NEMO TEST / Thi thử VSTEP (Bậc 3-5)

Đề thi thử VSTEP (Bậc 3-5) số 2: VSTEP Mock Test 2

Đăng nhập và đăng ký ca thi để làm đề này có tính giờ

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 with online tickets do?
    • collect a paper ticket at the office
    • wait at bay two
    • show the QR code to the driver
    • pay again at the ticket office
  2. Announcement 2. Why has sports day been moved?
    • Heavy rain is expected.
    • The sports field is being repaired.
    • Some teachers will be away.
    • The hall is not available.
  3. Announcement 3. What is offered to every customer?
    • a free ticket for another day
    • free popcorn
    • a cheaper ticket for the later showing
    • a free drink
  4. Announcement 4. How should the patient take the medicine?
    • five times a day
    • twice a day after meals
    • once a day before breakfast
    • twice a day on an empty stomach
  5. Announcement 5. What will happen at six o'clock tonight?
    • a stretching class with a different teacher
    • a yoga class with Mai
    • the gym will close early because Mai is unwell
    • a yoga class in Studio Two
  6. Announcement 6. What is different on Sundays?
    • Breakfast is served in another place.
    • Breakfast finishes later.
    • The pool is closed all day.
    • Breakfast starts earlier.
  7. Announcement 7. Which number should a caller press to report a stolen card?
    • two
    • three
    • zero
    • one
  8. Announcement 8. Where will the bus be waiting?
    • where the group got off
    • at the main entrance of the town
    • near the north gate
    • outside the hotel

Part 2: Conversation 1

Questions 9-12. You will hear two flatmates talking about bills and housework. Choose the correct answer A, B, C or D.

Phần nghe phát trong phòng thi.

  1. Why is the electricity bill higher than last month?
    • The price of electricity has gone up.
    • Nam has started working from home.
    • A neighbour has been using their electricity.
    • They have used the air conditioning more.
  2. How will they pay the bill this month?
    • Linh will pay more than half.
    • They will share it equally.
    • Nam will pay all of it.
    • They will pay it next month.
  3. What does Nam suggest about the cleaning?
    • cleaning together every day
    • asking his colleague to help
    • paying someone to clean once a week
    • moving to a smaller flat
  4. What will Nam do straight away?
    • take the rubbish out
    • make the cleaning list
    • clean the bathroom
    • pay the bill

Part 2: Conversation 2

Questions 13-16. You will hear a customer returning a product to a shop. Choose the correct answer A, B, C or D.

Phần nghe phát trong phòng thi.

  1. What is wrong with the rice cooker?
    • It does not cook the rice.
    • It is too small.
    • It does not keep the rice warm.
    • Its timer is broken.
  2. Why doesn't the customer want the same model again?
    • A friend had the same problem with it.
    • It is too expensive.
    • It is more expensive than the newer models.
    • It has no guarantee.
  3. Why does he reject the cheaper model?
    • It has no timer.
    • It is from an unknown brand.
    • It costs more than his old one.
    • It is too small for his family.
  4. What does the customer have to do now?
    • come back tomorrow
    • complete a short form
    • show his ID card
    • pay the full price again

Part 2: Conversation 3

Questions 17-20. You will hear a job interview at a tour company. Choose the correct answer A, B, C or D.

Phần nghe phát trong phòng thi.

  1. Why does Bao want to change jobs?
    • He wants to share stories about places with visitors.
    • He wants a higher salary.
    • He did not enjoy meeting guests at the hotel reception.
    • He wants to move to Hoi An.
  2. How would Bao deal with a group that wants different things?
    • follow what most of the group wants
    • try to find a way to satisfy both sides
    • cancel the temple visit
    • ask his manager to decide
  3. What do new guides do during their first six months?
    • lead tours alone in the north
    • take language classes
    • work in the office
    • work alongside an experienced guide
  4. Why is the interviewer interested in Bao's Korean?
    • Most current customers are Korean.
    • Korean is required for the job.
    • The company is getting more Korean customers.
    • Bao speaks it fluently.

Part 3: Talk 1

Questions 21-25. You will hear a talk by a marine biologist. Choose the correct answer A, B, C or D.

Phần nghe phát trong phòng thi.

  1. Why does the speaker say coral reefs are important?
    • They cover a large part of the ocean floor.
    • They are the main source of food in the region.
    • They make waves stronger near the coast.
    • They support a large variety of sea life.
  2. What does the speaker say about destructive fishing?
    • It is less common than it used to be.
    • It is now the biggest threat to the reefs.
    • It is still allowed in some areas.
    • It mainly uses large nets.
  3. What happens to corals during bleaching?
    • They die immediately.
    • They lose the algae that provide much of their food.
    • They become covered in seaweed that grows on the reef.
    • They are broken by waves.
  4. How does the protected area affect local fishermen?
    • They can still fish inside the core zone.
    • They have had to stop fishing completely.
    • They benefit from fish moving out of the zone.
    • They now earn less than before.
  5. What changed the fishermen's attitude to the protected area?
    • receiving money from the government
    • seeing the reefs on television
    • the introduction of stricter laws
    • being involved in managing it

Part 3: Talk 2

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

Phần nghe phát trong phòng thi.

  1. According to the speaker, what starts a habitual behaviour?
    • a cue in the environment
    • a conscious decision
    • a strong intention
    • a reward from other people
  2. Why do good intentions often fail to change habits?
    • People do not really want to change.
    • The behaviour starts before a decision is made.
    • Healthy food is too expensive.
    • People quickly forget their intentions.
  3. What did the study on forming new habits find?
    • It took exactly twenty-one days.
    • Missing one day meant starting again.
    • The time needed varied greatly between people.
    • Simple habits never became automatic.
  4. Which strategy involves linking a new behaviour to something you already do?
    • changing the environment
    • keeping the behaviour small
    • relying on willpower
    • habit stacking
  5. Why does the speaker mention people who had recently moved house?
    • to show that moving house is stressful
    • to explain why people drive to work
    • to show that life changes make new habits easier
    • to show that old habits never disappear after a move

Part 3: Talk 3

Questions 31-35. You will hear part of a lecture about remote work and cities. Choose the correct answer A, B, C or D.

Phần nghe phát trong phòng thi.

  1. What has been the usual pattern of urban development in Southeast Asia?
    • Jobs and investment have gathered in a few large cities.
    • Smaller cities have grown faster than capitals.
    • People have moved from cities to the countryside.
    • Universities have been spread evenly across all the regions.
  2. Why does the speaker mention Da Lat and Chiang Mai?
    • as cities with the highest salaries
    • as examples of places some remote workers moved to
    • as places with serious traffic congestion
    • as cities that have limited remote work
  3. Which of the following is NOT one of the speaker's reasons for caution?
    • Remote workers earn less than office workers.
    • Most jobs cannot be done remotely.
    • Many employers want staff in the office part of the week.
    • Being close to colleagues still brings benefits.
  4. What does the speaker say about young workers?
    • They prefer to work from home.
    • They learn a lot from informal contact with senior staff.
    • They are moving back to the capital.
    • They learn more effectively online than in a shared office.
  5. What does the speaker predict?
    • the end of the large city
    • a rapid return to the countryside
    • a limited shift of people towards some secondary cities
    • no real change at all in where people choose to live and work

Reading (60 phút)

Passage 1

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

Learning to Swim, Learning to Stay Safe

Every summer, newspapers in Vietnam report sad stories of children who have drowned in rivers, lakes, ponds and the sea. Drowning is one of the leading causes of death among children in the country, and many of these accidents happen in rural areas, where children often play near water without an adult watching them. In many cases, the children could not swim.

To reduce the number of accidents, a number of local governments and charities have started free swimming programmes for primary school children. One of these programmes, in a province in the Mekong Delta, began five years ago with just two teachers and a small portable pool. The pool, which can be put up in a school playground in one day, is made of strong plastic and is about one metre deep, so it is safe for beginners.

Each course lasts ten days. On the first day, many children are afraid to put their faces in the water. By the end, most of them can swim at least twenty-five metres and float on their backs for one minute. But the teachers say that swimming is only part of the lesson. Children also learn what to do if they see someone in trouble in the water. "We teach them not to jump in," explains one teacher, Mr Vo Van Tai. "Instead, they should shout for an adult and throw something that floats, like a plastic bottle or a piece of wood. Too often, a child tries to help a friend and both of them drown."

The programme has grown quickly. Last year, more than three thousand children took part, and there are now twelve teachers, most of them young people from the area who were trained by the charity. Parents are invited to watch the last lesson, and many say they are surprised by how much their children have learned in such a short time.

The organisers hope that one day swimming will be part of every primary school's timetable. For now, the main problem is money. Each portable pool costs around one hundred and twenty million dong, and the teachers must be paid. The charity depends on donations from local businesses and from people living abroad who grew up in the region.

Mr Tai is optimistic. "When I was a child, nobody taught us to swim," he says. "We learned by ourselves in the river, and some of my friends were not so lucky. These children will be safer than we were."

  1. What is the passage mainly about?
    • how to build a swimming pool
    • the dangers of swimming in the sea
    • a swimming competition held between primary schools in the delta
    • a programme that teaches children to swim and stay safe
  2. According to paragraph 1, many drowning accidents happen when
    • children play near water without an adult
    • children swim in public pools
    • adults take children to the beach
    • the weather is very bad
  3. Why is the portable pool suitable for beginners?
    • It is very large.
    • It is not very deep.
    • It is filled with warm water.
    • It is kept inside the school.
  4. By the end of a course, most children can
    • swim one hundred metres
    • dive into deep water
    • swim at least twenty-five metres
    • float for ten minutes
  5. What does Mr Tai tell children to do if a friend is in trouble in the water?
    • call an adult and throw something that floats
    • jump in quickly and pull the friend out of the water
    • run home and tell their parents
    • swim out with a plastic bottle
  6. The word 'both' in paragraph 3 refers to
    • the teacher and the child
    • the child who helps and the friend
    • the plastic bottle and the piece of wood
    • the two first teachers
  7. Who are most of the teachers now?
    • primary school teachers
    • the children's parents
    • young local people trained by the charity
    • professional swimmers from abroad
  8. The word 'optimistic' in the last paragraph is closest in meaning to
    • worried
    • tired
    • uncertain
    • hopeful about the future
  9. What is the main difficulty for the programme at present?
    • finding enough money
    • finding enough children
    • getting permission from schools
    • the rainy weather
  10. What can be inferred about Mr Tai's childhood?
    • He took swimming lessons at school with his friends.
    • He never swam in rivers.
    • He was afraid of water.
    • Some children he knew had accidents in the river.

Passage 2

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

From Pavement to Phone

For generations, the street food vendor has been one of the most familiar sights in Vietnamese cities: a woman with a carrying pole selling sticky rice at dawn, a family running a noodle stall on the pavement, a man pushing a cart of grilled corn through the evening crowds. These small businesses have always depended on location. A good corner near a school or a market could support a family for decades.

Over the past few years, however, many vendors have discovered a new way to reach customers: food delivery apps. By registering on one or more platforms, a stall that once served only people walking past can now sell to office workers several kilometres away. For some vendors, the change has been dramatic. Mrs Hoa, who sells broken rice from a small shop in Ho Chi Minh City, says that online orders now make up more than half of her income. "During the lockdowns, the app saved my business," she says. "Without it, I would have had to close."

But going digital brings new costs. The platforms take a commission on every order, often between twenty and thirty per cent of the price. To make a profit, many vendors have raised their prices on the app, so that the same dish costs more online than at the stall. Others have reduced portion sizes. Customers sometimes complain, but most seem willing to pay extra for the convenience of having food delivered.

There are other challenges too. Many older vendors are not comfortable using smartphones, and depend on their children or grandchildren to manage orders, respond to reviews and update menus. Reviews, in particular, can be stressful. A single angry comment about a late delivery, which may not even be the vendor's fault, can push a stall down the list of search results and reduce sales for weeks.

Some observers worry about what the digital shift means for the character of street food. When orders come mainly through apps, vendors may move away from busy pavements to cheaper back streets, or even to so-called cloud kitchens, where several brands cook in one shared space with no customers at all. If that happens on a large scale, the lively street culture that attracts so many tourists could slowly become quieter.

Yet it is too early to say that the traditional stall is disappearing. Many customers still prefer to eat on a plastic stool beside the road, where the food is hot and the atmosphere is part of the experience. For now, the most successful vendors seem to be those who do both: keeping their place on the pavement while also selling online.

  1. What is the passage mainly about?
    • the long history of street food vendors in Vietnamese cities
    • how delivery apps are changing street food businesses
    • why tourists enjoy street food
    • how to cook broken rice
  2. According to paragraph 1, what did street food businesses traditionally depend on?
    • online reviews
    • very low prices
    • a good location
    • foreign tourists
  3. Why does Mrs Hoa say the app 'saved' her business?
    • The app lent her money.
    • Online orders kept it going during the lockdowns.
    • The app found her a new shop.
    • She was able to stop selling from her shop and work online.
  4. How have many vendors responded to the platforms' commission?
    • by leaving the platforms
    • by refusing late orders
    • by charging more on the app
    • by delivering food themselves
  5. The word 'convenience' in paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to
    • low cost
    • high quality
    • speed of cooking
    • ease and comfort
  6. Why do some older vendors rely on their children or grandchildren?
    • They are not comfortable using smartphones.
    • They can no longer cook.
    • They have no time to deliver food.
    • They cannot read the menus.
  7. What does the writer say about negative reviews?
    • Customers usually ignore them.
    • They can cut sales even when the vendor is not to blame.
    • They are almost always about the quality of the food itself.
    • They help vendors improve quickly.
  8. The word 'that' in 'If that happens on a large scale' (paragraph 5) refers to
    • tourists visiting the city
    • customers writing reviews
    • vendors moving away from busy streets
    • prices rising on the apps because of commission
  9. What is a 'cloud kitchen', according to the passage?
    • a restaurant on the roof of a tall office building
    • a street stall with a roof
    • an app for ordering food
    • a shared space that cooks only for delivery
  10. What does the writer conclude?
    • Vendors who sell both on the street and online do best.
    • Street stalls will soon disappear.
    • Apps are bad for street food.
    • Customers no longer want to eat beside the road on plastic stools.

Passage 3

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

Rice, Water and a Warming Planet

Rice feeds more than half of the world's population, and in countries such as Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia it is far more than a crop: it is part of daily life, culture and history. Yet rice farming has an environmental cost that few people are aware of. Flooded rice fields are one of the largest human-related sources of methane, a greenhouse gas that is much more powerful than carbon dioxide over the short term.

The reason lies in the water. Traditionally, farmers keep their fields flooded for most of the growing season, which helps control weeds and makes the crop easier to manage. But under the water, the soil is cut off from oxygen. In these conditions, certain microorganisms break down plant material and release methane, which escapes into the atmosphere.

A technique known as alternate wetting and drying, or AWD, offers a partial solution. Instead of keeping the field flooded all the time, the farmer lets the water level fall until it is some centimetres below the surface of the soil, and then floods the field again. To know when to add water, farmers often use a simple tool: a plastic tube with holes in it, pushed into the ground, through which they can see the water level under the soil. Each time the field dries, oxygen reaches the soil and methane production falls.

Trials in several Asian countries have found that AWD can reduce methane emissions by roughly a third or more, while also using less irrigation water. Importantly, when it is done correctly, yields are generally similar to those from permanently flooded fields. In areas where farmers pay for pumping water, the savings on fuel or electricity can be significant.

So why is the technique not used everywhere? One reason is that it requires careful timing and good control over water. In regions where many farmers share the same canals, a single farmer cannot easily decide when to drain or flood a field. Another reason is risk. Farmers who have grown rice the same way for generations are understandably cautious about changing a method that has always fed their families, and a bad harvest can be a disaster for a small farm. Finally, where water is free and plentiful, there is little financial reason to save it.

To overcome these barriers, some programmes now offer farmers training and pay them for the emissions they avoid, using carbon credits sold to companies. Critics point out that measuring methane from individual fields is difficult, and that such payments must be checked carefully to make sure the reductions are real. Nevertheless, supporters argue that rice farmers, who are often among the people most affected by climate change, deserve to be rewarded for helping to reduce it.

The story of AWD shows that solutions to climate change do not always need to be expensive or high-tech. Sometimes they involve a plastic tube, a change of habit and a great deal of trust.

  1. What is the passage mainly about?
    • a farming method that cuts greenhouse gases from rice
    • the cultural importance of rice in Asia
    • why the price of rice is rising
    • new types of rice that need less water to grow in dry areas
  2. Why do flooded rice fields produce methane?
    • Farmers burn the plants after the harvest.
    • Microorganisms break down plant material without oxygen.
    • Fertilisers added to the water release the gas into the air.
    • The water becomes too warm in summer.
  3. What is the plastic tube used for?
    • pumping water into the field
    • measuring the amount of methane
    • controlling weeds
    • checking the water level below the soil
  4. According to paragraph 4, what happens to yields when AWD is done correctly?
    • They rise by about a third.
    • They fall sharply.
    • They stay about the same.
    • They depend on the price of fuel.
  5. The word 'significant' in paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to
    • very small
    • hard to measure
    • unexpected
    • large enough to matter
  6. Why might a farmer who shares canals with others find AWD difficult?
    • He cannot control the water in his field on his own.
    • The canals are too far from his field.
    • His neighbours do not grow rice.
    • The canals are usually dry.
  7. By using the word 'understandably', the writer suggests that the farmers' caution is
    • foolish
    • surprising
    • reasonable
    • temporary
  8. Which of the following is NOT given as a reason why AWD is not used everywhere?
    • It needs careful control of water.
    • It lowers the quality of the rice.
    • Farmers are afraid of a bad harvest.
    • Water is free in some areas.
  9. What concern do critics raise about payments through carbon credits?
    • Farmers do not want the money.
    • Companies refuse to buy the credits.
    • It is hard to prove that the reductions are real.
    • The payments are far too large.
  10. What is the writer's main point in the final paragraph?
    • Simple, low-cost methods can help fight climate change.
    • Farmers on their own cannot do anything about climate change.
    • High-tech solutions are always better.
    • Farmers should stop growing rice.

Passage 4

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

In Praise of Forgetting

We tend to think of forgetting as a failure. We forget a colleague's name, the reason we walked into the kitchen, the date of a friend's birthday, and we take these lapses as small signs that our minds are not working as well as they should. Advertisements for memory supplements and brain-training games reinforce the impression that a good memory is one that keeps everything. Yet a growing body of research suggests that this view is mistaken. Forgetting, it turns out, is not simply the absence of memory; it is an active process, and one that serves important purposes.

Consider what a mind that forgot nothing would be like. There are rare cases of people with extraordinary autobiographical memory, who can recall what they did on almost any day of their lives. Far from experiencing this as a gift, some describe it as exhausting: past arguments and embarrassments remain as vivid as on the day they happened, and the present is constantly interrupted by the past. Their experience hints at a broader point. A memory system that stored every detail with equal strength would make it harder, not easier, to find what we actually need.

This is where forgetting becomes useful. Every day we encounter vast amounts of information, most of which will never be relevant again: the number of the parking space we used last Tuesday, the exact words of a conversation in a lift. If all of this were retained, it would compete with more important memories. By allowing unused information to fade, the brain keeps the most frequently needed memories easy to reach. Some researchers compare this to a well-run library that regularly removes outdated books, not because space has run out, but so that readers can find what matters.

Forgetting also supports a less obvious ability: generalisation. To learn that dogs are generally friendly, a child does not need to remember the precise details of every dog she has met. In fact, holding on to too many specifics can get in the way. By losing irrelevant details, such as the colour of a particular dog's collar, the mind is left with the general pattern. Computer scientists have found something similar in artificial learning systems: models that memorise their training examples too precisely often perform badly when they meet new situations.

None of this means that all forgetting is healthy. Diseases such as dementia involve a devastating loss of memory that is anything but adaptive, and in everyday life forgetting can clearly have costs, from missed appointments to failed exams. The argument is not that forgetting is always good, but that a certain amount of it is a normal and necessary feature of a healthy mind, rather than a defect to be eliminated.

Perhaps the most practical lesson concerns how we judge ourselves. Forgetting what we have not used recently is not evidence that our memory is failing; it is evidence that it is doing its job. If we want to keep something, the solution is not to worry but to use it: to recall it, apply it and connect it to what we already know. The memories we keep are, in large part, the ones we keep using.

  1. What is the main idea of the passage?
    • Memory supplements can help people forget less over time.
    • People with perfect memories are happier.
    • Forgetting is usually a sign of disease.
    • Forgetting is a normal process with useful functions.
  2. According to paragraph 1, what impression do advertisements create?
    • Forgetting is an active process.
    • A good memory is one that keeps everything.
    • Brain-training games do not work.
    • Memory improves with age.
  3. Why does the writer mention people with extraordinary autobiographical memory?
    • to show how memory can be trained to keep every single detail
    • to show that such memory is common
    • to explain how dementia develops
    • to suggest that remembering everything can be a burden
  4. The word 'vivid' in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to
    • painful
    • clear and detailed
    • forgotten
    • confused
  5. What is the purpose of the library comparison in paragraph 3?
    • to show that losing unused information helps us find what matters
    • to suggest that the brain is running out of space, like a full library
    • to argue that people should read more books
    • to explain how libraries store memories
  6. According to paragraph 4, how does forgetting help generalisation?
    • It helps us remember every example exactly as it happened.
    • It makes children afraid of dogs.
    • Losing irrelevant details leaves the general pattern.
    • It stops computers from learning.
  7. What does the writer say about artificial learning systems?
    • They forget more than humans do.
    • Systems that memorise examples too exactly may fail in new cases.
    • They cannot generalise at all.
    • They work best when they remember every training example perfectly.
  8. The phrase 'anything but adaptive' in paragraph 5 means
    • not at all helpful
    • extremely useful
    • partly useful
    • easy to change
  9. Which statement would the writer most likely agree with?
    • All forgetting is healthy.
    • Forgetting is a defect that should be eliminated through training.
    • Some forgetting is necessary, but not all forgetting is harmless.
    • Dementia is a normal feature of memory.
  10. What practical advice does the writer give?
    • Write everything down so that you never forget anything important.
    • Worry less and sleep more.
    • Avoid learning new things in old age.
    • Use information regularly if you want to remember it.

Writing (60 phút)

Task 1

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

  1. You have seen an advertisement for evening English courses at Bright Future Language Centre. Write an email to the centre asking for information. In your email, you should: - introduce yourself and explain why you want to take a course - ask about class times, class size and fees - ask whether you need to take a placement test 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: In many parts of Vietnam, more and more older people are living alone in their home towns, because their adult children have moved to large cities to work. What problems does this situation cause for older people and their families? What can be done to solve these problems? Give reasons and relevant examples to support your answer.

    Tối thiểu 250 từ.

Đăng nhập và đăng ký ca thi để làm đề này có tính giờ