Inforum Placement test – Orientation 2023

SECTION 1

PART 1

QUESTIONS 1-3
Which notice (A-E) says this (1-3)?
Example: You should take care when you walk under here. Answer: A

A. Mind your head.
B. Children aren’t allowed in the casino.
C. Fire exit.
D. Pool closed for maintenance.
E. Lift out of order.

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1. You must use the stairs.

PART 2

QUESTIONS 4-6
Read the sentences about a surfer.
Choose the best word (A, B or C) for each space.
Example: George didn’t ______ to surf when he was younger. Answer: B
A. liked B. use C. enjoyed

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4. George _______ surfing every morning by himself.

PART 3

QUESTIONS 8-9
Complete the 2 conversations.
Example: Where does she live?
A. Over England
B. In Brazil
C. To Australia
Answer: B

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8. Would you like to come shopping with me?

PART 4

QUESTIONS 13-15
Read the article about a world champion motorcycle rider.

Valentino Rossi – World Champion Motorcycle Rider

Valentino Rossi is from Italy and motorcycle racing has always been in his family. His father, Graziano Rossi, was also a motorcycle racer and he raced motorcycles in the 1970s. Valentino first started racing go-karts when he was 5 years old. He won many races and became a regional champion. While he was racing go-karts, he also started racing motorcycles. In 1993, he moved to racing motorcycles full-time.
Valentino has been racing in the World Championships since 1994 and he has won nine Grand Prix World Championships. He almost won the championship for a 10th time in 2015, but he was beaten in the last race of the year.

Example: Valentino Rossi is from Spain.
A. Right B. Wrong C. Doesn’t say
Answer: B

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13. Valentino Rossi’s father was a motorcycle racing champion.

PART 5

QUESTIONS 16-20
Read the article about science.
Choose the best word (A, B or C) for each space.

THE AMAZING WORLD OF SCIENCE
Why is the sky blue? Why do balls fall (Example) __________ and not up? Science (16) __________ these questions. “The sky is blue because of the way light is scattered in the atmosphere”. “Balls fall down (17) __________ of gravity”.
Science helps (18) __________ answer questions about the world around us. Some (19) __________ are difficult to answer. It’s not that we don’t know the answer, we just don’t know the answer yet.
Science gives us light in the darkness and it will keep answering our questions for as long as the human race (20) __________.

Example: A. over B. ground C. down
Answer: C

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16.

SECTION 2

PART 1

Questions 1-3
Look at the text in each question.
What does it say?
Example: Children under five must have adult supervision to enter.
A. Children under five can’t enter.
B. Adults must go with their children.
C. A child of four needs an adult to watch them inside the ride.
Answer: C

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1.
Closing down sale
Everything must go before the end of the month!
All items on sale, up to 90% off.

PART 4

Around the world at 16

Jessica Watson was the youngest person in the world to complete a solo trip around the world. Departing Sydney on 18 October 2009, Watson headed north-east crossing into the Pacific Ocean before then sailing through the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. She returned to Sydney on 15 May 2010, three days before her 17th birthday. The Queenslander, who sailed her pink yacht more than 19,000 nautical miles nonstop and unassisted, actually describes herself as reasonably conservative and "not adventurous at all". Watson has difficulty recalling specific details, but she mentions waves as tall as telephone poles, Southern Ocean storms that turned her upside down and orange sunrises so wondrous they made her scream with delight. Despite being "'not adventurous", Watson definitely sees the upside of getting out of the comfort zone. Getting stuck in that comfort zone also has its risks, she says. "I think you need to appreciate that to do nothing is also risky, so you've got to go and put yourself out there. "It's really very, very simple. It's about what you can achieve if you set your mind to it. I was just an ordinary girl who couldn't sail and was scared of the water, and look what I did. I like the simple message in that."

Questions 8-12

Look at the sentences below about a girl who sailed around the world. Read the text above to decide if each sentence is correct or incorrect.

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8. The trip took one year to complete.

PART 4

Questions 13-15
Read the text and questions below.
For each question, choose the correct answer.

Learning to Surf
I grew up on a farm in a small country town in Queensland, Australia. Growing up in the country was great. The environment was beautiful and I always had something to do. I spent a lot of time helping my father look after our animals, but I still managed to find time for fun.
In my free time, I loved doing adventurous things. My friends and I used to go mountain climbing, practice dangerous tricks on our ‘dirt bikes’ and even go water skiing at the nearby lake. Things like extreme sports and dealing with big farm animals were easy for me. I wasn’t afraid of anything. That was until I tried surfing for the first time.
When I was eighteen years old, I moved to the Gold Coast to go to university. The Gold Coast is famous for its surf beaches and I had been on a few holidays there in the past. I had never tried surfing though. I thought it would be easy, but I was wrong. The first time I tried surfing, I went by myself and the waves were huge! I got thrown around by the waves and actually got a bit scared. I then knew that I had to treat the ocean with respect. Sometimes overconfidence can be dangerous.

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13. What is the writer trying to do in this text?

PART 5

Questions 16-21
Read the text below and choose the correct word for each space.
For each question, choose the correct answer.

Example _______ A. Since B. Ago C. For D. Take
Answer: C (for)

(Example) _____ a long time, it was 16. _______ that developing cancer was something we have no control over. However, thanks to research, we now know more about the 17. ______ than ever before.
In an effort to teach people more about the causes of cancer, the Cancer Council has launched a new website to 18. ________ answers to people’s questions 19. _______ cancer.
Changing the 20. _______ of a lifetime isn’t easy so the website is designed to help you along by giving an easy guide with five simple steps to help reduce your risk of cancer.
You can log onto the website at www.iheard.com.au and begin you journey to a healthier future.

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16.

SECTION 3

PART 1

For questions 1–4, read the text below and decide which answer (A, B, C or D) best fits each gap.
There is an example at the beginning (Example 1).

Example 1: A. prospect B. choice C. option D. magnificence
Answer: A. prospect

A one-way trip to Mars
The (Example 1) ………. of space travel to distant stars has always fascinated humans and since the 1960s, (1) ………. have been travelling into space on a (2) ………. basis. (3) ………., travel to planets beyond our own solar system is still science fiction.
One of mankind’s greatest space travel (4) ………. was no doubt landing on the moon in 1969.
(Example 2) ………. , since the Apollo missions to the moon, travel to outer-space has mostly been focused on launching satellites (5) ………. sending astronauts to the International Space Station, (6) ………. is only 400 kilometres above the Earth’s surface. The next big challenge is sending humans to our closest planetary neighbour, Mars.
‘Mars One’, is a group currently looking for people to be part of their Mars colonisation programme. With some good luck, they believe humans (7) ………. have colonised Mars by 2023. There are some conditions, however. The cost of the programme is expected to be about $6.5 billion. Moreover, if an astronaut goes to Mars, they will never come back. Despite being a one-way trip, more than 200,000 people have already applied (8) ………. an astronaut position with ‘Mars One’.

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Questions 1-3

1.

PART 3

You are going to read part of an article about a famous inventor. For questions 13-15, choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which you think fits best according to the text.

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Nikola Tesla was a multi-disciplinary genius whose inventions arguably make him the most significant inventor in history.
He was born around midnight, between July 9 and July 10, 1856 during a fierce lightning storm. According to family legend, midway through the birth, the midwife wrung her hands and declared the lightning a bad omen. “This child will be a child of darkness”, she said, to which his mother replied: “No. He will be a child of light.”
His discovery of the rotating magnetic field in 1882 led to a series of US Patents in 1888, which gave us the AC electric power system still in use today. This one achievement earned him the honour of being called “The Man Who Invented the 20th Century”.
His research went way beyond what has found its way into everyday use. He is the recognized inventor of the brushless AC induction motor, radio, remote control by radio, super-conductivity, fluorescent lighting, the bladeless turbine engine and pump, the capacitor discharge ignition system for automobile engines, the mechanical oscillator, and dozens of other inventions. He also discovered that useful energy could be extracted from the heat of the ambient air, and that electric power in the form of Radiant Energy could be broadcast to everyone in the world through the ground.
In his masterful article The Problem of Increasing Human Energy, first published in Century Illustrated Magazine in June 1900, Tesla discusses the “energy situation” like never before. After discussing every known method of gathering energy from the Natural World, Tesla departs into the unknown, writing about a machine that gathers heat from the ambient air. He calls it a “Self-acting Engine” since it could run indefinitely from the solar energy stored in the air. He calls it “the ideal way of obtaining motive power”.
Tesla worked for years trying to solve all of the technical issues presented by his idea. His work with liquefied air, his discovery of super-conductivity at ultra-low temperatures, his bladeless turbine and mechanical oscillator were all spin-offs from his work on the ambient air engine. He was convinced the system could work and that it was absolutely the best way to harness solar energy.

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13. Tesla was called “The man who invented the 20th century’ because