Financial Literacy

Respuesta correcta: B) exacerbate

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

Respuesta correcta: D) A budget.

• A) A receipt.A receipt records a completed payment; it does not plan future income and spending.
• B) A debt.A debt is money owed to another person or organization, rather than a plan for income and expenses.
• C) A refund.A refund is money returned after a payment; it does not describe a financial plan.
• D) A budget.A budget is a financial plan that compares expected income with planned expenses over a period.

Respuesta correcta: A) deceive

• A) deceive'Deceive' means to mislead deliberately, and the sentence describes a disclosure that misleads by burying the terms that matter.
• B) detach'Detach' means to separate from something, and the clause is about a customer's judgment being led astray rather than anything being taken apart.
• C) dissolve'Dissolve' means to melt or disband, and the sentence concerns the effect on a saver's confidence rather than the physical fate of a substance.
• D) decline'Decline' means to refuse or to fall in amount, and the option would describe the saver's rejection of the offer, which the sentence does not report.

Respuesta correcta: A) accrue

• A) accrue'Accrue' means to accumulate over time by addition, and the sentence describes interest growing on its own until it exceeds anything actually paid in.
• B) ensue'Ensue' means to follow as a consequence, and the clause describes an amount growing rather than a consequence simply following.
• C) allay'Allay' means to calm or lessen, and the sentence reports accumulation rather than anything being reduced or soothed.
• D) amass'Amass' would require a deliberate act of collecting, and the sentence insists that nobody added any payment for the balance to grow.

Respuesta correcta: D) Developing the habit of saving small amounts regularly.

• A) Visiting the Los Nevados visitor centre in November.Incorrect. The trip is the club's goal, but the teacher explicitly says the most important lesson is 'not the trip itself'.
• B) Learning how to work as a treasurer.Incorrect. Only two elected students are treasurers, while the teacher's lesson is meant for every member of the class.
• C) Asking families to contribute more money.Incorrect. The text says the opposite: the club wants to pay for the trip 'without asking families for extra money'.
• D) Developing the habit of saving small amounts regularly.Correct. The last sentence states that the key lesson is 'the habit of saving small amounts regularly', which matches this option.

Respuesta correcta: D) They may have problems with future financial plans, such as renting a home.

• A) They will pay less than 600,000 pesos in total.Incorrect. Late payments add a 30,000-peso fee each time, so the total goes up, not down: 600,000 + 2 × 30,000 = 660,000.
• B) They will have to return the phone immediately.Incorrect. The text never mentions returning the product; the consequences it lists are fees and a credit report.
• C) They will find it easier to get a student loan.Incorrect. This is the opposite of the text, which says a credit report can make a student loan harder to get.
• D) They may have problems with future financial plans, such as renting a home.Correct. Two late payments can lead to a credit report, and the text says such a report can make renting or borrowing harder later.

Respuesta correcta: A) Had I compared the account fees, I would have chosen the cheaper account.

• A) Had I compared the account fees, I would have chosen the cheaper account.Removing 'if' and placing 'had' before the subject correctly forms an inverted past unreal conditional.
• B) Had I compare the account fees, I would have chosen the cheaper account.The auxiliary 'had' requires the past participle 'compared', not the base form 'compare'.
• C) Had compared I the account fees, I would have chosen the cheaper account.Conditional inversion places the subject immediately after 'had': 'Had I compared', not 'Had compared I'.
• D) Had I compared the account fees, I will choose the cheaper account.Changing the result to 'will choose' replaces the original unreal past consequence with a future statement.

Respuesta correcta: D) may

• A) had'Had need' is not the required modal construction; 'had' would need a different verb form and structure.
• B) are'Are need' incorrectly combines a form of 'be' with the base verb 'need' in this active clause.
• C) did'Did need' refers to an emphasized past need, whereas this warning concerns a possible future income change.
• D) may'May need' expresses a possible consequence of the future condition introduced by 'Should your income fall'.

Respuesta correcta: C) Keep the shop operating without financial collapse.

• A) Move the shop closer to the river.Incorrect. This reads 'afloat' literally, as if the shop were on water; the expression is figurative and refers to money.
• B) Sell the business to a bigger company.Incorrect. 'Keep' means she wants to continue owning the shop, so selling it contradicts the phrase.
• C) Keep the shop operating without financial collapse.Correct. 'Keep something afloat' means to keep it from failing financially, which is why she limits debts to 50,000 pesos.
• D) Stop selling products on credit completely.Incorrect. She still trusts her neighbours and allows debts of up to 50,000 pesos, so credit has not stopped.

Respuesta correcta: A) To advise future students on how to choose a student loan carefully.

• A) To advise future students on how to choose a student loan carefully.Correct. The text is a list of steps (compare, check, calculate, ask) addressed to future students, which is advice about choosing a loan.
• B) To advertise one bank's loan with the lowest interest rate.Incorrect. No bank or specific loan is named; the text tells readers to compare at least three options.
• C) To explain why university education in Bogotá is expensive.Incorrect. The text never discusses the causes of university costs; it focuses on how to evaluate loans.
• D) To inform students that all loans start repayment after graduation.Incorrect. The text says some loans require payments while you are still studying, so not all of them wait until graduation.

Respuesta correcta: B) had

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

Respuesta correcta: B) did

• A) hadIncorrect. 'Had' needs a past participle ('had the projection looked'), but the verb after the gap is the base form 'look'.
• B) didCorrect. After a fronted 'Not until...' clause in the past, the main clause inverts with 'did' + base form: 'did the projection look'.
• C) wasIncorrect. 'Was' combines with an adjective or an -ing form, so 'was the projection look' leaves the base verb 'look' without a valid auxiliary.
• D) hasIncorrect. 'Has' requires a participle and present-perfect time, which clashes with the past 'was shown' and with the base form 'look'.

Respuesta correcta: B) does

• A) do'Do' agrees with plural subjects, and 'a savings product' is singular, so the base form with 'does' is required.
• B) does'Rarely does a savings product turn out'. With a singular subject the inversion uses 'does', and the main verb reverts to the base form 'turn out'.
• C) have'Have' would give the perfect aspect, but the bare inversion with 'rarely' and a singular subject takes 'does' before the base form.
• D) are'Are' cannot invert with a singular subject and would require a plural or a collection for agreement.

Respuesta correcta: A) should

• A) should'Under no circumstances should a broker describe'. A modal inverts exactly as the auxiliary of an ordinary verb does, so fronting 'should' produces the emphatic reading.
• B) must'Must' states obligation, and in this negated frame the modal that carries the contrast is 'should'; 'must' would change what the sentence claims.
• C) could'Could' belongs to the conditional or the reporting sequence here, not to the emphatic inversion the negative adverbial demands.
• D) ought'Ought' takes 'to' plus an infinitive, so it could not fill the gap directly after the negative adverbial in this construction.

Respuesta correcta: A) had

• A) had'No sooner had the statement arrived than the customer noticed'. The structure pairs a completed past action with the immediate consequence that followed it.
• B) did'Did' with a bare infinitive would need 'no sooner had'; the participle 'arrived' shows that the perfect auxiliary is required rather than the do-form.
• C) has'Has' would give the present perfect and place the action in unfinished time, whereas 'no sooner ... than' needs a bounded past sequence.
• D) was'Was' cannot combine with a past participle in this active construction, and the clause clearly states that the statement reached the customer.

Respuesta correcta: A) Lina did not check the schedule, and checking it would have enabled her to notice the fee.

• A) Lina did not check the schedule, and checking it would have enabled her to notice the fee.The inverted third conditional contrasts the unchecked past situation with an imagined result of checking.
• B) Lina checked the schedule and noticed the fee.The past unreal conditional presents checking and noticing as an imagined alternative, not as completed facts.
• C) Lina is being instructed to check the schedule tomorrow.'Had checked' refers to an unreal past situation rather than a future instruction.
• D) The final fee would have disappeared if Lina had checked the schedule.The consequence is noticing the fee; the sentence does not say that checking would remove it.

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

• A) They are literally looking for something in the trees of Pereira.Incorrect. This reads the idiom literally; nobody in the debate is searching real trees, because the expression is figurative and describes a mistaken line of action.
• B) The approach is too noisy and aggressive.Incorrect. 'Barking' here does not describe a loud or aggressive tone; the idiom is about choosing the wrong objective, not about how people speak.
• C) A new environmental project involving trees should be started.Incorrect. The word 'tree' belongs to a fixed expression, so the speaker is not proposing a project with trees; the speaker is criticising the approach under discussion.
• D) The current strategy is directed towards the wrong objective.Correct. 'Bark up the wrong tree' means aiming your effort at the wrong cause or target, so the speaker is saying the current plan on financial literacy points in the wrong direction.

Respuesta correcta: C) Andrés should reduce how much he spends on restaurants.

• A) Andrés should eat out more often to relax.Incorrect. 'Cut back on' means to reduce, so Paula is suggesting less eating out, not more.
• B) Andrés should cancel his rent contract.Incorrect. The phrasal verb applies to 'eating out', not to the rent; Paula says nothing about the contract.
• C) Andrés should reduce how much he spends on restaurants.Correct. 'Cut back on something' means to do or spend less of it, so she advises spending less on eating out.
• D) Andrés should go back to the restaurant to complain.Incorrect. 'Back' in 'cut back on' does not mean returning to a place; the whole phrasal verb means reduce.

Respuesta correcta: A) He is struggling to pay for basic expenses with the money he earns.

• A) He is struggling to pay for basic expenses with the money he earns.Correct. 'Make ends meet' means to have just enough money to cover basic needs, and a bad season reduced his income.
• B) He cannot finish repairing the ends of his fishing nets.Incorrect. This reads 'ends' literally; in the idiom, the 'ends' are income and expenses, not parts of a net.
• C) He is having trouble meeting new clients.Incorrect. 'Meet' in this idiom does not refer to meeting people; it means making income and costs match.
• D) He earns more than enough and saves the rest.Incorrect. 'It's been hard' shows difficulty, which is the opposite of earning more than he needs.

Respuesta correcta: B) Save part of the money for unexpected future needs.

• A) Buy an umbrella before the rainy season starts.Incorrect. This takes 'rainy day' literally; the idiom refers to a future time of need, not to the weather.
• B) Save part of the money for unexpected future needs.Correct. 'Save for a rainy day' means to keep money for a difficult moment in the future, and Sara answers by saving half.
• C) Go to the concert only if it does not rain.Incorrect. The grandmother talks about how much money to spend, not about the weather on the day of the concert.
• D) Spend the whole bonus quickly before prices go up.Incorrect. 'Don't spend all your bonus' and 'put some aside' both mean keeping money, the opposite of spending it all.