Đề thi thử VSTEP (Bậc 3-5) số 1: VSTEP Mock Test 1

Listening (40 phút)

Part 1

Questions 1-8. You will hear eight short announcements or instructions. There is one question for each. Choose the correct answer A, B, C or D.

Phần nghe phát trong phòng thi.

1. Announcement 1. What should passengers going to Hai Phong do?
   • go to platform three
   • go to platform five
   • take the ten o'clock train
   • wait for a replacement bus
2. Announcement 2. What does the announcement say about fresh fruit?
   • It is cheaper until eight o'clock.
   • It has moved to aisle four.
   • Imported apples are not included.
   • It is sold out for the evening.
3. Announcement 3. What can visitors still do after the galleries close?
   • have a drink in the café
   • see the special exhibition
   • buy things in the shop
   • join a guided tour
4. Announcement 4. When is Mr Duc's new appointment?
   • Tuesday at 9.30
   • Wednesday morning
   • Thursday afternoon
   • Thursday at 9.30
5. Announcement 5. What must students do with their mobile phones?
   • give them to the teacher
   • switch them off and put them in their bags
   • keep them switched off on the desk beside the student card
   • leave them outside the room
6. Announcement 6. Why is the passenger being called?
   • Her flight has moved to another gate.
   • Her flight is delayed.
   • She has missed her flight.
   • She left a bag at security.
7. Announcement 7. What are drivers going to the mountains advised to do?
   • set off before two o'clock to beat the rain
   • drive more slowly
   • travel the next morning instead
   • take a different road
8. Announcement 8. What can Block B residents do on Saturday morning?
   • use the lifts in Block A
   • receive deliveries of furniture
   • use the Block B lifts after eight
   • use only the stairs

Part 2: Conversation 1

Questions 9-12. You will hear a conversation between two friends planning a weekend trip. Choose the correct answer A, B, C or D.

Phần nghe phát trong phòng thi.

1. Why don't they take the train?
   • It is too expensive.
   • It leaves too early.
   • It takes three hours.
   • It is fully booked.
2. How will they travel to Ninh Binh?
   • by bus
   • by rented motorbike
   • by train
   • in Minh's cousin's car
3. Why does Lan prefer the homestay?
   • It is cheaper than the hotel.
   • It is closer to the town centre than the hotel.
   • The town centre would be too noisy.
   • It has free boat trips.
4. When will they climb to the viewpoint?
   • early on Sunday morning
   • on Saturday afternoon
   • on Saturday morning
   • on Sunday evening

Part 2: Conversation 2

Questions 13-16. You will hear a conversation between a student and her academic advisor. Choose the correct answer A, B, C or D.

Phần nghe phát trong phòng thi.

1. Why does Thu want to do the internship?
   • She needs the money.
   • Her lecturer recommended it.
   • It will help her get a marketing job later.
   • It is a compulsory part of her marketing degree.
2. How is the evening Statistics class different from her current class?
   • It has a different exam.
   • It gives fewer credits.
   • It is taught online.
   • It has more students.
3. Who must sign the course transfer form?
   • only the head of department
   • the advisor and the head of department
   • the advisor and the lecturer
   • the registration office
4. What does the advisor say about the internship?
   • It may earn her university credits.
   • It must be approved by the head of department.
   • It cannot be more than two days a week.
   • It is only open to final-year students.

Part 2: Conversation 3

Questions 17-20. You will hear two colleagues discussing a plan to move their office. Choose the correct answer A, B, C or D.

Phần nghe phát trong phòng thi.

1. What does Rachel like about the new building?
   • It has a quiet working area.
   • It is near public transport.
   • It has more meeting rooms.
   • It is in a quieter district.
2. What is Khoa's main concern?
   • the cost of the rent
   • a longer journey to work for many of the staff
   • keeping client information confidential
   • the size of the building
3. What does Khoa think about the financial argument?
   • He accepts it but feels staff were not consulted.
   • He thinks the director's figures are wrong.
   • He believes the rent will not really rise.
   • He thinks the meeting rooms will cost more than the savings.
4. What will Rachel do this afternoon?
   • write to the director
   • book a meeting room
   • visit the new building
   • call the manager of the co-working space

Part 3: Talk 1

Questions 21-25. You will hear part of a lecture about heat in cities. Choose the correct answer A, B, C or D.

Phần nghe phát trong phòng thi.

1. Why are cities hotter than the countryside at night?
   • There is more traffic at night.
   • Cities receive more sunlight.
   • Roads and roofs give off heat stored during the day.
   • The wind is stronger and cooler in the countryside at night.
2. What point does the speaker make about air conditioning?
   • It makes conditions worse for people outside.
   • It is too expensive for most families to use every day.
   • It is the best way to cool a city.
   • It is used mainly by older people.
3. What problem with planting trees does the speaker mention?
   • Trees need too much water.
   • There is little space in older neighbourhoods.
   • Trees take too many years to grow large enough to help.
   • Residents do not want trees.
4. What is one advantage of green roofs over cool roofs?
   • They are cheaper to install.
   • They reflect more sunlight.
   • They are easier to put in.
   • They help to deal with rainwater.
5. What is the speaker's final point?
   • Technical solutions matter more than social questions.
   • Poor neighbourhoods are usually cooler.
   • Parks should replace roads in city centres.
   • Cooling choices decide which people are protected.

Part 3: Talk 2

Questions 26-30. You will hear a talk about how to study vocabulary. Choose the correct answer A, B, C or D.

Phần nghe phát trong phòng thi.

1. According to the speaker, what do most students do?
   • study a little every day
   • avoid learning vocabulary lists
   • study in one long session before an exam
   • study together with a partner
2. Why is the feeling of learning well during cramming misleading?
   • Much of the material is soon forgotten.
   • Students cannot recall anything at the end.
   • It takes more time than spaced practice.
   • It only works for easy words.
3. What does the speaker mean by 'desirable' difficulty?
   • tasks that are far too hard for most learners to complete
   • effort that helps memory as long as recall succeeds
   • difficulty that makes students give up
   • exams that are designed to be difficult
4. What does the speaker say about re-reading notes?
   • It is the best way to start a session.
   • It works well if notes are highlighted.
   • It feels useful but is not very effective.
   • It is as effective as self-testing.
5. What limitation of spaced practice does the speaker mention?
   • It only works for young learners.
   • Learners may still be unable to use the words.
   • It takes more total time than cramming the night before.
   • It is difficult to plan.

Part 3: Talk 3

Questions 31-35. You will hear part of a lecture about the Mekong Delta. Choose the correct answer A, B, C or D.

Phần nghe phát trong phòng thi.

1. What is the speaker's main argument?
   • Sea-level rise is the most urgent problem facing the delta today.
   • The delta can no longer be saved.
   • Rice farming should be moved out of the delta.
   • Sinking land is currently a bigger threat than rising seas.
2. What used to balance the natural sinking of the delta?
   • Floods spread new sediment across the land.
   • Farmers built up the land with soil.
   • The sea level was falling.
   • Rivers carried away the compacted clay.
3. What does the speaker say about sinking caused by pumping groundwater?
   • It stops as soon as pumping stops.
   • It is slower than sea-level rise.
   • It only affects coastal areas.
   • Most of it cannot be reversed.
4. According to the speaker, what is one effect of sand mining?
   • It increases the sediment reaching the delta.
   • It makes the river shallower.
   • It contributes to riverbanks collapsing.
   • It happens only upstream of Vietnam.
5. What is the speaker's view of sea walls and dykes?
   • They are the cheapest and most effective long-term solution.
   • They give limited protection and stop useful floods.
   • They should be built along the whole coast.
   • They will stop the land from sinking.

Reading (60 phút)

Passage 1

Read the passage and answer Questions 1-10. Choose the correct answer A, B, C or D.

The Book Bicycle

When Pham Thi Ngoc retired from her job as a primary school teacher in Da Lat, her friends expected her to spend her days in her garden. Instead, she bought a second-hand cargo bicycle, fixed a wooden box to the front, and filled it with books.

Every Saturday and Sunday morning, Mrs Ngoc rides to a different neighbourhood on the edge of the city, where there are no bookshops and the nearest public library is a long bus ride away. She parks under a tree, spreads a mat on the ground and opens the box. Within minutes, children begin to arrive. Some come to borrow books, which they return the following week. Others simply sit on the mat and read until it is time to go home for lunch.

"At the beginning, I had about fifty books, mostly ones my own children had read," she says. "Now I have more than eight hundred, and I can only carry a small part of them each time." Most of the new books were donated by people who read about her project on social media. A local printing company also gave her a set of picture books about the history and wildlife of the Central Highlands.

Mrs Ngoc does not charge anything, and she does not ask children to fill in forms. The only rule is that a book must come back before a child can borrow another one. Surprisingly, she says, very few books have been lost. "Children are proud when they bring a book back. They feel that someone has trusted them."

The project has had effects she did not expect. Several parents have told her that their children now read at home instead of watching videos on their phones. A group of older students help her on Sunday mornings, reading aloud to the youngest children, who cannot read yet. One of them, a fifteen-year-old called Quan, has started writing short stories of his own, which Mrs Ngoc photocopies and adds to the box.

Not everything has been easy. During the rainy season, she sometimes has to cancel because the books would be ruined. Last year the bicycle was stolen from outside her house, and for a month she had to carry the books in a borrowed car. Then a local bicycle shop heard what had happened and gave her a new bike for free.

Mrs Ngoc says she has no plans to stop. "Teaching was my job for thirty-five years," she says. "This is still teaching. The only difference is that nobody has to come."

1. What is the passage mainly about?
   • the lack of public libraries on the edge of Da Lat
   • how to open a small bookshop
   • a bicycle shop that helps the community
   • a retired teacher who brings books to children
2. Why does Mrs Ngoc visit the neighbourhoods she chooses?
   • Her former students live there.
   • They have the largest number of school-age children.
   • They are far from bookshops and libraries.
   • They are close to her house.
3. Where did most of her new books come from?
   • a local printing company
   • people who read about her online
   • her own children
   • the public library
4. What is the only rule for borrowing books?
   • Return one book before borrowing another.
   • Children must fill in a form.
   • Books must be read on the mat.
   • Each child may borrow only one book a month.
5. The word 'trusted' in paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to
   • watched closely
   • made fun of
   • had confidence in
   • paid
6. What can be inferred about the children's attitude to the books?
   • They take care to bring them back.
   • They prefer reading in a real library.
   • They only like picture books.
   • They often forget to return them.
7. What do the older students do on Sunday mornings?
   • repair damaged books
   • collect donations online
   • ride the bicycle to new neighbourhoods for her
   • read aloud to children who cannot read yet
8. The word 'them' in 'One of them' (paragraph 5) refers to
   • the youngest children
   • the older students
   • the parents
   • the short stories
9. What happened after the bicycle was stolen?
   • A local shop gave her a new one.
   • She stopped the project for a year.
   • The police found it.
   • Parents bought her a car.
10. What does Mrs Ngoc mean by 'nobody has to come'?
    • Very few children come to her sessions.
    • The children come because they want to.
    • She does not want parents to come.
    • Children are not allowed to come every week.

Passage 2

Read the passage and answer Questions 11-20. Choose the correct answer A, B, C or D.

Why Teenagers Can't Get Up in the Morning

Parents of teenagers often complain that their children stay up late and are almost impossible to wake in the morning. It is easy to see this as laziness or the result of too much time on phones. But scientists who study sleep say that the problem is, at least partly, biological.

During adolescence, the body's internal clock shifts. The hormone melatonin, which makes us feel sleepy, is released later in the evening than it is in younger children or adults. As a result, many teenagers simply do not feel tired until eleven o'clock or later. At the same time, they still need around eight to ten hours of sleep a night. If school starts at seven or seven thirty, as it does in many Vietnamese and other Asian schools, it is almost impossible for them to get enough.

The consequences of short sleep go beyond yawning in class. Tired students find it harder to concentrate and to remember new information. They are more likely to feel anxious or low, and studies in several countries have linked lack of sleep among teenagers with a higher risk of road accidents, an important concern in cities where many students ride motorbikes to school.

Some school systems have responded by moving the start of the school day later. In parts of the United States, for example, a number of high schools changed their start time from around seven thirty to eight thirty. Researchers who followed these schools found that students slept longer on average, attended class more regularly and, in some cases, achieved slightly better results. Critics, however, point out that later start times create practical difficulties. Parents may have to leave for work before their children set off, school buses have to be reorganised, and sports and other activities after school finish later in the evening.

There is also a risk that, if school starts later, teenagers will simply go to bed later. Most studies suggest this does not happen to a large extent, but sleep experts agree that school timetables are only part of the solution. Habits at home matter too. Using phones and computers late at night exposes the eyes to bright light, which can delay sleep further. Many experts recommend switching off screens at least an hour before bed and keeping the same sleep schedule at weekends, rather than sleeping until midday on Sunday.

For now, the debate continues. But the next time a teenager seems unable to get out of bed, it may be worth remembering that the body, and not just the attitude, is part of the story.

1. What is the main idea of the passage?
   • Teenagers spend too much time on their phones.
   • Asian schools start earlier than schools elsewhere.
   • Parents should wake their children earlier.
   • Teenagers' sleep problems are partly biological.
2. According to paragraph 2, why do teenagers feel sleepy later at night?
   • They need less sleep than adults.
   • They drink coffee in the evening.
   • Melatonin is released later in the evening.
   • Their schools start too late.
3. Why does the writer mention motorbikes?
   • to explain why students arrive late
   • to compare transport in different countries
   • to point out a safety risk for tired students
   • to suggest that students should walk to school
4. What did researchers find in schools that started later?
   • Students attended class more regularly.
   • Students' results fell slightly.
   • Students went to bed much later.
   • Students played less sport.
5. Which of the following is NOT mentioned as a difficulty of later start times?
   • Parents may leave home before their children.
   • Teachers have to work longer hours.
   • School buses have to be reorganised.
   • After-school activities finish later.
6. The word 'critics' in paragraph 4 refers to people who
   • write reviews of books
   • support later start times
   • carry out sleep research
   • point out problems with an idea
7. What do most studies suggest about later school start times?
   • Teenagers go to bed two hours later.
   • Teenagers start going to bed earlier than they did before.
   • No research has been done on bedtimes.
   • Teenagers do not go to bed much later as a result.
8. What do experts recommend about weekends?
   • keeping the same sleep times as on weekdays
   • sleeping late to catch up on sleep
   • avoiding all screens for the whole weekend
   • going to bed earlier than on weekdays
9. The word 'delay' in paragraph 5 is closest in meaning to
   • prevent completely
   • improve
   • make later
   • shorten
10. What is the writer's attitude in the final paragraph?
    • The debate has now been settled.
    • Adults should be more understanding of tired teenagers.
    • Teenagers are mainly lazy.
    • Schools should start at midday so that teenagers can rest.

Passage 3

Read the passage and answer Questions 21-30. Choose the correct answer A, B, C or D.

Life on Two Wheels: The Rise of App-Based Delivery

Anyone who has spent time in Hanoi, Jakarta or Bangkok recently will have noticed the riders. Dressed in the green, orange or yellow jackets of competing apps, they weave through traffic carrying everything from bowls of noodles to laptop computers. In less than a decade, app-based delivery has grown from a novelty into an everyday service for millions of urban households in Southeast Asia, and it has created work for hundreds of thousands of people.

For many riders, the attraction is flexibility. There is no fixed schedule and no boss in the traditional sense: riders log in when they want to work and log out when they want to stop. This suits students who need to fit work around classes, parents who can only work while their children are at school, and people who already have another job. For migrants from rural provinces, who may have few formal qualifications, delivery work is also one of the few jobs available immediately, needing little more than a motorbike, a smartphone and an identity card.

Yet the freedom is, in some respects, less complete than it seems. Riders are usually classified as partners or independent contractors rather than employees, which means they are not entitled to paid holidays, sick pay or, in many cases, health insurance. Their income depends on how many orders they complete, and the rate paid per order is set by the company, which can change it with little warning. Several surveys of riders in the region have found that many work ten hours a day or more to earn what they consider a reasonable income, and that a large proportion have been involved in at least one traffic accident.

The apps themselves also shape riders' behaviour in ways that are not always visible. Algorithms decide which rider receives which order, and riders who reject too many orders, or whose customers give them low ratings, may find that they receive fewer jobs. Riders often describe a feeling of being managed constantly, but by a system rather than a person, which makes it difficult to complain or negotiate.

Companies argue that the partnership model is what makes the flexibility possible. If riders were employees, they say, the firms would have to control their working hours, and many current riders would lose the freedom they value. Some companies have introduced accident insurance and small bonuses for experienced riders, and they point to these as evidence that they take welfare seriously.

Governments in the region are now considering how, or whether, to regulate the industry. Proposals range from requiring minimum insurance to creating a new category of worker, somewhere between employee and contractor. Whatever approach is chosen, the challenge will be to protect riders without destroying the very flexibility that brought many of them to the job in the first place.

1. What is the passage mainly about?
   • how to become a delivery rider
   • the benefits and drawbacks of app-based delivery work
   • why customers prefer delivery apps
   • the history of motorbike transport across Southeast Asia
2. According to paragraph 2, why is delivery work attractive to migrants from rural areas?
   • It pays more than factory work.
   • It provides free accommodation.
   • It can be started quickly with few qualifications.
   • It offers training in new skills and a career path.
3. What does the writer suggest by saying the freedom is 'less complete than it seems'?
   • Riders are not actually allowed to choose their own working hours.
   • Riders must work for only one app.
   • Riders have no freedom at all.
   • Riders have less control over their work than it appears.
4. According to the passage, which of the following do riders usually lack?
   • paid holidays
   • a choice of when to work
   • the right to log out
   • a means of transport
5. What did surveys of riders in the region find?
   • Most riders are university students.
   • Many riders work very long days.
   • Few riders have had accidents.
   • Riders are happy with the rate per order.
6. The word 'algorithms' in paragraph 4 refers to
   • computer systems that make decisions
   • managers who give orders
   • customers who rate riders
   • rules made by governments
7. Why is it difficult for riders to complain, according to paragraph 4?
   • They are afraid of their managers.
   • They do not speak the company's language.
   • They are managed by a system rather than a person.
   • Their contracts forbid them from making any complaints.
8. What is the companies' main argument?
   • Riders earn more than employees.
   • Governments should pay for insurance.
   • Riders do not want the accident insurance that firms offer.
   • Making riders employees would reduce their flexibility.
9. The word 'they' in 'they take welfare seriously' (paragraph 5) refers to
   • the riders
   • the bonuses
   • the governments
   • the companies
10. What does the writer see as the main challenge for governments?
    • reducing the number of riders
    • protecting riders while keeping the job flexible
    • making delivery cheaper for customers
    • stopping companies from using apps

Passage 4

Read the passage and answer Questions 31-40. Choose the correct answer A, B, C or D.

Knowing Less Than We Think

Ask people whether they understand how a zip, a flush toilet or a bicycle works, and most will say yes without hesitation. Ask them to explain, step by step, exactly how it works, and the confidence quickly fades. Halfway through their explanation, many realise that they cannot say how the teeth of a zip lock together, or why pressing the pedals of a bicycle turns the back wheel rather than the front. Psychologists have given this phenomenon a name: the illusion of explanatory depth.

The illusion was first studied systematically around the turn of the century. Participants were asked to rate their understanding of everyday objects on a scale from one to seven, then to write a detailed explanation of how each object worked, and finally to rate their understanding again. Ratings fell sharply after the explanation task. Crucially, the participants were not simply being modest the second time; when they were asked specific diagnostic questions, their performance confirmed that the lower ratings were the more accurate ones.

Why are we so easily misled? Part of the answer is that familiarity feels like knowledge. We have seen bicycles thousands of times and can recognise one instantly, so the object feels transparent to us. Another part is that, for practical purposes, we rarely need deeper knowledge. We can ride a bicycle perfectly well without understanding its gears, just as we can use a smartphone without knowing anything about its circuits. Human beings, some researchers argue, are cognitive specialists who live in communities of knowledge: each of us holds only a small fraction of what our society knows, and we rely on other people, and on the objects themselves, to hold the rest. The illusion arises when we mistake the knowledge available around us for knowledge inside our own heads.

Seen in this light, the illusion is not simply a failure. A world in which everyone had to understand everything they used would be impossible; dividing knowledge among people is precisely what allows complex societies to function. The danger comes when the same overconfidence extends from zips and toilets to questions of public policy. Later studies asked people for their opinions on issues such as tax reform or healthcare, and then asked them to explain how the policies they supported would actually work. Again, the act of explaining reduced people's confidence in their understanding. More interestingly, it also tended to make their opinions less extreme. Simply being asked to give reasons why they held a view, by contrast, did not have the same effect; if anything, it allowed people to repeat arguments they already had.

These findings have obvious implications for education and public debate. If people become more moderate when they discover the limits of their understanding, then asking "How exactly would that work?" may be more productive than asking "Why do you believe that?" The first question invites reflection; the second invites defence.

It would be wrong, however, to conclude that the illusion can be cured. Even people who have taken part in such experiments return to their original level of confidence surprisingly quickly. The most realistic goal may be not to eliminate the illusion but to recognise the moments when it matters, and to ask ourselves, before speaking with certainty, whether we could actually explain what we claim to understand.

1. What is the main purpose of the passage?
   • to show why we overrate our understanding and why it matters
   • to teach readers how zips and bicycles work
   • to argue that people really know almost nothing about the world
   • to describe the history of psychology
2. In the experiments in paragraph 2, what happened after participants wrote their explanations?
   • They rated their understanding higher.
   • They refused to answer more questions.
   • They rated their understanding lower.
   • They did better on the diagnostic questions.
3. Why does the writer mention the 'diagnostic questions'?
   • to show that participants were being modest the second time
   • to explain how the rating scale worked
   • to show the lower ratings were the accurate ones
   • to criticise the design of the study
4. According to paragraph 3, one reason for the illusion is that
   • we mistake familiarity for understanding
   • everyday objects are becoming more complicated to use
   • people do not like to admit ignorance
   • we rarely see objects such as bicycles
5. The phrase 'communities of knowledge' suggests that
   • only experts should make decisions
   • knowledge is spread across many people and things
   • people learn best in groups
   • communities should teach each other practical skills
6. Why does the writer say the illusion is 'not simply a failure'?
   • Most people understand more than they think.
   • It helps people decide well on policy.
   • It disappears with education.
   • Dividing knowledge allows complex societies to work.
7. What effect did explaining how a policy works have on people?
   • They became more confident.
   • Their opinions became less extreme.
   • They changed to the opposite opinion.
   • They repeated arguments they already had.
8. The word 'moderate' in paragraph 5 is closest in meaning to
   • more confident
   • less interested in politics
   • better informed
   • less extreme in their views
9. Why does the writer prefer the question 'How exactly would that work?'
   • It is easier to answer.
   • It is more polite.
   • It encourages reflection rather than defence.
   • It makes people change the subject.
10. What does the writer conclude?
    • We should notice when the illusion matters, not try to remove it.
    • The illusion can be cured completely through training and practice.
    • People should avoid expressing opinions.
    • Education has no effect on the illusion.

Writing (60 phút)

Task 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on this task. Write at least 120 words.

1. You received an email from your English friend, Daniel: "Hi! Great news: I've been offered a place at a university in Ho Chi Minh City starting next September. I'm thinking of getting a part-time job while I study. Do you think that's a good idea? What kind of job could I do there, and how many hours a week would you recommend? Any other tips for settling in would be really welcome. Daniel" Write an email to Daniel. In your email, answer his questions and give him some advice about settling in. Do not include your name or any addresses.

   Tối thiểu 120 từ.

Task 2

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task. Write at least 250 words.

1. Write an essay to an educated reader on the following topic: Some people think that every university student should be required to do unpaid community work as part of their degree. Others believe that students should be free to spend their time on their studies. Discuss both views and give your own opinion. Give reasons and relevant examples to support your answer.

   Tối thiểu 250 từ.