Education Systems

Respuesta correcta: C) exacerbate

• A) alleviateIncorrect. 'Alleviate' means to make something less severe, which is the opposite of what's needed.
• B) mitigateIncorrect. 'Mitigate' means to make something less severe, which doesn't fit the negative consequence implied.
• C) exacerbateCorrect. 'Exacerbate' means to make a problem or bad situation worse, which fits perfectly here.
• D) facilitateIncorrect. 'Facilitate' means to make an action or process easy or easier, which is not appropriate for a social divide.

Respuesta correcta: C) hollows out

• A) builds up'Build up' means to strengthen, and the sentence describes the opposite, since a timetable with no laboratory slot removes capacity rather than adding it. Nothing in it suggests reinforcement.
• B) rules out'Rule out' means to exclude entirely, and the course is not being abolished; it keeps its structure and loses one component. The clause 'the practical half of every science course' shows a reduction, not a total bar.
• C) hollows outTo hollow something out is to remove what gave it substance while leaving the outer shape in place, and the sentence describes exactly that: the course keeps its name and loses its practical content. The verb also fits the idea of an inner part being emptied.
• D) turns down'Turn down' means to lower a volume or to reject a request, and neither applies here. Nothing in the sentence involves sound, and the timetable is not refusing anything.

Respuesta correcta: A) date

• A) dateAs a verb 'to date' means to show how old something is, and a curriculum that leaves teachers working from what they first learned carries its own age with it. The relative clause about qualifying gives the time reference that makes the verb fit.
• B) date back'Date back' means to have originated in a particular period, which suits a tradition or a building rather than a document. Here the curriculum keeps being rewritten while teachers stay where they were, which is a different situation.
• C) outdate'Outdate' means to make something appear old-fashioned, but the sentence is about teachers who are unchanged rather than materials that are dated. Applying it would put the age on the wrong subject.
• D) overestimate'Overestimate' means to judge something as greater than it is, and no comparison or judgement appears here. The clause describes a period of time rather than a miscalculation about value.

Respuesta correcta: C) understate

• A) overstate'Overstate' means to represent something as larger than it is, and the sentence describes a figure made to look smaller by excluding cases. The direction of the distortion is the opposite.
• B) restate'Restate' means to say again in different words, and nothing here is a second report of the same figure. The problem is what the count includes, not how it is expressed.
• C) understate'Understate' means to represent something as smaller than it actually is, and a count that omits those who left produces exactly that. The clause 'the drop-out rate the ministry reports' names the figure being made to look better than it is.
• D) underrate'Underrate' applies to judging a person or a performance as less worthy than they are, and a rate is not rated in that sense. The sentence concerns the measurement itself rather than anyone's estimation of it.

Respuesta correcta: D) resources that

• A) the fact that'Require the fact that' would ask for a proposition rather than for something, and the relative clause 'that we have not budgeted' cannot follow 'the fact' inside a noun phrase. The gap is a missing thing, not a missing statement.
• B) it'Require it' supplies a pronoun with no antecedent that could carry 'that we have not budgeted', so the relative clause has nothing to modify. Ellipsis works only when the omitted material is recoverable from a named source.
• C) a situation in which'Require a situation in which we have not budgeted' describes a scenario rather than a missing input, and 'we have not budgeted' has no object after it. The sentence asks what would have to be secured, not what kind of circumstance would arise.
• D) resources thatThe two options cannot be combined, so the missing resources have to be named as what the gap is about. 'Resources that we have not budgeted' makes the phrase the object of 'require', which is what the sentence needs.

Respuesta correcta: B) A temporary radio solution became a permanent learning resource in a rural school.

• A) Students in the village now have fast internet at home.Incorrect. The text begins by saying many students cannot connect to the internet; nothing says this has changed.
• B) A temporary radio solution became a permanent learning resource in a rural school.Correct. The text explains that the radio lessons were 'supposed to be temporary' but the school kept them after reopening because families liked them.
• C) The school closed its classrooms and now teaches only by radio.Incorrect. The classrooms reopened; the radio is used to review at home, not to replace classes.
• D) Parents prefer that older siblings teach mathematics.Incorrect. Older siblings are mentioned as extra listeners, but the text does not say parents prefer them as teachers.

Respuesta correcta: D) She finds the Finnish system interesting but misses the atmosphere of her old school.

• A) She wants to return to Colombia immediately because school is too difficult.Incorrect. She never says school is too difficult or that she wants to leave; she describes the system calmly.
• B) She thinks school in Finland is easy because there is no homework.Incorrect. She says 'At first I thought it would be easy, but...', which shows she changed this opinion.
• C) She dislikes her Finnish teachers because they do not give exams.Incorrect. She explains that teachers talk to students about progress instead of giving many exams, without any negative comment.
• D) She finds the Finnish system interesting but misses the atmosphere of her old school.Correct. She describes the Finnish methods with interest, and then says 'I miss the energy of our classroom in Barranquilla', which shows a mixed feeling.

Respuesta correcta: C) It withholds the detail that would make the claim checkable.

• A) It makes the underlying pattern easier to spot.Aggregation tends to hide variation, not reveal it. Naming that it makes a pattern easier to see would contradict the very effect the missing breakdown produces.
• B) It protects the privacy of the families involved.No privacy rationale is offered in the quotation, which cites the format of the release rather than the content. Inferring a privacy motive goes beyond what the sentence licenses.
• C) It withholds the detail that would make the claim checkable.Because the totals survive while the breakdown disappears, a reader can repeat the headline figure but cannot test which schools drove it. Omission at this level is a rhetorical choice about verifiability, not about length.
• D) It shortens a report that was running too long.Length is a plausible motive in general but nothing in the sentence connects the omission to space or time. The judgement the reader must draw concerns what can and cannot be verified, not how long the document is.

Respuesta correcta: B) The student's original identity document.

• A) A photocopy of the identity document.Incorrect. The last sentence says 'Photocopies ... will not be accepted'.
• B) The student's original identity document.Correct. The notice says 'every student must bring an original identity document' and explicitly rejects photocopies and phone photos.
• C) A photo of the identity document on a mobile phone.Incorrect. The notice explicitly states that photos on a mobile phone will not be accepted.
• D) The email with the registration number.Incorrect. The registration number is sent by email for registration purposes; the text does not say it replaces the identity document on exam day.

Respuesta correcta: B) The label 'success' is left standing while the evidence that contradicts it is dropped.

• A) The word 'success' is left standing while the schools that contradict it are counted more carefully.Nothing in the sentence suggests the closed schools receive closer scrutiny; the remark says they are not in the comparison at all. Reading careful counting in would reverse what she complains about.
• B) The label 'success' is left standing while the evidence that contradicts it is dropped.The word 'success' keeps its place and the counter-evidence is what vanishes. A reader is left holding the conclusion and denied the material that would test it, which is precisely the mechanism she is attacking.
• C) Both the label 'success' and the missing schools are supplied by the reader.A reader cannot supply the closed schools, since they are not mentioned anywhere in the exchange. Only the label is actually present, so it is the label that is left unsupported rather than both halves being reconstructed.
• D) The word 'reform' replaces the word 'success' to avoid repeating the ministry's phrasing.The sentence uses 'reform' and 'success' for different things, not to avoid a repetition. The substitution at issue concerns what has been dropped from the comparison, which is about evidence rather than vocabulary.

Respuesta correcta: B) substitution

• A) additionAddition means putting new material after a first mention, which is the opposite of what repetition of the same figures does. The third statement adds nothing, so it is not an addition.
• B) substitution'One' can stand for a whole preceding clause when the repeated material is identical and no new information is added. Since the second and third statements repeat the first verbatim, substitution is exactly what the sentence reports.
• C) modificationModification implies the later statements alter the earlier ones, for instance by correcting a number. Here nothing changes between the three mentions, so the relation is pure substitution.
• D) coordinationCoordination would join two equal clauses with a conjunction such as 'and'. These statements are not joined as independent clauses; one single word stands in for a clause that has already been given.

Respuesta correcta: D) had

• A) hasIncorrect. The sentence refers to a past sequence, requiring the past perfect in inversion.
• B) wasIncorrect. 'Was' does not fit the past perfect structure required by 'Hardly'.
• C) didIncorrect. 'Did' would require the base form of the verb, not the past participle 'been'.
• D) hadCorrect. 'Hardly had...' is a classic C1 inversion structure used for sequential events.

Respuesta correcta: A) covered

• A) coveredAfter a semicolon the repeated subject is normally left out, so 'it covered only twelve' is understood and 'covered' alone supplies the verb. The elliptical subject points back to the one named before the semicolon.
• B) was covering'Was covering' would add a progressive reading that the sentence does not need, since the inspection of the first group is already complete and the second group is simply smaller. Ellipsis removes the subject, not the tense choice.
• C) has covered'Has covered' would reopen the first action in the present perfect and link it to the second, which the semicolon is there to separate. Two separate completed passes are reported, not one action extended to the present.
• D) covers'Covers' in the present simple would contradict the past tense established by 'covered' in the first clause. The tense of the repeated verb must match the one it stands in for, since nothing in the sentence moves to the present.

Respuesta correcta: D) following

• A) anticipating'Anticipating' means expecting something in advance, and the sentence reports a fall that came after the change rather than one predicted beforehand. The clause 'that took effect two years ago' also points to what followed, not what was foreseen.
• B) follow'Follow' in its finite form would need a subject of its own, and none is present. After a comma only a participle or a full clause can appear, and this one lacks the verb form that a clause requires.
• C) followed'Followed' is the past participle and would require an auxiliary such as 'having' before it. With no auxiliary available here, the sentence cannot use this form at that position.
• D) followingA participle here has to supply the reason behind the fall, and 'following' makes the curriculum change the accompanying event that explains it. The clause 'that took effect two years ago' confirms the change is what the scores reacted to.

Respuesta correcta: B) had

• A) have'Have' would agree with a plural subject, but the tense here is established as past by the clause 'at the time the survey was carried out'. A present form would leave the time reference inconsistent.
• B) hadWhen a phrase beginning with 'only' stands between the subject and the verb, the verb agrees with the true subject, which here is 'two of the forty schools'. Since that subject is plural, the past tense requires 'had'.
• C) has'Has' agrees with a singular subject, and neither 'two' nor 'schools' is singular in this construction. Nothing in the sentence justifies a third person singular verb.
• D) having'Having' is a participle and would need an auxiliary before it, leaving the clause without a finite verb. The blank has to carry the tense as well as the agreement.

Respuesta correcta: C) it

• A) them'Them' would add a further object rather than focus the existing one, and the clause 'none of the living costs' cannot serve as the object a second time. The sentence already has its object in the second half.
• B) this'This' points back to something already mentioned and would stand for tuition or books, not for the costs introduced afterwards. The focus has to fall on the costs the clause is about to name.
• C) itA focus construction puts 'it' directly after the verb to say that the exclusion falls on the named item alone. The clause 'none of the living costs' then supplies what is being denied, which is exactly the pattern.
• D) that'That' introduces a clause, and the sentence already contains a clause beginning with 'none'. Adding another would leave the verb without an object and produce two clauses in a row.

Respuesta correcta: D) The current strategy is directed towards the wrong objective.

• A) They are literally looking for something in the trees of Cali.Incorrect. This reads the idiom word for word; nobody in the debate is searching any trees, because the phrase is figurative and describes a mistaken strategy.
• B) The approach is too noisy and aggressive.Incorrect. 'Barking' here does not describe loud or aggressive behaviour; the idiom is about aiming at the wrong target, not about the tone of the discussion.
• C) A new environmental project involving trees should be started.Incorrect. The speaker is criticising the current approach, not proposing a new project; 'tree' is part of a fixed expression and has no literal meaning here.
• D) The current strategy is directed towards the wrong objective.Correct. 'Bark up the wrong tree' comes from hunting dogs barking at a tree the animal is not in, so it means putting effort into the wrong cause or the wrong solution.

Respuesta correcta: B) Study seriously for two hours and then rest.

• A) Throw his books because he is angry about the exam.Incorrect. This takes 'hit' literally; the idiom describes studying, not hitting objects.
• B) Study seriously for two hours and then rest.Correct. 'Hit the books' means to study hard; he limits it to two hours and then plans to sleep.
• C) Study the whole book without sleeping.Incorrect. He answers 'No way' to that idea and plans to sleep after two hours.
• D) Sell his books after the exam.Incorrect. Nothing in the dialogue refers to selling anything; the conversation is about how to prepare tonight.

Respuesta correcta: A) He is challenging the implicit claim that using a consultant is free of trade-offs.

• A) He is challenging the implicit claim that using a consultant is free of trade-offs.The final clause turns the time spent into a question of cost, and 'I would not call that neutral' denies that the choice came without a sacrifice. He reports the expense and then marks the framing as loaded.
• B) He is admitting the consultant gave poor advice.Nothing evaluates the consultant's work; the sentence is about time and about how the decision is described. No judgement of the advice appears anywhere in the quotation.
• C) He is proposing that the department hire a second consultant.There is no suggestion of hiring anyone, and no future action is proposed. The quotation ends with a comment on the framing of the decision already taken.
• D) He is withdrawing support for the decision in formal terms.'I would not call that neutral' withholds approval of a description, not of the decision itself. Nothing in the sentence retracts support or announces any reversal.

Respuesta correcta: B) Politely expressing a concern and questioning the decision.

• A) Thanking the principal for the longer school day.Incorrect. He raises a problem about children who work in the afternoon, which is a concern, not thanks.
• B) Politely expressing a concern and questioning the decision.Correct. 'With all due respect' is a formal way to introduce disagreement, and his question asks whether the families' situation was considered.
• C) Asking the principal to finish classes even later.Incorrect. His worry is about afternoons being occupied, so he would not want classes to finish later than 3 p.m.
• D) Showing that he respects the principal and agrees completely.Incorrect. Despite the word 'respect', this phrase usually comes before an objection; his question shows doubt, not total agreement.