TASK 1

Read the following text about tracking animals and answer the 15 questions.

Paragraph 1
Effective monitoring of endangered species is key to their survival. Studying the movement, range and habits of wild
animals is essential in order to ensure their habitat remains free from poachers and development. Traditional methods
of monitoring wild animals, especially large ones, include radio-tagging. To do this, individual animals must at first be
captured or sedated so that collars or tags can be fitted.

Paragraph 2
One organisation that adopted this technique was WildTrack. In the late 1990s, the team was using radio-collars to
monitor black rhino in Namibia. However, the team soon realised that the chemicals used to immobilize the rhino in
order to fit the collars had a negative impact on female fertility. Not only that but a large proportion of the radio-collars
failed within the first 6 months and had to be replaced. Moreover, as animals grew, the collars would tighten, irritating
or even hurting the animal. The method was not only expensive, but it was also counterproductive, as it altered the
rhino’s behaviour, thus invalidating the data collected.

Paragraph 3
At the same time, the team was worked alongside local trackers. Animal tracking is one of the oldest human skills,
and these experts had years of experience in identifying individual animals by their footprints. They could effectively
create a true picture of individual rhinos’ activities without the use of any invasive techniques. Consequently, the team
were interested to know whether the trackers’ knowledge could be successfully translated into an effective,
computerised technique for monitoring animal movement.

Paragraph 4
Within each species, each individual has its own unique foot characteristics, in the same way that humans have
fingerprints. Thus, if an animal is sighted and identified just once, and the characteristics of its footprints properly
photographed and measured, its footprint can be recognised whenever it is sighted again. If done repeatedly,
conservationists can draw up a database of all, or at least a significant proportion of the individuals within the
population. After that conservationists can use it to identify an animal and its movements by its print. The data
gathered can be used for a range of purposes, for example to monitor biodiversity. WildTrack is currently using
footprint identification technology in Greece to study the potential effect of a large highway construction through brown
bear habitat.

Paragraph 5
Identifying an animal from its footprint is not without its challenges, however, as each time the individual places its foot
on the ground, it leaves a slightly different track, according to the type of ground it is walking on, moisture levels and
the way it is moving. In order to account for these variations, it is necessary to collect several tracks from each
individual, including impressions from all four feet, on a range of surfaces.
TASK 1 Choose the best title for each paragraph below. There is one title you don’t need.

1. Paragraph A The disadvantages of traditional techniques

2. Paragraph B How footprint identification technology works

C The negative impact of development on wild animal

3. Paragraph
D Problems involved with footprint identification
4. Paragraph
technology
5. Paragraph
E A traditional and effective monitoring technique

F The importance of wildlife monitoring

Choose the five statements below that are TRUE according to the information given in the text.
A WildTrack managed to radio-tag rhinos without sedating them.

B WildTrack found that the female rhinos which had been sedated had fewer babies.
6. _____
C The information Wildtrack collected about rhinos using radio-controllers was useless.
7. _____ D The trackers had the idea of combining their knowledge with a computer system.

8. _____ E Footprint Identification Technology involves taking a photo of a footprint, taking its measurements
and storing the information on a database.
9. _____
F For Footprint Identification Technology to work, it is necessary to see the animal which made the
10._____ footprint at least once.

G Footprint Identification Technology is best suited to the study of large, heavy animals.

H An animal’s footprints look the same whatever ground they are walking on.

Complete the sentences with a word, phrase or number from the text (maximum three words).

11. These days most people choose to run because of the __________________________________but monitoring
them can help reduce this risk.
12. Workers at Wildtrack were horrified to realise that the collars they were fitting on the rhinos
were ___________________________________.
13. In many cases, workers at Wildtrack had to replace radio-collars within 6 months because
___________________________________.
14. Footprint Identification Technology can be used to ___________________________________and assess the
impact of large-scale construction.
15. To counter the problems experienced in Footprint identification Technology, users must remember to
___________________________________.

TASK 2
Multi-text reading. Read the four texts and answer the questions below.

Which text:

1. notes that, if students do too many things at once, they don’t do them so well. 1. _______

2. believes that laptops are just one of many things that prevent students from concentrating. 2. _______

3. says that injudicious use of laptops in class affects non-users as well as users. 3. _______

4. states that students who do not use laptops have to decide what notes to record. 4. _______

5. demonstrates that teachers incorporate laptops into their lessons in a variety of ways. 5. _______
Text A
My laptop had developed some kind of glitch and so I’d had to send it off to be repaired. That meant that when it came
to my psychology class at college, I had to resort to the more traditional approach of note-taking – pen and paper. I
was expecting the experience to be a rather frustrating one, but as a matter of fact, I found it quite the opposite. I
seemed to get a lot more from the lecture that day, as if writing things down by hand allowed me to process and
consider what I was hearing more than typing did.

As it happens, I’m not the only one to think so. A recent study has found that people remember lectures better when
they’ve taken handwritten notes rather than typed ones. The reason? Well, the students using laptops tended to
transcribe the speakers’ speech word for word, as many could generally type fast enough to do. By hand, it just wasn’t
possible to capture every word. They had to be judicious with regards to what they chose to record, that is, they had to
go through a second mental process. That selectivity, it seemed, led to long-term comprehension.

Text B

Text C
I interviewed Tom Wheeler, a maths professor at Harfield College, about what he thinks of the college’s new
ban on using laptops in class.

“Well, actually, I restricted the use of laptops in my lessons long before the ban came in. Because of the subject I
teach, which involves lots of graphs and symbols, any advantage that might be gained from having a machine at the
ready for taking notes is negligible at best. There isn’t really any basic software out there that aids students to type
out these notation-laden sentences. Meanwhile, the temptation for distraction is high. Later on, when I read a study
from Cornell University, I knew I had taken the right approach. In this study, half of a class were allowed unfettered
access to their computers during a lecture while the other half was not. After the lecture, the students had to take
part in a quiz, and the disconnected students did better, across the board. It proved what I’d always suspected
anyway - that multitasking decreases task performance.”
Text D
Mike: Our school has banned all students from using Smartphones and laptops in class! It’s absolutely ridiculous!

Lily: What’s so ridiculous about that? Students can concentrate far better without them.

Mike: I don’t agree. I can type far faster than I can write. And before, I could take a picture of the teacher’s notes on
the board and focus what he was saying. Now I spend all the time scribbling notes down frantically, which later I
find are barely legible!

Lily: Well, loads of the students in my classes spend time playing games or writing messages to each other. It’s very
annoying. That’s why my teacher always suggests the people without laptops sit at the front, where we can’t see
their screens.

Mike: The type of students who get distracted by laptops and Smartphones will only get distracted by something else
if you take those machines away from them. Some kids just aren’t interested in learning. But the rest of us
shouldn’t suffer because of them.

Lily: I see your point. Maybe teachers should give students more advice on how to use their laptops and phones
effectively.

Mike: Yes, or devise activities in class that incorporate the technology into the lesson to ensure that students are using
them appropriately. But just banning this technology is just silly. Everyone else is using it, so why shouldn’t we?

Choose the five statements below that are TRUE according to the information given in the text.

A In general, students who take notes by laptop write down exactly what the speaker
says.

B The psychology student took more notes when she did not have her laptop with her.
6. ______
C By choosing what we note down, we begin to understand and remember information.
7. ______
D The number of teachers who create assignments that involve the use of messaging,
video and photography is increasing.
8. ______

E Over half of the teachers in the London survey teach lessons in which the students use
9. ______
laptops in the class.

10. ______ F Software that enables students to note down mathematical formula easily is now
freely available.

G In a study, it was found that all the students who had no access to a laptop during a
lecture did better in a post-lecture quiz.

H Mike finds that technology allows him to pay more attention to the teacher.
The summary notes below contain information from the texts above. Find a word or phrase from texts A-D to complete
the missing information.

11. Although teenagers use the Internet to____________________________ , it is not actually as effective a method
as they believe!
Why ban laptops?
12. Cornell University study: students with ____________________________ laptops remembered less information
In some subjects e.g. maths – hard to take notes on a laptop
Causes a distraction to users and non-users
Advantages of taking notes by hand

13. Students go through a____________________________ that leads to long-term comprehension

Consequences of a ban
Handwritten notes - often
Will easily distracted students get distracted by something else?

Alternatives to a ban
Advise students on more effective laptop / phone use
14. Encourage non laptop users to ____________________________ to avoid being distracted

Devise activities that incorporate technology, e.g. looking up information; recording videos / taking photos / messaging
15. as ____________________________

TASK 3 READING INTO WRITING

Use the information from the four texts above to write an essay (150-180 words), presenting the
arguments for and against banning laptops in class.

TASK 4 - EXTENDED WRITING

Write an article for your college magazine with the title: ‘My ambition’. Think of something you
would like to do in the future and write an article (about 150-180 words) about how you believe you
can achieve your goal.