18 February 2025 · Shift 1

Spelling: -ieve words Option (d) is printed 'Believ'; the correct spelling is 'Believe'. Verbs of this family keep the final silent -e and follow 'i before e except after c': believe, achieve, relieve, receive (after c, so 'ei'). Drop that -e and 'believ' is not an English word at all, though 'believe' does drop it before -ing: believing. Combination, Refer and Sculptor (not 'sculpter') are all spelt correctly, so (d) is the incorrectly spelt word.

Collocation with friendship The blank follows 'our', and the contrast with 'We were at school together' is about the relationship between the two people, so the noun must be 'friendship', not 'friends'. The verb that collocates with 'friendship' is 'develop' - a friendship develops, i.e. becomes deeper over time. The first clause is in the simple past ('were'), and 'after we left school' fixes the time as past, so the verb must also be past: 'developed'. Hence: We were at school together, but our friendship developed after we left school - option (a). 'friendship grows' breaks the tense, while 'friends grown' has no finite verb and 'friends developed' would mean the people themselves matured, not the relationship.

Expressing purpose 'In case of' is followed by a noun and states a precaution ('in case of fire, break the glass'); here it is followed by the verb 'afford', so the printed phrase is ungrammatical. The sentence tells us WHY he saved money, and purpose is expressed by 'in order to + base verb'. Substituting gives: He saved money each month in order to afford a new car - the article 'a' before 'new car' is also kept, as a singular countable noun needs it. 'in charge of' means responsible for, 'in the mean time' means meanwhile and 'in addition to' means besides; none of the three states a purpose, and each also drops or misuses the article. Hence option (b) is correct.

Idiom: cost an arm and a leg 'Cost an arm and a leg' means to be extremely expensive - the price is so high that it is as if you had to pay with parts of your own body. Example: The designer handbag cost an arm and a leg, so she waited for the sale. Hence the meaning is 'Very expensive', option (b). 'Inexpensive', 'Free of charge' and 'Affordable' all point to a low price, the exact opposite of what the idiom says.

Antonym of feeble 'Feeble' means lacking physical strength - weak and frail, as in 'a feeble old man' or 'a feeble excuse'. Its direct opposite is 'Strong', which means having great physical power. 'Sickly' (often ill) and 'Delicate' (easily damaged) are near-synonyms of feeble, not opposites - they are the trap here. 'Rare' means uncommon, which is about frequency and has nothing to do with strength. Hence (c).

Position of frequency adverb Rule: an adverb of frequency (always, never, usually, hardly ever) stands immediately BEFORE the main verb when that verb is a single-word verb. Option (c) puts it after the verb - 'Nila arrives always on time for meetings' - which breaks the rule; it should read 'Nila always arrives on time for meetings.' In (a), (b) and (d) the adverbs never, hardly ever and usually all sit correctly before 'arrives'. Hence the sentence with the incorrect adverb usage is (c).

Synonym of monotonous 'Monotonous' describes something that never varies - one unchanging tone or pattern repeated until it becomes tiresome. 'Dull' carries exactly that sense of being unvaried and boring, and it fits what the sentence reports: the voice 'lulled the audience to sleep'. 'Varied' is the direct opposite of monotonous, so it cannot be the synonym. 'Exciting' and 'Interesting' contradict the sentence itself - a voice that put the listeners to sleep was neither. Hence (b).

Antonym of spurious 'Spurious' means false - not what it claims to be, as in 'spurious drugs' or 'a spurious claim'. Its opposite is 'Authentic', meaning genuine and of undisputed origin. The trap is that three of the four options mean the same as spurious: Bogus, Fake and Counterfeit all describe something not genuine. Only (c) reverses the meaning, so 'Authentic' is the antonym.

Spelling: explorer Option (a) is printed 'Expllorer' with a doubled l; the correct spelling is 'Explorer'. It is built as explore + -er: the silent -e is dropped and -er added, and the l is never doubled (compare explore, exploration, exploring). Acoustic, Curious and Selection are all spelt correctly, so (a) is the incorrectly spelt word.

Quantifier with uncountable noun 'Homework' is an uncountable noun - there is no 'a homework' and no 'homeworks' - so the word before it must be a quantifier that works with uncountables. 'few' and 'many' go only with plural countable nouns (few books, many books), so both are ruled out at once. 'the little' means 'the small amount that exists' and needs a defining clause after it ('the little homework I had'); it does not fit a plain statement of quantity. 'A lot of' works with countable and uncountable nouns alike: I can't go out tonight because I have a lot of homework to do. Hence (d).

Synonym of haughty 'Haughty' means arrogantly superior - openly looking down on people one thinks are beneath oneself. 'Arrogant' carries the same exaggerated sense of self-importance, so it is the synonym. Sheepish (embarrassed), Modest (humble) and Bashful (shy) all describe the opposite temperament, which is why three of the four options can be eliminated together. Hence (d).

Idiom: a blessing in disguise 'A blessing in disguise' names something that looks like a misfortune at first but turns out to be good - the benefit is hidden ('in disguise'). The sentence itself proves the meaning: losing the job was the misfortune, and it pushed the speaker into a successful business of his own - the unforeseen good outcome. Hence the meaning is 'something unfortunate that results in an unforeseen positive outcome', option (d). (a) reverses the idiom - a hidden danger is a curse in disguise, not a blessing - while (b) and (c) read 'blessing' literally as compassion or a gift.

Confusable word: destination The verb is 'reached', so the blank must name a PLACE that a traveller arrives at. 'Destination' is exactly that - the place a person or a journey is going to: My flight got delayed yesterday, so I reached my destination very late. 'Designation' is a person's job title and 'destiny' is fate; you cannot 'reach' either of them, and both are only look-alikes of the right word. 'Rabble' means a disorderly crowd, which has no connection with a delayed flight. Hence (d).

Adverb after helping verb Rule: when the verb phrase contains a helping verb, an adverb such as 'hardly' goes BETWEEN the helping verb and the main verb. Option (d) places it before the helping verb - 'Andrew hardly could believe' - so it must be corrected to 'Andrew could hardly believe the news when he heard it.' The other three are correctly built: 'surprisingly' modifies the adjective 'quick', 'softly' and 'clearly' follow the verbs 'spoke' and 'hear' that they modify, and 'highly' precedes the adjective 'pleased'. Hence the sentence with the incorrect adverb usage is (d).

Preposition of movement: into The particles start near the ground and rise until they are inside the air above us, so the preposition must show movement to the INSIDE of something - that is 'into'. Corrected: Black carbon consists of tiny particles that can waft high into the atmosphere and be carried for thousands of kilometres. 'over' (as printed) and 'above' both place the particles higher than the atmosphere, i.e. outside it - impossible for soot carried by air currents. 'onto' means movement to the surface of something, and the atmosphere has no surface to land on; 'across' means from one side to the other, which describes horizontal travel, not the rise the sentence needs. Hence 'high into the atmosphere', option (d).

Cloze: inevitable Blank (76) completes 'In today's fast-paced world, stress is ____', and the very next sentence begins with 'However, adopting coping mechanisms is crucial'. 'However' sets up a contrast: stress cannot be avoided, BUT it can be managed - so the blank needs a word meaning 'unavoidable'. 'Inevitable' means certain to happen and impossible to prevent, which is exactly that idea. 'Crucial' (very important) and 'unrealistic' (not achievable) say nothing about stress being unavoidable, and 'recurring' is the word the passage needs later, at blank (79). Hence blank (76) takes 'inevitable', option (b).

Cloze: coping mechanisms The blank sits directly before the noun 'mechanisms', so the test is which adjective collocates with it in a passage about handling stress. 'Coping mechanisms' is the fixed phrase for the strategies people use to deal with difficulty, and 'coping' matches the rest of the clause - such mechanisms are 'crucial for well-being'. 'Obsolete mechanisms' would mean out-of-date ones, the opposite of something crucial for well-being. 'Remedial' is used of teaching and of action taken to correct a fault, and 'creative' of imagination; neither names a way of dealing with stress, and neither is supported by the following sentence about meditation and exercise. Hence blank (77) takes 'coping', option (a).

Cloze: bare infinitive after can The blank comes straight after the modal 'can', and a modal is always followed by the bare infinitive - the plain form with no -s. That removes 'adds' and 'helps' at once, whatever the subject may be. Between the two remaining forms, only 'help' can be followed by another bare verb: 'can help manage stress levels' is standard English, while 'can add manage' is not a possible structure. Meaning agrees too - meditation and exercise assist in managing stress, they do not 'add' it. Hence blank (78) takes 'help', option (a).

Cloze: recurring stress The sentence is built on a contrast: 'While SOME stress is a natural response, ____ stress can negatively impact both physical and mental health.' So the blank must describe the harmful kind - stress that keeps coming back rather than passing off. 'Recurring' means happening again and again, which is exactly the opposite pole to occasional, natural stress. 'Occasional' would destroy the contrast, because occasional stress IS the harmless kind the first half of the sentence has just allowed. 'Malignant' and 'cancerous' belong to the vocabulary of tumours; they describe cells, not a person's stress level. Hence blank (79) takes 'recurring', option (d).

Cloze: balanced lifestyle The blank is an adjective joined by 'and' to 'healthy', so it must be a word that can describe a LIFESTYLE. The paragraph's theme is keeping work, stress and self-care in proportion, and 'balanced' means exactly that - well-proportioned and stable. 'A balanced and healthy lifestyle' is the standard collocation, so blank (80) takes 'balanced'. 'Nutritious' describes food, not a lifestyle; 'sober' means not drunk or grave in manner; 'calming' describes an activity such as meditation, not the life as a whole. Hence option (c).