Mature Students Admissions Pathway (MSAP)

Sample Questions
2010

Section 1 – Written English (1 hour)

Section 2 – Reasoning in the Humanities and Social Sciences (1 hour)

ACER © 2010
 MSAP Section 1 –
Sample prompts: Written English

Time: one hour, plus five minutes reading Give each piece of writing a title that will help
and thinking time. orient a reader to the approach you are taking.

MSAP Section 1 requires written responses Your piece of writing will be judged on:
to two themes.
what you have to say and how well you
Part A is a more formal public affairs issue that
organise and present your point of view; and
invites argument. Part B is a less formal topic
that invites personal reflection. Four prompts the construction, style and mechanics of your
will be presented in each part. Candidates must writing.
choose to address one prompt only in each part.
The following themes and prompts indicate the
Write the number of the prompt you are kind of stimulus material that will be offered in
responding to at the top of each response. this test:

Part A Consider the following topics and develop a piece of writing in response to one of them.
1 Our society is changing a great deal, but change is not always progress, and there are
some ways in which our society is changing for the worse.
2 There has never been a time in human historywhen so manypeople have been able
to live a safe and secure life, and we have science and technology to thank for such
benefits.
3 Science and technology have brought many benefits, but they have also brought
problems that may eventually negate those benefits.
4 Science has made great progress in understanding the physical world, but science has
not made much progress in understanding the human world.

Part B Consider the following topics and develop a piece of writing in response to one of them.
5 Friendship is something that most people see as veryimportant, but most friendships
turn out to be superficial and fragile
6 Romances come and go, but it is friendship that remains.
7 It is important that we learn to be confident within ourselves rather than dependent on
the good opinion of others.
8 You have to work at a friendship, because without tolerance and respect, even the best
friendships soon disappear.

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 MSAP Section 2 –
Reasoning in the Humanities and Social Sciences
Sample multiple-choice questions

Please note there are 24 questions in this section.

The actual MSAP test contains 35 questions.

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 UNIT 1

Questions 1 – 5

The following passage is from a novel.

Mrs Luna glanced at him from head to foot, and gave a little smiling sigh, as if he had been
a long sum in addition. And, indeed, he was very long, Basil Ransom, and he even looked a
little hard and discouraging, like a column of figures, in spite of the friendly face which he
bent upon her, and which, in its thinness, had a deep dry line, a sort of premature wrinkle,
on either side of the mouth. He was tall and lean, and dressed throughout in black; his shirt- 5
collar was low and wide, and the triangle of linen, a little crumpled, exhibited by the opening
of his waistcoat, was adorned by a pin containing a small red stone. In spite of this decoration
the young man looked poor – as poor as a young man could look who had such a fine head
and such magnificent eyes.

1 Which one of the following best describes Mrs Luna’s general impression of Basil Ransom?
She finds him
A cold and distant. C attractive but slightly puzzling.
B pathetic and endearing. D overbearing but superficially friendly.

2 Mrs Luna’s ‘little smiling sigh’ (line 1) suggests that she feels
A basically in control of the encounter.
B irritated by Basil Ransom’s appearance.
C tired of having to cope with difficult men.
D helpless and vulnerable in front of Basil Ransom.

3 The mathematical metaphor at the beginning of the passage (‘a long sum in addition’) gives
the impression that Mrs Luna
A makes cunning calculations.
B has a problem figuring out Basil Ransom.
C reduces human problems to abstract concepts.
D has a problem and Basil Ransom will solve it.

4 Basil Ransom’s face has ‘a deep dry line, a sort of premature wrinkle, on either side of the mouth’
(lines 4 and 5).
This suggests he
A is older than he looks.
B lacks ordinary human feeling.
C has an element of hardness in his character.
D has experienced more than one might have expected.

5 The description of Basil Ransom gives the sense that he

A cultivates a careless elegance.
B is slovenly in his personal habits.
C wants to make a good impression.
D wants Mrs Luna to be aware of his poverty.

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 UNIT 2

Question 6

6 The joke in the cartoon is to suggest that

A every problem can eventually be solved.
B the desert is an extremely dangerous place.
C some solutions are worse than the problem.
D friendship is invaluable in difficult circumstances.

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 UNIT 3

Questions 7 – 11

It is ironical that a person who contributed so much to the cult of high technology should
also have been instrumental in proposing the conservation of natural resources. However,
Buckminster Fuller has managed both and, in doing so, invented one of the most potent
images of modern ‘alternative’ utopia, the geodesic dome.
Fuller designed several ideal cities of the megastructure class, but he also developed 5
the concept of ‘Spaceship Earth’ in which the world is seen as a limited entity, with limited
energy income from the sun and limited ‘reserves’ in the energy bank. Thus he stresses that
resources should be used with greater and greater efficiency, as in the case of ‘a one-tenth ton
Telstar satellite outperforming 75,000 tons of transatlantic cable’. Utopia would be possible
only if technology provided more and more goods from fewer and fewer resources: 10
It was impossible when people thought that there was only enough for a minority to
live in comfort. But utopia is now, for all or for none. Because invisible technology
can do much more with less, utopia is, inherently, possible for the first time. Bodily
needs must precede metaphysical contentment.
During the 1960s, Fuller inaugurated the World Design Science Decade to stimulate the 15
achievement of this utopia, for he believed that the state of society was such that a utopia was
necessary to ensure its survival:
Let us . . . commit ourselves earnestly to the Design Science Decade approach to
achieving utopia. This moment of realisation that it soon must be utopia or oblivion
coincides exactly with the discovery by man that, for the first time in history, utopia 20
is, at least, physically possible of human attainment.
Most people believed that science and technology were far more important to utopia
than mere social or political matters. Buckminster Fuller is emphatic in adding design to
the list. ‘There is only one revolution tolerable to all men, all societies and all systems,’ he
wrote, ‘Revolution by Design and Invention.’ However, it should not be surprising to find 25
the designer occupying a role as utopian, for design is the necessary link between scientific
theory and a useable product. Moreover, a designer’s work inevitably involves speculations
and assumptions about the future, however much it may be clothed in professional jargon.
Indeed, if progress is the realisation of utopias, it is, to a considerable extent, designers who
turn the technical utopias into working projects and programmes. 30
The utopian assumptions of these projects need close scrutiny and it should not be
assumed that they are for the good of all. For knowledge, scientific or otherwise, may be
a wonderful thing, but its use in utopia is rarely disinterested or beneficial to all, as is well
illustrated by the control and manipulation of knowledge in Plato’s republic. Just as in Plato’s
time, competing concepts of utopia co-exist – the utopia of the stable state with the utopia 35
of freedom and cooperation. To date, science and design have almost exclusively served the
former, but, if it is, as Fuller claims, a matter of utopia or oblivion, then it might be appropriate
for science to change sides.

7 Fuller’s concept of ‘Spaceship Earth’ (line 6) is best described as seeing the Earth as
A having a very limited expectation of continued existence.
B needing structures erected on its surface to protect its inhabitants.
C an object with limited supply and support resources for its inhabitants.
D a utopia, developed with all the skills of artists, scientists and technologists.

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8 Fuller’s statement that ‘technology can do much more with less’ (lines 12 and 13) is best illustrated
by mention of the
A concept of an ‘energy bank’.
B concept of ‘Spaceship Earth’.
C example of the Telstar satellite.
D inauguration of the World Design Science Decade.

9 The crucial contribution of design and designers to world development lies in the
A transmission of theory into practice.
B addition of a new sort of philosophy.
C replacement of evolution by revolution.
D concentration on the future rather than the past.

10 Lines 35 and 36 of the passage refer to ‘competing concepts of utopia’. The distinction between the
two competing concepts mentioned is best described as
A political as against social.
B speculative as against definite.
C superficial as against meaningful.
D achievable as against unachievable.

11 The last sentence of the passage suggests that ‘it might be appropriate for science to change sides’.
Which of the following statements would Fuller be most likely to support, given the evidence of his
views in the passage?
A Scientists cannot be relied upon to be disinterested and impartial.
B Designers have already seen the need for freedom and cooperation.
C Conservationists deserve the support of scientists and technologists.
D Mankind will not survive unless scientists support freedom and cooperation.

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 UNIT 4

Questions 12 – 16

This unit is based on the diagram on the opposite page.

12 The El Niño phenomenon is first indicated by variations in

A water currents.
B storm clouds.
C jet streams.
D winds.

13 The cross-section diagrams to the right of the main map draw attention to the effects of
A cold water in creating rough seas and rain-bearing storm clouds.
B unnatural increases in water volume on overall sea levels.
C global warming on the average temperature of the ocean.
D warm water fluctuations on weather and the food chain.

14 In an El Niño year, absence of warm water is likely to cause Indonesia to experience

A storms.
B reduced rainfall.
C cold wind blasts.
D stronger jet streams.

15 One effect of El Niño in 1982 was to destroy the anchovy fishing industry in Peru. According to the
information given in the diagrams and text, the most likely reason for this was that
A stronger trade winds off the coast of Peru made fishing hazardous.
B the fish were driven away by cold water welling up from below.
C jet streams redirected to the south caused havoc.
D the fish were deprived of food.

16 In an El Niño year floods are caused in desert regions of South America because
A the southerly jet stream from Indonesia causes more wetness and cold.
B deep cold water rises abnormally to flood proportions.
C large areas of warm water settle along the coast.
D overall sea levels drop due to trade winds.

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El Niño year INDONESIA PERU
ALASKA CANADA
Normal
WARM WATER
North JET STREAM
Pacific Ocean Thermocline
UNITED STATES
North COLD WATER
JET STREAM
4 Atlantic
TRAD 1 INDONESIA PERU
WARM WATER EW
Equator IN
3 2 PERU El Niño WARM WATER

D
S
NORMAL FLOW
Thermocline
South Pacific Ocean OF UPWELLED
WATER CHILE COLD WATER
(see diagrams at right)

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1 2 3 4
Normal year: The trade Normal year: Cold, Normal year: A pool of Normal year: The jet
winds blow from east to nutrient-rich water wells warm water sits off streams deliver rain to
west, pulling warm water up from below, supporting Indonesia, bringing rains southern Mexico and the
behind. the Pacific food chain. to the region. Pacific Northwest.
El Niño year: The trade El Niño year: Stationary El Niño year: The warm El Niño year: The jet
winds slacken, for largely warm water prevents water sloshes east, taking streams shift north, and so
mysterious reasons. upwelling. Fish stocks fall. the storm clouds with it. do the rains.
 UNIT 5

Questions 17 – 23

The poems in this unit are on the subject of war.

Break of Day in the Trenches

The darkness crumbles away –

It is the same old druid Time as ever
Only a live thing leaps my hand –
A queer sardonic rat –
As I pull the parapet’s poppy 5
To stick behind my ear.
Droll rat, they would shoot you if they knew
Your cosmopolitan sympathies.
Now you have touched this English hand
You will do the same to a German – 10
Soon, no doubt, if it be your pleasure
To cross the sleeping green between.
It seems you inwardly grin as you pass
Strong eyes, fine limbs, haughty athletes
Less chanced than you for life, 15
Bonds to the whims of murder,
Sprawled in the bowels of the earth,
The torn fields of France.
What do you see in our eyes
At the shrieking iron and flame 20
Hurled through still heavens?
What quaver – what heart aghast?
Poppies whose roots are in man’s veins
Drop, and are ever dropping;
But mine in my ear is safe, 25
Just a little white with the dust.

Isaac Rosenberg

17 Consider lines 7–15. In the context of the whole poem, these lines primarily convey
A an angry assertion that both the enemy and the rat should be shot.
B a wry observation that the rat has a freedom denied to the fighting man.
C condemnation of the ‘haughty athletes’ being forced to fight in rat-infested trenches.
D underlying confidence that in this war German and English forces are evenly matched.

18 ‘In these lines the tone becomes more directly emotional and personal than elsewhere in the poem.’
To which part of the poem does this critical comment best apply?
A lines 3–6
B lines 7–14
C lines 19–22
D lines 23–26

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19 The images of the poppy and the rat in this poem are best described as
A portraying the irony of man’s position in war.
B distracting attention away from the agony of war.
C symbolising the way all forms of life are equally threatened by war.
D dramatising parts of the war scene removed from the location of this battle.

20 In the poem as a whole, the poet places the emphasis on

A suggesting the strange conditions under which life continues in war.
B making explicit his sense of serenity despite the shattering experience of war.
C expressing his own sense of remoteness from nature as life is destroyed around him.
D presenting a description of the landscape in order to suggest the shattering experience of war.

Question 21 relates to the following poem.

Grass

Pile the bodies high at Austerlitz and Waterloo

Shovel them under and let me work –
I am the grass; I cover all.
And pile them high at Gettysburg
And pile them high at Ypres and Verdun 5
Shovel them under and let me work.
Two years, ten years, and passengers ask the conductor:
What place is this?
Where are we now?
I am the grass. 10
Let me work.

Carl Sandburg

Note: The place names mentioned in the poem were sites of battles involving a great loss of life.

21 Which one of the following best describes the tone of the poem?
A sympathetic, with a note of nostalgia
B bitter, with a note of derision
C compassionate, yet irritated
D contemptuous, yet humble

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Questions 22 and 23 involve comparisons of the poems.

22 An important similarity between the two poems is that both poets

A present man at war as beyond redemption.
B stress that the real suffering in war is not found on the battlefield.
C accept war itself as unavoidable although it involves irretrievable losses.
D comment about war without considering the issue of which side is in the right.

23 Which one of the following indicates a significant similarity between the activity of the rat and of
the grass, as presented in the first and second poems respectively?
A Their activity, though detached from man, is presented as continuing in the proximity of the
war scene.
B Their activity is impulsive and random, reflecting the disruption of the countryside.
C Their activity suggests that they identify with and share in man’s suffering.
D Their activity indicates that they support man’s actions and presence.

UNIT 6

Question 24

24 ‘The individual never asserts himself more than when he forgets himself.’
Andre Gide
The quotation above suggests that
A the assertion of individuality is overvalued.
B self criticism retards the growth of real individuality.
C expression of true individuality occurs without conscious intent.
D an individual should strive to be less assertive and self conscious.

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 ANSWERS
Unit 1: Basil Ransom 1 C
2 A
3 B
4 D
5 C
Unit 2: The Desert 6 C
Unit 3: Utopia 7 C
8 C
9 A
10 A
11 D
Unit 4: El Niño 12 D
13 D
14 B
15 D
16 C
Unit 5: War Poems 17 B
18 C
19 A
20 A
21 B
22 D
23 A
Unit 6: Andre Gide Quotation 24 C

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS – ACER thanks rights holders who have kindly granted permission to reproduce
the material cited below. Every effort has been made to trace and acknowledge copyright. However, should
any infringement have occurred, ACER tenders its apology and invites copyright owners to contact ACER
at permissions@acer.edu.au.

Academic Press, New York, for the extract from Human Information Processing: An Introduction to
Psychology by P.H. Lindsey and D.A. Norman; Chatto and Windus, London, for the poem ‘Break of Day in
the Trenches’ by Isaac Rosenberg, from Men Who March Away: Poems of the First World War, compiled by
I.M. Parsons; Holt, Rinehart and Winston Inc for the poem ‘Grass’ by Carl Sandburg, from Cornhuskers;
Futura Publications in association with Macdonald and Co. Publishers, London, for the cartoon from The
Far Side by Gary Larson, 1989.

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