CELPIP Set 5-2 - Reading

Reading Test Instructions

On the official test, once you leave a page, you cannot go back to it to change your answers. However, in this practice test, you can.
Watch the timer in the top right corner to make sure that you complete the Reading Test before the time is up. For more information on test format, click here.
This Reading Test is identical in format to the official test except that the Reading section of the official test may be slightly longer as it might contain additional questions included for research and development purposes.

Reading Part 1: Reading Correspondence

Read the following message.

From: <s.sychov@email.com>
To: <pam.wilkes@dfsb.ca>
Subject: Requesting Extra Help for French

Dear Ms. Wilkes,

My name is Sergiy Sychov, and I am Nadia’s father. Although I have driven from work to the school to get Nadia a few times, we have not yet had a chance to formally meet.

Nadia has spoken very highly of you since the first day of school. Every evening at dinner, she tells us “a Ms. Wilkes story.” The stories are usually about something funny you told the class or an interesting way you teach, such as having the students sing a song in order to learn one of your math lessons. I think she is your biggest fan!

The reason I am writing to you is that I am worried about Nadia keeping up in French class. Our family immigrated to Canada from Ukraine just last year. Nadia has done very well with learning English since we arrived, but we are concerned about her French. You know what they say—kids are like sponges when it comes to learning languages! But, as French is her third language, I wonder if she is struggling more than the other kids. When we ask her about French class, she usually lowers her head and says she doesn’t want to talk about it.

I have called the school’s main office and spoken with someone, but, since I don’t know the French teacher’s name, I’m hoping you can tell me how to get in touch with her. Also, since you are clearly a passionate educator, I would be very grateful if you had any suggestions for us to make sure Nadia doesn’t fall behind. I know that the school year is just getting started, but I don’t want to wait until it is too late for her to catch up. I have heard that some families hire private tutors or sign their kids up for after-school lessons. Would you be able to recommend either a class or a tutor? She could use some help in science as well.

Thank you for any help you can give us. If you think it would be a good idea, I would be happy to meet with you or the French teacher sometime this week to talk about Nadia.

Sincerely,

Sergiy Sychov

Reading Part 2: Reading to Apply a Diagram

Reading Part 3: Reading for Information

Read the following passage.

A. The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), established in 1912 in Toronto, is the largest museum in Canada. Each year, over a million people visit its galleries and participate in its many programs, which include lectures, films, demonstrations, concerts, and dramatic performances. The museum is also Canada’s largest field-research institution, conducting worldwide research and conservation activities. Initially administered by the nearby University of Toronto, the museum is now an independent corporation of the Government of Ontario.

B. The museum came to exist largely due to the efforts of Charles Currelly, a minister-turned-archaeologist, and Edmund Walker, a banker with philanthropic interests. The former wanted to establish an archaeological museum in Ontario; the latter wanted to establish an institution in Canada similar to the impressive galleries and museums in New York. Although Walker was initially interested in the natural world—he collected fossils and arranged funding for dinosaur digs in Alberta—he eventually became interested in the cultural world as well. Thus, on his death, he donated a collection of Japanese woodblock prints to the museum. To this day, the museum explores both worlds and is, for that reason, one of a kind among the world’s museums.

C. The museum’s Natural History department holdings include amphibians, reptiles, mammals, birds, and one of the best bat collections on the continent. It also includes world-class collections of minerals, gems, rocks, and meteorites, and a world-renowned collection of dinosaur skeletons. The World Cultures department contains ethnological collections featuring artifacts from the Canadian Northwest Coast, Plains, Inuit, and Woodlands cultures. It also features artifacts from Near Eastern and Asian collections, which include tomb figurines from the Tang dynasty; Canada’s largest textile and costume collection; Greek, Roman, and Byzantine collections; and several European and early Canadian decorative arts collections.

D. Another unique feature of the museum is the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal, which consists of five interlocking prismatic structures at the entrance of the museum. The Crystal’s angled walls do not actually touch the museum’s original building and provide a stark contrast with its Neo-Romanesque architecture. Both harshly criticized and enthusiastically celebrated, the Crystal was but one aspect of the highly successful “Renaissance” project, started in 2002 to boost the museum’s ticket sales and capacity. The project also resulted in new and renovated gallery spaces allowing twice as many artifacts and specimens to be displayed, a digital gallery enabling an interactive multimedia experience, and additional restaurant and retail space.

E. Not given in any of the above paragraphs.

Reading Part 4: Reading for Viewpoints

Read the following article from a website.

On social media and blogs, many people throw caution to the wind when it comes to privacy—not just their own but that of their family members as well. Social media sites do have community standards, but, except in extreme cases, there’s little consensus on what’s socially appropriate to post and what isn’t. For this reason, many believe that parents should exercise some restraint in order to protect their children from future shame or ridicule stemming from online postings of their toddler pictures.

During the last decade, a growing number of proud parents have shared details about their babies and young children on blogs. Amy Smith, a Toronto stay-at-home mother of two-year-old twins, says she blogs because it’s “a way of sharing my worries and getting advice. It’s lonely and scary being a new mom.” She values the virtual connection with moms all over the world in similar situations. Edmontonian Jenn Oakley, a software developer on maternity leave, admits that blogging serves as a familiar activity that offsets the intense challenges of parenthood. “I feel competent doing anything on the computer,” she says, “but I feel like a struggling newbie being a mother.”

Blogging may be a refreshing relief from changing diapers and laundering bibs, but Vancouver psychologist Janice Kimmel warns that parents need to stop and think before publicly sharing the details of their children’s lives. “A blog is forever,” she says. “Once they’re adolescents, kids tend to be mortified if they find their baby pictures or toddler misadventure tales online.” Halifax event planner Doris Jones was shocked to learn from her ten-year-old that his friends were mocking him about a picture they’d found on her blog. “It was an innocent picture of my son and his sister in the bathtub when they were toddlers. There are millions of photos like this on the net, but still my son’s been the butt of jokes all year at school.” Janice Kimmel isn’t surprised. “We must respect our children’s privacy,” she cautions. “Before you post, think about your child’s future.”

CELPIP Set 5-2 – Reading

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