English Placement Test

This test will be used to test your English level. Please complete all sections

A speaking and listening test may also be required for some courses.
You are responsible for being prepared for the test.

• You have 60 minutes to do the test
• No dictionaries or phones are allowed
• Nobody can assist you
• You should allow about 20 minutes for each section

Grammar Section

Writing Section

Choose one topic and write about it

Topic 1 - Technology has changed the world in the last 10 years in a positive way.
Topic 2 - It’s better for children to grow up in the countryside than a big city.

To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your knowledge or experience.

Reading Section

Read the article on Street Art and answer the questions below

Paragraph 1
The first pictures on walls appeared in caves thousands of years ago. Later the Ancient Romans and Greeks wrote their names and protest poems on buildings. Modern street art (now called “graffiti”) seems to have started in Philadelphia in the early 1960s, and by the late sixties it had reached New York. The new art form really grew quickly in the 1970s, when people began writing their names, or “tags”, on buildings all over the city. In the mid-1970s it was sometimes hard to see out of a train window because they were completely covered in spray paintings known as “masterpieces”.

Paragraph 2
In the early days, the “taggers” were part of street gangs who wanted to mark their territory. They worked in groups called “crews”. Art galleries in New York began buying graffiti until John Lindsay, the mayor of New York, declared the first war on graffiti, making it illegal to graffiti. By the 1980s it became much harder to write on trains without being caught, and many graffiti artists began using roofs of buildings or paint on.

Paragraph 3
The debate over whether graffiti is art or not is still going on. Peter Vallone, a New York City councillor, thinks that graffiti done with permission can be art, but if it is on someone else’s property it becomes a crime. “I have a message for the graffiti vandals out there”, he said recently. “Your freedom of expression ends where my property begins.” On the other hand, Felix, a member of the Berlin-based group Reclaim Your City, says that artists are reclaiming cities for the public from big company advertising, and that graffiti represents freedom and makes cities more colourful.

Paragraph 4
Graffiti is still very popular today and can even be a job. For example, some works by famous English graffiti artist, Banksy, have been sold for over $1,000,000, which shows that graffiti has become big business!

Part 1. Multiple Choice

Choose the best answer from the options below

Part 2. Complete the sentences with one word.

Part 3. Match each heading to one paragraph only