offer carefully before I give them an answer. (mull over / drown out / tide over / pass up)
17. The government plans to ( ) single-use plastic bags over the next five years, until they are banned completely. (look up / talk back / pass out / phase out)
18. The organizers had hoped to hold the concert in the park, but the plan ( ) when they could not get permission from the city. (fell through / showed off / broke in / turned up)

Part 2A — The Power of Doing Nothing

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

1. ( 19 ) (A) pay a fee to their local council (B) contact the supplier to change plans (C) sign a new contract every year (D) explain their decision to an adviser
2. ( 20 ) (A) Nevertheless (B) In other words (C) By contrast (D) Otherwise
3. ( 21 ) (A) can be used to manipulate people (B) are too costly for most governments (C) rarely have any effect on behavior (D) only work when people are well informed

Part 2B — Democracy by Lottery

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

1. ( 22 ) (A) are paid much higher salaries than elected officials (B) do not have to worry about being reelected (C) must belong to one of the main political parties (D) have usually studied law or economics at university
2. ( 23 ) (A) For instance (B) Instead (C) Otherwise (D) Even so
3. ( 24 ) (A) the number of weekends it meets (B) whether its members are paid (C) the information that its members are given (D) the location of its meetings

Part 3A — The Great Stink

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

1. Why did Parliament finally approve funding for a new sewer system in 1858? (A) A newspaper report revealed for the first time that the river was also being used as a major source of the city's drinking water. (B) Wealthy households whose new flush toilets kept overflowing demanded that lawmakers build a larger and more modern drainage network. (C) Hot weather had made the smell from the polluted river so strong that members of Parliament could no longer avoid dealing with it. (D) Doctors warned lawmakers that a serious cholera outbreak would begin in London unless the river was cleaned within a few weeks.
2. What does the author of the passage suggest about John Snow's ideas? (A) They persuaded Parliament that the smell of the river was harmless and that the money should be spent on clean drinking water instead. (B) They were accepted by most doctors only after the new sewer network had been completed and cholera had disappeared from London. (C) Although the medical establishment rejected them at the time, they explain why the sewer system Parliament paid for improved public health. (D) They showed that foul-smelling air and contaminated water were equally responsible for spreading cholera through the city.
3. According to the passage, Joseph Bazalgette made the sewer pipes larger than was necessary at the time because he (A) wanted the tunnels to be wide enough to hold the underground railway that was planned for the new embankments along the river. (B) believed that the system would be built only once and that nobody could predict how much capacity the city would need in the future. (C) had been told by officials that the population of London was certain to double within a few years of the project's completion. (D) expected that a second tunnel would soon be built beneath the river to reduce the pressure on the original network.

Part 3B — Mining the Ocean Floor

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

1. According to the passage, why are polymetallic nodules of interest to mining companies? (A) They grow back so quickly after being removed that the same areas of the seabed could be mined again every few years. (B) They contain several metals that are essential for producing the rechargeable batteries used in electric vehicles. (C) They are found mainly in shallow coastal waters near Hawaii and Mexico, which makes them relatively cheap to collect. (D) They contain large amounts of fossil fuels that could be extracted without the need for explosives or deep digging.
2. What is one argument made by supporters of deep-sea mining? (A) Because the deep ocean floor contains very few living things, collecting nodules there would cause almost no harm to wildlife. (B) Gathering nodules from the seabed could be less damaging to the environment than obtaining the same metals from mines on land. (C) Mining the seabed would reduce the global demand for battery metals, which would make recycling old batteries unnecessary. (D) Machines on the ocean floor would allow companies to process the metals underwater and stop using ships altogether.
3. What does the experiment carried out off the coast of Peru suggest? (A) The clouds of sediment created by mining machines tend to settle quickly within the mined area and do little harm elsewhere. (B) Most of the animals living on the deep seabed are able to move to new habitats when their surroundings are disturbed. (C) The damage that mining equipment causes to the seabed and the animals living there may remain for several decades. (D) Small-scale mining causes very little harm compared with the large-scale operations that companies are now planning.
4. Which of the following statements is true, based on the final paragraph? (A) The International Seabed Authority has refused to share any of the profits from seabed mining with poorer nations, despite the treaty. (B) Most governments and car manufacturers now believe that seabed mining should begin as soon as possible to meet the demand for batteries. (C) Several major manufacturers say that improvements in battery recycling have already made mining the ocean floor unnecessary. (D) Critics fear that the organization responsible for regulating seabed mining may be influenced by the companies that help to fund it.

Part 4 — Writing: English Summary

Read the article below and summarize it in your own words as far as possible in English. Summarize it between 60 and 70 words. Write your summary in the space provided. Any writing outside the space will not be graded.

Part 5 — Writing: English Composition

Write an essay on the given TOPIC. Use TWO of the POINTS below to support your answer. Structure: introduction, main body, and conclusion. Suggested length: 120–150 words. Write your essay in the space provided. Any writing outside the space will not be graded.

Part 1 — Dialogues

There are 12 dialogues in this part, No. 1 through No. 12. Each dialogue will be followed by one question. For each question, choose the best answer from among the four choices printed. The dialogue and the question will be given only once.

1. Question 1 (heard only): (A) Contact someone in the accounting department. (B) Send the sales report to head office. (C) Ask for the deadline to be extended. (D) Correct the figures in the database himself.
2. Question 2 (heard only): (A) Present on Thursday next week. (B) Submit a written report instead. (C) Give his presentation next Tuesday. (D) Stay at the university this Thursday.
3. Question 3 (heard only): (A) Wait until next Friday. (B) Ask his brother to fix the machine. (C) Buy a new washing machine. (D) Look for a different repair company.
4. Question 4 (heard only): (A) Its design is unattractive. (B) It needs a larger advertising budget. (C) It should be rejected completely. (D) Its schedule is unrealistic.
5. Question 5 (heard only): (A) She has already spent a long time on the problem. (B) She has not installed the latest software yet. (C) She thinks her router is working properly. (D) She would prefer to get her money back.
6. Question 6 (heard only): (A) Ask a coworker to take his shift. (B) Skip the career fair. (C) Hand in his lab report late. (D) Go to the fair before noon.
7. Question 7 (heard only): (A) Borrow the family car on Saturday morning. (B) Suggest a different day to her friends. (C) Take the train to the beach with her friends. (D) Visit her aunt with her parents instead.
8. Question 8 (heard only): (A) Too many people have signed up for the session. (B) The training materials have not been printed. (C) The heating in the usual room is unreliable. (D) Room D has already been booked by another team.
9. Question 9 (heard only): (A) She has lost a library book. (B) She cannot keep one of the books any longer. (C) The library has no other copy of the book. (D) She is not allowed to use the photocopier.
10. Question 10 (heard only): (A) Stay at her son's house for a while. (B) Sleep on the sofa in her home. (C) Move her bedroom downstairs. (D) Have an operation on her knee.
11. Question 11 (heard only): (A) Run the meeting with the client. (B) Change his dentist appointment. (C) Ask the client to keep the original time. (D) Prepare a new price list.
12. Question 12 (heard only): (A) Working from home would not suit him. (B) He would like to work from home every day. (C) The library is too far from his house. (D) The new policy should start sooner.

Part 2 — (A) Why Yawns Spread

In this part, you will hear six passages, (A) through (F). Each passage will be followed by two questions. For each question, choose the best answer from among the four choices printed. The passage and the questions will be given only once.

1. Question 13 (heard only): (A) It was proven by a study using cold packs. (B) It has not been supported by experiments. (C) It explains why yawns spread between people. (D) It is accepted by most scientists today.
2. Question 14 (heard only): (A) People with high empathy scores rarely yawn alone. (B) Strangers usually avoid yawning in front of each other. (C) People catch yawns more often from those they are close to. (D) Yawning helps people to recover from stress.

Part 2 — (B) The Humble Pencil

In this part, you will hear six passages, (A) through (F). Each passage will be followed by two questions. For each question, choose the best answer from among the four choices printed. The passage and the questions will be given only once.

1. Question 15 (heard only): (A) They made people's hands dirty. (B) They could only be used to mark animals. (C) They were too hard to make dark lines. (D) They were too heavy to carry easily.
2. Question 16 (heard only): (A) He discovered a new graphite deposit in France. (B) He persuaded Britain to sell graphite during the war. (C) He invented a machine for cutting wooden sticks. (D) He found a way to make pencils without pure graphite.

Part 2 — (C) Teenagers and Sleep

In this part, you will hear six passages, (A) through (F). Each passage will be followed by two questions. For each question, choose the best answer from among the four choices printed. The passage and the questions will be given only once.

1. Question 17 (heard only): (A) They spend too much time using electronic devices. (B) They need less sleep than younger children. (C) Their bodies release a sleep hormone later in the evening. (D) Their schools give them too much homework.
2. Question 18 (heard only): (A) They reduce the amount of time students sleep. (B) They have been shown to lower students' grades. (C) They can cause problems for transportation and activities. (D) They are too expensive for most families.

Part 2 — (D) The Great Molasses Flood

In this part, you will hear six passages, (A) through (F). Each passage will be followed by two questions. For each question, choose the best answer from among the four choices printed. The passage and the questions will be given only once.

1. Question 19 (heard only): (A) It happened during an extremely cold week. (B) It destroyed a factory that made candy. (C) It killed people as molasses rushed through the streets. (D) It was caused by an earthquake.
2. Question 20 (heard only): (A) The company was allowed to rebuild the tank. (B) Rules for checking the plans of large structures were tightened. (C) Molasses could no longer be stored in cities. (D) Residents were blamed for ignoring the leaks.

Part 2 — (E) City Birds and Noise

In this part, you will hear six passages, (A) through (F). Each passage will be followed by two questions. For each question, choose the best answer from among the four choices printed. The passage and the questions will be given only once.

1. Question 21 (heard only): (A) They sing at a higher pitch than birds in forests. (B) They sing only at night when the streets are quiet. (C) They have moved their nests away from roads. (D) They no longer use song to defend their territory.
2. Question 22 (heard only): (A) Traffic noise may increase at night. (B) Birds may be unable to find food in forests. (C) Females may find the changed songs less attractive. (D) Roads may need to be repaired more often.

Part 2 — (F) Libraries of Things

In this part, you will hear six passages, (A) through (F). Each passage will be followed by two questions. For each question, choose the best answer from among the four choices printed. The passage and the questions will be given only once.

1. Question 23 (heard only): (A) Items can be bought there more cheaply than in stores. (B) Members receive free training in running a business. (C) They will eventually replace traditional libraries. (D) Many household tools are hardly ever used by their owners.
2. Question 24 (heard only): (A) To add books to their collections. (B) To solve problems with space and record keeping. (C) To stop charging membership fees. (D) To repair items that were returned broken.

Part 3 — Real-Life

In this part, you will hear five passages, (G) through (K). The passages represent real-life situations. Before each passage, you will have 10 seconds to read the Situation and Question printed. After you hear the passage, choose the best answer from among the four choices. The passage will be given only once.

1. Question 25 (heard only): (A) The telescope kit. (B) The Junior Chemistry Lab. (C) The Crystal Garden set. (D) The Build-a-Bot kit.
2. Question 26 (heard only): (A) Economy Air. (B) Priority International. (C) Global Saver. (D) Express International.
3. Question 27 (heard only): (A) Homework Buddies. (B) Riverside Cleanup. (C) Hillview Animal Shelter. (D) City Hospital visits.
4. Question 28 (heard only): (A) Choose the Basic Plan. (B) Choose the Standard Plan. (C) Book directly with Swift Movers. (D) Choose the Premium Plan.
5. Question 29 (heard only): (A) Little Bakers. (B) Pizza from Scratch. (C) Family Thai Kitchen. (D) Sushi Rolling.

Part 1 — Free conversation

The interview begins with a short free conversation. The examiner greets you and asks a few simple questions about yourself. This conversation is not based on the card.

1. Hello. May I have your name, please? ... Thank you. Could you tell me a little about yourself? Example: Of course. I work as a nurse at a hospital in the city center. It's a busy job, but I find it very rewarding. On my days off, I like baking bread and going to the swimming pool.
2. I see. How did you get here today? Example: I came by train and then walked from the station. It took about forty minutes, but the weather was nice, so I enjoyed the walk.

Part 2 — Narration and questions

You have one minute to look at the four pictures and prepare. Then narrate the story for about two minutes, beginning with the sentence on the card. The examiner then asks Question No. 1 about the fourth picture. After that, you turn the card over and answer Questions No. 2 to No. 4 without looking at it.

1. You have one minute to prepare. This is a story about a couple who wanted to live in the countryside. Your story should begin with the following sentence: One day, a couple was relaxing in their small apartment in the city. ... Please begin your narration. You have two minutes. Example: One day, a couple was relaxing in their small apartment in the city. The wife showed her husband a website about a village called Pine Valley, which was offering support to people who wanted to move there and renovate a house. Her husband seemed very interested. A few weeks later, the couple visited Pine Valley. A man from the town office showed them an old house with a large garden, and they were delighted with it. Six months later, the couple was working hard to repair the house. The wife was painting the walls, and the husband was carrying wood with the help of some friendly neighbors. They had also started growing vegetables in the garden. A year later, the couple had settled into their new home. However, the husband was reading a notice saying that the bus service to the village would end on March 31. His wife looked worried, because they did not have a car.
2. Please look at the fourth picture. If you were the husband, what would you be thinking? Example: I'd be thinking, "This is a serious problem. Without the bus, it'll be very hard for us to get to the station or the hospital. We should talk to our neighbors and the town office to see if there's another way to get around, like a shared taxi. If not, we may have to buy a car after all."
3. Now, please turn over the card and put it down. Do you think more young people will choose to live in rural areas in the future? Example: Yes, I think so. Now that many companies allow remote work, young people don't need to live near their offices. Housing in rural areas is also much cheaper, so they can have more space and enjoy a less stressful lifestyle close to nature.
4. Should companies allow their employees to work from home more often? Example: Yes, they should. Working from home saves employees a lot of commuting time, which they can use for rest or family. Studies also show that many people can concentrate better at home, so productivity doesn't necessarily fall.
5. These days, many towns in rural areas are losing population. Should the government spend more money to support these towns? Example: Yes. If these towns disappear, local traditions and farming will be lost too. The government could use money to keep public transportation and hospitals running, which would encourage people to stay or even move there.