Section 1:

Some places to visit

A    Beautiful Kingsley House was built in the 18th century, and all the rooms are decorated and furnished in the style of the time. They include the dining room, study and dressing room, which contains a display of 18th-century ladies’ clothing. Our volunteer guides in each room bring the house to life with stories of the past.

B    The Africa Museum was founded 50 years ago, and to commemorate the event, we have chosen 50 treasures from the permanent collection and put them together to tell the fascinating story of that continent. This exhibition continues until the end of the year. The Folk Art Gallery opens to the public next month, exhibiting traditional paintings and other objects from all over Africa.

C    From the outside, 17 Mansfield Street may not look particularly exciting, but come inside, and you’ll find yourself in a historic building that started life as a theatre, before becoming a bank and then a restaurant, which is still in operation. On Sundays and Mondays, when the restaurant is closed, a guide is available to show you round the building and its fascinating architectural features.

D    The Industrial Heritage Centre tells the fascinating story of a local family firm. Mr John Carroll started his engineering business in this building exactly 150 years ago. The firm closed in 1969, but the factory has been re-created, with machines like those that Mr Carroll was familiar with. See what working life could be like in the 19th century, a life far removed from the elegance of the wealthy.

E    The Fashion Museum has only just opened. It is home to an outstanding collection of more than 30,000 objects worn by men, women and children, dating from the 17th century to the present day. You’ll see how people used to dress! As well as the permanent exhibits, you can currently see Dressing the Stars, which displays original costumes worn by the stars of many popular films.

F     Having spent the best part of two years being refurbished, the Mason Museum has recently opened its doors again. It provides a magnificent setting for its art collection and for the beautiful 18th-century furniture for which the Mason is famous. Open Mondays to Fridays 10-4, and weekends 10-6.

Questions 1-8

The text above has six descriptions of places to visit in the same city, A-F.
Which description mentions the following information?

NB You may use any letter more than once.

1. clothes that well-known people have worn

a display that cannot be seen yet

people who talk in an entertaining way

the museum having just reopened

a building that has changed its function several times

furniture of the same kind that was used when the building was new

being open for tours on certain days of the week

a special event to mark an anniversary

Questions 9 - 15

Choose the right answers:

9. When was Kingsley House built?

How many treasures have been chosen to display in the ceremony?

When does the Folk Art Gallery open?

17 Mansfield Street was not a _____

Who was the first owner of the Industrial Heritage Centre house?

What could you see at the Industrial Heritage Centre?

What museum has just opened?

SECTION 2

LearnWithUs courses

LearnWithUs courses are a great way to learn, because they’re so flexible. All our courses are taken online using a computer, so you can work through the course at your own speed, and go back to any session whenever you want to. For some courses there are workbooks, in addition to the computer course, to provide extra written practice.

We offer hundreds of courses in a whole range of subjects from reading, writing and maths to business and management. Many of these are specially designed for people whose first language isn’t English.

Step one: have a chat with a friendly member of staff in one of our 1,500 LearnWithUs centres around the country. They can advise you on the most suitable course. They’ll also work out whether you qualify for funding, so that you won’t have to pay the full fee for the course.

You might want to try a taster lesson first. This is a single computer session in any subject of your choice, and it will show you what learning with LearnWithUs is like.

When you’ve made your final decision, step two is to register on your course. Once you’ve done this, a staff member will show you how to get started, whether you’re using a computer at home, at work or at a LearnWithUs centre.

That’s all you need to do! When you start your course, you can contact your LearnWithUs centre by phone (we’re open during normal office hours) or email if you need help.

Questions 16 - 23

Do the following statements agree with the information given in the text above?

TRUE   if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE   if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN   if there is no information on this

16. You can work through parts of a course more than once.

The number of courses offered by LearnWithUs has increased enormously.

Many staff members have worked through a LearnWithUs course themselves.

You may have to pay to take a LearnWithUs course.

Everybody takes the same taster lesson.

LearnWithUs centres are open seven days a week.

You won’t have any extra exercises.

You can not study at LearnWithUs if you are not an English speaker.

SECTION 3:

A Planning Process for Middle-Sized Projects

Any business project - such as reducing energy costs, or improving efficiency - needs to be planned, and time spent planning will save far more time later on.

The typical stages in this planning process are explained below.

• Your first task is to spot what needs to be done. Examine your firm’s current position, perhaps making a formal analysis of its strengths and weaknesses. Then think about how you might improve that position: what opportunities are there for achieving this?
• The next step is to decide precisely what the aim of your plan is. This is best expressed in a simple single sentence, to ensure that it is clear and sharp in your mind. Doing this helps you to avoid wasting effort on irrelevant side issues.
• Next you should work out how to do it. It is tempting just to grasp the first idea that comes to mind, but it is better to consider a wide range of options: this way, you may come up with less obvious but better solutions.
• Once you have explored the options available to you, the selection of which option to use is the next step. If you have the time and resources, you might decide to evaluate all options, carrying out some planning, such as costing, for each. Normally you will not have this luxury.
• You already have a broad idea of what your project will consist of. Now is the time to work out the full details, identifying the most efficient and effective method of carrying it out, including answering the questions of ‘who’, ‘what’ and ‘when’.
• The next stage is to review your plan and decide whether it will work satisfactorily. This evaluation enables you to change to another option that might be more successful, or to accept that no plan is needed.
• Once you have finished your plan and decided that it will work satisfactorily, it is time for implementation. Your plan will cover how this is to be done.
• Once you have achieved a plan, you can close the project. At this point, it is often worth assessing the project to see whether there are any lessons that you can learn.

Questions 24 - 30

Complete the flow-chart below.

Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the text for each answer.

Suggested stages in a planning process

Step 1 : Start by identifying opportunities for making improvements to the current situation.

Step 2: Decide and define the plan's exact 21 ______.

Step 3: Identify and consider a 22 ______ of possible solutions.

Step 4: Make a 23 ______  from possible solutions.

Step 5: Plan all the 24 ______ of every aspect of the project.

Step 6: Carry out an 25 ______ of your plan before any action is taken.

Step 7: Carry out the 26 ______ of your completed plan.

Step 8: Identify whether the project has provided any 27 ______ for you.