Time allowed: 20 minutes
Number of questions: 40
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on the passage below.
A Coffee is the world's second most traded commodity after oil, with over 2.25 billion cups consumed daily across the globe. Yet few drinkers pause to consider the remarkable journey this beverage has taken from its origins in the highlands of Ethiopia to become a cornerstone of modern social and economic life. The story of coffee encompasses trade, colonialism, revolution, and the transformation of daily habits across virtually every culture on Earth.
B According to legend, coffee was discovered by an Ethiopian goatherd named Kaldi around 850 CE. He noticed his goats became unusually energetic after eating berries from a certain shrub. Curious, Kaldi tried the berries himself and experienced a similar burst of alertness. While this tale is likely apocryphal, Ethiopia remains the birthplace of Coffea arabica, the species that accounts for approximately 60% of global coffee production. The indigenous forests of southwestern Ethiopia still harbour wild coffee plants, representing invaluable genetic diversity for the crop.
C From Ethiopia, coffee cultivation spread to Yemen in the 15th century, where Sufi monks valued the drink for its ability to aid concentration during lengthy prayers. The port city of Mocha became the centre of the coffee trade, lending its name to the beverage that would later describe chocolate-flavoured coffee drinks. For nearly two centuries, Yemen maintained a near-monopoly on coffee production, with authorities strictly prohibiting the export of viable seeds to protect this lucrative commerce.
D The spread of coffeehouses through the Ottoman Empire and subsequently to Europe transformed social interaction. The first European coffeehouse opened in Venice in 1645, followed by establishments in Oxford, London, and Paris. These venues became known as "penny universities" because for the price of a cup of coffee, patrons could engage in discussions with scholars, merchants, and philosophers. Lloyd's of London, the famous insurance market, originated as a coffeehouse where maritime merchants gathered to conduct business.
E European colonial powers, eager to break Yemen's monopoly, successfully transplanted coffee to their tropical territories during the 17th and 18th centuries. The Dutch established plantations in Java, the French in the Caribbean, and the Portuguese in Brazil. By 1800, Brazil had emerged as the dominant producer, a position it maintains today with approximately 35% of global output. This colonial expansion, however, came at tremendous human cost, as coffee cultivation in the Americas relied heavily on enslaved labour.
F The 20th century witnessed significant developments in coffee processing and consumption. Instant coffee, developed commercially by Nestlé in 1938, made the beverage more accessible and convenient. The specialty coffee movement, beginning in the 1970s with companies like Starbucks, shifted consumer attention toward quality, origin, and preparation methods. More recently, concerns about sustainability have prompted growth in certified fair-trade and organic coffee, which now represents approximately 10% of the global market.
G Climate change poses perhaps the greatest contemporary threat to coffee production. Arabica coffee requires specific temperature ranges and rainfall patterns that are increasingly disrupted by global warming. Research published in 2022 suggests that by 2050, suitable growing areas for arabica coffee could decrease by up to 50%. Coffee producers are responding by developing heat-resistant varieties and moving cultivation to higher altitudes, but the future of the industry remains uncertain in an era of environmental instability.
The reading passage has seven paragraphs, A-G.
Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below.
List of Headings
i. Colonial expansion and its consequences
ii. Coffee's significance and ancient origins
iii. Environmental challenges facing the industry
iv. The rise of coffee culture in Europe
v. Yemen's control of early coffee trade
vi. Modern innovations in coffee production
vii. The economic impact on developing nations
viii. The legendary discovery of coffee
Complete the sentences below.
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the passage?
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26, which are based on the passage below.
The integration of artificial intelligence into healthcare represents one of the most significant technological shifts in medical history. From diagnostic imaging to drug discovery, AI systems are increasingly augmenting – and in some cases outperforming – human medical expertise. Yet this transformation raises profound questions about the future relationship between technology and the healing arts, and whether algorithms can truly replicate the nuanced judgment that medicine demands.
Diagnostic imaging has emerged as a particularly promising application for AI. Deep learning algorithms trained on millions of medical images can now detect certain cancers, eye diseases, and skin conditions with accuracy matching or exceeding that of specialist physicians. In 2020, an AI system developed by Google Health demonstrated the ability to identify breast cancer in mammograms with fewer false positives and false negatives than human radiologists. Such systems could prove especially valuable in regions with shortages of trained specialists, potentially democratizing access to expert-level diagnosis.
Drug discovery represents another frontier where AI is accelerating progress. Developing a new pharmaceutical typically requires 10-15 years and costs upwards of $2 billion, with a failure rate exceeding 90%. AI systems can analyse vast databases of molecular structures, biological pathways, and clinical trial data to identify promising drug candidates far more quickly than traditional methods. During the COVID-19 pandemic, AI tools helped researchers identify existing drugs that might be repurposed to treat the disease, demonstrating the technology's potential for rapid response to emerging health threats.
Administrative applications, while less dramatic, may ultimately deliver the greatest efficiency gains. Healthcare systems globally struggle with paperwork, scheduling, and resource allocation. Natural language processing can transcribe clinical notes, reducing the documentation burden that contributes to physician burnout. Predictive algorithms can forecast patient admissions, helping hospitals optimize staffing levels and bed availability. Insurance claims processing, traditionally labour-intensive, can be largely automated through machine learning systems.
However, significant challenges complicate AI's medical integration. Training data frequently reflects historical biases, potentially leading to systems that perform poorly for underrepresented populations. A widely-cited study found that an algorithm used by American hospitals to allocate healthcare resources systematically disadvantaged Black patients because it relied on healthcare costs as a proxy for health needs, not accounting for the fact that Black patients historically had less access to care. Ensuring algorithmic fairness requires careful attention to training data composition and outcome monitoring.
Regulatory frameworks struggle to keep pace with technological advancement. Medical devices traditionally undergo rigorous testing before approval, but AI systems that continuously learn and update present novel challenges. How should regulators evaluate a diagnostic algorithm that improves – or potentially degrades – after deployment? The US Food and Drug Administration has begun developing new frameworks for "adaptive" AI systems, but international standards remain fragmented, creating uncertainty for developers and healthcare providers alike.
The question of liability adds further complexity. When an AI system contributes to a diagnostic error, determining responsibility becomes challenging. Is the fault with the algorithm's developers, the healthcare institution that deployed it, or the physician who relied on its recommendation? Legal systems designed for human decision-making struggle to accommodate machine involvement in medical judgment. Some experts advocate for AI systems to function as decision support tools rather than autonomous diagnosticians, keeping human physicians firmly in control and accountable.
Despite these challenges, the trajectory toward greater AI integration in healthcare appears inevitable. Global investment in healthcare AI exceeded $15 billion in 2022, with applications spanning virtually every medical specialty. The technology's potential to improve outcomes while reducing costs creates powerful incentives for adoption. The critical question is not whether AI will transform healthcare, but how societies will manage this transformation to ensure benefits are equitably distributed and risks appropriately managed.
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Complete the sentences below.
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.
Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer?
YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40, which are based on the passage below.
A Plastic pollution has emerged as one of the defining environmental crises of the 21st century. Each year, approximately 11 million metric tons of plastic waste enter the world's oceans, with projections suggesting this figure could triple by 2040 without dramatic intervention. This debris accumulates in rotating current systems called gyres, forming vast "garbage patches" – the largest, in the North Pacific, covers an area roughly three times the size of France.
B The durability that makes plastic so useful also makes it environmentally persistent. A plastic bottle may take 450 years to decompose, while fishing nets can persist for 600 years. Rather than biodegrading, plastic breaks down into progressively smaller fragments called microplastics, particles less than five millimetres in diameter. These microscopic pieces have been found in the deepest ocean trenches, in Arctic ice, and in the tissues of marine organisms at every level of the food chain.
C Marine wildlife suffers devastating consequences from plastic pollution. Sea turtles mistake plastic bags for jellyfish, their preferred prey. Seabirds feed plastic fragments to their chicks, causing starvation and dehydration. Whales and dolphins become entangled in abandoned fishing gear, a phenomenon known as "ghost fishing." A 2019 study estimated that plastic pollution contributes to the deaths of over one million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals annually.
D The sources of ocean plastic pollution are diverse and unevenly distributed globally. Rivers serve as major conduits, with just ten river systems – eight in Asia and two in Africa – responsible for approximately 90% of riverborne plastic reaching the oceans. Coastal communities without adequate waste management infrastructure contribute significantly, as do fishing and shipping industries through equipment loss and illegal dumping. Contrary to popular perception, wealthy nations also bear responsibility; until 2018, much of their plastic "recycling" was actually shipped to developing countries with inadequate processing capacity.
E Cleanup efforts face significant practical and economic challenges. The Ocean Cleanup project, the most ambitious removal initiative, has developed systems to collect plastic from both rivers and ocean gyres. However, critics note that even successful cleanup addresses only a fraction of annual inputs and does nothing to prevent future pollution. Furthermore, microplastics are virtually impossible to filter from seawater without capturing the plankton that form the base of marine food webs. Most environmental scientists argue that prevention must take priority over remediation.
F Policy responses are accelerating but remain fragmented. Over 120 countries have implemented some form of plastic bag restriction, though enforcement varies widely. The European Union has banned single-use plastic items including straws, cutlery, and plates. Extended producer responsibility schemes, which require manufacturers to fund end-of-life management of their products, are gaining traction. In 2022, United Nations member states agreed to negotiate a legally binding global treaty on plastic pollution, potentially establishing international standards for the first time.
G Innovative solutions are emerging across the plastic lifecycle. Biodegradable alternatives made from seaweed, mushroom mycelium, and bacterial cellulose show promise, though questions remain about their scalability and performance. Chemical recycling technologies can break plastic polymers down to their molecular building blocks, enabling genuine material circularity rather than the downcycling that characterizes most mechanical recycling. Deposit return schemes, which charge consumers a refundable fee on beverage containers, consistently achieve collection rates exceeding 90% where implemented.
H The plastic pollution crisis ultimately reflects broader patterns of consumption and waste in modern economies. Plastic production has grown exponentially since the 1950s, from 2 million tons annually to over 400 million tons today. Without fundamental changes to how societies produce, use, and dispose of materials, technological solutions will merely manage symptoms rather than address causes. The challenge extends beyond environmental protection to questions of economic organisation and social values.
The passage has eight paragraphs, A-H.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-H.
Complete the summary below.
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.
The Scale and Impact of Ocean Plastic
Approximately 32 metric tons of plastic enter the oceans annually, accumulating in rotating current systems called 33 . Plastic does not biodegrade but instead fragments into tiny pieces called 34 . Marine animals are severely affected – for example, sea turtles confuse plastic bags with 35 . Scientists believe that 36 should be prioritised over cleanup efforts.
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the passage?
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
Passage 1: --/13
Passage 2: --/13
Passage 3: --/14