AMERICAN THINK LEVEL 4 SKILLS TESTS ANSWER KEY

UNITS 1 & 2 UNITS 7 & 8

1 1
b 3 c 1 d 5 e 7 f 2 g 6 h4 a2 b 4 c 1 d 5 e 8 f 3 g 7 h6

2 2
1 d 2 g 3 a 4 e 5 h 6 c 7 b 8f a 7 b 3 d 8 e 2 f 4 g 5 h6

3 3
1 c 2 a 3 b 4 f 5 e 6 g 7d 1 D 2 D 3 S 4 D 5 S 6 D 7 S 8D

4 4
1 climate 2 ice 3 compete 4 source 1 diary/journal 2 messages 3 list 4 trains
5 roads 6 nets 7 garbage 8 diseases 5 raining 6 concentrate 7 nightmare

UNITS 3 & 4 UNITS 9 & 10

1 1
1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10 a 1 b 5 c 7 d 2 e 4 f 3 g6

2 2
1 T 2 F 3 DS 4 F 5 DS 6 T 7 T 8F 1 F 2 F 3 T 4 T 5 F 6 DS 7 F 8 DS

3 3
1 d 2 c 3 g 4 e 5 h 6 f 7 b 8a 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10

4 4
1 A 2 C 3 B 4 C 5 A 6 B 7B 1 B 2 A 3 C 4 A 5 B 6 B 7 A 8C

UNITS 5 & 6 UNITS 11 & 12

1 1
1 c 2 g 3 a 4 e 5 h 6 b 7 f 8d b 3 c 5 d 1 e 8 f 6 g 7 h4

2 2
1 T 2 DS 3 F 4 T 5 DS 6 F 7T a 3 b 2 c 7 d 5 e 1 f 8 g 4 h6

3 3
1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10 1 e 2 g 3 a 4 b 5 h 6 d 7 c 8f

4 4
1 30/thirty 2 nursery 3 photos 4 universities 1 planet 2 ground 3 gas 4 robot
5 dating 6 texted 7 restaurant 8 mother 5 shapes 6 sea 7 light

American Think Level 4  Skills Tests ANSWER KEY  page 1 of 6 PHOTOCOPIABLE © Cambridge University Press 2016
 WRITING AND SPEAKING ASSESSMENT SCALES

The following Assessment Scales are taken from the Cambridge English Language Assessment Handbook for Cambridge English: First for
Schools. They are a useful tool for assessing your students’ performance in the Speaking and Writing sections of the American Think Skills Tests.

SPEAKING
Marking
The Speaking section of each American Think Skills Test should be marked out of a total of 20.

Students should be awarded a maximum of five points for each of the following four criteria:
• Grammar and Vocabulary  • Discourse Management  • Pronunciation  • Interactive Communication
B2 Grammar and Vocabulary Discourse Management Pronunciation Interactive Communication
5 • S hows a good degree of control of • P roduces extended stretches of language with • Is intelligible. • Initiates and responds
a range of simple and some complex very little hesitation. • Intonation is appropriate. appropriately, linking contributions
grammatical forms. •C  ontributions are relevant and there is a clear to those of other speakers.
• Sentence and word stress is
•U  ses a range of appropriate vocabulary to organisation of ideas. accurately placed. • Maintains and develops the
give and exchange views on a wide range •U  ses a range of cohesive devices and interaction and negotiates towards
• Individual sounds are articulated
of familiar topics. discourse markers. an outcome.
clearly.
4 Performance shares features of Bands 3 and 5.
3 • S hows a good degree of control of simple • Produces extended stretches of language • Is intelligible. • Initiates and responds
grammatical forms, and attempts some despite some hesitation. • Intonation is generally appropriate. appropriately.
complex grammatical forms. • Contributions are relevant and there is very • Maintains and develops the
• Sentence and word stress is
•U  ses a range of appropriate vocabulary little repetition. generally accurately placed. interaction and negotiates towards
to give and exchange views on a range of • Uses a range of cohesive devices. an outcome with very little
• Individual sounds are generally
familiar topics. support.
articulated clearly.
2 Performance shares features of Bands 1 and 3.
1 • S hows a good degree of control of simple • Produces responses which are extended • Is mostly intelligible, and has some • Initiates and responds
grammatical forms. beyond short phrases, despite hesitation. control of phonological features at appropriately.
•U  ses a range of appropriate vocabulary • Contributions are mostly relevant, despite both utterance and word levels. • Keeps the interaction going with
when talking about everyday situations. some repetition. very little prompting and support.
• Uses basic cohesive devices.
0 Performance below Band 1.

WRITING
Marking
The Writing sections of the American Think Skills Tests should be marked out of 20. Use the Assessment Scale to award a mark from 1 to 5 for
each descriptor.

Students should be awarded a maximum of five points for each of the following four criteria:
• Content  • Communicative Achievement  • Organisation  • Language
B2 Content Communicative Achievement Organisation Language
5 •A ll content is relevant to the task. • Uses the conventions of the • Text is well organised and • Uses a range of vocabulary, including less common lexis,
• Target reader is fully informed. communicative task effectively coherent, using a variety appropriately.
to hold the target reader’s of cohesive devices and • Uses a range of simple and complex grammatical forms with
attention and communicate organisational patterns to control and flexibility.
straightforward and complex generally good effect.
• Occasional errors may be present but do not impede
ideas, as appropriate.
communication.
4 Performance shares features of Bands 3 and 5.
3 •M
 inor irrelevances and/or • Uses the conventions of the • Text is generally well • Uses a range of everyday vocabulary appropriately, with
omissions may be present. communicative task to hold the organised and coherent, occasional inappropriate use of less common lexis.
•T
 arget reader is on the whole target reader’s attention and using a variety of linking • Uses a range of simple and some complex grammatical forms with
informed. communicate straightforward words and cohesive a good degree of control.
ideas. devices.
• Errors do not impede communication.
2 Performance shares features of Bands 1 and 3.
1 • Irrelevances and misinterpretation • Uses the conventions of • Text is connected and • Uses everyday vocabulary generally appropriately, while
of task may be present. the communicative task in coherent, using basic occasionally overusing certain lexis.
•T  arget reader is minimally generally appropriate ways to linking words and a • Uses simple grammatical forms with a good degree of control.
informed. communicate straightforward limited number of
• While errors are noticeable, meaning can still be determined.
ideas. cohesive devices.
0 • Content is totally irrelevant. Performance below Band 1.
• Target reader is not informed.

American Think Level 4  Skills Tests ANSWER KEY  page 2 of 6 PHOTOCOPIABLE © Cambridge University Press 2016
 AUDIOSCRIPTS
SKILLS TEST 1 & 2 David There is the stork – a large, beautiful bird
that typically flies across Europe to Africa
Track 01 each year to find food. We now know that
Presenter Some animals travel incredible distances many storks are not migrating to Africa
each year to find food, warmer weather, or anymore more because they can find all the
a safe place to bring up their young. But food they need in Europe, all year round.
increasingly, this is changing. With me is Presenter Why’s that?
wildlife expert David Price. David Well, humans – especially in Europe – are
David Hello, Michaela. Yes, we’re starting to see throwing more food away and leaving
some big changes in the way animals migrate. it in enormous landfills. The storks find
Presenter And is this all brought about by climate this garbage, which provides them with
change? enough food to last through the winter. This
means that they have no need to migrate
David Well, it does have a big impact. And in some anywhere else.
cases, it means animals are forced to move
away from their natural habitats – the places Presenter I’m not sure that’s a good thing!
where they usually live. For example, polar David Well, perhaps not. Other animals are also
bears, which live in the Arctic, are moving benefiting from climate change. The tiger
south because the sea ice, where they hunt mosquito is a good example. Because of
for seals, is melting away. They have nowhere warmer temperatures all around the world,
else to go. it is spreading from its usual home in places,
like Brazil, to the U.S. Unfortunately, it’s
Presenter And they come into contact with humans?
bringing dangerous diseases like the Zika
David Sometimes, but more seriously, they run into virus along with it.
brown bears. The two types of bear start to Presenter This all sounds very serious.
compete for the same food, which isn’t good
for either species. David Yes, it’s certainly something we need to think
about.
Presenter I see. There must be many animals affected
by warmer temperatures.
David Yes. The Adélie penguin, for example, eats a SKILLS TEST 3 & 4
special type of sea creature called krill. But Track 02
this is disappearing as the sea gets warmer.
Gary What are you reading?
This means the Adélie penguin has to travel
further to find a new source of krill. Jo About how some companies are asking
unusual questions in job interviews to see
Presenter So, many animals are migrating more
how well candidates can think outside the
because they are losing their natural habitats
box. Want to do one?
or food sources. Are there any examples of
animals migrating less? Gary Sure!
David Yes, there are. Over a million wildebeest Jo OK. Here’s a problem. You have to discuss it
migrate each year in parts of East Africa. But, as with me and come up with as many ideas as
towns and cities increase in the region, so do you can.
the number of roads. And of course, these get Gary Great.
in the way of the natural routes of many animals Jo OK, well, the idea of this is to test how practical
and stop them from getting to food or water you are. Imagine that you’re alone, in a dark
sources. And it’s not just on land. Humpback house with a group of other people. It’s winter,
whales, for example, can travel up to 4,000 and it’s really cold. But there’s a fireplace, and
miles a year. But increasingly, they have to fight you know there is some paper around the
their way past man-made problems. It’s easy for house and wood outside, which you can use to
these whales to get caught in enormous fishing start a fire. The problem is, you’ve only got one
nets, or even hit big ships. match left. You’ve also got one oil lamp and
Presenter Are there any animals which actually benefit one candle. The question is: which would you
from human activity? light first?

American Think Level 4  Skills Tests ANSWER KEY  page 3 of 6 PHOTOCOPIABLE © Cambridge University Press 2016
 Gary Hmm. Interesting question. OK, so there is a SKILLS TEST 5 & 6
group of us, and I have to take care of them,
so it’s important to do the responsible thing. Track 03
Everyone needs to be warm during the One of the nice things about the Internet is that it can
night, so I need to get the fireplace going. help bring people together, and maybe even help people
Jo That’s true. So, you’re confident that you’d fall in love. But for one couple, Amy Giberson and Justin
start the fireplace first? Pounders, the Internet managed to bring them together
after 30 years apart.
Gary Maybe, yes. Because then, I could use the fire
to light the candle and the lamp. It wouldn’t When they were both just three years old, Amy and
be easy with one match, but keeping people Justin had lived in the same small town in Florida and had
warm is the number-one priority. attended the same nursery school. Although they didn’t
have very clear memories of themselves so young, they had
Jo Yes, but remember that it’s completely dark.
appeared sitting together in school photos, and teachers
You’d find it very difficult to collect the
and parents remember them being the best of friends.
paper and the wood, and get everything
together to make the fireplace work. But, as often happens, their parents moved to different
homes, so the two children forgot all about each other.
Gary Yes. I didn’t think of that. I would need to get
Although both Amy and Justin remained in Florida, they
some light. OK. Well, it should be possible to
both attended different universities and had completely
light the lamp or candle first. The question is,
different lives.
which one?
That is, until 30 years later, they both found themselves
Jo Remember you’ve got to collect the wood
single and using the Internet to find someone to fall in love
and paper, which are in different places
with. They had both gone out with – and split up with –
around the house and yard.
other people, never having found their perfect match.
Gary Well, yes, I need to go outside. My group
One day, Justin saw a picture of a woman on a dating website
would have to stay in the dark inside, which
and was immediately struck by how beautiful she was. He
isn’t great. But, more seriously, if I have to go
couldn’t explain why – among all the people on the website –
outside, then, it might be windy.
he was attracted to her. He felt as if he must get in contact with
Jo Very good point. her – and he did. What he didn’t know was that this was Amy
Gary That means it wouldn’t be a very good – the same girl he had gone to school with 30 years earlier.
idea to light the candle first. Unless I was Justin began sending messages to Amy, and to his surprise,
extremely cautious with it. she replied. Before long, they were texting each other
Jo Yes. Remember you’ve only got one match. every day and planned to meet in a restaurant for what
So, the oil lamp then? they thought would be the first time.
Gary Yes, I think so. I would do that so I could get When they did, Amy fell in love with Justin at first sight.
some light. Then I’d go outside and collect She immediately knew that this was the man she was going
the wood. Then I’d come back inside and to marry. They started going out, and a year later, were
put it in the fireplace. I’d collect some paper, thinking about getting engaged.
too, which would make it easier to start the Surprisingly, it was only a year after they met in the restaurant
fire. But I’d probably light the candle first, to that they realized that they had already met – 30 years earlier.
give me some more light inside the house.
They knew that they had both lived in the same area, but
Then finally, I’d start the fireplace, using
it wasn’t until Justin’s mother found an old school photo,
the candle, and then get everyone warm.
with Justin and Amy together, that they were able to
Right – I think that’s the order I’d choose. I’m
discover the truth.
happy with that. To me, it feels like the most
decisive solution. I think I organized that
well. Am I right? SKILLS TEST 7 & 8
Jo Ah … Well, no. All your stages seemed right, Track 04
except the first one. Actually, you’d need to
Sara With me is David Capaldi, who has invented
light the match first!
a new app. David, can you run through who
Gary What? Well, yes but I . . . the app is for and what it does?
Jo I said, you’ve got one match, an oil lamp, David Yes, Sara, it’s called “Silver Linings Journal,”
a candle, and a fireplace. Which would and it’s for people who want to be happier
you light first? If you don’t start by lighting and live more positive lives.
the match, then you can’t do anything!
Sara I understand what “Silver Linings” means, and
Remember, the idea of this was to test how
a journal is a kind of diary, but how does it
practical you are!
work? How would it make people happier?

American Think Level 4  Skills Tests ANSWER KEY  page 4 of 6 PHOTOCOPIABLE © Cambridge University Press 2016
 David Well, basically, you get a message, on your and they were hurting my feet. I got really
phone, five times a day, telling you to write worked up about it. So I wanted to go online
down something nice that has happened to and update my status, to complain about
you. So, you get these messages, and you them. But the Wi-Fi in the café was very slow.
have to type in something that made you I just complained and complained.
feel good or something nice that happened. Sara I’ve known people like that. I usually ended
For example, “I slept very well,” or “Someone up avoiding them.
just smiled at me.”
David Yes. I was a nightmare. I realized that if I
Sara So it doesn’t have to be big things; it can be wanted to keep my friends, I’d need to have
the minor things that happen in life. a different way of thinking about life.
David Yes, I have to say that I didn’t think it would Sara Well, I’ll be trying your app over the next
work, but it really does. At the end of the day, week or two, and hopefully, I’ll have become
you get a list of all the things that happened to a more positive person!
you throughout the day. The way this works is
that even if you think you’re having a horrible
day, the app trains you to think positively all SKILLS TEST 9 & 10
the time and to look for the good things in life.
Track 05
Sara I’d find it difficult to use this app. I wouldn’t
Jack Eva Graham is an expert on journalism, and
be able to come up with anything nice that
she’s here today to talk about how social
happened to me this morning.
media is shaping the news and how people
David Well, that’s because you aren’t used to get news. Eva, you wrote an interesting
thinking positively. Tell me one thing that article recently about Japan, didn’t you?
happened to you today.
Eva That’s right, Jack. I don’t know whether you
Sara OK. I looked out of the window, and I saw it know, but Japan gets a lot of earthquakes,
was raining. and some of them are extremely serious
David That means that as soon as you go out, you ones which can cause a lot of damage. Well,
can have fun splashing in all the puddles! at some point in August 2016, people in the
That’s a great way to spend time. Tokyo area started getting official messages
on their cell phones. The messages warned
Sara I’m not four years old!
that there would be a huge earthquake.
David You’re too negative! When the rain stops, all Now, there are 40 million people living in
the streets are going to be cleaner and fresher. that area, so of course, the news spread very
Sara OK. The next thing I can remember is quickly on social media.
stopping to buy coffee on the way to work. Jack So, what happened?
And the man in the café was rude to me
Eva Well, there was no earthquake. In fact, it was a
because I didn’t have coins – I only had a
false alarm – a mistake. But, because everyone
large banknote, and the man said …
was spreading the news on social media, there
David Let me stop you there. You’re on the point was panic. Cell phone networks went down,
of saying something negative. Was the trains stopped, everything.
coffee good?
Jack That’s very interesting. So, social media
Sara No. I walked away without buying any. actually made the mistake worse.
David So, concentrate on that. You saved some Eva Yes, much worse. But this raises the
money. Imagine yourself looking for a new interesting question of how social media
café in the future. By this time next week, you can spread news very quickly – perhaps too
will have found your dream café, and you’ll quickly – before anyone can tell whether the
be going there every morning, for a perfect news story is actually real or not. Information
cup of coffee. Imagine that, instead of being spreads very fast these days.
so negative!
Jack Do you have any other examples?
Sara Wow, that is positive thinking! How did you
Eva One famous one was when the Twitter
get the idea for this app, David?
account of a big news agency was hacked a
David I was always a negative person – few years ago. Some people broke into the
complaining about things, and my friends Twitter account and created a fake Tweet that
sometimes pointed out how negative I was. there had been an attack at the White House
I remember being in a café with some in Washington, and the U.S. president was hurt.
friends. The coffee I bought wasn’t good.
Jack And did anyone take this seriously?
I had just bought some expensive new shoes,

American Think Level 4  Skills Tests ANSWER KEY  page 5 of 6 PHOTOCOPIABLE © Cambridge University Press 2016
 Eva Yes. It was retweeted and shared more than methane on Earth is produced by animals. So if it’s appearing
3,000 times in just a few minutes. The U.S. on Mars, too, then that may be a sign of life.
economy even started to crash! In 2019, we will have sent a new robot to Mars, which
Jack So, social media can be very powerful. might be able to answer lots of these questions, and
Eva Oh, yes. Often because people share news dig deep beneath the planet’s surface. Until then, some
stories or photos without really thinking interesting research is being done here on Earth.
about whether they are true or not. About 30 years ago, a rock was found in Antarctica – a
Jack Is this becoming more common? place where no animals live except by the sea, and very
few plants can grow. This rock, it was thought, came from
Eva I think it is, especially now that politicians and Mars 17 million years ago, flying through space and
even governments are starting to use social landing on our planet. Scientists discovered that the rock
media more to control and influence people. had tiny little shapes on it, which looked very similar to the
For example, it seems to be more common shapes that bacteria might make. Although scientists do
for politicians to put out a message that isn’t agree that the rock actually did come from Mars, no one
completely true. In fact, it may be totally untrue. can agree on what the small shapes were caused by.
But, because of the speed of social media, and
because most people aren’t really checking the In North Yorkshire, in the UK, there is a very large
information they read, the lie can spread very underground system, stretching for a thousand kilometers
quickly. The politician can always apologize under the land, to under the sea – about a kilometer deep.
later and admit that the information wasn’t It’s called the Boulby Mine, and it’s known that 250 million
correct, or deny they actually said something, years ago, there was sea water in this underground system.
but the damage will have already been done. However, this water disappeared, just like it has on planet
Jack I’ve heard that some governments are Mars. When the water went away, it created unusual
employing people to put out false shapes in the rock – and again, we can see similar shapes in
information online. the rocks on Mars.
Eva This might be true, although it’s difficult to Scientists have recently been spending time deep in the
prove it. These people are called “trolls.” Boulby Mine, searching for signs of life. Basically, nothing much
They can create fake names for themselves, can live so deep underground, where there is little oxygen, no
fake Twitter accounts, and deliberately go light, no water, and lots of salt. Only small bacteria can survive
online to spread false information. You can – bacteria that has somehow lived there for millions of years.
often find them posting in “Comments” But the important point is: If it can be found here, then it might
sections under important news articles. exist on Mars, too, where the environment is very similar.
Jack It sounds like it’s going to be more difficult In a few years, we may find out whether there really is life
to determine what’s true and what is a lie on on Mars. Until then, scientists will continue looking here on
the Internet. Earth for clues.
Eva You’re right. There’s so much information online,
and it’s so easy to reach. What we have to learn ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
to do as readers, is understand who created the
information, and what their agenda was. The authors and publishers acknowledge the following
sources of copyright material and are grateful for the
permissions granted. While every effort has been made, it
SKILLS TEST 11 & 12 has not always been possible to identify the sources of all
Track 06 the material used, or to trace all copyright holders. If any
omissions are brought to our notice, we will be happy to
Hello, everyone. Today I’m going to talk a little bit about include the appropriate acknowledgements on reprinting
the possibility of finding life on Mars. Mars is our closest
and in the next update to the digital edition, as applicable.
neighbor and similar to our planet in many ways. But so far,
scientists have never discovered any kind of life on Mars. The publishers are grateful to the following for permission
Not even the smallest, simplest kind of life. to reproduce copyright photographs and material.
The bad news is that we’re still a very long way from really Writing and Speaking assessment scales reproduced with
finding out any answers. It is believed that there was once permission of Cambridge English Language Assessment
a lot of water on Mars, which may have supported life. ©UCLES 2016.
However, that water is now very difficult to find, because it Key: L = Left, R = Right.
exists only in the form of ice, or under the ground, where it
is difficult for us to look at. Units 1 & 2 (Speaking): (L) NurPhoto/Getty Images and (R)
Alex Segre/Moment Mobile/Getty Images; Units 5 & 6
Scientists have recently discovered evidence of a gas on Mars
(Speaking): (L) Paolo Cipriani/E+/Getty Images and (R)
called methane, which appears and disappears suddenly.
Alberto Buzzola/LightRocket/Getty Images; Units 9 & 10
It is thought that bacteria – tiny life forms – may be producing
(Speaking): (L) dolgachov/iStock/Getty Images and (R)
this. And this bacteria may be trapped in water underneath
monkeybusinessimages/iStock/Getty Images.
the ground. Why do scientists think this? It’s because most

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