Mock Exam Writing Listening

Respuesta correcta: A) 3:15 p.m.

• A) 3:15 p.m.The speaker says fifteen and stresses the minutes, so 3:15 is the time the listening part wants you to write.
• B) 3:50 p.m.This reads fifty, not fifteen. In the message the stress falls on fifteen, so the fifty version is a listening slip.
• C) 5:15 p.m.The hour is three, not five. Only the minutes are fifteen, so changing the hour misreports the announcement.
• D) 3:45 p.m.This reads forty-five. The message says fifteen, and changing the tens digit would move the workshop in the day.

Respuesta correcta: C) a reminder about a document

• A) an invitation to a school meetingAn invitation would name an event, a day and a place, such as coming to the school fair. None of that is said here.
• B) an order to buy new suppliesAn order to buy supplies would list objects and prices. This message only reminds about one paper to bring.
• C) a reminder about a documentThis works because the message tells someone to act before a deadline about one item, which is a reminder.
• D) a complaint about a missing classA complaint would report a problem such as a cancelled class. This message reports nothing wrong with the school.

Respuesta correcta: B) Dear Ms. Alvarado, I am writing to ask about the scholarship.

• A) Hi, I really need the money for my fees, please.Hi and the phrase I really need are informal and demanding. A formal request opens with Dear plus a title and a surname.
• B) Dear Ms. Alvarado, I am writing to ask about the scholarship.This works because Dear plus a title and surname opens formally, and I am writing to ask about gives the purpose at once.
• C) Hey lady, send me the forms as soon as possible.Hey lady is slang for an unknown receiver, and send me sounds like an order rather than a request to a school office.
• D) Dear team, what is up with the scholarship thing?Dear team is not used for one named coordinator, and the question is vague, so the office cannot tell what she needs.

Respuesta correcta: D) I will bring my calculator on Friday, as announced.

• A) I will bring your calculator on Friday.Your calculator would point to the calculator of the person speaking, but students were told to bring their own.
• B) I brought my calculator on Friday.Past simple suggests a finished action, yet the announcement was about a future Friday. Use will or the present simple.
• C) My calculator is bring on Friday.Is bring mixes the passive with an active verb and adds an extra ending, so this is not a possible English sentence.
• D) I will bring my calculator on Friday, as announced.This works because it answers the instruction, keeps the first person pronoun and uses will for the planned action.

Respuesta correcta: A) Thank you for your time and consideration. Yours sincerely, Ana

• A) Thank you for your time and consideration. Yours sincerely, AnaThis works because the sentence thanks the reader politely and Yours sincerely is the formal close used with a named reader.
• B) Write me soon. Bye, AnaWrite me soon is an order and Bye is a casual goodbye. Neither of them fits a formal email to a school office.
• C) I do not care what you think, thanks. AnaThe first sentence is rude and attacks the reader, so the thanks that follows it cannot repair the tone of the email.
• D) Let us meet at the corner at five. See you, AnaLet us meet proposes an arrangement and See you is for friends, so this ending ignores the formal request that was made.

Respuesta correcta: B) Could you send me the enrollment form by Friday, please?

• A) Send me the enrollment form right now.Send me at the start of a sentence is the imperative, which sounds like an order and is too direct for a first email.
• B) Could you send me the enrollment form by Friday, please?This works because Could plus you softens the demand, and placing please at the end keeps the tone formal.
• C) You must send me the enrollment form by Friday.You must is an obligation modal used from the speaker's side, so it imposes a demand instead of asking a favour.
• D) I would like that you send me the enrollment form.Would like is followed by a to-infinitive and not by that plus a clause, so this structure is ungrammatical.

Respuesta correcta: D) Hey, thanks a lot, that would be awesome.

• A) Thank you for your attention.Thank you for your attention is a standard formal courtesy that shows respect to a teacher or a school office.
• B) Looking forward to hearing from you.This is a standard formal close. It shows the writer expects an answer and keeps a polite distance from the reader.
• C) I would appreciate your help.Would is more formal than want in this context, and the phrase asks for help without sounding demanding at all.
• D) Hey, thanks a lot, that would be awesome.Hey, thanks a lot and awesome are informal and chatty, so they break the formal register the writing paper requires.

Respuesta correcta: A) The student who lost a locker key

• A) The student who lost a locker keyThis works because the message names the locker and the key, so the only person concerned is the student who lost it.
• B) The driver of the school busNo bus, route or stop is mentioned anywhere, so the driver is not the person the caller is trying to reach.
• C) The librarian who orders the booksAn order of books would appear in the message if the librarian were the target, but no book or order is named.
• D) The cook of the school cafeteriaThe cafeteria is never mentioned, and a lost locker key has nothing to do with meals or with kitchen work.

Respuesta correcta: C) Greeting, problem, request, closing

• A) Problem, greeting, closing, requestThe greeting must open the email and the closing must end it. This version hides the greeting and stops without a proper ending.
• B) Greeting, request, problem, closingAsking for something before explaining the loss confuses the reader, who does not yet know what happened to the coat.
• C) Greeting, problem, request, closingThis works because the email opens formally, describes the problem, states what she wants and only then closes politely.
• D) Closing, greeting, problem, requestStarting with the closing makes the text unreadable, since the reader gets no greeting and no idea of the complaint.

Respuesta correcta: B) irritated but still polite

• A) calm and completely relaxedRepeating the number of calls signals annoyance. A relaxed speaker would not stress that she has phoned twice already.
• B) irritated but still politeThis works because the flat tone plus the repeated detail I have called twice show controlled irritation and no insults.
• C) excited about the new school termNothing in the sentence expresses excitement about a term, and the complaint clearly shows the opposite feeling.
• D) confused about which class to attendConfusion about a class would ask which class or when it starts. She is complaining about not getting an answer at all.

Respuesta correcta: C) Could you send me the bus timetable, please?

• A) Can you send me the bus timetable, huh?huh is informal filler and Can is less polite than Could, so the tone does not change enough for a formal email.
• B) Send me the bus timetable, ok?ok at the end is casual, and the bare imperative between friends sounds like an order in a letter to a school.
• C) Could you send me the bus timetable, please?This works because Could plus you and please soften the demand, and timetable is the formal word for a bus schedule.
• D) You will send me the bus timetable now.You will and now form a command stated as a fact, so the sentence demands the action instead of requesting it politely.

Respuesta correcta: A) The teacher, who works at the school

• A) The teacher, who works at the schoolThis works because the offer comes from inside the school, so the teacher is the speaker who proposes paying a share.
• B) The parent, who calls during the messageThe parent asks about the cost, so she is the listener collecting information and not the one offering money.
• C) The student, who answers the doorNo student speaks in this message. The proposal is made between the school and the family, so she cannot be the speaker.
• D) The driver, who waits in the vanThe driver is never heard, and the conversation is only about payment, so he cannot be the one who makes the offer.

Respuesta correcta: D) I received your email yesterday and I still wait for an answer.

• A) I wrote to the office last Monday.Past simple is correct here because last Monday fixes a finished moment in the past before the complaint was written.
• B) They have not answered me yet.Present perfect with not yet is correct, since the answering started in the past and still has not happened.
• C) I am writing to ask about the scholarship.Present simple is standard in the opening line of a formal email, because the act of writing takes place now.
• D) I received your email yesterday and I still wait for an answer.This is the wrong one: still wait describes an unfinished situation now, so it needs the present continuous form.

Respuesta correcta: B) April 16

• A) April 6Sixteen keeps the silent ending that the speaker pronounces. Dropping it turns the date into a completely different day.
• B) April 16This works because sixteen ends in -teen and the speaker adds the month, so the note is April 16.
• C) April 26Twenty-six begins with twenty, which sounds nothing like sixteen, so the day of the exam has been misheard.
• D) April 10Ten is one stressed syllable like six, but sixteen has two syllables and a silent t that the speaker keeps.

Respuesta correcta: C) I am writing to apply for the exchange semester in Spain.

• A) Hello, my name is Luis and I am sixteen years old.Giving your name and age adds background. A formal email should state the reason for writing in its very first line.
• B) It is very hot here and we have no snow at all.Talking about heat and snow describes Costa Rica instead of the request, so the office learns nothing about the purpose.
• C) I am writing to apply for the exchange semester in Spain.This works because I am writing to apply for plus the programme name gives the aim and the subject in one line.
• D) Everybody says your programme is the best in Central America.This is only an opinion about the programme. It is not a request and it asks the reader for no action at all.

Respuesta correcta: D) Sat 8 June, 10 a.m., bring ID card and receipt

• A) Sat 8 June, bring ID card and receiptThe time is missing, so the student would lose the mark for that detail even though the day and the items are correct.
• B) 10 a.m., bring ID card and receiptOnly the time and the items were noted down. The date is the first detail the exam asks the listener to write.
• C) Sat 8 June, 10 a.m., meet at the officeThe day and the time are right, but meet at the office changes the item, because nobody said to meet there.
• D) Sat 8 June, 10 a.m., bring ID card and receiptThis works because it holds the date, the time and both items, which are exactly the details the question requires.

Respuesta correcta: B) When are we going to know the exam results?

• A) How much was the exam?How much asks about a price or a quantity, and the exam results are information to be given, not money to be paid.
• B) When are we going to know the exam results?This works because When plus are plus the subject builds a complete question, and to know keeps the future meaning.
• C) How long the exam was?How long needs a subject and a verb after it, as in How long the exam was. A real question requires the auxiliary.
• D) How many the exam results are?How many expects a countable noun, but results goes with know here, so both the preposition and the word order fail.

Respuesta correcta: C) Thank you for your help. I look forward to your reply. Yours sincerely, Ana

• A) Yours sincerely, thank you for your help, AnaYours sincerely belongs on the last line, and a closing phrase cannot be joined by commas into a single sentence.
• B) Thank you for your help. See you soon, AnaSee you soon is for friends, so it breaks the formal register required after a request to a school office.
• C) Thank you for your help. I look forward to your reply. Yours sincerely, AnaThis works because it gives the thanks, then the sentence about the reply, then the closing and the name, in that order.
• D) Hello Ana, thank you, byeHello and bye belong to a chat between friends, and no formal closing phrase appears for a named reader such as a coordinator.

Respuesta correcta: A) Thank you for the new date, Friday 14 November.

• A) Thank you for the new date, Friday 14 November.This works because it thanks the coordinator, repeats the new date she gave and keeps the formal you in the right order.
• B) Thank you for the new date, Friday 4 November.The message said the fourteenth and not the fourth, so writing 4 November reports a date that nobody announced.
• C) I moved the trip to Friday 4 November myself.I moved says the writer did it, but the coordinator changed it, so the agent in the message has been swapped.
• D) You moved our trip to Friday, so thanks a lot.You moved names the wrong agent for the change, and thanks a lot is far too informal for an email to a member of staff.

Respuesta correcta: D) Dear Ms. Rojas, I am writing to ask about the trip to Monteverde. Could you send me the syllabus? Thank you. Yours sincerely, Ana Perez

• A) Hey! Send me the syllabus now or I will fail. ByeIt has no formal greeting and no closing, and it threatens the teacher, so it would lose marks on register and on tone.
• B) Dear Ms. Rojas, I am writing to ask about the trip. AnaThe greeting and the purpose are fine, but the email never says what she wants, so the request itself is missing.
• C) Dear Ms. Rojas, could you send me the syllabus, please? AnaThe polite request is good, but the email stops after Ana with no closing phrase and no line thanking the reader.
• D) Dear Ms. Rojas, I am writing to ask about the trip to Monteverde. Could you send me the syllabus? Thank you. Yours sincerely, Ana PerezThis works because it has the greeting, the purpose, a polite request, a thank you, the closing and the full name.