ESL C1 Level MCQ Test With Answers ADVANCED TEST 1

C1 Level tests

40 questions · about 15 min · Printable PDF

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Question 1

C1 MOCK EXAMINATION - Use of English and Reading Sections

SECTION 1

Choose the correct alternatives to complete the sentences.

I can’t believe it! Do you mean to tell me that Barry _____ money from the till all this time?

The present perfect continuous (has been stealing) describes a repeated action that started in the past and continues up to now. The clue is all this time, and the speaker has only just found out. Not stole: the past simple would present the stealing as finished and would not stress its duration up to now.

Question 2

They went on holiday while their house _____.

This calls for the past continuous passive (was being decorated). The house was in the middle of being decorated by someone else while they were away, and went sets the time in the past. Not has been decorated, because the present perfect does not fit a past-time narrative.

Question 3

You can try asking him for help but it _____ you any good.

The fixed expression it won't do you any good is a simple future prediction meaning 'it won't help you'. The continuous and perfect forms do not fit a general prediction like this.

Question 4

The flat was deserted but it was obvious that somebody _____ there.

The past perfect continuous (had been living) describes an activity that went on before a past moment, here when the flat was found deserted. Not has been living, because the narrative is set in the past (was deserted, was obvious).

Question 5

If he _____ the 8.10 train, he would be here by now.

This is a mixed conditional: a past condition (if he hadn't missed) has a present result (he would be here by now). The past perfect is needed because missing the train happened in the past.

Question 6

He promised me the car _____ by Friday, but it wasn’t.

This is reported speech. His words were 'The car will have been repaired by Friday', and after the past verb promised, will have been becomes would have been repaired. By Friday is the clue for the perfect form. Not will be repaired, because the tense must shift back after promised.

Question 7

She _____ her ticket while she _____ to catch the train.

A short, completed action (dropped, past simple) happened during a longer background action (was running, past continuous). Dropping a ticket is a single moment, so was dropping is wrong.

Question 8

Only when they switched on the light _____ the mess.

When a sentence begins with Only when…, the main clause uses inversion (auxiliary + subject): did they see. Not they saw, because normal word order is not possible after a fronted only when clause.

Question 9

By the end of this year, he _____ in that house for fifty years.

The future perfect continuous (will have been living) measures the duration of an action up to a point in the future. The clues are By the end of this year and for fifty years. Not will be living, because it does not express duration up to that point.

Question 10

_____ you the job, would you accept?

Were they to offer is a formal inverted conditional, with the same meaning as If they offered you the job. Not If they had offered, because the third conditional does not match would you accept about a possible future situation.

Question 11

Section 2

Choose the correct alternative to complete the sentences.

Sarah and John are very late. They _____ lost.

We use must have + past participle for a logical deduction about the past: They must have got lost. The other options are grammatically wrong: modals are never followed by to, and must have be needs the past participle been.

Question 12

Susan has received top marks in all of her classes. She is _____.

Over the moon means extremely happy, which fits top marks in every class. Down in the dumps means the opposite (sad), and in the hot seat means being in a difficult, responsible position.

Question 13

The teacher said we could use our phones during the break, _____ we kept them on silent.

As long as means 'on condition that': permission is given only if the condition is met. Not unless, which means 'if not' and would make the sentence illogical. Even if would mean the condition does not matter.

Question 14

John admitted to _____ a mistake.

Admit to is followed by a gerund, because to here is a preposition. The perfect gerund having made stresses that the mistake happened earlier. Admitted to making a mistake would also be correct, but to make is not.

Question 15

Chris decided to try and _____ a new firm.

Set up means to start or establish a business or organisation: She set up her own company. Carry out is used for tasks or plans, and get by means to manage with little money.

Question 16

As long as you live within _____, you won’t have problems with debts.

Live within your means means to spend no more money than you have or earn. The other options do not collocate with live within in this sense.

Question 17

Joan’s very practical, isn’t she? She’s really _____.

Have your head screwed on (the right way) means to be sensible and practical, which matches Joan's very practical. Have your head in the clouds means the opposite: to be dreamy and unrealistic.

Question 18

Christine is always running _____ after the children. She has so much energy!

Run round/around after someone means to be busy doing lots of things for them, such as looking after children. The clue is She has so much energy!

Question 19

If you _____ your eyes open, you’ll see many interesting animals on the savannah.

Keep your eyes open is a fixed collocation meaning to stay alert and watch carefully. Hold, fix and stand do not combine with your eyes open.

Question 20

Upbringing is very important in forming your _____ to the world.

The natural collocation is attitude to/towards the world: your general way of thinking and feeling about life. We say a view of the world and an opinion of/about something, so these options do not fit with to the world.

Question 21

Section 4

(Please note: The following questions are part of a cloze test. They are interrelated, meaning that the information provided in each question is connected to the others.)

Fill the gaps in the passage with words formed from the ‘root’ words below.

WOMEN FAIL TO BALANCE CAREER AND HOME LIFE

Two in every three women want to quit the rat race as they try to juggle the _____ demands of work and home, a survey has found.

An adjective is needed before demands. Competing demands is a common collocation for demands that pull you in different directions, such as work versus home, so you cannot satisfy them all at once.

Question 22

Trying hard – but failing – to achieve a balanced life is the greatest obstacle to a woman’s _____, according to the survey of 2,000 women with an average age of 38.

After the possessive a woman's, a noun is needed. Happiness fits the meaning: failing to achieve a balanced life stops women from feeling happy. Successful is an adjective, so it cannot follow a woman's here.

Question 23

The survey presents complex findings to the _____, whose policies have been designed to encourage most mothers to work.

A noun is needed after the, and whose policies shows it is an organisation that makes policies: the government, formed from govern.

Question 24

A document from the Women and Equality Unit said women with young children should go to work. It suggested that mothers who stayed at home were failing to pay the state back for the cost of their time at school or university. Working mothers were “maximising returns on public and private investment in _____ and training,” it said.

A noun is needed to pair with training after investment in. Education (from educate) fits the earlier mention of school or university.

Question 25

Measures to help those wanting more time at home included increased maternity pay, extended maternity leave and paternity leave and new rights on flexible hours. Yet the survey for Top Sante Health and Beauty magazine found that women were often frustrated because they could not cope with work and home life. Much of women’s anxiety appears to come from the _____ high standards set by so-called “supermoms”.

An adverb is needed to modify the adjective high. Impossibly high standards are standards so high that nobody can reach them. Not possible, because it is an adjective and gives the wrong meaning.

Question 26

Three-quarters of women surveyed, whose average total household income was £39,000, said their lives were not what they thought they would be. Six out of ten complained that their sex lives and social lives were _____.

After were, an adjective is needed. The context is complaining, so the meaning must be negative: unfulfilling means not satisfying (from fulfil).

Question 27

Marina Gask, the editor of Top Sante, said: “The ‘have it all’ dream has turned into a ‘do it all’ nightmare.” In reality, most women struggle to look after their families and hold down a demanding job to make ends meet. Despite their hard work, many are up to their necks in debt, feel _____ drained, financially _____ and unsatisfied sexually and socially.

An adverb is needed to modify the adjective drained. Emotionally drained means mentally exhausted, and it parallels financially later in the list.

Question 28

Despite their hard work, many are up to their necks in debt, feel _____ drained, financially _____ and unsatisfied sexually and socially.

After the adverb financially, an adjective is needed. The list is negative (drained, unsatisfied), so the answer is unsuccessful. The noun success cannot follow financially here.

Question 29

The endless _____ of elegant celebrities left most women feeling imperfect.

A noun is needed after The endless. Procession (from process) means a long line of people or things following each other, here a constant stream of celebrity images.

Question 30

Their poor body image played on their minds and ruined their _____ of everyday life. Unlike their grandmothers, they are no longer prepared to accept ageing. As a result, more women than ever are turning to the extreme option of cosmetic surgery which they regard as a quick fix to their body problems.

A noun is needed after their and before of. Enjoyment of everyday life means the pleasure people get from it. Happy is an adjective, so it cannot fill a noun position.

Question 31

C1 MOCK EXAMINATION - Use of English and Reading Sections

Section 5

(Please note: The following questions are related to a specific reading passage, which is available solely before the first question. Remember, it may be helpful to refer back to the reading text while answering the questions to ensure accuracy.)

Read the passage and underline the correct answers to each question.

ROAD WARRIORS: WHY GUYS ACT MACHO

If you drive on American motorways, you’ve probably noticed that, more and more often, bullets are coming through your windshield. This is a common sign of Road Rage, which opinion-makers have decided is a serious problem, currently ranking just behind global warming and several points ahead of Asia.

How widespread is Road Rage? To answer that question, researchers at the National Institute of Traffic Safety recently did a study in which they drove on the interstate motorway system in a specially equipped observation van. By the third day, they were deliberately running other motorists off the road.

“These people are MORONS!” was their official report.

That is the main cause of Road Rage: the realization that many of your fellow motorists have the same brain structure as a peanut. The most common example, of course, is the motorists who feel a need to drive in the left-hand or “fast” lane, even though they are going slower than everybody else. Nobody knows why these motorists do this. Maybe they belong to some kind of religious cult that believes the right lane is sacred and must never come in direct contact with tyres. Maybe one time, years ago, these motorists happened to be driving in the left lane when their favourite song came on the radio, so they’ve driven over there ever since, in the hope that the radio will play that song again.

But whatever makes these people drive this way, there’s nothing you can do about it. You can blow your horn at them, but it will have no effect. People have been blowing their horns at them for years: it’s a normal part of their environment.

In addition to Road Rage, there is the experience of Car Park Rage, which occurs when a motorist pulls into a crowded supermarket car park and sees people get into their car, clearly ready to leave, so they stop their car and wait for the other to leave the spot, and nothing happens! They just stay there! WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE THEY DOING IN THERE??!! COOKING DINNER??? Who knows? Perhaps they only do it to annoy.

When people finally get into the supermarket, they often experience Shopping Trolley Rage. This is caused by the people – and you just KNOW these are the same people who always drive in the left-hand lane – who routinely manage, by careful placement, to block the entire aisle with a single shopping trolley.

What makes the supermarket congestion even worse is that shoppers are taking longer and longer to decide what to buy, because every product in the supermarket now comes in an insane number of styles and sizes. For example, for just one brand of orange juice, the shopper must decide between Original, Homestyle, Pulp Plus, Double Vitamin C, Calcium or Old Fashioned. Once that’s decided, then there’s the decision about 33 cl, a half litre, one litre, one and a half litres or two litres or double pack size. TOO many choices. This creates ‘Too Many Products Choice Rage’. A complaint to the producer will lead to experiencing ‘Automated Phone Answering System Rage’.

The point is that there are many causes for rage in our modern world, and if we’re going to avoid unnecessary violence, we all need to “keep a cool head on our shoulders”. So let’s try to be more considerate, OK? Otherwise…

Road Rage is _____.

Paragraph 1 says Road Rage is currently ranking just behind global warming, so it is seen as less serious than global warming. It is ranked ahead of Asia, so the option about Asia is the reverse of what the text says.

Question 32

The researchers at the National Institute of Traffic Safety decided that Road Rage is caused by _____.

The researchers' official report was “These people are MORONS!”, and the writer adds that that is the main cause of Road Rage. In other words, other drivers are not very intelligent. Driving in the left lane is only given as the most common example, not the cause.

Question 33

In this case, “peanut” refers to _____.

The text says many motorists have the same brain structure as a peanut. This is a humorous way of saying their brains are tiny, meaning they are not intelligent.

Question 34

People who drive slowly in the fast lane are thought to be _____.

Paragraph 4 presents these drivers as the most common example of people with brains like a peanut, so the writer thinks they are very stupid. The jokes about religious cults and favourite songs mock their behaviour.

Question 35

Blowing your horn at these people _____.

Paragraph 5 says blowing your horn will have no effect, because people have been blowing their horns at them for years: it’s a normal part of their environment. Not is very effective, which is the opposite of the text.

Question 36

The reason people don’t move from their parking space at supermarkets is _____.

The writer's only suggestion is Perhaps they only do it to annoy, so they may want to irritate the waiting driver. COOKING DINNER??? is an exaggerated joke, not a real reason.

Question 37

The people who cause Shopping Trolley Rage _____.

The text says you just KNOW these are the same people who always drive in the left-hand lane. These are the slow drivers described earlier as a cause of Road Rage.

Question 38

The reason why supermarkets are so crowded and slow is _____.

The text explains that shoppers are taking longer and longer to decide what to buy because every product comes in an insane number of styles and sizes. So the many choices force people to spend a long time choosing.

Question 39

The writer advises the reader to _____.

In the last paragraph, the writer says we all need to keep a cool head on our shoulders, which means stay calm, and asks readers to be more considerate.

Question 40

What is the overall tone of the article?

The article uses exaggeration and jokes (bullets through the windshield, cooking dinner in the car), so it is humorous. It also comments accurately on familiar everyday situations, so it is observant. The insults are part of the comedy, not a serious attack, which rules out serious and bitter.

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