Course Content
Reading
This section measures your ability to understand academic passages in English. There are three passages in this section. You have 60 minutes to complete the en tire section. You may read the passages and answer the questions in any order you choose, but plan to spend about 20 minutes on each passage and the accompanying questions. Most questions are worth 1 point, but the last question for each passage is worth more than 1 point. The directions for the last question indicate how many points you may receive. At the end of this Practice Test you will find an answer key, information to help you determine your score, and explanations of the answers.
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Passage 1
Passage One Reading
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Passage 2
Passage Two Reading
00:50:00
Passage 3
Passage Three Reading
00:50:00
Listening
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Listening 1
Mark your answer by filling in the oval or square next to your choice.
00:15:00
Listening 2
Mark your answer by filling in the oval or square next to your
00:15:00
Listening 3
Mark your answer by filling in the oval or square next to your
00:15:00
Listening 4
Mark your answer by filling in the oval or square next to your
00:15:00
Listening 5
Mark your answer by filling in the oval or square next to your
00:15:00
Speaking
The following Speaking section of the test will last approximately 20 minutes. To complete it, you will need a recording device that you can play back to listen to your responses. During the test, you will answer six speaking questions. Two of the questions ask about familiar topics. Four questions ask about short conversations, lectures, and reading passag.es. You may take notes as you listen to the conversations and lectures. The questions and the reading passages are printed here. The time you will have to prepare your response and to speak is printed below each question. You should answer all of the questions as completely as possible ,in the time allowed. Play the audio tracks listed in the test instructions. Record each of your responses.
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Speak 1
Speak 2
Speak 3
Speak 4
Speak 5
Speak 6
Writing
This section measures your ability to use writing to communicate in an academic environment. There will be two writing tasks. For the first writing task, you will read a passage and listen to a lecture and then answer a question based on what you have read and heard. For the second task, you will answer a question based on your own knowledge and experience. At the end of this Practice Test you will find a script for the audio track, topic notes, sample test taker essays, and comments on those essays by official raters.
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Task 1: Writing Based on Reading and Listening
Task 2: Writing Based on Knowledge and Experience
Practice Test 1

NINETEENTH-CENTURY POLITICS IN THE UNITED STATES


The development of the modern presidency in the United States began with Andrew Jackson, who swept to power in 1829 at the head of the Democratic Party and served until 1837. During his administration he immeasurably enlarged the power of the presidency. “The President is the direct representative of the American people,” he lectured the Senate when it opposed him. “He was elected by the people, and is responsible to them.” With this declaration, Jackson redefined the character of the presidential office and its relationship to the people.


During Jackson’s second term, his opponents had gradually come together to form the Whig Party. Whigs and Democrats held different attitudes toward the changes brought about by the market, banks, and commerce. The Democrats tended to view society as a continuing conflict between “the people”-farmers, planters, and workers-and a set of greedy aristocrats. This “paper money aristocracy” of bank ers and investors manipulated the banking system for their own profit, Democrats claimed, and sapped the nation’s virtue by encouraging speculation and the desire for sudden, unearned wealth. The Democrats wanted the rewards of the market without sacrificing the features of a simple agrarian republic. They wanted the wealth that the market offered without the competitive, changing society; the complex dealing; the dominance of urban centers; and the loss of independence that came with it.


Whigs, on the other hand, were more comfortable with the market. For them, commerce and economic development were agents of civilization. Nor did the Whigs  envision any conflict in society between farmers and workers on the one hand and businesspeople and bankers on the other. Economic growth would benefit everyone by raising national income and expanding opportunity. The government’s responsibility was to provide a well-regulated economy that guaranteed opportunity for citizens of ability.


Whigs and Democrats differed not only in their attitudes toward the market but also about how active the central government should be in people’s lives. Despite Andrew Jackson’s inclination to be a strong President, Democrats as a rule believed in limited government. Government’s role in the economy was to promote competition by destroying monopolies1 and special privileges. In keeping with this philosophy of limited government, Democrats also rejected the idea that moral beliefs were the proper sphere of government action. Religion and politics, they believed, should be kept clearly separate, and they generally opposed humanitarian legislation.


The Whigs, in contrast, viewed government power positively. They believed that it should be used to protect individual rights and public liberty, and that it had a special  role where individual effort was ineffective. By regulating the economy and competition, the government could ensure equal opportunity. Indeed, for Whigs the concept of government promoting the general welfare went beyond the economy. In particular, Whigs in the northern sections of the United States also believed that government power should be used to foster the moral welfare of the country. They were much more likely to favor social-reform legislation and aid to education.


In some ways the social makeup of the two parties was similar. To be competitive in winning votes, Whigs and Democrats both had to have significant support among
farmers, the largest group in society, and workers. Neither party could win an election

 

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