Solutions For Official Acer Practice Questions 1p3z5q

Solutions for Official ACER Practice Questions Information on the Booklets ACER produces two booklets of preparation materials that are available for purchase at $18 each from their website. The booklets are called 'UMAT Practice Questions Volume 1 (2nd edition)' and 'UMAT Practice Questions Volume 2'. MedEntry encourages all of our students to purchase these booklets to supplement your UMAT preparation. To order a copy of either or both booklets, please go to: http://umatreg.acer.edu.au/booklets.php These booklets have answers, but no solutions. In addition, there are some mistakes that ACER have made which you should be aware of. In the documents under this heading, you will find detailed, fully-worked, high-quality solutions written by experts for each question.

Solutions for Official ACER Practice Questions Section 1 Volume 1 Question 1 Answer: B The skill or concept tested in this question is the distinction between correlation and causation. This is a fundamental aspect of population health that is commonly taught in first year classes at university, and is a recurring theme in the UMAT. Correlation is a measure of the association between two variables. Here, there seems to be a correlation between the arrival (and presumably viewing) of TV and a decline in creativity and perseverance. This is not enough ‘proof’, however, that one causes the other. For that, we would need considerably more evidence than the results in a single town, as well as to test the hypothesis under controlled conditions. Consider the following: A boy goes to school, and subsequently it rains. Can we say that his going to school caused the rain? Of course not. The only difference between this hypothetical situation and the one given in the UMAT question is that the latter draws upon a popular preconception about the effects of TV-viewing. It is important to leave such notions behind, and consider the questions based only on the information given. With this in mind, we can immediately conclude that answers A, C and D are incorrect, because all assume that the relationship is causative. (Answer A is particularly obvious, as it assumes that TV increases creativity.) Therefore, answer B is correct – as it very succinctly summarizes the information given. Question 2 Answer: D For this question, the best approach is to consider each possible answer in light of the text, and try to rule out answers which make unfounded or incorrect statements, or which go beyond the scope of the question. Answer A: While this answer may be tempting because it seems to intuitively make sense, it is not ed anywhere in the text. In fact, the final sentence of the paragraph seems to suggest species become major by being particularly well-adapted to a period of abnormality, rather than the normal environment in which they live. Therefore, A is incorrect. Answer B: This is clearly wrong, because at most we can infer that more species would increase stability of an ecosystem (as there would be more minor species ready to ‘take over’ in times of stress), rather than fewer species. Answer C: This statement is in two parts, and attempts to lure the candidate with the second part, which is essentially true. However, the first part – stating that major species have been in the ecosystem longer than minor species – is not substantiated by the information given. This answer is thus incorrect. Answer D: This answer is in essence the final sentence of the text with only slight rewording. That the characteristics are ‘often not evident’ is in accord with the statement that the species are ‘similar’, as described in the first sentence of the paragraph. The rest matches the final sentence almost perfectly. Thus, this is the correct answer. Question 3 Answer: C It is important to clearly understand the relationship between the factors mentioned. Simply, decreasing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere has the effect of decreasing global warming. Oneway of decreasing carbon dioxide levels is to plant forests; however, in comparison to snowy ground, forests reflect less heat, and this particular effect increases global warming. That is, these two factors are in opposition. Because we have no information about the relative sizes of the two effects, it is impossible to discern the net effect on global warming if a landscape is converted from snowy ground to forest, or vice

versa. This fact means that answer B is incorrect. Answer A must also be wrong, both for the aforementioned reason and the fact that we have information only for snow and forests. Conversion from, say, grassland to forest may retain the beneficial effect of reducing carbon as well as negating the effect of heat reflection. Such possibilities have not been covered in the information provided, so A also goes beyond the scope of the question. Answer C is interesting, because the statement hardly makes a claim at all. If snowy ground is converted to forest, we cannot – as discussed above – conclude the net effect on global warming. It may, as C suggests, increase warming, or the opposite may be true. Answer C uses the word ‘may’ and so we cannot conclude it is incorrect. It is a possibility, and is the best answer of the options provided. Answer D is incorrect because it attempts to suggest a mechanism for the effect of snowy ground on carbon dioxide levels. We are only told how these two factors affect global warming, not each other. This answer tries to make a number of assumptions that we cannot make. Question 4 Answer: C This question is testing whether you can recognize that answers are not necessarily black or white. Answers A and B are both along the lines of the text, but both also make statements that are too extreme, too clear-cut. Answer A mentions only the government as discouraging environmentally-friendly lifestyle options, but the paragraph uses much broader : ‘social institutions and organizations’. There is mention of car manufacturers and basic human values as well, but A ignores this, and places the ‘blame’ squarely on the government. Answer A is thus incorrect. Answer B makes a similar mistake by placing the responsibility of creating a sustainable society entirely on the government. Answer B is also wrong as a result. Answer C is a very good summary of the information given. There is no part of the sentence we can dispute. This is the correct answer. Answer D is the easiest to dismiss as wrong, because all we are told is that the USA ‘values human mastery of nature’, which would obviously lead to bad environmental outcomes. This is the opposite of the statement in D, which also mentions the US government, about which we have no information. Question 5 Answer: D For this question, the best method is to test each of the four possible answers to see if they are correct. It is perhaps best not to make a preliminary analysis of the data, as we do not yet know which aspects are to be compared. This may only lead to confusion. Answer A: The only information we have regarding 1985 is that one third of the population smoked. Without the total population in 1985 and the actual male-to-female ratio, it is impossible to actually calculate the percentage of male smokers. In 1945, the number of male smokers was 72% (which means that there were 18% male non-smokers) - however this information relates to 1945 not 1985 as asked in the question. This answer is therefore incorrect. Answer B: Similarly, we simply do not have enough information about 1985 to accurately calculate the number of female smokers in Australia. We don't know the proportion of males to females. However, we do know that the proportion of women smoking is somewhere between 23% and 26%. Since we don't know the population of Australia in 1985 and we don't know the proportion of women in Australia compared to men in 1985, it is impossible to say that 4 million women smoked. If that were the case (that there were 4 million females who smoked), that would mean 4 million people equated to around between 23-26% of the female population (making the actual female population 16 million)! This would make the male population only 2 million even based on the 1995 statistics - an unreasonable assumption. Answer B must be wrong. Answer C: We can actually test this answer. To summarize: 1995 population = 18 million 1945 population = 9 million (we are told the population doubles between 1945 and 1995)

We don’t know the exact percentage of males in the population for either year, but we know it was the same in both 1945 and 1995. Let us thus call this percentage of males m%. Male smokers in 1945 = 9 million x (72% x m%) = 6.48 million x m% Male smokers in 1995 = 18 million x (27% x m%) = 4.86 million x m% You are not allowed calculators, however, in the UMAT exam. The simplest procedure would be to approximate 72% as ¾, and 27% as ¼. Then – Male smokers in 1945 = 6.75 million Male smokers in 1995 = 4.5 million Therefore, clearly, there are fewer male smokers in 1995 than in 1945. Answer C must be incorrect. Answer D: The only relationship we could easily come up with to describe the trend of percentage of males who smoke is linear. This seems to be going a step too far, as we have no factual basis for assuming any sort of relationship. However, the other answers are definitely wrong, so we should at least give this answer a cursory test. In the 50 years from 1945 to 1995, the percentage of males who smoke decreases by 45%, or 0.9 % per year. In the 40 years following 1945, we might expect a decrease of approximately (0.9 x 40) % = 36 %. So the percentage of male smokers would be approximately = 72% - 36% = 36%. This could be described as approximately 40% if we take it to only one significant figure. Thus, tentatively, this is the correct answer. This is a messy and likely inaccurate calculation, but it is certainly the best of the four. The true percentage would be in the vicinity of 40%, regardless of relationship used, which is the closest any of the answers are to the ‘truth’. Question 6 Answer: B We can conclude simply that patients who take their treatment regularly – whether it is propranolol or placebo – have half the death rate of irregular s. However, we have no point of comparison between propranolol and placebo groups, so it is impossible to say what effect - if any - the drug itself has. This would rule out answers C and D. Answer A is incorrect because we have no evidence that placebos help relieve heart attacks, and we certainly cannot assume a mechanism for its action. All we can say is that regular treatment is better than irregular treatment, regardless of which treatment is used, which is exactly the statement made by B – this is the correct answer. Question 7 Answer: A This question is a little tricky. One point to note is that ‘task orientation’ and ‘ego orientation’, as defined in the paragraph, can coexist. Whether you exercise alone or in a group, intuitively we know that there will be a focus on personal improvement, effort and mastery of tasks – that is, task orientation – which will have a positive effect on mood. Secondly, we can surmise that in a group situation there will also be ego orientation, as people are naturally competitive, but nowhere are we told exactly what effect this has on emotional well-being. While ego and task orientation may be ‘in contrast’, their effects are not necessarily opposite. This may seem a negligible point, but because of it we can rule out answers B, C and D. All three make unfounded assumptions. This leaves A as the correct answer, which carefully stays within the scope of the information we are given. Question 8 Answer: D The message from the text seems to be that if you are faced with negative information about yourself, the best approach is recognize that it may not be intended as an insult; it may be to help you improve yourself and become more secure in your position. This rules out answers A and B. Avoiding such situations (A) is not coping at all, and it is not suggested in the paragraph. Picking between answers C and D is not easy, but C does not necessarily follow from the article, as firstly it is not made clear that the

person must be insecure to have an identity quake; nor is the phrase ‘made aware of their faults’ a perfect description of the situation provided. It is the misinterpretation of (helpful) constructive criticism that is the problem – this is not the same as being made aware of your faults. Certainly, D is also the better answer, as it nicely embodies the intended message of the article. Question 9 Answer: C In this question, the key is to pay attention to all the details in the paragraph, and look at the options one at a time. Answer A: Insect juices, we are told, cause the leaves to ‘clamp more firmly’, i.e. modify the extent of closing. Insect juices do not trigger closing. Answer B: The falling twigs fulfil the criteria for triggering closure of the Venus flytrap, but without insect juices it will not close completely. Answer C: Here, two trigger hairs are touched within a twenty second period, so the Venus flytrap should start to close. This is the correct answer. Answer D: If an insect touches several hairs (simultaneously), this will trigger closing, regardless of how long it stays still afterwards. Therefore, D is incorrect. Question 10 Answer: B The diagrams in this question are relatively simple; the trick is read the potential answers very carefully. Answer A: This statement mentions melanoma in regards to ‘other types of cancer’, rather than other types of skin cancer. Therefore, it goes beyond the scope of the information provided. This can be easily missed if you are not careful. Answer B: We cannot dispute this statement. It correctly interprets both diagrams. This is the correct answer. Answer C: This statement ignores the second diagram. While melanoma makes up less than 10% of skin cancer cases, it causes the majority of skin cancer deaths. Furthermore, we do not know what proportion of cancer deaths is made up by those from skin cancer, so the statement is unfounded. C is incorrect. Answer D: Here, the second diagram is misinterpreted. Skin cancer deaths from melanoma make up ~80% of all skin cancer deaths, so it is death from all skin cancers cannot be four times more likely than from melanoma. This answer is easily ruled out. Question 11 Answer: D In any question containing a graph, the key is to carefully read the text and make sure that you understand exactly what is being conveyed. This involves scrutinizing the x- and y- axes, as well as any key that is given. Then, simply test each answer to see if it agrees with the graph. In this question, there are two important points to note: z

z

The y-axis represents the number, in thousands, of lone-mother families having at least one child younger than 16. A family, as defined in this study, is open to have many children. Therefore the yaxis, crucially, does not represent the number of children in such families. The x-axis, representing time, is not evenly divided. 1971-1986 is divided into 5-year intervals, while there are data points for every year from 1986-1992.

Consider answer A: it makes a statement about the number of children in divorced-mother families in 1988. We can discount this answer, as we only have information about the number of families in a given situation and year. There is no need to even consult the graph. As for answer B: because of the uneven x-axis, we cannot compare the rates of increase for 1981-1986

and 1986-1991 by comparing the slopes of the graph for these time periods. Instead, we can make an estimate of increase / time. From 1981 to 1986, the number of single mother families increased from ~125,000 to ~225,000, an increase of roughly 100,000 in 5 years. From 1986 to 1991, the number increased from ~225,00 to ~450,000, or an increase of approximately 225,000 also in 5 years. Therefore, the rate of increase was greater in the 5 years after 1986 than the 5 years preceding it, so answer B is incorrect. Answer C, like A, mentions the number of children, something we cannot interpret from the graph, so this too is incorrect. Answer D, by elimination, is correct. However, it is important to check it regardless, in case you have made a mistake with a previous option. This statement correctly states that the number of families with divorced mothers fell below those of single mothers from 1991-1992. Thus, this is the correct answer. The wording of the statement, however, is poor, as it could also be interpreted as saying that the point of crossing over of the two lines (divorced and single mothers)occurred between 1991 and 1992, which would be incorrect. The crossing over occurred between 1990 and 1991. Nevertheless, since at least one interpretation is correct and all other options are incorrect, this is the best answer. Question 12 Answer: C For this question, once again let us consider each possible answer in turn: Answer A: This is wrong because we are told that some arthropods use Malpighian tubules, not molluscs. Answer B: This is an incorrect statement because we are told that in animals with coeloms the coelom itself does not have circulating blood. This does not extend to the entire animal. Answer C: We certainly know that molluscs have haemocoels with circulating blood; and since molluscs are ‘complex animals’, we could presume that blood would also circulate to internal body organs. After all, this is necessary for blood to perform its basic function as a transport medium. This answer is correct, though you might argue that the paragraph supplied does not explicitly it. This draws more on a little knowledge of biology and some common sense. Answer D: The fluid-filled cavity, by any name, cushions the body organs. We are told this in the very first line. In arthropods, this cavity is known as a haemocoel. This does not change its function of . D is incorrect. Question 13 Answer: B The probability of heart disease, we are told, decreases with increased fruit and vegetable consumption (a good thing!), and increases with dairy product consumption. Furthermore, the French have a low incidence of heart disease, attributed to their moderate consumption of alcohol. Therefore, a diet designed to offer protection from heart disease would be high in fruit and vegetables, low in dairy products (we would not want to eliminate them, as they are a part of a balanced diet), and moderate in alcohol. Thus, Answer B is correct. Question 14 Answer: A This question is relatively easy. The variable to be tested is alcohol consumption rate, so it must vary in our testing; and we know that with proper scientific technique all other variables must be kept constant. Only Answer A satisfies these criteria, so it is the correct answer. Question 15 Answer: B

Let us take each possible answer, one at a time: Answer A: The form of alcohol dehydrogenase that is beneficial for protection against heart disease is the As form, which metabolises alcohol more slowly. Therefore, A must be wrong as slow, not rapid, alcohol metabolism reduces heart disease. Answer B: This statement is correct. It agrees perfectly with the last two sentences of the text. Answer C: We have no reason to believe the French have a higher rate of fruit and vegetable consumption, or that this might explain their low rate of heart disease, considering the following excerpt from the age: “The French have a low incidence of heart disease. Taking other variables into , this has been attributed to the fact that, in general, the French have a higher wine consumption rate than others….” Answer D: This is not quite correct. Moderate alcohol consumption, coupled with the As form of alcohol dehydrogenase, protects against heart disease. Furthermore, this statement, whether right or wrong, does not explain the low rate of heart disease in . Question 16 Answer: C We know, from elementary physics, that Movement = Force x Perpendicular Distance from pivot. Using this simple equation, the correct answers are as follows: I – the balance would stay level II - the balance would stay level III – the right side would move down IV – the left side would move down V - the right side would move down VI - the right side would move down Operating at the level of rule 1 (simply the number of weights on each side of the fulcrum), we would predict I - the balance would stay level II - the right side would move down III - the balance would stay level IV - the right side would move down V - the right side would move down VI - the right side would move down We can see, then, that a child operating at the level of rule 1 would correctly predict problems I, V and VI. The correct answer is C. Question 17 Answer: A Taking the answers in turn: Answer A: in problem II, since the right side has more weights, a child using rule 2 would predict the right side would go down. This agrees with statement A, and so is the correct answer. After obtaining this answer, you can move onto the next question. However, for completeness, the other options are discussed below. Answer B: Since equal numbers of weights are on either side of the fulcrum, using rule 2, the child would then consider their distances from the fulcrum. He or she would then predict the right side would go down, so B is incorrect. Answer C: Since the right side has more weights, at the level of rule 2, a child would predict the right side would go down. Answer C is incorrect.

Answer D: In problem V, there are more weights on the right side of the fulcrum, so once again the child would predict that the right side would go down. Answer D is also wrong. Question 18 Answer: D Lind used six different treatments, but there was no group of non-treatment to compare against. Therefore, he did not use a control group or situation as defined here, i.e. D is correct. To check the effects of cider, he would have to compare cider with no cider. No such group existed. Question 19 Answer: C A flaw in Lind’s study would have to be in his method; the results themselves cannot be the flaw in a study! This rules out A. Also, as long the treatments are each tested scientifically against each other, the results of study are valid, regardless of what the treatments actually are. Therefore, B is also incorrect. The important point in a scientific study is to vary only one of the variables at a time (as we are told in the first line), so the effects can be properly compared. The fact that those with the worst symptoms were given treatment IV goes against this methodology: both severity of symptoms and treatments have become variables. For this reason, C is the correct answer. Note that statement D, though true, is very unlikely to have any effect on the results of the study. Question 20 Answer: B This is a relatively simple question, as the information provided about Pare is only one sentence long. It states that he compared his onion treatment with conventional treatment on a wound to check if it worked. Considering the potential answers given: C is false; A and D do not answer the question, though they are true; B is correct. Question 21 Answer: A To properly find out the effectiveness of onion as a treatment, Pare would want the type of treatment to be the only variable present. Since he is presented with patients with wounds of different kinds and severity, to eliminate this variable, his only option would be to compare the treatments on each and every wound – that is, use his original procedure on all of the patients. Answer A is thus correct. To find the effectiveness of onion as a treatment, he would need something to compare against, which makes B incorrect. Both C and D fail to reduce the study to a single variable: severity and type of wound would vary, along with treatment. Question 22 Answer: D In Lind’s study, he could compare the effect of one treatment against the effect of other treatments (though he did not use a control group); Pare compared his onion treatment to conventional treatment; and Pasteur could compare vaccinated animals to those without the vaccine, when exposed to Anthrax bacteria. Therefore all three studies satisfy the conditions laid out in the question. The correct answer is D: three.

Solutions for Official ACER Practice Questions Section 2 Volume 1 Question 23 Answer: D It is important to realise that Nigel is feeling guilty about what he has said, rather than anything else. This is made clear in the reference to the guilt he feels, appearing directly after his statement, “Yes, she’s gone to the loony bin.” Nigel is feeling alone in the terrifying situation of seeing his mother sick with a mental illness (note that he clearly respects her – we know this as he refers to her having looked after him). He would have liked to share this situation in a way that showed respect for his mother. We therefore need to find an answer that links Nigel’s guilt to what he has said. Option B, itting that his mother was mentally ill, does link with Nigel’s statement. However when we read further into Nigel’s narrative, it seems like Nigel would have liked to have been able to explain to the other children what was going on, but could not due to a lack of understanding and maturity in himself. Thus, itting the illness was not the problem; it was finding a way to adequately explain the illness. Option B is therefore not the best answer. Option D explains the guilt very well, and is the correct answer. Nigel would have liked to have explained the illness to his friends so they understood his feelings and he would not have felt so alone. However, instead of explaining, Nigel dismissed the issue and in doing so did not show respect for his mother. This would make one feel guilty. There is no indication that Nigel feels responsible for his mother’s illness, so option C is not correct. Feeling uned does not usually make one feel guilty, so option A is incorrect. Question 24 Answer: C Nigel says, “Yes, she’s gone to the loony bin.” This is something that someone would say as a joke; it is a way of being light-hearted and displaying a sense of confidence about the situation. There is no suggestion that Nigel is denying his mother’s illness, on the contrary, he gives more information than the children may have known otherwise. Thus option D is incorrect. Showing confidence would not be a way of evoking pity. Thus option A is incorrect. We are left with option B (reassure his friends) and option C (sound unconcerned). While appearing confident and light-hearted may reassure his friends that he is ok (option B), option C (sound unconcerned) is a better answer. The fact that this is a “terrifying” situation is something that Nigel would want to hide from the other children. He does not want to make it into a big deal and have to explain it to others. Sounding unconcerned would attract less attention to the fact that his mother was “weird.” If he shows no reaction then the others would have less interest in giving Nigel a hard time about his mother. Question 25 Answer: D Linda loses her patience some time into the discussion, when the medical students were clearly not asking her about how she was feeling. We learn at the beginning of the age that Linda is not initially asked about her personal feelings so we can dismiss option B. While Linda is a terminally ill patient and gets tired, there is no suggestion that she is in any pain. Thus, option C can be eliminated. The age suggests that the medical students are only upset after Linda brings up difficult topics, after she loses her patience. Option A does not fit the timeline we have created. This leaves option D, which is the correct answer. Linda may feel that the students have a lot to learn from her, but are not brave enough to do so or perhaps do not know how to ask difficult questions, and she therefore loses her patience.

Question 26 Answer: C Kubler-Ross believes that good doctors should understand what patients are going through as well as knowing the science of healing. This is evident in her statement, “Now you are reacting like human beings instead of scientists.” Kubler-Ross seems to be someone who brings reality to the fore, even the reality of very difficult situations. From the age we learn that Kubler-Ross was even going to steer the interview towards a discussion about Linda’s feelings so that the students were sure to understand the reality of a patient’s experiences. Option A contradicts the open nature of Kubler-Ross and so is incorrect. There is no suggestion that the personal experiences of doctors are important or relevant and so option B is incorrect. Option C matches Kubler-Ross’ beliefs and is the correct answer. Kubler-Ross wanted the students to understand how a terminally ill patient may feel, and thus have “insight into the personal experiences of patients.” Option D is also a good answer, but is not the best answer. While it is important for doctors to be able to understand what a patient may feel and be able to empathise with them, the word “confront” is inappropriate. Doctors may need to discuss the reality of certain situations with patients, but “confront” is too harsh a word. Question 27 Answer: A Nowhere does the wife suggest that the emergency team did anything other than follow the correct protocol in an efficient manner. In fact she says the opposite: “they were only doing their job.” Thus option B is incorrect. Option C uses the word sympathetic, which is not accurate. The hospital did not listen to the protestations of the wife. In fact the wife suggests that no sympathy was offered – they were unconcerned that the husband had Alzheimer’s disease, as indicated in the last sentence. Although the staff did act in a competent manner, they were far from understanding and did not take into the specifics of the situation. Thus option D is incorrect. We are left with option A which expresses that the team acted in a professional manner, but with the wrong intentions. Diligent but misguided are appropriate words to describe this. Question 28 Answer: B In the wife’s eyes, the problem was that “he was in the final stages of Alzheimer’s. It was time for him to die; his mind was gone, his body failing. He spent his day in diapers, spoon fed, bed bound.” This is a discussion about quality of life issues, so option B is correct. There is no mention of the husband being in pain, so we can dismiss option A. The wife seems to have accepted the path that the Alzheimer’s would take, and is not thinking of her husband getting better, so option C is incorrect. While the wife’s needs are ignored by the medical staff, the tone of the age is one of exasperation rather than humiliation, so option D is not the best answer. Question 29 Answer: C

The age is a calm and reflective historical narrative and is not sarcastic in tone. The wife is not condemning the doctors – in fact she says that she forgives them, thus option D is wrong. Options A and B both state that the doctors were right to do what they did. The wife does not believe this at all. Her husband’s quality of life was very poor and she believes that there were instructions not to revive him. Even though the wife has forgiven the doctors she still does not believe them to be right, so we can exclude options A and B. Option C is clear and accurate. It is possible to believe that the doctors were wrong in the action they took and yet not blame them for these actions, as they were following the protocols of the hospital. The doctors did not make the rules of the hospital; they were simply adhering to the rules. Question 30 Answer: D Options A and B revolve around the standard of care that the husband was receiving and the wife’s understanding of this care. These options are wrong as the wife did not care about what was being done except for the fact that anything was being done. She appreciated that the staff were acting competently. The wife wanted the husband to be left to die with some dignity, and not have pint after pint of blood infused into him. Thus options A and B are incorrect. The site of the transfusions was not what was upsetting the wife, so leaving the room would not have been helpful (option C). What was upsetting her was that the desires of both the husband and the wife were not being listened to or taken into . Thus feeling like she was being heard would have been the most helpful to the wife. Option D is therefore the correct answer. Question 31 Answer: B The age raises three ideas: 1. Kevin knows exactly how much he can and cannot achieve; 2. Kevin thinks of those around him, as demonstrated by the words “for all of us”; 3. Kevin does not like to be perceived as handicapped. The conflict in the piece is between point 2 (thinking of the people around him) and point 3 (not wanting to be perceived as handicapped). Option B captures this idea best. There is no mention in the piece of anyone having any expectations of Kevin different to his own capabilities, thus option A is incorrect. Option C is wrong as Kevin understands and accepts his limitations and works within them. While people’s opinion of Kevin is important (he does not want to be perceived as handicapped) the age suggests that Kevin regularly adapts for other people, as he often does take the wheelchair. Thus option D is not the best answer. Question 32 Answer: D The first paragraph discusses the way we perceive the space that we are in and how it changes when we are not upright and walking. This change would make someone feel disoriented (option D). Rather than making them feel secure (option A), it would potentially make them feel insecure. While the first sentence states that the doctors were discussing another patient in front of the man, this would usually not be enough to make someone feel resentful (option B). There is nothing in the first paragraph to suggest that the patient is frightened (option C). Thus option D is the best answer. Question 33 Answer: A

The doctors’ conversation revolves around their own personal experiences. They tell stories about near misses that they have had where nobody was actually injured. These stories are the focus of the discussion, rather than the story or care of the patient at hand. Even though our patient was hit by a truck, it may have been as a pedestrian or when he was on a bicycle, and so the stories that the doctors tell may have no relevance at all. We will never know, because the doctors do not ask. Thus, rather than making the patient the centre of attention (option B) the patient would most likely feel neglected and insignificant (option A). The patient is not asked for details of his own accident, and so the conversation would not force the patient to relive his own incident, rendering option C inappropriate. Rather than the doctors showing an understanding of his situation, they appear to show a lack of concern. The patient would not feel better due to the doctors’ understanding, making option D incorrect. Question 34 Answer: C While the patient does appear ungrateful for the content of the conversation at hand, he is not being petty in his reactions. All that the patient says and does has a genuine basis even if the patient is unimpressed with what is going on. Option A is thus incorrect. Suspicion (option B) would indicate that the patient believed the doctors to have ulterior motives for what they were saying and doing. Although the patient thinks the conversation is a strange one to have in front of a badly injured patient (see line 29) there is no reason for the patient to believe that they are doing anything except making conversation, albeit in an unthoughtful manner. Option B can be rejected. While the patient does not say very much, this is not necessarily because he is being submissive (option D). It is unlikely that the patient feels intimidated as he feels free to in the doctors’ conversation with his “Worse?” question, thus option D is not the best answer. The term “reserved” (option C) is appropriate due to the short answers that the patient provides. The use of the term “I see”, along with the patient’s summary on line 29 could lead us to believe that the patient is disapproving. Thus option C is the best answer. Question 35 Answer: B The doctors kept conversation going while they examined the patient. This can be used as a method of helping patients to relax during an examination, but one must be careful about the topics of conversation. There is a time and a place to talk about everything, even about disabilities and death, but these are not usual topics during a casual examination unless the situation has been carefully orchestrated and thought about. It is unlikely that this is the case with the conversation in the age. While the doctors may have been trying to make the patient feel comfortable, they failed, so option D is incorrect. The conversation even mentioned how being dead may be better than having severe injuries. This is an insensitive comment that may leave the patient thinking that he is better off dead than living with the injuries he has sustained. The doctors lacked sensitivity in their discussion, making option B the best answer. Option A is incorrect as the doctors must have been quite insensitive to talk about their near accidents with such ion when our patient had a real accident. They also do not seem to notice the mood of the patient. The doctors never asked for the details of the accident or how the patient was feeling, and therefore showed no interest in the patient’s circumstances. Option C is thus incorrect. Question 36 Answer: C Is it appropriate for a doctor to expect sympathy about an event which almost happened, from a patient with very real injuries? Not usually. Lines 18 and 19 are important in framing the attitudes of the patient, and we learn that he is far from impressed with the conversation that is occurring. Option C (“displeasure

at the doctors’ behaviour”) captures this well and is the best answer. While silence could be regarded as a sign of respect, the term “young doctors” at the start of the age and the fact that the narrator labelled the conversation a “‘near miss’ contest” indicates lack of respect. Option B is thus incorrect. There is nothing in the age to indicate anxiety about injuries (option A). In fact the narrator does not mention any concerns about his injuries at all. Far from being confused about the doctor’s two questions, the narrator answers them clearly and succinctly. Option D is thus also incorrect. Question 37 Answer: B Liz appears to have an excellent understanding of her daughter’s abilities and how they impact on her. She is not surprised (option A) when her daughter has her own opinion. Liz understands that this is perfectly normal for any young adult, but it does not make her pleased (option C). On the one hand Liz knows that her daughter will have certain characteristics of a young adult, such as having a mind of her own, but be missing the ability to act on her ideas. Liz would like to help her daughter fulfil her dreams as much as possible, but knows her daughter’s limitations. This is where the conflict lies, and option B captures this best. There is nothing in the age to suggest that Liz thinks her daughter lacks the appropriate level of trust and gratitude (option D), in fact it seems that Liz does not expect any gratitude at all. The first paragraph suggests that Liz understands her responsibilities and accepts them with open arms. Question 38 Answer: D The final sentence is about Liz being back to where she used to be. Liz is emotional and angry, with the words “living in some dump” suggesting this. Her situation is not one with which she feels comfortable, and she feels that her life should not be this way. Liz does not deserve her current standard of living, and so she is in no way accepting of her situation (option A). While Liz may be unhappy about the standard of living that she and her daughter must endure, fear or any type of worry about her daughter’s future is not the predominant emotion (option B). Liz does not blame herself for the state of their lives; she blames the lack of services for adult disabled people. If there were more services for adults then Liz may be able to work, and improve their standard of living. As Liz does not blame herself, she cannot carry guilt (option C). Option D is thus the best answer. Question 39 Answer: A Liz cares about her family’s standard of living. While all the options presented would probably be welcomed by Liz, option A is the best answer. A regular income would be a tangible way that Liz’s needs would be met. Liz cares a lot about the fact that she is “poor and restricted”, and the opportunity to earn a regular income would both give her a break from “minding the baby” (her now adult daughter), and from being impoverished. Question 40 Answer: C We need to know exactly what Melissa’s behaviour is before we can answer the question. The age does not tell us how Melissa behaves, merely how she tries not to behave. Melissa tries not to be “lying down and crying”, as she cares about what other people think of her. From this we can appreciate that Melissa is not an attention seeker or a “whinger.” By thirteen years of age many children have a high degree of maturity, try to make things easy for people around them and like to appear in control. This is what dignity is all about. Option C captures this with Melissa wishing to maintain her dignity even when she is in pain.

While Melissa does desire medication when she is in pain (option B), her behaviour remains polite and tight-lipped due to her desire for dignity. Option B is a good answer, but not as good as option C. If a patient were seeking sympathy, they would ensure that those around them were very familiar with their problems, such as pain. Rather than tell people about it, Melissa tries not to think about the pain, and so is not looking for sympathy (option A). In the same vein, Melissa does not have a tendency to reveal her feelings (option D), rather, she tries to keep her mind off her real feelings of pain.

Solutions for Official ACER Practice Questions Section 3 Volume 1 Question 41 Answer: B It is sufficient to make a sequence in which one arrow is added for every step. Thus the picture with 3 arrows is the middle picture. The full pattern, starting with E, is the shape turns anticlockwise each step with an arrow added alternately on the top and then bottom right points. Question 42 Answer: E The three sections of the pattern move independently. The arrow alternates between bottom right and top left. Because there are three pictures where the arrow is in the bottom right, the pattern must begin and end with the arrow in this position, thus the middle picture is not A or B. The triangle moves one point at a time, touching every point except the bottom right. Therefore the sequence must begin and end with the triangle either side of the bottom right point, pictures C and D. Therefore E is the middle picture as the triangle is two steps away from the beginning and finishing pictures. The circle moves 2 points every step, thus completing a cycle of the hexagon every 3 steps. Because E has no other picture with the circle in the same place, it is shown that there are no pictures three steps away from it, thus it is the middle picture. Question 43 Answer: A The black and white circles remain in the same position throughout the pattern, but can be covered up by the grey circle and are added to make the sequence more confusing. The grey dot moves diagonally between top left and bottom right, its middle position being the centre of the square in picture A. Question 44 Answer: A As the stars change order every step, this problem can be solved by considering the foremost star, as this it is less confusing because its colour cannot be hidden. The stars change order as the front star moves to the back and the others move forward. Thus each colour star will be in the foremost position every 3rd step, and because the black star is only foremost once, there are no pictures 3 steps away from it. Thus A is the middle picture. Question 45 Answer: D The numbers on the top left and bottom centre change independently, while the top right number is the product of the two other numbers. The top left number increases by two every time, thus the next number will be 9 leaving option D as the correct answer. The bottom number increases by 1, then 2, then 3, therefore the final number on the bottom will be 12. Question 46 Answer: B All three numbers are reduced by 2 in the first step. In the second step, 1 is added to each of the numbers. The steps alternate between the subtraction of 2 and the addition of 1, thus adding 1 to each of the numbers in the fourth picture will give the answer. The number of small boxes is given simply by the

sum of the numbers in each step, which can be helpful in discovering the pattern as the boxes are reduced by 6, then increased by 3 alternatively. Question 47 Answer: C While the shape rotates clockwise, note that the order of the ovals remains the same throughout the sequence. Therefore B, D and E are incorrect as the ovals have changed order. In the sequence, an oval remains shaded for 2 steps, therefore in the final step the middle oval will become white while the bottom oval will remain shaded, making C the correct answer. Question 48 Answer: C There are two parts to this question, the shapes and dots. For the shapes, the triangle and star move clockwise around the square, one move per step. The circle and little square move alternately, every second step, directly across the square. The square and circle could also be seen as moving whenever the triangle is about to take its position in which case the circle or square moves across. Thus for the final step the triangle moves right and thus the square moves diagonally across, while the circle remains, leaving C as the only possible answer. For the dots, it is simplest to note that the corner without a dot moves anticlockwise each step, thus the bottom right corner will have no dot for the final step. Question 49 Answer: (None of the options are correct) The box is rotated 90 degrees clockwise and the colours’ of the boxes are cycled through. Therefore after three steps, the solution will be the original picture rotated 270 degrees with the original colour scheme. It is notable that the middle box is the easiest to follow, it begins grey, turns white, then black, and therefore the solution will have a grey box in the middle. The other sides can be followed through their rotations, for example in the 1st picture the left box is white, it moves to become the top box and black, then the right box and grey, and will finish as the bottom box and white again. Of the options none are correct, the given answer of E is obviously wrong as it white box in the middle while it should grey. The correct answer should have horizontal boxes coloured from top to bottom black, grey then white. Question 50 Answer: C The problem should not be looked at like a clock, the numbers each side of the dots increase independently. The number on the left increases by 1 every step. The number on the right increases first by 5 then by 10, thus the addition is increasing by 5. Therefore in the final step 15 will be added to the right number, making 35. Question 51 Answer: D The sequence is that the shapes move up one position each step except for the top shape which returns to the bottom. The shape that is shaded alternates between the second highest and lowest shape, thus eliminating answers B, C and E. The second highest shape is always the only miniature shape, thus A is incorrect. Question 52 Answer: D

The crabs alternate between facing right and left around the octagon, therefore the missing segment will have a right facing crab. The fish go in pairs of two facing inwards the two outwards. Another way of looking at this pattern is that the animals in opposite segments correspond to each other. The crabs in opposite segments face the same direction, therefore the crab will be facing right in the missing segment. The fish either both face inwards or both face outward. Question 53 Answer: C The picture must be seen as containing 3 columns running from top to bottom. The top and middle segments are combined (or overlapped) to give the bottom segment, however any line or dot that is common to both segments is left out. Therefore, to find the missing segment, the two segments on the right are combined, however as the dot and circle are common to the top two segments they are left out of the bottom. Question 54 Answer: E To solve this problem the position of the lines can be ignored instead treating them simply as numbers. There are two ways of solving this problem. Looking at the pictures in columns, the number of lines in the middle segment is subtracted from the lines in the top segment to give the lines in the bottom segment. Looking at the picture in rows, the number of lines in the left segment is subtracted from the lines in the middle segment to give the lines in the right segment. Either of these ways will lead to the answer of 0 lines in the missing segment. Question 55 Answer: B Each of the two segments has 3 shapes that are identical apart from varying in size. Options A, C, D and E have identically sized shapes; therefore do not fit the pattern. Option B has 3 crescents of differing sizes, thus is correct.

Solutions for Official ACER Practice Questions Section 1 Volume 2 Question 1 Answer: B There are two ways you could approach this problem, the first being more intuitive and the second more systematic. Firstly, you might notice that for 15 hours of daylight, the plants may or may not flower, depending on the number of hours of darkness. This suggests that flowering depends on the number of hours in darkness and not daylight. This would eliminate answers C and D. And since it flowered with 9 hours of darkness and not 10, the only appropriate answer could be B. The other way is to test each possible answer in turn. Let us call the four rows of results 1, 2, 3, and 4. We might then say, for example, that 2 and 4 resulted in flowering. If A were correct, we would expect 1 and 3 to flower. This is incorrect. If B were correct, we would expect 2 and 4 to flower. This is in agreement with the results and is hence correct. If C were correct, 2, 3 and 4 should flower. This is not in agreement with the results. If D were correct, only 1 should flower, and this was not the case. Question 2 Answer: D Reading the age carefully, note that increased albedo causes the dark part of the moon to be less dark, and that albedo has in fact decreased over the past 5 years. Now look at the answers carefully: Answer A: Five years ago, the albedo was higher, so the dark part of the moon would have been less dark. Hence, this is not the correct answer. Answer B: An increase in average wind speeds would in turn lead to increased albedo, which we know would make the dark part of the moon appear less dark. This answer, then, is also incorrect. Answer C: Increasing temperature may cause more wind – and this may lead to more white crests – but we have no information about factors that change temperature. We cannot assume the effect of reflectance on the earth’s temperature, so C is not a valid answer. Answer D: If wave reflectance is indeed the only factor changing the earth’s albedo, then we can certainly say that over the last five years the number of white crests of sea waves has decreased. The only possible explanation from the information given is that average wind speeds have decreased on earth. This is not a certainty, but it is the most likely explanation. Therefore, D is the correct answer. Question 3 Answer: B This question is relatively straightforward. There is nothing particularly tricky in the paragraph to note down, so let us consider the possible answers. Statement A is incorrect, because the age does not state that it is impossible to be angry with oneself, just that most anger episodes only have meaning in context of a society or group of people. Statement B, however, is much more convincing, because we are told explicitly that anger is a ‘way of communicating’ in line 1; ‘showing others how we feel’ is a phrase with almost exactly the same meaning. Thus, B is the correct answer. Statements C and D both make the same mistake: just because most anger episodes are social events, it does not follow that the more social events would lead to more anger episodes. This is an assumption not ed by the information supplied.

Question 4 Answer: B Conveniently, the first letters of the names of the men and women are a series of consecutive letters: Paul (P), Quentin (Q), Rami (R), Sarah (S), Tina (T) and Ursula (U). This lends itself to a useful shorthand notation, which can also extend to the three professions: chef (C), doctor (D) and engineer (E). If we take a cursory glance at the information in the bullet points, we can see that the information about Tina (T) and Ursula (U) refers to their male counterparts’ professions, and Sarah’s (S) clue refers directly to the man himself (in this case Quentin). Since this set of information is mixed, the best approach is to first assign each man his profession. We know Paul is the chef (let the notation be P = C), so R cannot be D (as we are told), nor C. This means R = E, hence Q = D. Perhaps the simplest way to visualize this sequence of logical deductions is to draw a three-by-three grid, men against professions, as follows: P

Q

R

C D E Since each man has a different profession, each row or column in the grid above can only have one tick, since that occupation and person is now ‘taken’. For example, the first bullet point tells us that Paul (P) is the chef (C) [P = C], which we would fill out as follows: P

Q

R

C D E The crosses can be placed because Paul (P) can no longer be the doctor (D) or the engineer (E), nor can either of the other two men (Q and R) be the chef (C). Since we are also told that Rami is not the doctor, we can add: P

Q

R

C D E This leaves the only profession open to Rami as engineer (E), so we can complete the grid: P

Q

R

C D E So Paul is the chef, Rami the engineer and Quentin the doctor. [P = C, Q = D, R = E] With this knowledge, we can now usefully apply the information about the women and their driving partners. The easiest way, once again, is to draw up another grid, this time man/profession against woman: P/C

Q/D

R/E

S T U Inserting all the information relating the women to the men or their professions (bullet points 2, 3 and 4) gives the following chart:

P/C S

(4)

Q/D

R/E

(4)

T

(3)

U

(4)

(4)

(2)

[In parentheses beside each tick or cross is which bullet point gave us the information, so the process is easier to follow.] that each row and column must have exactly one tick! This rule allows us to immediately place ticks correctly in the last column and the last row, completing the grid: P/C S

(4)

Q/D

R/E

(4)

T

(3)

U

(4)

(4) (2)

Now we know all the driving teams: Sarah rides with Quentin the doctor; Tina with Rami the engineer; and Ursula with Paul the chef. Now we can simply test the possible answers, and it becomes clear that B is correct. Question 5 Answer: A or D There is an error in this question, as two of the answers appear to be correct. Answer A: People who attend church at least 52 times a year are those who attend church every week, or more frequently. This amounts to (9.8 + 2.8 + 0.6) % = 13.6 %. Those who attend 48 or 50 times a year fall only into the category of ‘nearly every week’, which amounts to 4.7 %. Thus, A is correct. Answer B: The people who attend church once every three or four years is a subset of those who attend less than once a year, which is 17.4 % of the population. While 16.1 % is a plausible proportion, we know no evidence to this particular value. Answer C: ‘Just a few times a year’ likely refers to the ‘several times a year’ group, which is 9.0 % of people, while about once a month is 2.6 % of the population. The number in the former group is larger than in the latter, so C is incorrect. Answer D: Those who attend church once every few years – that is, less than once a year – form 17.4 % of the population. The number of people who attend church more than three times a year includes ‘several times a year’, and all categories that attend more frequently. That is, (9.0 + 2.6 + 3.1 + 4.7 + 9.8 + 2.8 + 0.6) % = 32.6 %, which is significantly more than 17.4 %. This would mean that D is also a correct answer. We can only assume that ACER made a mistake made when creating the potential answers! Question 6 Answer: B For this question, the best approach is to test each possible answer (i.e. the ‘trial and error’ method). Firstly, arbitrarily assign the larger and smaller glasses a volume; for example, let us say that the larger glasses hold a volume of 1, and that the smaller glass holds ½. As long as you are comfortable using fractions, this question does not prove too difficult. Answer A: If X is the small glass, the starting volumes of water in each glass are ¼ in X and ½ in each Y and Z. Step 1 - After half of the water in X (¼ x ½ = 1/8) is poured into glass Y, X now has 1/8 volume of water left, while Y now has ½ + 1/8 = 5/8.

Step 2 - After half of the water in Y (5/8 x ½ = 5/16) is poured into glass Z, Y now has 5/16 volume of water left, while Z now has ½ + 5/16 = 13/16. Step 3 - After half of the water in Z (13/16 x ½ = 13/32) is poured into glass Z, Z now has 13/32 volume of water left, while X now has 1/8 + 13/32 = 17/32. Note that this volume in X is greater than ½, the capacity we have given to glass X, so water will be spilled. This answer is therefore incorrect. Answer B: Now if Y is the small glass, the procedure is as follows: Step 1 - After half of the water in X (½ x ½ = ¼) is poured into glass Y, X now has ¼ volume of water left, while Y now has ¼ + ¼ = ½. (Note: this means Y is filled to capacity.) Step 2 - After half of the water in Y (½ x ½ = ¼) is poured into glass Z, Y now has ¼ volume of water left, while Z now has ½ + ¼ = ¾. Step 3 - After half of the water in Z (3/4 x ½ = 3/8) is poured into glass X, Z now has 3/8 volume of water left, while X now has ¼ + 3/8 = 5/8. At no point did any of the glasses overflow and spill water, so this is the correct answer. Answer C: After finding B to be the correct answer, there is no need to check C and D. However, the following is provided for completeness. If Z is the small glass: Step 1 - After half of the water in X (½ x ½ = ¼) is poured into glass Y, X now has ¼ volume of water left, while Y now has ½ + ¼ = ¾. Step 2 - After half of the water in Y (¾ x ½ = 3/8) is poured into glass Z, Y now has 3/8 volume of water left, while Z now has ¼ + 3/8 = 5/8. A volume of 5/8 is greater than the capacity of the smaller glass – which holds only ½ - so water would spill in this step. This answer must also be wrong. Answer D: This answer has been eliminated by now, as we have shown that if Y is the smaller glass, no water will be spilled. Question 7 Answer: C It is essential to read the age very carefully. This allows us to discount answers as follows: Answer A: This statement is incorrect, because methane is responsible for almost one quarter of Australia’s global warming impact. We do not know what proportion of all methane is produced by cattle and sheep. Answer B: We have no quantitative information as to how much the antimethanogen reduces methane from livestock. The statement in B is baseless, so this answer cannot be concluded. Answer C: This statement is true because we are told that the antimethanogen allows sheep to utilize more low-grade pastures, as well reducing methane production. Answer D: We are told that methane is twenty times more effective as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide by volume, not by weight. These two measures are quite different, as you have probably learned in chemistry, so D is an incorrect statement. Question 8 Answer: A To answer this question, rather than taking each possible answer in turn, simply consider the function of the group moved to similarly sized offices. Its purpose is to act as a control group, against which the other two groups can be compared. The only variable being changed between the groups is the size of the new office, since all three groups underwent the disruption of moving offices. Without the control group it would have been difficult to distinguish the effect of the move itself from the size of the new office. The function of the control group was to negate the disruptive effects of the move itself when comparing the groups, so A is the correct answer. Question 9

Answer: C In this question, let us once again test each answer: Answer A: If this statement were true, we would expect people to pick the rental properties at random, which would result in each property getting picked in almost equal proportions. This is not the case. Answer B: If people chose Q simply because it was closer to work than R, we would expect people to pick P in favour of Q, because it is even closer to work than Q. This was not the case, so this is not the correct option. Answer C: This statement fits the results given, and correctly explains why the appearance of a new property such as R would change people’s decision-making. This is the correct answer. Answer D: We have no reason to believe that transport costs from R would be disproportionately higher than from Q. This is not the correct answer. Question 10 Answer: A To have any meaning, it is important for any scale to have well-defined fixed points which can be used as a comparison for any otherpoints on the scale. For example, we know that water at 50oC is ‘halfway’ between freezing (0oC) and boiling (100oC). This key feature is missing from the Barr Scale – a rating of, say, 60 will have a different meaning to anyone who reads it. If Barr indeed wanted his scale to have any use, he must have assumed that people’s subjective ratings would tend to be similar and that people would have a similar concept of rating 0 and 100 (and everything in between!). We can thus see that A is the correct answer to this question. Question 11 Answer: D This is another question relating to the difference between causation and correlation (discussed in Question 1 of Volume 1). Please refer to that discussion for more detail. Simply, there is not enough information here to decide that playing with war toys promotes aggressive behaviour, or vice versa. The only conclusion we can reach from this small set of data is D: some children who are aggressive towards other children tend to play with war toys. Question 12 Answer: A The information states that food plants grown without insecticides or pesticides have higher levels of phenolics, which fight cancer and deter insects. Using fertilizer increases phenolic levels. Now consider each answer carefully: Answer A: This statement is certainly true for phenolics – they deter insects but fight cancer in humans. It may be a somewhat vague statement, but it is also a correct one. Answer B: Phenolics fight cancer in humans, so they would lower the risk of cancer. Answer C: Increasing fertilizer, we are told, boosts phenolic levels, which would deter insects, not attract them. Answer D: This statement is also incorrect; to maximize phenolic levels, farmers should minimize pesticides and maximize fertilizer use. Question 13 Answer: C

Let us consider the options given: Answer A: We have no evidence to back up this statement. This is an assumption stated as fact and is therefore incorrect. Answer B: This is also incorrect – we know that using fertilizer boosts phenolic levels, which in turn deters insects from attacking. Answer C: This statement is entirely true. Answer D: This is not necessarily true: we have no evidence that phenolics are changed at all in the human digestive system, or even that they cause no harm (they may fight cancer but have other illeffects). Question 14 Answer: A The age is relatively straightforward. Note that inappropriate access is giving access to an unauthorized person, while inappropriate rejection is refusing entry to an authorized person. We do not have a calculator, but we have to convert the inappropriate access rate of 25 per million to the form 1 in x. One way is as follows: 25 per million 1 per 1/25 million 1 per 4/100 million 1/100 million is 10,000, so 4/100 million is 40,000. So the inappropriate access rate is 1 in 40,000 attempts, i.e. answer A. Question 15 Answer: D The situation given is that of inappropriate rejection (see the definition in the age, or the explanation of the previous question), which has a rate of 3%. From here on, the question is relatively easy: 3% of 100,000 is 3,000, i.e. answer D. Question 16 Answer: B Note that the rate of inappropriate access is 25 per million or 1 in 40,000, and the rate of inappropriate rejection is 3% or 3 in 100. That is: 1/40,000 1/40,000 1/40,000 1

vs. vs. vs. vs.

3/100 300/10,000 1200/40,000 1200

Therefore, the answer is B. Question 17 Answer: C From the information provided, it follows that there were 10,000 appropriate attempts to enter the computer. The number who would be inappropriately rejected is 10,000 x 3% = 300. Note that rejections

from the other 2,000 attempts would in fact be appropriate, and any entries from that group would constitute inappropriate access. We are not interested in either of these two situations. The correct answer is therefore C. Question 18 Answer: D Let us take the options one at a time: Answer A: This is an incorrect statement. It states that the act of chewing enhances memory – which goes against the results of the pretend-chewers in the immediate and delayed word recall tests. You may notice a few more inaccuracies in statement A as well. Answer B: The nature of the substance itself may or may not be important. This is exactly why we would want the fourth group in the study – to find the answer to this question. It may merely be the presence of a substance in the mouth that, in some respects, enhances memory. Answer B, therefore, is incorrect. Answer C: The now-chewers represent an all-important control group; without them, the study would have far less meaning. Answer C, too, is wrong. Answer D: For the same reasons given above as to why B is incorrect, we can now conclude that D is the correct answer. Question 19 Answer: D From the first three sentences in the age, we can create a rough sequence to the events in the body: chewing is followed (eventually) by release of insulin, which in turn (eventually) may lead to increased brain activity. There are likely to be many events in the chain in between the events listed, but that must be their relative order. Looking at the flow diagrams given, we can see that A, B and C follow this pattern, while D puts brain activity before insulin release. This is the least likely sequence of events, so D is the correct answer. Question 20 Answer: C This is a tricky question. In order to test whether pretending to chew actually requires some degree of concentration, we would want to compare pretend-chewing to real-chewing. However, chemicals which are released when gum is chewed may affect the test results of the candidates, so it would be preferable for the chewing group to chew an inert substance. Thus, C is the correct answer. Question 21 Answer: B This question is relatively simple. The storms clearly travel away from the equator, so A is incorrect. Those in the northern hemisphere generally move clockwise, while those in the southern hemisphere generally move anti-clockwise, so C is also wrong. There does not appear to be any pattern of movement relating the direction of storm movement to eastern or western hemisphere, so D is incorrect. Statement B, however, is true: the storms do tend to die out when they get to land. Question 22 Answer: D [Note that the western hemisphere is on the right and the eastern hemisphere on the left in this map, according to the first line in question 22.] Firstly, we have no information regarding the severity of the storms, so we can immediately discount

answer A. We can see, however, that cyclones in the western hemisphere (the Americas) seem to occur only north of the equator, and tend only to spread north in a slightly clockwise manner. This means that B and C are also incorrect. Statement D is borne out by the diagrams given, however: the two westernmost storms in the western hemisphere move parallel to the coast for a significant distance, while no storm in the eastern hemisphere shows the same sort of movement. Thus, D is the correct answer.

Solutions for Official ACER Practice Questions Section 2 Volume 2 Question 23 Answer: B During the discussion the doctor asks quite a few questions and does not rise to the provoking and challenging answers of the patient. The doctor goes to lengths to understand the patient’s state of mind, demonstrating that she really wants to know what is going on. If the doctor were indifferent (option D) then she would have given up asking questions at the end of line 9 at the latest. Option D is therefore incorrect. Even though the patient is being difficult, the tone of the doctor remains calm and clear. She speaks in long sentences rather than short sharp questions, demonstrating that she is not annoyed (option A). In fact the way that the doctor speaks to the patient demonstrates a very professional attitude – she remains calm and does not dismiss anything the patient says, no matter how strange, demonstrating respect. Option B is the correct answer. Being indecisive (option C) would mean that the doctor would not be sure what to do in this situation and would have changed her mind during the discussion. While the doctor does verbally agree with the patient that he does not have to go to hospital (line 10) she probably does not mean this, and does not actually change her mind. She is leaving the issue aside, to be readdressed when she understands and has tried to resolve what is causing the patient to have such a negative attitude. Thus the doctor could not be described as indecisive (option C). Question 24 Answer: A Repeating the ideas that someone has just put to you is a technique used to make people feel heard. Once people feel that their ideas are accepted and listened to, they are much more likely to listen to the ideas of other people. This allows the conversation to progress and new ideas to be revealed or new questions asked. This is what the doctor is doing in the situation. She is restating the patient’s position in a way that ensures he feels that she has listened. Thus option A is correct – the doctor wants to reassure the patient that she is listening to him. Even if a patient is being unreasonable, pointing this out to them would not usually help change their mind, which is the ultimate goal of the conversation. So option B is incorrect. The doctor may simply be trying to work out what to say next, but this is unlikely. She is probably trained in how to help patients open up and explain the problem to her, and so option C is not the best answer. Regarding option D, the patient would know what he was saying and would know the consequences of his words. The doctor’s goal is to try to get the patient to hospital, so repeating his statement to him in order for him to understand it better would not be productive. Option A is a better answer than option D. Question 25 Answer: A The patient’s final statement about the worries he has about his wife provide an important piece of information to the doctor which she could use to create a solution, so option D is incorrect. Knowing that the patient is more worried about his wife than about his own health allows the doctor to suggest a path of action which would allow the patient to attend hospital. This path could be, for example, having the wife itted to a care facility for the duration of the husband’s hospital visit or having in home care provided, whichever the family preferred. There are many services available that a doctor could assist in organising. Without the patient’s last response, the doctor would not have known this was necessary. The answer to this question is thus option A. Even though the reason that the patient gives is valid, it does not make the idea of the patient going to hospital less likely, as per options B and C. With a bit of work by the doctor, the wife could be cared for in an appropriate manner, making the hospital visit more possible. Thus options B and C are incorrect.

Question 26 Answer: B While the doctor does manage the conversation with skill, this cannot be characterised as manipulative. The word “manipulative” has connotations of management in an unfair manner, and the doctor is being skilful, not unfair, in her questioning. Option D is therefore incorrect. The doctor’s degree of effort in the conservation suggests that she is not detached (option A). If the doctor were compliant (option C), she would agree with the patient’s demands and not work so hard to obtain the reasons for his reluctance to go to hospital. Option B is by far the best answer. The doctor is adaptable as she pauses to think about her approach in line 8 and changes the way she is conducting the conversation. Question 27 Answer: B A sentence on line 4 makes this question a giveaway. “It wasn’t true, but the damage had been done because Zara believed it.” This says that Zara was being damaged by her own incorrect assumptions. This ties in beautifully with option B, “an inaccurate perception of reality.” In her narrative, the counsellor does not suggest that Zara is overweight, merely that Zara thinks “I’m fat” (line 20). (Also, from a counsellor’s perspective, being overweight is not usually a person’s main problem, merely a possible symptom of other problems.) Thus option A is incorrect. The counsellor treats the mother very kindly in the narrative, suggesting that the mother was pleased when she thought that Zara was happy. It seems that the mother just wants Zara to be herself and be happy with that, contradicting the idea in option D that the parents had unrealistic expectations. Option C would be a tempting choice, as it does link in with Zara’s ideas about herself. However, anorexia is not about how much you actually weigh. Your actual weight will never be “good enough” because you cannot see how you actually look or how sick you are. Your perception does not match reality. Even though Zara would like to look (in her eyes) and feel thinner, this is not because of a failure to meet expectations, unreasonable or otherwise, it is because she cannot see how she actually looks in reality. Option B captures this issue better than option C. Question 28 Answer: B During the fist half of the age the counsellor focuses on the differences between the sister and Zara. From Zara’s perspective there is a competitive relationship that Zara never wins, be it for her parents love, popularity at school or with boys. The suggestion is made that boys cannot control themselves around the sister with the words “like bees to a honeypot.” Zara would be most afraid that her boyfriend would not be able to resist her sister’s charms, and “would be attracted to her sister” (option B). This is in stark contrast to option A (which is incorrect), that he would not like her family. Zara is worried that he will like some parts of her family more than he will like her! Option D is a tempting choice, as most teenagers would be worried about their parents’ reaction, but there is nothing in the age to suggest that this concern is greater than the concern about her sister. Option C does not link with any other remarks in the age. In fact the mother seems predisposed to want to like the boyfriend if he makes Zara happy. She just wants to meet him as any caring mother would. Thus option C is incorrect. Question 29 Answer: D

While the woman had people around for , the type of provided did not encourage the woman to grieve openly. Sometimes having a good cry can be helpful in the healing process, even though the shoulder being cried on can feel awkward. A true comforter would allow a widow to be visibly angry and upset. It seems that in this situation there were plenty of people around to provide , just not the right type of . Thus option C is incorrect. Option A is a tempting choice, but does not go deep enough. In a way the woman may have lost the will to live, but why? Because she kept her feelings closed in, and tried not to embarrass or distress her team. Option D states this in the best way and is the correct answer. Option B is probably a viable assumption, but does not answer the question as well as option D. Question 30 Answer: B “People” complimented the widow when she acted in a calm and capable manner and encouraged her to act in such a way. They did not encourage her to express how she truly felt as this may have led to a “scene”. Option D is not correct, as the woman was not helped to open up and manage her grief in a positive manner; she was encouraged to internalise her emotions. We get the impression that the “people” liked to avoid difficult situations and were pleased with the widow for acting the way she did. While option A is correct, it is not the best answer. The woman was hiding her grief, so there was no need for people to react at all. Option B is a much better answer. If the woman had explained her grief, the people would have had to share her feelings and be uncomfortable themselves. They wanted to avoid this and so were happy with the grief being handled badly. There is no discussion in the age about the experiences of the other people, so option C is not relevant. Question 31 Answer: C The woman specifically states that the “desire to console was genuine”, making Option A invalid. Although there were genuine offers of , these offers of did not give her courage to continue. Far from it. The woman believes that the offers of that she accepted pushed her towards death herself, as the provided was misguided. Thus we can dismiss option D. The woman has enough distance from the situation now to know that the particular type of she received did not help her, making option C the correct answer. The she received encouraged her to internalise her pain rather than voice it and work through the grieving process, so it was not much help. The did not intrude upon her private grief enough. It would have been helpful if the had intruded more, so option B is incorrect. Question 32 Answer: C A doctor needs very strong interpersonal skills for these sorts of consultations. It seems as if the doctor has grasped the idea of always speaking to the patient and treating them with respect. However he seems to have missed the point that a seven year old child is just that, a child. The mother realises that the doctor wants to be completely professional, but is infuriated that he would tell a child that he might go blind. She sees this as taking honesty a bit too far. The doctor in no way tries to conceal the truth from Jonathan (option A), and acts very professionally by refraining from speaking down to him (option B). The doctor answers Jonathan’s questions directly, and makes sure that he is focus of the conversation, rather than his mother. In many ways these actions are commendable, but from the mother’s point of view there is a difference between the information you should give to a child and the information you should give to an adult. The doctor is treating Jonathan like an adult (option C) by planning to tell him that he may go blind. From the conversation that we hear, the doctor does nothing to allay Jonathan’s fears (option D), he merely tells Jonathan the statistics and describes the negative outcomes. Question 33

Answer: A The doctor is not questioning Jonathan about his understanding, he is merely speaking to Jonathan. This is not a method of testing how much someone knows, so option D is incorrect. While the information provided by the doctor makes the operation sound as if there is a high risk for little possible upside, this is not the purpose of the words. The doctor is simply providing information, and not appealing to the patient and his mother to change their mind. The doctor is not suggesting that the risks of the operation are too great (option C), rather, he is giving the facts in a cold way. These facts would in no way reassure the Jonathan, or the mother, in fact they make the operation sound rather pointless. Option B is particularly doubtful because when the mother makes a positive comment, “A good chance it will be fixed,” the doctor does not agree with her, and merely continues with his commentary on the risks of the operation. This unive behaviour would not increase anyone’s confidence. Option A is the best answer. The doctor ignores the mother’s comments and does not modify his words based on her remarks. In fact it is almost towards the other extreme where the mother feels pointedly ignored. Question 34 Answer: A Whenever a UMAT question mentions specific lines in a age, be careful not to limit yourself by looking at those lines in isolation. The lines quoted may not be the only lines that help to answer the question. In this case, while the quote does give a lot away about this mother’s frame of mind, line 6 gives away more. The phrase “nodding and smiling and sinking inside” reveals that the mother is experiencing negative emotions during the conversation, and this should be taken into when answering the question. Option C can be rejected as it is too positive. The quote itself has a repetitive beat and repeats the word “believe.” This can be suggestive of exasperation or panic, rather than a general lack of confidence, eliminating option D. While the mother may harbour some anger towards the doctor towards the end of the age, the particular phrase “wanted to believe this, needed to believe it” is more about the mother’s fear. Thus option A should be chosen over option B. The mother knows that there is a substantial chance that this operation will not help her son, therefore has fears for her son. Question 35 Answer: D Either the mother is an exceptional actress and is managing to keep her feelings hidden, or the doctor has little insight into the feelings that a mother may have. The question posed by the mother, “Were you about to say he may lose all sight?” is not about whether the boy is going to lose his sight or not, it is about what the doctor was about to say this to a seven year old boy. The doctor fails to grasp that this is the case. He answers the question that he thinks he hears, one about the prognosis for the boy, which he believes to be the mother’s main concern (option D). The doctor is unaware of how offensive his behaviour is to the mother (option B), and thinks the mother’s question is quite innocent. He does not try to protect the mother from the idea of her son losing his sight (option A), even though this is, in his own words, “a small chance.” There is no suggestion that the doctor is offended by the mother’s interference (option C) – nothing seems to faze this man. He seems to pay little attention to other people’s feelings. Question 36 Answer: A This age is a good illustration of how two people can be on completely different wavelengths. The doctor is giving facts in a clear and concise manner without any consideration of the feelings of the patient or his mother. The mother is doing all she can to stay focussed on getting her son better and shielding him from some of the potential downsides of the operation. The mother understands that the doctor lacks bedside manner, and is prepared to cope with this in order to give her son a chance at being well. Is there a correlation between doctors with good bedside manner and how good their eye surgery is? The mother does not believe so. She thinks that they are two different skills and she just wants her son to

get better. She does not want to offend the doctor by pointing out his lack of bedside manner, as she needs to believe that he will not subconsciously provide suboptimal service. She holds her tongue and does not express what she really feels (option A). While the mother is angry and upset with the doctor, she does not feel intimidated by him (option C). She acknowledges that he is in a position of power in lines 31 and 32 when she discusses how she is not in a position to yell at the doctor, but decides to play the game. There is a difference between intimidation and working with people to get the best out of them. The mother seems to have a good knowledge of the process the son is going through and the associated risks. In line 23 the mother states that she already knows that there is a very small risk that her son may go blind. She simply does not want the doctor to say this to her seven year old son. The “I understand” is much more about letting the conversation move on, than the mother actually understanding. Thus we can eliminate option B. The mother constantly questions the doctor’s judgement and in no way agrees with him that it is appropriate to tell a seven year old that he may go blind. Option D is therefore incorrect. The mother does not realise that she should not question the doctor’s judgement, just that she needs to do so in a manner that keeps him on her side. Option D is thus not the best answer. Question 37 Answer: C Conflict resolution is not about working out who is right and who is wrong. It is about making both parties feel like their opinion is valued and heard, and that both parties understand how the other party feels. Sometimes conflicts can even be resolved so both parties feel like they have gained something. That is what this guided dialogue is all about. It is not about what actually happened, it is about teaching students to think about how other people feel, and thus helping them to resolve conflicts by themselves in the future. The aim of step one is therefore to provide each child with a forum to say what they think happened (option C). It does not matter what actually happened (options B and D) just that discussion commences in a calm manner. It does not even matter if one of the children lies (option A), as the rest of the dialogue will help them to think about what they have done and learn to improve their behaviour. Question 38 Answer: D Step two of the dialogue is about encouraging both parties in the dispute to think not only about how they feel, but also about how the other person feels. The dialogue aims to motivate the students to modify their behaviour based on how they believe the other person feels. This assumes that the students will be able to think about how other people feel (option D) contradicting option C. Teachers and parents know that children do not hurt each other only by accident. It is common for children to exhibit some degree of violent behaviour. What is important is that children learn at an early age that this is unacceptable behaviour. If teachers thought that children only hurt each other by accident, there would be no point in encouraging children to talk about feelings and teaching them to think about others in the future. Thus we can dismiss option A. Regarding option B, step 2 of the age would be pointless if the children did not care about how they made people feel. On the contrary, step 2 assumes that when made to think about how people feel, children will care, maybe even enough to modify their behaviour. Question 39 Answer: D This is a difficult question. The idea of the dialogue is to encourage the children to listen to other points of view. Only option D appears to respond to what another child has said. The other options focus on the child’s own point of view, and how they feel. Option D shows that the child has listened to the idea that the other child did not mean to do what she did, and has accepted that. The resolution of the conflict can move forward once the participants start to listen to each other.

Question 40 Answer: C The woman says, “Slowly, I began to understand,” in response to the leader’s statement, “you will never be the same but you can be better.” As a victim of a serious assault the woman would easily accept the idea that she will never be the same (eliminating option B), but the idea of being better than she was before would probably be a difficult idea to accept. This makes option C the correct answer. There is no discussion this early in the age that the process of recovery was going to be a long one, so we can dismiss option D. Option A also discusses the process of the therapy, and whether it could offer relief. The woman hopes to a certain degree that the therapy will offer her some relief, as she has attended, so option A is not the best answer.

Solutions for Official ACER Practice Questions Section 3 Volume 2 Question 41 Answer: E In this question it helps to look at the lines as a rotating ‘E’ shape, that encases the symbols and rotates 90 degrees each move. In the first picture there are two hearts are at the top of the ‘E’ shape (that is if looked at so the E is the right way up, seeing the ‘E’ as it would look when upright is the crucial part of this question). In the next picture the one of the hearts has swapped places with a ball, so there is now a heart and a ball at the top of the ‘E’. In the third picture it is clear that there are two hearts in the top of the ‘E’. Therefore, in the answer there will be a ball and a heart in the top of the ‘E’. Question 42 Answer: D The lines in this question are upside down Roman Numerals, except the horizontal line which can be ignored. The pattern goes; 3,4,6… thus increasing by one then two. Therefore the answer will be three greater, 9 or IX which remains the same upside down. Question 43 Answer: A The two white columns remain stationary. The shaded column moves to the right every picture, however when it moves over a white column it halves in size and moves to the top. In the final picture the shaded column moves to the right and stands again by itself at original size. There seems to be a mistake in the 3rd image: the shaded column is correctly half the original size (as described above) yet it is sitting one unit over the top of the white box (it should just be overlying the third column). Question 44 Answer: C In each picture, an arrow is added pointing left and the others arrows are rotated clockwise. For the 5th picture it is unclear if another arrow will be added or the original arrow replaced, however even by rotating the latter 3 arrows clockwise there is only one picture that could be right (white upwards, dotted right and shaded downwards) Question 45 Answer: C The white box and shaded circle remain stationary, while the triangle moves left. From the 3rd and 4th pictures it can be seen that the triangle overlaps the circle (thus B and D are wrong). The distance the triangle moves can be observed by how far the top point moves between the 3rd and 4th pictures, about 1/3 the length of the square. Therefore the triangle would not move far enough for A to be correct, whereas its position in C looks as if it has moved consistently. Question 46 Answer: A There are two parts to this problem, firstly the small triangle moves anticlockwise moving across each side in two steps. Thus for the solution the triangle must be on the bottom side but more to the right than

it is in the 4th picture, leaving A and B as the only possible answers. Secondly, there are the large shapes on the left and right hand side of the square. On every step the shape on the left hand side disappears, the shape on the right side moves to the left and a new shape appears on the right side. Because the large triangle appears again on the 4th picture, it can be seen that the pattern has begun again and will return to the original with the star on the left for the fourth picture. Question 47 Answer: D There is a mistake in this question. The pattern is simply swapping the direction of the waves and cycling through the colours. However for this to be true, options A and B should have their wave direction switched. It is clear this is a mistake because UMAT questions have only one correct answer, yet solutions A and E and solutions B and C in this problem are identical (they shouldn’t be). Question 48 Answer: A The box has two lines in it, the horizontal line remains in the same place throughout the question while the other line rotates 45 degrees every step. Because there are two boxes with a vertical line, it is reasonable to assume that the pattern begins and ends with these pictures, as the line will revolve 180 degrees in the four moves that it makes. Starting from when the line is vertical, its movement can be tracked as it becomes diagonal (at the same time removing the dots) and then horizontal, which is the middle picture. Question 49 Answer: B The smallest number in each box increases by two throughout the pattern (1,3,5,7,9) and if multiplied with the second smallest number will give the larger number. The pictures can also be put in correct order by arranging them in order of their highest number. 5,5,25 is the middle picture using either of these methods. Question 50 Answer: A The number of boxes shaded in this question increases by 1, then 2, then 3, then 4. The striped box alternates between its upper position and lower position (it is hidden in picture C). The solution can be found by identifying the picture with the middle amount of shaded boxes and where the striped box is in its upper position. Question 51 Answer: E The ball moves two and a half points every step, while the hexagon alternates between being dotted and complete. The pattern can be derived by looking at the two dotted hexagons, and recognising that they are the 2nd and 4th pictures (as they occur every second step). The ball therefore moves five points between the 2nd and 4th steps, or two and a half points every step. The position of the ball in picture E is two and a half steps from the 2nd and 4th picture and thus is the middle picture. Question 52 Answer: D It can be seen that the interior most triangle alternates between being blank and dotted, with the missing segment thus a blank triangle (A and C are incorrect). In the outermost area the dotted triangle is always on the right (if the section is positioned upwards as they are in the answers), leaving D as the only

solution. Alternatively, each segment is identical to its opposing segment. Question 53 Answer: B Firstly, the corner that is shaded moves clockwise in the 1st and 3rd rows and columns, and anticlockwise in the 2nd row and column. Therefore the top left corner will be shaded in the solution, leaving B and D as possible answers. Secondly, in each individual row and column there is a pair of arrows pointing in opposite directions while the third arrow points in a direction that is non-linear to the others. The third column already has a pair of opposing arrows, whereas the bottom row does not. Therefore B is the correct answer as its right facing arrow opposes the left facing arrow in the bottom middle square. Question 54 Answer: C The pattern can be seen in either columns or rows. Looking at it in rows, the shapes move to the right while the interior markings (stripes, dots, crosses) move to the left. In columns, the shapes move down the page while the interior markings move up the page. Either way, the bottom right square will be a dotted rectangle. The question is made more confusing because whenever a shape has dots as its marking, the shapes’ sides are pushed in distorting the shape, as will be the case in the solution. Question 55 Answer: D (ACER has the answer as E but the correct answer is D) The content of a circle is determined by the content of the two circles beneath it. The horizontal lines of the two circles are added together to give the number of horizontal lines above them. The number of vertical lines in a circle is given by the difference in the number of vertical lines in the circles beneath it. Therefore the top circle will have 9 horizontal and 1 vertical line.