A2 Key for Schools (KET) Reading & Writing Part 3 Test – Holiday Helpers 4
Reading » A2 Reading Tests » A2 Key for Schools (KET) Reading & Writing Part 3 Test – Holiday Helpers
Test 1
Questions 14-18
For each question, choose the correct answer.
Jenny's museum map
Fourteen-year-old Jenny writes about a special job she did for her school.
Fourteen-year-old Jenny loves history and drawing. Because of this, she got a very special job at her school last month. Her teacher asked her to make a fun map of the large city museum. She had to do this for the younger students in her school before their trip. Jenny felt very proud of this important responsibility. She wanted to make the map really colourful and easy to use.
Jenny worked on the project for two weeks. She used her computer to draw pictures of the different rooms in the museum. She knew that young children love old animals, so she carefully marked the famous dinosaur room on the map. She put a big, green star next to it on the first floor. She thought the children were going to be very excited.
On the day of the trip, Jenny went to the museum with the younger students. They all had a copy of her beautiful map. But when they walked inside, Jenny noticed a big problem. A museum worker told her that the dinosaur room wasn't on the first floor anymore. The museum moved all the big bones to the second floor a few days ago!
Jenny felt worried, but she quickly had a clever idea. She asked the students to give her their maps. She took a red pen from her bag and drew a long line with arrows on every page. She told the children it was a 'secret trail' to find the dinosaurs. The younger students loved following the red arrows up the stairs. Jenny was very happy with the great day, and next term she is going to make a map for the town library.
14 What does Jenny say about her special job?
A She did it to help some younger children.
B She worked on the map with her teacher.
C She wanted to learn about the city museum.
15 What did Jenny do on her map?
A She drew a picture of a large green animal.
B She showed where to find the dinosaur room.
C She told the students to meet on the first floor.
16 What was the problem at the museum?
A The young students lost their copies of the map.
B The museum worker didn't know where the bones were.
C The dinosaur room was in a different place.
17 How did Jenny fix the problem?
A She used a pen to add something to the maps.
B She asked the children to draw a long red line.
C She told the students to look for a secret bag.
18 What is Jenny planning to do next term?
A take the younger students to the library
B create a map for a different building
C draw a new picture of the city museum
Answer Key & Explanations
14 A - Explanation: In paragraph 1, the text says she had to make the map "for the younger students in her school before their trip." Option A paraphrases this correctly. B is a wrong logic trap; her teacher asked her to make it, but Jenny didn't work on it with her teacher. C is a wrong logic trap; she made the map for a trip, not because she wanted to learn about the museum herself.
15 B - Explanation: In paragraph 2, the text states that she "carefully marked the famous dinosaur room on the map." Option B matches this meaning. A is a partial truth trap; the text mentions "green" and "animals", but she drew a green star, not a green animal. C is a wrong logic trap; she put a star on the first floor of the map, she didn't tell the students to meet there.
16 C - Explanation: In paragraph 3, the problem was that the dinosaur room "wasn't on the first floor anymore" because the museum moved it to the second floor. Option C perfectly paraphrases this. A is a wrong logic trap; the text says the students "all had a copy", so they didn't lose them. B is a wrong logic trap; the museum worker is the person who knew where the bones were and told Jenny about the change.
17 A - Explanation: In paragraph 4, Jenny "took a red pen from her bag and drew a long line with arrows on every page." Option A correctly describes this action. B is a wrong reference trap; Jenny drew the red line herself, she didn't ask the children to draw it. C is a partial truth trap; she mentioned a "secret trail" and had a pen in her "bag", but she didn't tell the students to look for a secret bag.
18 B - Explanation: In the final paragraph, the text says "next term she is going to make a map for the town library." The library is a different building, making B the correct answer. A is a partial truth trap; the library and younger students are mentioned, but she isn't planning to take them there. C is a wrong logic trap; she is making a map for the library, not a new picture of the museum.
Test 2
Questions 14-18
For each question, choose the correct answer.
Translating at the Airport
16-year-old Kevin blogs about his weekend volunteer work.
Hi, I’m Kevin and I am 16 years old. I am writing this blog to tell you about my exciting weekend job. I work as a volunteer at our busy international airport. The airport is really huge, and many people from other countries cannot understand the local language. My job is to walk around the building and help lost tourists translate the important information on the signs. I decided to share my experience of doing this interesting work.
The best part of my job is that I can use the languages I learn at school. I really enjoy practising real Spanish with the visitors. It is a fantastic opportunity because I can learn new words that are not in my class textbooks. Talking to people from lots of different countries makes my weekends very interesting.
However, the work is not always easy. The biggest problem for me is that native Spanish speakers often talk very fast. Because of this, I sometimes misunderstand them completely. Last Saturday, a tourist asked me for directions to a café, but I thought he wanted to find a taxi! I felt a bit silly when I realised my mistake, but we both laughed about it.
If you want to do a job like this in the future, I have some good advice for you. You must remember to politely ask the tourists to speak more slowly. You don't need to feel shy or worried about doing this. In my experience, people are always very grateful for the help. Even if you make a small mistake, they are just happy that someone is trying to help them find their way!
14 Why does Kevin spend time at the airport?
A to earn extra money doing an interesting job
B to help visitors understand the airport signs
C to meet friends who are travelling from other countries
15 What does Kevin think is fantastic about his work?
A He can learn words that he didn't see in his lessons.
B He can read his Spanish textbooks while he is working.
C He can travel to lots of different countries at the weekend.
16 What problem does Kevin have with native Spanish speakers?
A They sometimes get angry when he makes a silly mistake.
B They often ask him to help them find a taxi.
C They speak too quickly for him to understand everything.
17 What is Kevin's advice for people who want to do his job?
A They should show tourists the way without speaking.
B They should feel happy when tourists give them money.
C They should tell the visitors to talk less quickly.
18 What is the best title for this text?
A How to learn a new language by travelling
B The good and bad parts of my volunteer work
C Why tourists must learn the local language
Answer Key & Explanations
14 B - Explanation: The text in paragraph 1 says, "My job is to walk around the building and help lost tourists translate the important information on the signs." This matches helping visitors understand the signs. Option A is a wrong logic trap; the text says he is a "volunteer", which means he does not earn money. Option C is a partial truth trap; the text mentions people travelling from other countries, but he goes there to work, not to meet his friends.
15 A - Explanation: The text in paragraph 2 says, "It is a fantastic opportunity because I can learn new words that are not in my class textbooks." This matches learning words he didn't see in his lessons. Option B is a wrong logic trap; the text mentions textbooks, but he doesn't read them at work. Option C is a partial truth trap; he talks to people from different countries, but he stays at the airport and doesn't travel to them.
16 C - Explanation: The text in paragraph 3 says, "native Spanish speakers often talk very fast. Because of this, I sometimes misunderstand them completely." This means they speak too quickly for him. Option A is a wrong logic trap; Kevin says he felt silly about a mistake, but the tourist didn't get angry (they "laughed about it"). Option B is a partial truth trap; one tourist asked about a café and Kevin thought he meant a taxi, but this is an example of the problem, not what tourists often ask for.
17 C - Explanation: The text in paragraph 4 says, "You must remember to politely ask the tourists to speak more slowly." "Speak more slowly" matches "talk less quickly". Option A is wrong logic; he translates things for them, he doesn't just show them the way without speaking. Option B is a partial truth trap; the tourists are "happy", but the text doesn't say anything about giving Kevin money.
18 B - Explanation: This is a global question testing the overall purpose of the blog. Kevin is writing about his volunteer work, sharing what is "the best part" (the good) and what is "not always easy" (the bad). Option A is a wrong logic trap; Kevin helps tourists at his local airport, he is not travelling. Option C is wrong logic; Kevin translates for the tourists because they cannot understand the local language.
Test 3
Questions 14-18
For each question, choose the correct answer.
A busy weekend job
Fifteen-year-old Lily writes about washing buses for a tour company.
My name is Lily, and I am 15 years old. On weekends, I have a physical but fun job at a local travel company. This company uses large buses to take tourists on holiday. My job is to wash the outside of these big buses so they look nice and clean. I use a very long water hose and some soap to do this. I really enjoy the work because it keeps me active outside, and it is a great way to earn some extra pocket money.
Usually, the job is quite easy and I can finish it quickly. But last Saturday morning, I made a really big mistake. I was washing a beautiful red bus. I was very busy cleaning the dirty wheels, so I didn't look at the rest of the bus carefully. I was just using my long hose to spray water everywhere.
Suddenly, I realized that one of the front bus windows was completely open! The water from my hose went straight through the window and inside the bus. I quickly turned off the water and climbed inside to look. The driver's seat was completely wet. I was very worried because the driver was coming back soon to take some tourists to the beach. I thought he would be very angry with me.
I had to think fast to solve the problem. I ran to get a large towel and dried the seat as quickly as I could. Luckily, the sun was very hot that day, so the seat dried perfectly before the driver returned. He never knew about my terrible mistake! Now, I always remember to check that every single window is closed before I turn on the water.
14 Why does Lily like her weekend job?
A It lets her travel with tourists on holiday.
B She gets to be active outdoors and make money.
C She enjoys washing the inside of the large buses.
15 Why didn't Lily look carefully at the red bus last Saturday?
A She was working too fast to finish quickly.
B She was focusing on cleaning a different part of it.
C She couldn't see because water was spraying everywhere.
16 How did Lily feel when she saw the open window?
A afraid because the driver might be mad at her
B surprised because the tourists were coming back
C upset because she had to clean the front of the bus again
17 What happened in the end?
A The driver helped her dry the wet seat.
B The hot sun dried the towel very quickly.
C The driver didn't notice what Lily did.
18 What does Lily make sure to do now?
A wash the windows with a large towel
B close the windows quickly if it starts to rain
C look at the windows before she starts using water
Answer Key & Explanations
14 B - Explanation: In the first paragraph, Lily says she enjoys the work because "it keeps me active outside, and it is a great way to earn some extra pocket money." Option A is wrong logic; the company takes tourists on holiday, but Lily stays and washes the buses. Option C is a partial truth; she enjoys washing the buses, but she washes the outside, not the inside.
15 B - Explanation: In the second paragraph, the text explains she didn't look carefully because she "was very busy cleaning the dirty wheels," which is a different part of the bus. Option A is wrong logic; the text says she usually finishes quickly, but that isn't why she didn't look carefully on Saturday. Option C is wrong logic; she was spraying water, but the water wasn't the reason she couldn't see.
16 A - Explanation: In the third paragraph, Lily states she was "very worried" and thought the driver "would be very angry with me" (mad at her). Option B is wrong reference; it was the driver coming back to take the tourists, not the tourists coming back to the bus on their own. Option C is wrong logic; she was upset about the wet seat inside, not about having to clean the front of the bus again.
17 C - Explanation: In the final paragraph, Lily says the driver "never knew about my terrible mistake!", which means he didn't notice what she did. Option A is wrong reference; Lily dried the seat before the driver returned, so he didn't help her. Option B is wrong logic; she used the towel, but it was the seat that dried quickly in the hot sun.
18 C - Explanation: In the final paragraph, Lily says she learned a lesson: "Now, I always remember to check that every single window is closed before I turn on the water," which matches looking at the windows before using water. Option A is wrong logic; she uses a towel to dry things, not to wash the windows. Option B is not in the text; she uses a water hose, and rain is never mentioned.