B2 PROFICIENCY SAMPLE EXAM 2

LISTENING (15 PTS)

PART A) You will hear an interview with someone who is involved in the music
business. For questions 1-5, choose the best answer (a, b or c). Write your answers
on your answer sheet. (5X1=5 pts)

1. What does James say about the radio station he started?

a) Its name was very appropriate.
b) It was more popular than he had expected.
c) It was not very expensive to run.

2. What does James say about people’s attitudes towards his age?
a) They were nicer to him when he was 12 than when he was 16.
b) They were more jealous of him when he was 12 than when he was 16.
c) They expected more of him when he was 16 than when he was 12.

3. James says that his career in music has included

a) taking over a local radio station.
b) making advertisements.
c) setting up new festivals.

4. What do we learn about advertisement on James’ TV channel?

a) There isn’t any of it.
b) It always includes music.
c) It doesn’t interrupt the programmes.

5. What does James say about his ideas?

a) Some of them are not very realistic.
b) He expects to have good ones all the time.
c) He makes sure that he doesn’t forget them.

PART B) You will hear an interview with a famous shoe designer. For questions 1-5,
complete the sentences with a word or a short phrase. Write your answers on your
answer sheet. (5x1=5 pts)

Famous Shoe Designer

The person who means the most to Manolo is his (1) __________.

Manolo did not have a/an (2) __________ when he was young.

His parents wanted him to study (3) __________ at university.

A famous magazine editor told him he should begin (4) __________.

In London there was a / an (5) ___________________ of his work.

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B2 PROFICIENCY SAMPLE EXAM 2

PART C) You will hear five people giving opinions about travelling. For questions 1-5,
choose from the list A-F which of the opinions each person mentions. Use the letters
only once. There is one extra letter which you do not need to use. Write your answers
on your answer sheet. (5x1=5 pts)

A) There are no real travellers any more. Speaker 1 _____

B) I would prefer to stay at home. Speaker 2 _____

C) Being comfortable is essential. Speaker 3 _____

D) I wouldn’t go anywhere without a guidebook. Speaker 4 _____

E) It is too expensive. Speaker 5 _____

F) The best trips are for work or study purposes.

READING (25 PTS)

PART A) You are going to read an article about a woman who works for a department
store. Six sentences have been removed from the article. Choose from the sentences
A-F the one which fits each gap (1-5). There is one extra sentence which you do not
need to use. (5X2=10 pts)

A) Many department stores run them, and if you can get a place on one, it will move you
up the ladder very quickly.

B) But whether or not you’re a graduate in something like that, the main thing is to get
retail experience by working on the shop floor.

C) This has led to an overall drop in sales, a trend that isn’t likely to be reversed for quite
a while.

D) That can be unpleasant, but you have to take the emotion out of it and remember that
it’s business.

E) Of course, not everyone can or wants to be promoted in that way, and lots of people
dream of opening boutiques, but it’s very risky.

F) Consequently, we’ve had to shout about the fact that we do stylish items of clothing,
not just household goods like those.

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B2 PROFICIENCY SAMPLE EXAM 2

My Job: Fashion Buyer

Lindsey Friedman, 27, is a product development manager at a major department store

in the capital. She is in charge of buying men’s branded casual wear.

What do I actually do? Well, I work with clothing suppliers to select and build the perfect
range of clothes for our target customer. This means I need to find the right balance between
choosing some unusual, on-trend fashion pieces, as well as other clothes, such as classic
white T-shirts, which I know will sell really well. Much of the job involves building
relationships with suppliers, negotiating prices and making sure that deliveries of new stock
arrive on time. I also work with department managers and a marketing team within the store
to build my vision.

The most satisfying thing for me about the job has been building my department into a
credible fashion destination, as people often think of a department store as just a place to
buy their cushions. (1) _____ When you’ve spent months planning a new collection, seeing it
launched is so exciting. It’s so amazing when we take a gamble and include an
unconventional look and it quickly takes off and sells really well.

On the other hand, it’s my job to stay on top of the trends and create newness, so if I want to
try out a new brand I have to drop an existing one, even if we’ve always had a long working
relationship. (2) _____ The other side of the coin is that we’re playing catch-up in fashion
terms, and sometimes we get rejected too. There are cool brands of clothing that we’d like to
sell that don’t want to have too many accounts, so they won’t let us stock them,
unfortunately.

People sometimes ask me what skills you need to be a successful buyer, and I reply that any
type of fashion degree is a good way to start-mine was in textiles and clothing management.
(3)_____ Obviously, you need to be really enthusiastic and motivated. You also have to be
strategic, analytical and very well-organised, and you need to have a creative vision of what
the perfect collection should look like. And you have to be good with figures, too, because
you need to balance your budget.

The advice I would give to someone starting out in buying is to join an executive training
programme. (4) _____ For instance, you can go from being a buyer’s administrative assistant
to an assistant buyer to a junior buyer in just a few years. You also need to stay on top of the
fashion industry and keep reading fashion magazines. Learn as much as you can about the
product you are buying, and think carefully about the target customer you are selling to.

In general, the salaries are competitive and the career path is quite well defined. At the lower
end, a buyer’s administrative assistant might earn a little over the average national wage, but
an experienced buyer might earn more than double that. You can move into the supply side,
or work your way up to become a buying manager for a department store. (5)_____ Most of
them, sadly, fail in their first year.

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B2 PROFICIENCY SAMPLE EXAM 2

PART B) You are going to read a text about a group of women who went on an
expedition in the Arctic circle. For questions 1-5, choose the answer (a, b, c, or d)
which you think fits best according to the text. Write your answers on your answer
sheet. (5X1=5 pts)

Polar Purpose

In 1997, a group of twenty British women made history. Working in five teams with
four women in each team, they walked to the North Pole. Apart from one experienced female
guide, the other women were all ordinary people who had never done anything like this in
their lives before. They managed to survive in an environment which had defeated several
very experienced men during the same few spring months of that year. Who were these
women and how did they succeed where others failed?
In the summer of 1995, an advertisement was put in several British newspapers:
“Adventurers are being sought for the formation of an all-woman team to walk to the North
Pole. Applications are invited from women of any age, background and occupation who are
willing to put up with real pain and discomfort to achieve an important goal.”
Nearly one hundred women took part in the first selection weekend and then, after
several training expeditions designed to weed out unsuitable applicants, twenty women were
chosen. The youngest of these was twenty-one and the oldest fifty-one. In the group there
was a mother of triplets, a teacher, a flight attendant, a policewoman and even a film
producer.
They were a mixed bunch but they all really wanted to take part in the venture and
make it a success. Each of the women agreed to raise the 2500 pounds needed for
expanses and the airfare to Canada, where the expedition began. They also committed
themselves to following an intensive physical training programme before leaving the UK so
that they were fit enough to take part in the expedition without endangering their own or
others’ lives.
The women set off as soon as they were ready. Once on the ice, each woman had to
ski along while dragging a sledge weighing over 50 kilos. This would not have been too bad
on a smooth surface, but for long stretches, the Arctic ice is pushed up into huge mounds
two or three metres high and the sledges had to be hauled up one side and carefully let
down the other so that they didn’t smash. The temperature was always below freezing point
and sometimes strong winds made walking while pulling so much weight almost impossible.
It was also very difficult to put up their tents when they stopped each night.
In such conditions the women were making good progress if they covered fourteen or
fifteen kilometres a day. But there was another problem. Part of the journey was across a
frozen sea with moving water underneath the ice and at some points the team would drift
back more than five kilometres during the night. That meant that after walking in these very
harsh conditions for ten hours on one day, they had to spend part of the next day covering
the same ground again. Furthermore, each day it would take three hours from waking up to
setting off and another three hours every evening to set up the camp and prepare the
evening meal.
So how did they manage to succeed? They realised that they were part of a team. If
any one of them didn’t pull her sledge or get her job done, she would be jeopardising the
success of the whole expedition. Any form of selfishness could result in the efforts of
everyone else being completely wasted, so personal feelings had to be put to one side. At
the end of their journey, the women agreed that it was mental effort far more than physical
fitness that got them to the North Pole.

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B2 PROFICIENCY SAMPLE EXAM 2

1. Why were the women who took part in the expedition chosen?
a) They were the only ones who answered the advertisement.
b) They had done a weekend training course.
c) The women had not met one another before.
d) They were still in the group after the others had been eliminated.
2. What did the women who answered the advertisement have in common?
a) They were about the same age.
b) They had all suffered pain and discomfort.
c) They all had plenty of money.
d) They all wanted to achieve a goal.
3. What did each woman have to do before the start of the exhibition?
a) visit Canada
b) get fit
c) learn to ski
d) meet the other women
4. On the expedition, the women had to be careful to avoid
a) falling over on the ice.
b) being left behind.
c) damaging the sledges.
d) getting too cold at night.
5. What is the main message of the text?
a) Motivation and teamwork achieve goals.
b) Women can do anything they want.
c) It is sometimes good to experience difficult conditions.
d) Arctic conditions are very harsh.

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B2 PROFICIENCY SAMPLE EXAM 2

PART C) You are going to read a magazine article about four people’s nightmare trips.
For questions 1-10, choose from the people A-D. The people may be chosen more than
once. Write your answers on your answer sheet. (10X1=10 pts)

My Nightmare Trip

A) Pauline Vernon – Malaysia

My dad was teaching in Kota Bharu, Malaysia. When my mum and I flew out to visit
him for three weeks, he had already organised our stay in great detail. On our first
evening we had a party on the beach. It was an idyllic scene: a beautiful empty
beach, palm trees, white sand, the warm gentle waters of the South China Sea. I
swam in the shallow water thinking ‘this is the life’, when a jellyfish swam between
my legs. The sting, on both legs, was agony, and it was only then I discovered that
two people had died from jellyfish stings that year and until that point no one had
bothered to mention the sea-snakes, for whose bite there is no cure. I now
understood why the beach was deserted.

B) Sandy Henderson – the USA

I was camping in Yosemite National Park in California with a friend, when I awoke
to the sound of screaming. I looked out of my tent and saw my friend trying to get
out of his sleeping bag, with a giant black bear rearing up behind him. Quite
possibly the quickest I’ve ever got out of bed, I scrambled up and we both sprinted
in no particular direction. By pure chance, we’d passed a small cabin a little way
back on the trail and we made a dash for that, jumped inside and locked the door
as we cowered inside, afraid that the whole thing might fall off. After quite a long
time, the bear lost interest and we were able to leave the shelter.

C) Nola Tracey – Yorkshire, UK

It had seemed like such a good idea three months beforehand, which was when I’d
persuaded my parents to let me go on the geography trip, but when we actually got
off the coach in the drizzle and made our way into the youth hostel where we were
staying, I just wanted to be curled up in my own warm bed at home. The hostel was
run by a rather scary woman, who checked that we’d tidied our rooms every
morning before we went out for the day. The teachers were really nice, but even
they couldn’t do anything about the endless rain. Of course they’d imagined us all
walking in the hills in glorious sunshine – well that never happened! Instead we
stood in our waterproofs and wellies in freezing streams taking measurements for
hours on end. I got used to not being able to feel my toes!

D) Harry Green – Denmark

I went to Denmark with my friend Dan’s family on a cycling holiday. I’d wondered
what the weather would be like, but I needn’t have worried. It was lovely and sunny!
What was a problem, though, was how far we had to cycle every day. My friend’s
family are all incredibly fit, and although I’m fairly sporty too, I struggled to keep up,
even though I’d had a great night’s sleep. My friend’s dad just kept saying, ‘Serves
you right for spending so much time playing computer games!’ He didn’t seem to
understand how hard I was finding it. We were in a beautiful part of Denmark, but
we never had the chance to stop and look at anywhere properly. And in the
evenings, all I wanted to do was sleep!

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B2 PROFICIENCY SAMPLE EXAM 2

Which person
1) had to hide from danger? _____
2) found an employee intimidating? _____
3) didn’t have time to appreciate the places they were in? _____
4) missed their home comforts? _____
5) worried about how strong something was? _____
6) found someone unsympathetic? _____
7) had a painful experience? _____
8) was unhappy about the weather? _____
9) was unaware of the danger in what they were doing? _____
10) realised on arrival that the trip was a mistake? _____

USE OF ENGLISH (30 PTS)

PART A) Read the text below and decide which answer best fits each gap. There is an
example at the beginning (0). Write your answers on your answer sheet. (7X1=7 pts)

Off the Beaten Track

The expression “getting off the beaten track” is used to (0) ____ to the experience of
avoiding famous attractions and choosing instead to explore (1) ____ well-known places
when travelling. For many people the whole point of travel is to visit cities such as Paris or
Venice that have a great reputation (2) ____ places of beauty and historical importance.
Furthermore, they are not particularly bothered by the crowds that (3) ____ usually found in
such locations. But for others who have more of a sense of adventure, a good holiday must
(4) ____ unfamiliar experiences, even taking some risks.

Travelling off the beaten track may be done by some students who don’t stick to a rigid plan,
but make decisions about what to do (5) ____ on how they feel. Other travellers prefer to
spend money (6) ____ guided tours to unusual locations. Such tours are designed to (7)
____ their particular needs, and all the arrangements are made for them. However, people
choose to get off the beaten track, the hope is always the same: to have a special, often
unique experience of a different culture.

0. a) represent b) indicate c) refer d) mention

1. a) more b) less c) much d) fewer
2. a) as b) such as c) with d) for
3. a) have b) were c) are d) did
4. a) possess b) consist c) concern d) involve
5. a) concerning b) regarding c) depending d) relating
6. a) on b) with c) from d) by
7. a) please b) fit c) agree d) meet

PART B) Read the text and fill in the blanks with ONE WORD. There is an example at
the beginning (0). Write your answers on your answer sheet. (7X1=7 pts.)
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B2 PROFICIENCY SAMPLE EXAM 2

Preventing Sports Injuries

No matter what sport you play, there is always a risk of injury. In (0) order to avoid it
happening to you, here are some simple rules.
Firstly, anyone (1) ________ is thinking of taking up a sport should make sure they’re
already fit enough, if necessary (2) ________ doing regular exercise before they start.
People
(3) _________ only training is at the weekend have a high rate of injury.
It’s also important, particularly in contact sports (4) ________ rugby, to obey the rules, which
are there to protect players from serious harm. In the (5) ________ way, it is essential to
wear equipment such as helmets in high-speed sports (6) ________ keep your head safe.
Finally, remember that you need rest-days (7) ________ that your body can recover. And
you should never, in any circumstances, carry on training when injured.

PART C) For questions 1-8, read the text below. Use the word given in capitals at the
end of some of the lines to form a new word that fits in the gap in the same line. There
is an example at the beginning (0). Write your answers on your answer sheet.
(8x1=8 pts)

The Importance of Smell

Most people imagine that in order to be a good cook you have to be

(0) _inventive_ and understand cooking techniques. But did you know INVENT
how important smell is? (1) ____________ have now discovered that the BIOLOGY
best chefs have a highly-developed sense of smell. They think this is because
smell is very (2) ____________ linked to taste. A series of experiments tested CLOSE
eighty (3) ____________ chefs on how accurately they could identify various TRAIN
smells. The most accurate also got the top marks on their course. One
(4) ____________ said, “It seems the very best ‘smellers’ may also be the RESEARCH
greatest (5) ____________ when it comes to creating new dishes, as they INNOVATE
know which foods go together well. They tend to invent very clean,
(6) ____________ dishes that work well.” COMPLICATE
Three young chefs gave a/an (7) ____________ of this at the Food Fair DEMONSTRATE
in London this week. They not only identified smells correctly, but also
tended to use the most (8) ____________ food in their dishes, proving NUTRITION
that smell helps humans select what is best for them! The full report is available
to download on the Food Fair website.

PART D) Complete the second sentence for questions 1-8, so that it has a similar
meaning to the first sentence using the word given. Use between two to five words. Do
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B2 PROFICIENCY SAMPLE EXAM 2

not change the word given. There is an example at the beginning (0). Write your
answers on your answer sheet. (8x1=8 pts)

0. This restaurant opened five years ago.

BEEN
This restaurant __has been open for five years.
1. I don’t really want to go out this evening.
FEEL
I don’t really ___________________________ this evening.
2. It’s possible that Gary forgot the appointment.
MIGHT
Gary ___________________________ the appointment.
3. It was such an expensive tracksuit that I didn’t buy it.
SO
The tracksuit ___________________________ that I didn’t buy it.
4. If you don’t obey the rules, I’m not going to play.
UNLESS
I’m not going to play ___________________________ the rules.
5. “Can I take the day off tomorrow?” Emma asked Tom.
IF
Emma asked Tom ___________________________ the next day off.

6. Carmen is a better driver than her boyfriend.

SO
Carmen’s boyfriend doesn’t ___________________________she does.
7. We began to collect the rubbish lying on the ground.
WHICH
We began to collect ___________________________ lying on the ground.
8. I stopped doing ballet when I was at primary school.
DONE
I ___________________________ since I was at primary school.

WRITING (15 PTS)

Write an essay about one of the topics below. Use 150 – 200 words. Write your
essay on your answer sheet.

Topics:
1. Many products that we buy are made in other countries. Discuss the advantages and
disadvantages of this.

2. With the development of social media, more people are getting their news online instead
of from print media. Explain which one is better and why.

3. Nowadays the number of people using a credit card is increasing. What do you think are
the causes and effects of using it?