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Warning: scheduled maintenance will be carried out on Saturday 20th April 2024. Please do not start any Password test after 05.30 BST, as this website will go offline at 09.00 BST. We expect normal service to be resumed at 12.00 BST.
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Password Skills Receptive
Password Skills Receptive is used to assess students at the end of a foundation, pre-sessional, pre-Masters or other pre-university (pathway) programme.
The test enables institutions who have well-developed speaking and writing assessments to augment their in-house testing with reliable CEFR aligned reading and listening assessments.

Password Reading

Password Reading consists of five sections. In each section, there is one reading task to be completed.
Test-takers have 1 hour and 15 minutes to complete the test module.

Section 1

There is one task to complete in section 1.
Test-takers put seven sentences together to show the order of events in a story.
Test-takers drag and drop each sentence into the table.
Please note the first sentence is always already in the table.

Ice Cream

1 Shirley’s children told her they wanted to eat ice cream.
2
3
4
5
6
7
They ate all the chocolate ice cream and then they ate all the strawberry ice cream.
When she got home, her children were surprised but happy.
She went to the supermarket to buy some for them.
In the end, she decided she would buy both, so they could choose.
She didn’t want to upset them by getting the wrong flavour.
When she got there, she couldn’t remember if they wanted strawberry or chocolate.
1 Shirley’s children told her they wanted to eat ice cream.
2 She went to the supermarket to buy some for them.
3 When she got there, she couldn’t remember if they wanted strawberry or chocolate.
4 She didn’t want to upset them by getting the wrong flavour.
5 In the end, she decided she would buy both, so they could choose.
6 When she got home, her children were surprised but happy.
7 They ate all the chocolate ice cream and then they ate all the strawberry ice cream.

Section 2

There is one task to complete in section 2.
Test-takers fill empty spaces with words from below the text.

Test-takers drag and drop words into appropriate spaces. There are more words than spaces.

Stress

Stress is often thought to be one of the greatest problems of the modern world. In fact , it is a natural part of our lives and you need to experience a certain level of it in order to live EXAMPLE TEXT . It happens when the human body reacts to threats or dangers. Your body begins to produce chemicals EXAMPLE TEXT cause your heart to beat faster and carry fats to your EXAMPLE TEXT to give them extra fuel. This is meant to help you to run away, fight off a predator or battle your enemies. When the threat has EXAMPLE TEXT  , or you have escaped from danger, the ‘relaxation response’ returns your system to normal.
waits                                 what                                muscles                      that
healthily                           cleanly                             result                           passed
being                                lasts                                 foods                           harmful
The test-taker has answered correctly in the example below:

Stress is often thought to be one of the greatest problems of the modern world. In fact , it is a natural part of our lives and you need to experience a certain level of it in order to live healthily . It happens when the human body reacts to threats or dangers. Your body begins to produce chemicals that cause your heart to beat faster and carry fats to your muscles to give them extra fuel. This is meant to help you to run away, fight off a predator or battle your enemies. When the threat has passed , or you have escaped from danger, the ‘relaxation response’ returns your system to normal.

Section 3

There is one task to complete in section 3.
Test-takers must read the text and then answer eight questions about it.
Please note in the example below there is just one question. In the real test there are always eight questions.

Desertification

Paragraph 1
Agriculture in all parts of the world depends on the fertility of the soil. Good quality soils develop when organic materials such as fallen leaves are transformed by fungi and microbes into essential plant nutrients such as carbon, nitrogen and phosphorous. In some ecosystems, often those in dry areas with limited rainfall, there is a natural scarcity of rich soil. Relatively small numbers of animals and people are able to survive there.
In Paragraph 1 the writer says that the farming is difficult in dry areas because…
  there is too little water for people and animals to drink
  there are too few plants to provide organic materials
  there are too few people to make farming practical
The test-taker has answered correctly in the example below:
  there is too little water for people and animals to drink
  there are too few plants to provide organic materials
  there are too few people to make farming practical

Section 4

There is one task to complete in section 4.
Test-takers read paragraphs of a text and then match headings to the paragraphs. The paragraph headings can be found just below the text.
There is one more heading than is required.
In this example there is just one paragraph. In the real test there are always seven paragraphs.

Bringing up children bilingually

Note: Bilingualism is the ability to speak two languages and multilingualism is the ability to speak many.

Publications for bilingual families

Multilingual Matters (MM) is a publishing company based in Bristol, England, that specialises in books on many aspects of multilingualism, and publishes newsletters for bilingual (and multilingual) families all around the world. It was started almost 25 years ago by British born Mike Grover and his Finnish wife, Marjukka, who were raising their two sons in Finnish and English, but were frustrated by the lack of practical advice.

THIS IS WHERE THE TITLE FOR THE BELOW PARAGRAPH GOES
Marjukka explains the decision to launch the company: “Unsound research in Wales in the 1950s led to quite negative conclusions and the suggestion that raising children with more than one language would result in them having weak language skills. It wasn’t until the 1980s that these issues were clarified by more carefully designed studies in Canada. When my children were born, I spoke to them from the beginning in my own language. Although I was certain I was doing the right thing, I wanted to learn more about the process of raising bilinguals. A lot of research has been done about this, but it had no real ‘home’. So we set up Multilingual Matters.”

How and why MM started A need to be flexible A good time to begin Mistaken ways Benefits of bilingualism Three languages better than two Cause of conflict The way forward
The test-taker has answered correctly in the example below:

Bringing up children bilingually

Note: Bilingualism is the ability to speak two languages and multilingualism is the ability to speak many.

Publications for bilingual families

Multilingual Matters (MM) is a publishing company based in Bristol, England, that specialises in books on many aspects of multilingualism, and publishes newsletters for bilingual (and multilingual) families all around the world. It was started almost 25 years ago by British born Mike Grover and his Finnish wife, Marjukka, who were raising their two sons in Finnish and English, but were frustrated by the lack of practical advice.

How and why MM started
Marjukka explains the decision to launch the company: “Unsound research in Wales in the 1950s led to quite negative conclusions and the suggestion that raising children with more than one language would result in them having weak language skills. It wasn’t until the 1980s that these issues were clarified by more carefully designed studies in Canada. When my children were born, I spoke to them from the beginning in my own language. Although I was certain I was doing the right thing, I wanted to learn more about the process of raising bilinguals. A lot of research has been done about this, but it had no real ‘home’. So we set up Multilingual Matters.”

How and why MM started A need to be flexible A good time to begin Mistaken ways Benefits of bilingualism Three languages better than two Cause of conflict The way forward

Section 5

There is one task to complete in section 5.
Test-takers read a text and then read some statements.
Test-takers put the statements in order to make a summary of the text.

The first statement is always answered.
There are two more statements than are required.
Please note in this example there are five statements. In the real test there are always eight statements.

The Ancient Gods

Early human civilisations relied heavily on the cycles of the natural world for their survival and these elements included the movement of the stars, the changing environmental conditions, as well as local flora and fauna. Over long periods of time, certain civilisations began to attach significance to these cycles of the Earth, believing that they were under the control of omnipotent beings or gods with special powers to determine the lives of human beings.

Often these beings known as gods were depicted in animal form in paintings and manuscripts and many of them became ‘sacred’, generating traditional ceremonies and rituals as illustrated by the cat in ancient Egypt. Primarily an agricultural society, rats presented serious issues for the Egyptians in terms of hygiene and food production, and it is thought that cats became revered in their culture due to their ability to keep the rat population down. Cats were considered so sacred that there were severe punishments for harming one, even if done so accidentally, which often resulted in death.

Rituals were constructed around these sacred animals, many of which were based on sacrifice, a widespread practice which involved killing and offering animals to the gods in exchange for favours. People would pray for good harvests, or to prevent bad weather or natural disasters, and in some cultures, for example the Sumerian, people believed that the thoughts of the gods could be seen by examining the internal organs of goats or sheep. They thought that by being able to predict the thoughts of the gods, it would be possible to keep them contented and in turn they would be blessed with good fortune.

The Ancient Gods
1.
2.
3.

Ancient peoples were able to predict the weather based on rituals.
Traditional rituals in Egypt killed farm animals to keep gods happy.
Ancient peoples believed that gods were responsible for the natural rhythms of the world.
Certain animals became sacred due to the importance of their natural talents.
People sacrificed animals for the gods in order to prevent harm.

The test-taker has answered correctly in the example below:
1. Ancient peoples believed that gods were responsible for the natural rhythms of the world
2. Certain animals became sacred due to the importance of their natural talents.
3. People sacrificed animals for the gods in order to prevent harm

Password Listening

Password Listening consists of five sections. Test-takers have 1 hour to complete the five sections. In each section there are one or more listening tasks to be completed.
Once test-takers press the play button, it is not possible to pause or restart the recording. Test-takers will hear each recording twice. The second time they hear the recording the question(s) will appear.
Notes can be made to help prepare answers.

Section 1

This section has ten short recordings of information, messages, lecture clips and so on with a single multiple choice question for each.
Each recording lasts approx. 1 minute and is repeated once.

Section 2

This section has one longer recording of a talk, such as a lecture. Test-takers decide whether eight points are correct, incorrect or not mentioned.
This recording lasts approx. 3 minutes and is repeated once.

Section 3

This section has six short recordings of information, messages, lecture clips and so on with a single multiple choice question for each.
Each recording lasts approx. 1 minute and is repeated once.

Section 4

This section has one longer recording of a talk, such as a lecture with five multiple choice questions.
This recording lasts approx. 5 minutes and is repeated once.

Section 5

This section has one longer recording of two speakers with different views on a topic. Test-takers choose four from ten points which are mentioned by each speaker.
This recording lasts approx. 3 minutes and is repeated once.