TEST 1

Reading passage 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading

Why good ideas fail

As part of a marketing course, two marketing experts comment on a hypothetical case study
involving TF, a fiction retail giant specializing in home furnishing. The experts give concrete
solutions and advice to assist students.
Hypothetical case study:
TF became a retail success in the 1970s when it succeeded in spotting homeware trends and
meeting the needs of its then trendy young customers. However; by 2004, the IF stores were
failing and a rethink was clearly necessary. Tibal Fisher, TF's founder and CEO, decided to
change its focus under the new brand name of TVs NextStage. His aim was to recapture the
now ageing customers that had given him his early success and target consumers aged 60+
with devices and gadgets specifically designed to assist them with the problems associated
with ageing: mobile phones with screens that were easy to read; kitchen gadgets with
comfortable grips; electronic devices that were easy to set and adjust. TF's market research
proved to be very positive, showing strong consumer support for the products.
In 2007, the stores were remodelled at a cost of US $40 million and the new brand was
launched. Each store was made more comfortable and featured a coffee shop to help increase
traffic - Tibal had predicted that if they could get customers into the stores then the products
would sell themselves. However, by 2009 it was clear that the idea was a failure and the
stores consistently remained empty. Customers complained that the new stores felt like a
senior center and reminded them that they were growing old.
Feedback from expert
Expert 1: Donna Sturgess, global head of innovation, GlaxoSmithKline
The TF team's customer research efforts are a classic case of missing the subconscious
associations at work in consumers' minds. Tibal and his executives looked only at surface
attitudes. Since those attitudes make up a relatively small part of the total consumer
response, the executives are clueless about the reason for the poor sales. It's critical for
companies to understand that every customer relates to a brand emotionally, and it's those
emotions that trigger - or block - purchases.

That's why we've focused on using emotional strategies behind branding for a number of
years now. A great example Is Alli (pronounced 'ally'), a drug to aid weight loss. The product
deals with a highly emotional issue, so in marketing it, we faced the same challenge that the
new TFstores are facing: the very thought of buying the product reminds customers that they
have problems they feel negatively In the case of TF's NextStage, the problems are age and
infirmity. In the case of Alli, the problems are excessive weight and all consequences.
There's always a risk that consumers' negative feelings will discourage them from starting or
staying on a diet. So, after extensive market research, we took a number of steps to inject
emotions into the whole process of using the product.
First, we came up with a name that sounds like a helpful partner. We also aimed to make the
container both beautiful and functional - something that didn't just hold pills but could later
be used to store diet guides and recipes. Traditional market research is unlikely to uncover
Ideas like this, so we use a wide variety of techniques. Even simple techniques such as one-
on-one interviews, or ethnographical observation that involves going into people's houses to
examine their behaviour, can provide valuable data.
Expert 2: Alex Lee, president of OXO International, maker of OXO Good Grips household
products
This retailer can get back on track by remembering a principle that applies to consumers In
general and those aged 60+ in particular: they're attracted by brands they associate with the
type of people they'd like to be - not the type they really are. That's why marketing campaigns
for surf gear feature surfers, not the city dwellers who will wear the products while doing their
shopping.
I was reminded of this principle few years ago when we wanted to find out how far we could
apply our design philosophy of makings things easier to use in order to move from our core
business, kitchen tools, into other products. We conducted what are known as focus groups,
where participants were asked to look at photos of people and pick those they are perceived
to be users and nonusers of our products. Consistently they picked people who looked fit as
the sort who would use our products, and people who look old and boring as the sort who
wouldn't. Yet the participants, all owners of our products, looked a lot more like the later
than the former.
Although the needs of elderly users and those with deteriorating vision or dexterity are very
much taken into consideration when we develop new designs, we try to offer that appeal to
20- and 30-year-olds. We believe that referring to these products as helping tools would
serve only to harm the brand in our customers' eyes. That's why our philosophy of universal
design, which involves creating products that are comfortably useable by the largest possible
range of people, is never explicitly stated as part of our marketing position.
We've found that market research does not need to be very sophisticated. For instance, we
have conducted simple surveys in the lobby of our building offering free products in exchange
for people's opinions. Some may call this unscientific but we have uncovered great insights this
way. Sometimes the most important signals come from an executive's own instincts. In Tibal
fisher's case, this could have told him what his surveys and focus groups didn't: 60-plus-year-
olds won't support a business that expects them to act their age.

Questions 1 - 5
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1? In
boxes 1-5 on your answer, write

TRUE if the statement agrees with the information

FALSE if the statement contradicts the information

NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

1. The TF NextStage stores planned to sell products to make life easier for older people
2. TF's market research indicated that people liked the products.
3. It cost more than expected to remodel the TF stores.
4. The TF NextStage coffee shops sold their own brand of food and drink.
5. TF NextStage customers liked the atmosphere in the new stores.
Questions 6 - 13
Complete the notes below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer. Write your
answers in boxes 6-13 on your answer sheet

Feedback from experts

Donna Sturgess
Problems with customer research:
• TF team limited their research to attitudes that occur at a 6....................level in
customers' minds
• TF didn't consider customers' emotions

How my company dealt with a similar problem:

• Product: Alli
• Use: help people achieve 7............
• Marketing aim: help customers see the product a positive way by:
- Giving the product a 8...............that seems helpful and supportive
- Giving the product a reusable 9..........

Market research
• Does not need to be complex
• Good information can come from interviews or studying the 10...............of
consumers in the home

Alex Lee
Problem:
• Customers are attracted to the ideal not the reality, e.g. ads for surf gear

How my company dealt with a similar problem:

• We organised 11............. to find out what images customers associate with our
products
• we do not call our products helping tools in our marketing campaigns

Market research:
• Can be basic, e.g. by doing 12................
• Company executives should follow their 13................
 READING PASSAGE 2

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-28, which are based on Reading Passage 2
Keeping the water away
New approaches to flood control
A. Recently, winter floods on the rivers of central Europe have been among the worst for
600 to 700 years, and dams and dykes (protective sea walls) have failed to solve the problem.
Traditionally, river engineers have tried to get rid of the water quickly, draining it off the land and
down to the sea in rivers re engineered as high-performance drains. But however high they build
the artificial riverbanks, the floods keep coming back. And when they come, they seem to be
worse than ever.
B. Engineers are now turning to a different plan: to sap the water's destructive strength
by dispersing it into fields; forgotten lakes and floods plains. They are reviving river bends and
marshes to curb the flow, and even plugging city drains to encourage floodwater to use other
means to go underground. Back in the days when rivers took a winding path to the sea,
floodwaters lost force and volume while meandering across flood plains and inland deltas, but
today the water tends to have a direct passage to the sea. This means that, when it rains in the
uplands, the water comes down all at once.
C. Worse, when the flood plains are closed off, the river's flow downstream becomes
more violent and uncontrollable; by turning complex river systems into the simple mechanics of a
water pipe, engineers have often created danger where they promised safety. The Rhine, Europe's
most engineered river; is a good example. For a long time engineers have erased its backwaters
and cut it off from its plain. The aim was partly to improve navigation, and partly to speed
floodwaters out of Alps and down to the North Sea. Now, when it rains in the Alps, the peak
flows from several branches of the Rhine coincide where once they arrived separately, and with
four-fifths of the Lower Rhine's flood plain barricaded off, the waters rise. The result is more
frequent flooding and greater damage. The same thing has happened in the US on the Mississippi
river, which drains the world's second largest river catchment into the Gulf of Mexico. Despite
some $7 billion spent over the last century on levees (embankments) the situation is growing
worse.
D. Specialists in water control now say that a new approach is needed - one which takes
the whole landscape into consideration. To help keep London's feet dry, the UK Environment
Agency is reflooding 10 square kilometres of the ancient flood plain of the River Thames outside
Oxford. Nearer to London, it has spent £100 million creating new wetlands and a relief channel
across 16 kilometres of flood plain. Similar ideas ate being tested in Austria, in one of Europe's
largest river restorations to date. The engineers calculate that the restored flood plain of the Drava
 River can now store up to 10 million cubic metres of floodwater, and slow down storm surges
coming out of the Alps by more than an hour, protecting towns not only in Austria, but as far
downstream as Slovenia and Croatia.
E. The Dutch, for whom preventing floods is a matter of survival, have gone furthest.
This nation, built largely on drained marshes and seabed, has had several severe shocks in the last
two decades, when very large numbers of people have had to be evacuated. Since that time, the
Dutch have broken one of their most enduring national stereotypes by allowing engineers to
punch holes in dykes. They plan to return up to a sixth of the country to its former waterlogged
state in order to better protect the rest.

F. Water use in cities also needs to change. At the moment, cities seem to create floods;
they are concreted and paved so that rains flow quickly into rivers. A new breed of 'soft engineers'
wants cities to porous, Berlin is one place where this is being done. Tough new rules for new
developments mean that drains will be prevented from becoming overloaded after heavy rains.
Architects of new urban buildings are diverting rainwater from the roofs for use in toilets and the
irrigation of roof gardens, while water falling onto the ground is collected in ponds, or passes
underground through porous paving. One high-tech urban development can store a sixth of its
annual rainfall, and reuse most of the rest.

G. Could this be expanded to protect a whole city? The test case could Los Angeles.
With non-porous surfaces covering 70% of the city, drainage is a huge challenge. Billions of
dollars have been spent digging huge drains and concreting riverbeds, but many communities still
flood regularly. Meanwhile this desert city ships water from hundreds of kilometres away to fill
its taps and swimming pool. Los Angeles has recently launched a new scheme to utilise
floodwater in the Sun Valley section of the city. The plan is to catch the rain that falls on
thousands of driveways, parking lots and rooftops in the valley. Trees will soak up water from
parking lots; houses and public buildings will capture roof water to irrigate gardens and parks,
and road drains will empty into old gravel pits to recharge the city's underground water reserves.
Result: less flooding and more water for the city. It may sound expensive, until we realise how
much is spent trying to drain cities and protect areas from flooding, and bow little this method
achieves.

Questions 14 -19
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter. A-G, in boxes 14-19 on your answer sheet
14 how legislation has forced building designers to improve water use
15 two reasons why one river was isolated from its food plain
16 how natural water courses in the past assisted flood control
17 an example of flood control on one river, affecting three countries
18 a country which has partly destroyed one of its most typical features in order to control water
19 the writer's comment on the comparative cost effectiveness of traditional flood control and
newer methods

Questions 20 and 21
Choose TWO letters A-E.
Write the correct letter, in boxes 20 and 21 on your answer sheet
According to the article, which TWO of these statements are true of the new approach to flood
control?
A. It aims to slow the movement of water to the sea.

B. It aims to channel water more directly into rivers.

C. It will cost more than twice as much as former measures.

D. It will involve the loss of some areas of land.

E. It has been tested only in The Netherlands.

Questions 22-26
Choose NO MORE THAN MO WORDS from the passage for each answer. Write your
answers in boxes 22-26 on your answer sheet.
22 Some of the most severe floods for many centuries have recently occurred in parts
of.......................
23 The Rhine and the ..................... rivers have experienced similar problems with water control
24 An area near Oxford will flooded to protect the city of ....................
25 Planners who wish to allow water to pass more freely through city surfaces are called
.............................
26 A proposal for part of the city of.........................could show whether small-scale water
projects could apply on a large scale.
READING PASSAGE 3
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27- 40, which are based on Reading Passage 3?
The Diprotodon (a rhinoceros-sized wombat), an example of Australia's now extinct megafauna

Australia's Megafauna Controversy

Just how long did humans live side by side with megafauna in Australia?
Barry Brook, Richard Gillespie and Paul Martin dispute previous claims of a lengthy
coexistence

Over the past 50 millennia, Australia has witnessed the extinction of many species of large animals,
including a rhinoceros-sized wombat and goannas the size of crocodiles Debate about the possible
cause of these extinctions has continued for more than 150 years and one the crucial questions raised
is how long humans and megafauna coexisted in Australia. We need to know the overlap of time to
make an informed choice between the two main theories regarding the causes of these extinctions. If
humans and megafauna coexisted for a protracted period then climate change is the more likely
cause. However, if the megafauna became extinct shortly after the arrival of humans, then humans
are the likely culprits
The archaeological site at Cuddie Springs in eastern Australia appears to be well preserved. This
dusty claypan holds within its sediments a rich cache of flaked stone and seed-grinding tools, and
side by side with these clear signals of human culture are the bones of a dozen or more species of
megafauna. Ors Judith Field and Stephen Wroe of the University of Sydney, who excavated the site,
claim that it provides unequivocal evidence of a long overlap of humans and megafauna, and
conclude that aridity leading up to the last Ice Age brought about their eventual demise. In the long-
standing explanation of this site, artefacts such as stone tools and extinct animals remain were
deposited over many thousands of years in an ephemeral lake- a body of water existing for a
relatively short time - and remained in place and undisturbed until the present day.

There is no disputing the close association of bones and stones at Cuddie Springs, as both are
found 1 to 1.7 metres below the modern surface. The dating of these layers is accurate: ages for
the sediments were obtained through radiocarbon dating of charcoal fragments and
luminescence dating of sand grains from the same levels (revealing when a sample was last
exposed to sunlight). Intriguingly, some of the stone show surface features indicating their use
for processing plants, and a few even have well-preserved blood and hair residues suggesting
they were used in butchering animals.
But is the case proposed by Field aside Wroe clear-cut? We carried out a reanalyse of the
scientific data from Cuddie Springs that brings into question their conclusions. The amount of
anthropological evidence found at the site is remarkable: we estimate there are more than 3
tonnes of charcoal and more than 300 tonnes of stone buried there. Field and Wroe estimate that
there are approximately 20 million artefacts. This plethora of tools is hard to reconcile with a
site that was only available for occupation when the lake was dry. Furthermore, no cultural
features such as oven pits have been discovered. If the sediment layers have remained
undisturbed since being laid down, as Field and Wroe contend, then the ages of those sediments
should increase with depth. However, our analysis revealed a number of inconsistencies.
First, the charcoal samples are all roughly 36,000 years old. Second, sand in the two upper
levels is considerably younger than charcoal from the same levels. Third, Field and Wroe say
that the tools and seed-grinding stones used for plant and animal processing are accient, yet they
are very similar to implements found elsewhere that were in use only a few thousand years ago.
Also interest is the fact that a deep drill core made a mere 60 metres from the site recovered no
stone artefact or fossil bones whatsoever. These points suggests strongly that the sediments have
been moved about and some of the old charcoal has been re-deposited in younger layers. Indeed,
one sample of cow bone found I metre below the surface came from sediments where charcoal
dated at 6,000 and 23,000 years old is mixed with 17,000-year-old sand. The megafauna bones
themselves have not yet dated, although new technological developments make this a
possibility in the near future.

We propose that the archaeologists have actually been sampling the debris carried by ancient
flood channels beneath the site, including charcoal transported from bushfires that
intermittently occurred within the catchment. Flood events more likely explain the
accumulation of megafauna remains, and could have mixed old bones With fresh deposits.
European graziers also disturbed the site in 1876 by constructing a well to provide water their
cattle. Given the expense of well-digging, we speculate that the graziers made sure it was
protected from the damage caused by cattle hooves by lining the surface with small stones
collected from further afield, including prehistoric quarries. This Idea Is consistent with the thin
layer of stones spread over a large area, with cattle occasionally breaking through the gravel
surface and forcing the stone and even cattle bones deeper into the waterlogged soil.

The lack of conclusive evidence that humans and megafauna coexisted for a lengthy period
casts doubt on Field and Wroe's assertion that climate change was responsible for the
extinction of Australia's megafauna. However, we do not suggest that newly arrived, well-
armed hunters systematically slaughtered all the large beasts they encountered. Recent studies
based on the biology of modern-day large mammals, combined with observations of people
who still practise a traditional hunter gatherer lifestyle, reveal an unexpected paradox and
suggest a further possible explanation as to what happened. Using a mathematical model, It was
found that a group of 10 people killing only one juvenile Diprotodon each year would be
sufficient to bring about the extinction of that spaces within 1,000 years. This suggests that here, as
in other parts of the word, the arrival of humans in lands previously inhabited only by animals
created a volatile combination in which large animals fared badly.

Questions 27-30
Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 3? In
boxes 27-30 on your answer sheet, write

TRUE FALSE if the statement agrees with the information if

NOT GIVEN the statement contradicts the information if there
is no information on this

27 Field and Wroe argue that findings at the Cuddie Springs site show that people lived in
this area at the same time as megafauna.
28 Field and Wroe believe it is likely that smaller megafauna species survived the last Ice
Age
29 The writers believe that the dating of earth up to 1.7m below the present surface at
Cuddie Springs is unreliable.
30 Some artefacts found at Cuddie Springs were preserved well enough to reveal their
function

Questions 31 - 35
Complete the summary using the list of words, A-I, below
Write the correct letter, A-I in boxes 31-35 on your answer sheet
 The writers' arguments against Field and Wroe's analysis of the scientific data from Cuddie
Springs

One objection to Field and Wroe's interpretation is the large quantity of charcoal, 31............
and artefacts found at Cuddie Springs. Such large numbers of artefacts would impossible if
the area had been covered with 32....................................................for a period. There is
also a complete lack of man-made structures, for instance those used for 33............

Other evidence that doubt on Field and Wroe's claim is the fact that while some material in
the highest levels of sediment is 36,000 years old, the 34....................in the same levels is
much more recent. The tools used to process plants and animals may also be newer than Field
and Wroe believe. Further evidence against human occupation of the area is the absence of
tools and 35..............................................................................................a short distance away.
Questions 36-40
Choose the letter, A, B, C or D. Write the correct letter in boxes 36-40 on your answer sheet.
36 What conclusions did the writers reach about the inconsistencies in the data from Cuddie
Springs?
A. The different layers of sediment have been mixed over time.
B. The sand evidence is unhelpful and should be disregarded.
C. The area needs to be re-examined when technology improves.
D. The charcoal found in the area cannot be dated.

37 According to the writers, what impact could a natural phenomenon have had on this site?
A. Floods could have caused the death of the megafauna.
B. Floods could have disturbed the archaeological evidence.
C. Bushfires could have prevented humans from settling in the area for any length of time
D. Bushfires could have destroyed much of the evidence left by megafauna and humans

38 What did the writers speculate about the people who lived at this site in 1876?
A. They bred cattle whose bones could have been confused with megafauna
B. They found that the soil was too waterlogged for farming
C. They allowed cattle to move around freely at the site
D. They brought stones there from another area

39 In the final paragraph what suggestion do the writers hide about Australia's megafauna?
A. A rapid change in climate may have been responsible for the extinction of the megafauna.
B. Megafauna could have died out as a result of small numbers being killed year after year.
C. The population of humans at that time was probably insufficient to cause the
extinction of the megafauna.
D. The extinction of ancient animals should not be compared to that of modern-day species.

40 Which of the following best represents the writers' criticism of Field and Wroe?
A. Their methods were not well thought out
B. Their excavations did not go deep enough.
C. Their technology failed to obtain precise data.
D. Their conclusions were based on inconsistent data.