A2 Key for Schools (KET) Reading & Writing Part 3 Test – Eco-Earners 5
Reading » A2 Reading Tests » A2 Key for Schools (KET) Reading & Writing Part 3 Test – Eco-Earners
Test 1
Questions 14-18
For each question, choose the correct answer.
Yara's autumn job
Thirteen-year-old Yara writes about her weekend job in the autumn.
Thirteen-year-old Yara loves nature and being outside. In the autumn, she has a great weekend job in her town. She goes to her neighbours' houses and sweeps all the orange and brown leaves from their gardens. The neighbours pay her a little pocket money for this helpful work. But Yara doesn't put the leaves in the bin. She takes them all home to make rich, dark compost for her family's vegetable garden.
Last Saturday morning, Yara worked at a very large house on her street. Because there were tall trees, there were a lot of leaves on the ground. She worked hard for two hours with her broom. Finally, she made one huge pile of leaves in the middle of the grass. She felt quite tired after doing this, but she was very pleased with her good work.
Suddenly, a small, friendly dog ran into the garden from the street. Before Yara could stop it, the dog jumped right into the middle of her beautiful pile! It played and rolled around happily. Because of this, the leaves flew everywhere across the grass again. Yara was very surprised and a bit sad. She knew she had to do her job all over again.
The second time, Yara changed how she worked. She didn't make a big pile on the grass. Instead, she swept the leaves and put them straight into heavy black bags. When she finally finished, she carried the bags home, and now her compost pile is huge. Yara still enjoys her weekend job, but next Saturday, she plans to shut the garden gate before she begins sweeping!
14 What does Yara do with the leaves she collects?
A She puts them in her family's garden.
B She sells them to her neighbours for money.
C She leaves them in the street bins.
15 How did Yara feel when she finished making the large pile?
A angry because it took two hours
B happy about what she had achieved
C worried about the tall trees in the garden
16 What was the problem with the dog?
A It wanted to play with Yara's broom.
B It made a mess of the leaves.
C It chased her out of the garden.
17 What did Yara do differently the second time?
A She asked someone to help her carry the bags.
B She left the leaves on the grass for a while.
C She put the leaves directly into bags.
18 What is Yara going to do next Saturday?
A stop sweeping leaves for her neighbours
B make sure animals can't get into the garden
C buy some heavier black bags for the leaves
Answer Key & Explanations
14 A - Explanation: In paragraph 1, the text says Yara takes the leaves home to make compost "for her family's vegetable garden," which matches putting them in her family's garden. Option B is wrong logic; the neighbours pay her to sweep the leaves, she doesn't sell the leaves to them. Option C is the opposite of the truth; the text explicitly says she "doesn't put the leaves in the bin".
15 B - Explanation: In paragraph 2, the text states she was "very pleased with her good work," which is a synonym for being happy about what she had achieved. Option A is wrong logic; she worked for two hours and felt tired, but she wasn't angry. Option C is a partial truth trap; the garden had tall trees, but she wasn't worried about them.
16 B - Explanation: Paragraph 3 explains that the dog jumped into the pile and "the leaves flew everywhere across the grass again." This matches making a mess of the leaves. Option A is a wrong reference trap; the text mentions Yara's broom earlier, but the dog didn't play with it. Option C uses wrong logic; Yara was surprised, but the friendly dog didn't chase her anywhere.
17 C - Explanation: In paragraph 4, it says that the second time, Yara swept the leaves "and put them straight into heavy black bags," which is the same as directly into bags. Option A is a wrong person trap; she carried the bags home herself. Option B is wrong logic; leaving the leaves on the grass is what caused the problem the first time.
18 B - Explanation: In the final paragraph, Yara plans to "shut the garden gate before she begins sweeping," which will stop dogs and other animals from getting in. Option A is wrong logic because the text says she "still enjoys her weekend job". Option C is a partial truth trap; she used heavy black bags, but she isn't planning to buy heavier ones next week.
Test 2
Questions 14-18
For each question, choose the correct answer.
Making money from mud
15-year-old Clara writes about her unusual weekend job.
Hi, I'm Clara and I'm 15. Welcome to my blog! Today I want to tell you about my weekend job. It is a bit messy, but I make good pocket money from it. I take old food waste from my kitchen and turn it into rich soil, which is called compost. Then, I sell this compost to people who love growing plants in my town. It is a great way to help the environment and earn money.
Making compost is very useful. Gardeners are always looking for good food for their plants. They love buying my compost because the dark soil helps their flowers and vegetables grow much bigger. I put my compost in large bags and sell them at the local market on Saturday mornings. They always sell very quickly!
However, there is one big problem with this job. You have to be very careful about what you put in the compost bin. A few weeks ago, I added lots of old apples and other sweet fruits from the kitchen. This was a bad mistake because it made the whole bin smell terrible! My family wasn't very happy about the bad smell in our garden.
If you want to try making your own compost, I have some important advice. To stop the terrible smell, you need to add something dry. You should collect a lot of dry brown leaves from the trees and mix them into your bin with the fruit. This makes the compost smell fine again, and you will get perfect soil for your garden!
14 What does Clara do for her weekend job?
A She cleans the kitchens of people in her town.
B She grows new plants for people to buy.
C She makes good soil out of old food.
15 Why do gardeners like Clara's compost?
A It helps them to get larger plants.
B She puts it into very large bags for them.
C She sells it cheaply at the Saturday market.
16 What happened when Clara put too many apples in her bin?
A Her family asked her to move the bin out of the garden.
B It created a very bad smell.
C She had to throw away all the sweet fruit.
17 What doe Clara say you should do to your compost bin?
A Put the bin under a tree so it stays dry.
B Keep all sweet fruits out of the soil completely.
C Put some dry leaves in it with the food waste.
18 What is Clara's main purpose in writing this blog?
A to explain how to get a weekend job at the local market
B to describe her experience of making and selling compost
C to tell people which plants are the easiest to grow
Answer Key & Explanations
14 C - Explanation: The text says she takes "old food waste from my kitchen and turn[s] it into rich soil." Option A is a wrong logic trap: she uses food from her own kitchen, she doesn't clean people's kitchens. Option B is a wrong reference trap: she sells soil to people who grow plants, she doesn't grow the plants herself.
15 A - Explanation: The text states that gardeners buy her compost because "the dark soil helps their flowers and vegetables grow much bigger" (larger plants). Option B is a partial truth trap: she does put the compost in large bags, but that is not the reason the gardeners like it. Option C is a wrong logic trap: she sells it at the Saturday market, but the text never says it is cheap.
16 B - Explanation: The text explains that adding lots of old apples was a mistake "because it made the whole bin smell terrible!" (created a very bad smell). Option A is a wrong logic trap: her family wasn't happy about the smell, but the text doesn't say they asked her to move the bin. Option C is a wrong logic trap: she already added the sweet fruit to the bin, she didn't throw it away.
17 C - Explanation: Clara advises readers to "collect a lot of dry brown leaves... and mix them into your bin with the fruit" (put dry leaves in with the food waste). Option A is a wrong logic trap: she says to get leaves from trees, not to put the bin under a tree. Option B is a wrong logic trap: she says to mix the leaves with the fruit, not to keep sweet fruit out completely.
18 B - Explanation: This is a global question. Clara writes to tell readers about her "weekend job" of turning food into soil (making compost) and selling it to gardeners, including the problems she had and her advice. Option A is a wrong logic trap: she works at the local market, but she isn't telling others how to get a job there. Option C is a wrong reference trap: she mentions gardeners growing flowers and vegetables, but she doesn't list the easiest plants to grow.
Test 3
Questions 14-18
For each question, choose the correct answer.
A clever water project
Fourteen-year-old Dean writes about helping in his local community.
Fourteen-year-old Dean loves nature. Every weekend, he helps at a community garden in his town. The people there grow lots of vegetables and flowers. In the summer, the weather is hot and the garden needs a lot of water. Last month, Dean got an important job. He had to put large plastic barrels in the garden to collect rainwater. He was pleased about this because the water is free and very good for the plants.
Dean spent Saturday putting the big barrels under some tall trees. He left the tops of the barrels open so the rain could go in. A few days later, it rained heavily. Dean was excited to see how much water he had. He quickly ran to the garden, but when he looked inside the barrels, he felt quite disappointed.
Because the barrels were under the trees, a lot of dead leaves and dirt fell into them. The water inside looked terrible. It was very brown and dirty. Dean knew that he couldn't put this water on the beautiful young plants. He had to think of a way to keep the water clean, but he didn't want to move the heavy barrels to a different place.
Dean quickly went to a shop and bought a fine net. He carefully stretched the net over the top of every barrel. The next time it rained, the water went easily through the net, but the leaves and dirt stayed on the outside. The water inside was perfectly clean.
The people at the garden were very happy with Dean's clever idea. Now, the garden always has enough clean water, and the plants are growing beautifully. Next week, Dean is going to teach the younger children at his school how to make their own water barrels.
14 Why was Dean pleased about his new job?
A The water he collects doesn't cost anything.
B He got some free plastic barrels for the garden.
C He wanted to grow some vegetables in the summer.
15 How did Dean feel after it rained heavily?
A He was excited to see the rain falling on the trees.
B He was glad because the barrels were completely full.
C He was unhappy about what he saw in the barrels.
16 What was the problem with the water?
A It was too dirty to use on the young plants.
B There were too many dead leaves in the garden.
C The heavy barrels were in the wrong place.
17 How did Dean solve the problem?
A He cleaned the dead leaves out of the barrels.
B He covered the barrels with something he bought.
C He bought some new barrels from the local shop.
18 What is Dean planning to do next week?
A show some students how to collect rainwater
B help the younger children grow beautiful plants
C share his clever idea with the people at the garden
Answer Key & Explanations
14 A - Explanation: In paragraph 1, the text says Dean was pleased because "the water is free." Option A uses "doesn't cost anything" to mean "free." B is a partial truth trap; the word "free" is in the text, but the water is free, not the plastic barrels. C is a wrong reference trap; the people at the garden grow vegetables, but Dean's job was only to collect water.
15 C - Explanation: In paragraph 2, Dean "felt quite disappointed" when he looked inside the barrels. Option C matches this unhappy feeling. A is a wrong logic trap; he was excited to see how much water he had, not excited to watch the rain fall on the trees. B is a partial truth trap; he wanted to see how much water he had, but the text never says the barrels were completely full.
16 A - Explanation: In paragraph 3, the text states the water was "very brown and dirty" and Dean "couldn't put this water on the beautiful young plants." B is a partial truth trap; dead leaves fell into the barrels, but the text doesn't say there were too many leaves in the garden itself. C is a wrong logic trap; he didn't want to move the barrels, but the location wasn't the main problem—the dirt in the water was.
17 B - Explanation: In paragraph 4, Dean went to a shop, bought a net, and "stretched the net over the top of every barrel." B paraphrases this action correctly. A is a wrong logic trap; the net kept the leaves out, so he didn't have to clean them out himself. C is a partial truth trap; he bought something from the shop, but he bought a net, not new barrels.
18 A - Explanation: In the final paragraph, the text says Dean is going to "teach the younger children at his school how to make their own water barrels." Option A perfectly paraphrases this future plan. B is a partial truth trap; he is teaching children about water barrels, not how to grow plants. C is a wrong reference trap; he already shared his idea with the garden people; his plan for next week is with school children.