AST (Aptitude Scholastic Test）

Examination Programme
English
I Background
The AST (Aptitude Scholastic Test）is a screening test designed and administered by the
Ambright Education Group and taken by high-performing senior middle school graduates and other
candidates of an equivalent educational level. It is a combination of an Aptitude Test and a
Proficiency Test and was developed originally to pre-select candidates to be interviewed for
admission to undergraduate courses at the University of Cambridge. Although it continues to be used
for this purpose, it is being adopted increasingly by other world-leading universities to admit
students directly to undergraduate courses. The unique feature of the format and content of the AST
is that it combines the nature and characteristics of University matriculation examinations in China
(i.e. the Gaokao) with those of leading international examinations. Participating universities continue
to assess applicants holistically based on their standard admissions criteria for international students
but use the AST to inform and aid significantly their decision-making admissions processes for
undergraduate international students.

The AST test in English encompasses the nature and characteristics of both Chinese college and
international entrance examinations and are set at a considered and appropriate level of difficulty to
enable outstanding students to demonstrate their academic literacy and ability to use the English
language. Overall, the AST test papers are established as a reliable, discriminatory and a valuable
tool in the selection of talented students for entry to world-leading universities.

II Content and Requirements

The contents and requirements of the AST English examination are determined primarily by the
academic quality requirements for admission to domestic Chinese and international institutions of
higher learning, informed by The National English Curriculum for General High School (2017)1,
and leading international curricula such as A-levels, Advanced Placements (AP), the International
Baccalaureate (IB), Standard Assessment Tests (SAT) and the American College Tests (ACT).

1. Language Knowledge
The candidates are required to use their knowledge of English grammar, linguistic ability and
academic literacy to be able to make use of vocabulary, idioms and fixed collocations. A main
purpose of the AST is to test the proficiency of candidates to use academic English for the specific
purpose of learning, rather than merely an ability to communicate in conversational English.

1 The National English Curriculum for General High School (2017), Beijing: People’s Education Press, 2018

1
2. Language Use

1) Listening
The candidates are required to understand dialogues, conversations or radio/TV news
broadcasts and short talks on relevant subjects. They should be able to:
(1) understand the conversations, capture factual information and answer questions
related to them;
(2) make notes of the key points while listening and, on the basis of their notes complete the
passage summaries or fill in the relevant information required;
(3) understand the main idea of what they have heard, retell what they have heard in their own
words, note down the key points or write a summary of what they have heard.
2) Comprehensive Linguistic Competence
The candidates are required to fulfill the testing tasks using their linguistic competence
including grammar and vocabulary:
(1) Multiple Choice：Comprehending the context of a single sentence or dialogue and
choosing the correct answer from the options given;
(2) Cloze test: Filling the blanks with either the words given or the words derived from them
to complete the passage;<OR>Filling in the missing words to make the passage complete;
(3) Sentence Manipulation <OR> One Word–Three Uses：Rewriting the sentences with the
given words, keeping the same meaning of the original ones; <OR> Putting the same word in three
different sentences to make each of them complete in meaning.
3) Reading
The candidates are required to read and understand and answer questions about articles of
various styles of writing and on different topics and subjects, such as literary works, historical and
cultural records and accounts, texts taken from books, newspapers and magazines related to science
and Technology, Engineering and Economics, as well as various data in the form of graphs, bar or
pie charts or process diagrams. They should be able to:
(1) understand both the main idea and the detailed information of the text;
(2) make correct judgments and inferences about the author’s points of view, intentions and
attitudes;
(3) express their own ideas on the key points of the text.
4) Writing
The candidates are required to write a composition of a minimum of 250 words on the text they
have read in the Reading section.

III Format and Structure of the Test Paper

1. Test Format
Closed-book, written examination
Time: 180 minutes
Total score: 300 marks
2. Ratio between the Levels of Difficulty of the Items
The test paper consists of items on three different levels of difficulty: straight forward, medium
and difficult, in a ratio of approximately 2:5:3.
3. Structure, Types of Items, Weighting of Items, Content, Time Allocation, etc.

2
 Sections & Features of Worth
Number (Marks & Content
Language
percentage)
Three sections:
A. Multiple-choice questions
based on 3 Conversations;
B. Gap-filling items with notes
taken while listening to a
70 Radio/TV news broadcast;
Listening
Part I 23 C. Three Passages followed
Comprehension
(approx. 23%) respectively by different tasks:
a. Retelling what is heard;
b. Noting down the key
points;
c. Writing a summary of
the passage heard. (40)
Three sections:
A. Multiple-choice questions:
Single sentences or dialogues;
B. Gap-filling
Two possible test types:
a. Filling in blanks with the words
given or the words derived
from them to complete the text;
<OR>
b. Filling in the words missing
Language Use: 70 from the text;
Part II Vocabulary & 30
C. Two possible test types:
Structure (approx. 23%)
a. Sentence Manipulation：
Rewriting the sentences with
the words given, keeping the
same meaning as the original
ones;<OR>
b. One Word-Three Uses:
Putting the same word in three
different sentences to make
each of them correct in
meaning. (40)
3 Texts: Fulfill one Task A
Reading 70 (including 3 questions) related to
Part III 4
Comprehension one of the texts and one Task B
(approx. 23%)
related to another text. (55)
Choose a topic related to the text
in Part III other than the two texts,
90 whose Task A or Task B is
Part IV Composition 1
performed, and write a
(30%)
composition in a minimum of 250
words. (40 )
Total
58 300 180

3
 IV Sample Test Paper

Aptitude Scholastic Test

English
TOTAL TIME ALLOWED：3 HOURS TOTAL SCORE: 300

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS:
Timing
You will have 3 hours to work on this test.
There are 4 separately timed parts:
Part I 40-minute Listening Comprehension
Part II 40-minute Language Use: Vocabulary and Structure
Part III 55-minute Reading Comprehension
Part IV 45-minute Composition
You may work on only one part of the test at a time.
The invigilator will tell you when to start and end each section.

Marking Answers
Be sure to transfer your answers to your ANSWER BOOKLET.
You will not receive credit for anything written in your QUESTION BOOKLET.

Scoring
The full score for this test is 300 marks.
For each correct answer to a question, you’ll receive corresponding marks indicated after the
instructions.
You will not lose marks for wrong answers, so try to answer all questions.
The full score for composition is 90 marks; an off-topic or blank essay will receive a score of zero.

Part I Listening Comprehension (70 Points)

This part of the test lasts approximately 40 minutes and consists of three sections:
Section A: Conversations
Section B: A Radio Report
Section C: Passages
In Section A, you will hear the conversations ONLY ONCE. After each
conversation, you are required to answer a number of different questions. For each
question you will be given 7 seconds to answer.
In Section B, you will need to take notes in the question booklet while you listen.
The extract will be played TWICE. Each time after the extract is played, there will be a
2-minute pause for you to fill in the blanks with the information from the extract.
When these two sections are over, you will be given 3 minutes to transfer your
answers to the ANSWER BOOKLET. Only answers in the ANSWER BOOKLET will
be marked.

4
 In Section C, you will also need to take notes in the question booklet while you
listen. You will hear three passages ONLY ONCE. After each passage, you are required
to finish a task that is different from others. You will be given 3 minutes to finish each
of the tasks and you must write your answers directly in the ANSWER BOOKLET.
There is no extra time for you to transfer these answers.
Section A Conversations (20 Points; 2 points each for questions 1-10)
In this section you will hear three short conversations. At the end of each
conversation, some questions will be asked about what was said. The conversations
will be read only ONCE. After each conversation is played, you must read the
questions and the four choices marked A, B, C and D carefully and decide which is
the best answer. You will be given 7 seconds to answer each question.
Conversation One
Questions 1-3 are based on the conversation you have just heard. Choose the one
you consider to be the correct answer from the four possible answers.

1. According to the woman, what decision has Neil made?

A. To work at a university.
B. To pursue a music career.
C. To go back to college.
D. To start his own business.

2. According to the conversation, what has the woman regretted?

A. Not going on to university.
B. Not listening to her parents.
C. Not becoming a pop singer.
D. Not choosing the right school.

3. What is the woman going to do to Neil?

A. Help him find a part-time job.
B. Allow him to stay at home.
C. Pay him for doing the housework.
D. Make him earn his own living.

Conversation Two
Questions 4-6 are based on the conversation you have just heard. Choose the one
you consider to be the correct answer from the four possible answers.

4. What does the man say about the Aztecs’ cities?

A. They had beautiful gardens.
B. They were heavily populated.
C. They were small cities.
D. They had magnificent buildings.

5. What does the woman consider unfair about the Aztec civilization?
A. Mothers had to do the housework.
B. Most girls couldn’t go to school.
C. Children had to pay for their education.
D. Soldiers weren’t paid for their services.

6. What did the Spanish do to the Aztecs in the 1500s according to the man?
A. They chose a king for their empire.
B. They took charge of education.
C. They started a new irrigation system.
D. They took over most of the state power.

Conversation Three
5
 Questions 7-10 are based on the conversation you have just heard. Choose the
one you consider to be the correct answer from the four possible answers.

7. According to the man, what can reading literature help a person to do?
A. Express their own view better.
B. Understand various interpretations.
C. Feel for other people.
D. Know different writers.

8. What benefit does the woman mention about learning to write by reading literature?
A. One can become a better poet.
B. One can pick up writing styles.
C. One can improve one’s language.
D. One can diagnose one’s own problems with writing.

9. What does the woman think of well-developed characters in literature?

A. That the reader may fear some may have a negative influence.
B. That the reader may believe they reflect people in real life.
C. That the reader may find that some are too good to be true.
D. That the reader wishes they were their friends.

10. According to the man, how is reading a book different from watching a movie?
A. It is better for thinking and the imagination.
B. It helps one remember better and for longer.
C. It involves a deeper understanding of the content.
D. It allows for pauses and interruptions.

Section B A Radio Report (30 points; 3 points each for questions 11-20)
Before listening to the radio report, you have 30 seconds to look at the ten
questions below. In this section, you will hear a radio report on Australia’s bushfire
emergency. As you listen, complete the notes for each of the questions 11 to 20, using
up to three words or a number plus a word from the recording. The recording will be
played TWICE. Each time after the report is played, you will have two minutes to fill
in the gaps with the information from the report.

11. With the spread of Australia’s bushfire, thousands of people have been staying in
____________________.

12. The highways have been brought to a standstill by people trying to leave
southern ____________________.

13. Holidaymakers have been urged to leave a long ___________ before the fires spread more wildly.

14. The fire is huge with flames reaching ____________________ high.

15. The area affected by the fire is as vast as the continent of ____________________.

16. The thick smoke has even reached New Zealand’s snowy ____________________.

17. The crisis was unprecedented for Australia’s authorities because of its abnormality in the
starting of the fire season, the spread of the fire and the ____________________.

18. It is the worst time of year when so many tourists are down in the region for
Christmas and ____________________.

19. There is a sense of ____________________ among people who either don’t want to leave or
can’t leave the fire zone.

20. Thousands of people continue to flee the region when they do not have enough food, fuel and
6
 water as well as Internet ____________________.

You will now have 3 minutes to transfer your answers to the ANSWER BOOKLET.
You must transfer all of your answers to the ANSWER BOOKLET.
Only answers in the ANSWER BOOKLET will be marked.

Section C Passages (20 points; 7 points each for questions 21 and 23, 6
points for question 22)
In this section, you will hear 3 passages. Take notes in the question booklet while
you listen. The passages will be played ONLY ONCE. After each passage is played,
you are required to finish a task. You must write your answers directly in the
ANSWER BOOKLET. There is no extra time for you to transfer these answers.
You will be given 3 minutes to finish each of the tasks as required.
You must write all of your answers in the ANSWER BOOKLET.
Only answers in the ANSWER BOOKLET will be marked.
Passage One
21. RETELL what you have heard IN YOUR OWN WORDS.

Passage Two
22. NOTE DOWN THE KEY POINTS of the passage.

Passage Three
23. WRITE A SUMMARY of the passage.

7
Part II Language Use: Vocabulary and Structure (70 Points)
Section A Multiple Choice (20 Points; 2 points each for questions 1-10)
There are 10 sentences in this section. Beneath each sentence there are four
multiple choice responses. Choose the one word or phrase that best completes the
sentence.

1. If we don’t _____ our health, we will, of course, get sick.

A. look at B. look after C. look on D. look for

2. In times of difficulty, it is the essentials that we need (food, water, medicine) _____ the luxuries
that we sometimes unnecessarily give value to.
A. as opposed to B. in response to C in spite of D in contrast to

3. — With your timely help, I am able to keep up with the lessons.

— So, you have made some progresses. _____
A. What a pity! B. That’s all right. C. No need to thank me. D. That’s great.

4. The chef is _____ a three-course meal for this grand occasion.

A. consuming B. packaging C. preparing D. purchasing

5. We are practicing social distancing, so we cannot come within 6 feet, but would still love to
_____.
A. see all the kids’ smiling faces B. see all the kids to smile faces
C. look at all the kids smiling faces D. watch all the kids to smile

6. You’d better not practice boxing with your friends _____ they know how to protect themselves.
A. after B. though C. unless D. because

7. — I don’t think a virus should bring our world to a standstill.

— _____ We need to help to each other.
A. Couldn’t agree more. B. I can’t agree on it. C. I guess not. D. That’s all right.

8. _____ of what’s going on, they were at a loss on hearing the news.
A. Not having informed B. Having been not informed
C. Not having been informed D. Having not informed

9. Due to his poor family situation, Jim _____ a college education.

A. lived up to B. missed out on C. fell back on D. looked back to

10. — We are running late for the performance.

— _____ There is still one hour to go.
8
 A. Hurry up. B. Take your time. C. Take the time. D. Now is rush hour.

Remember that you must transfer your answers to the ANSWER BOOKLET.
Only answers in the Answer Booklet will be marked.

Section B Gap-filling (25 Points; 2.5 points each for questions 11-20)
Ten words are deleted from the text below. Read the text carefully and use the
word in capital letters given at the end of some of the lines to form a word that fits in
the space in the same line. There is an example at the beginning (0).
Write your answers in CAPITAL LETTERS in the ANSWER BOOKLET.

According to Alvin Toffler, author of the bestseller Future Shock,

America has become a throw-away (0) SOCIETY. Cardboard milk SOCIAL
(11)________ and rockets are only two examples. Such CONTAIN
(12)________ are created for short-term or one-time use. Toffler thinks COMMODITY
that men’s relationships with things will grow (13) ________ temporary. INCREASE
(14)________, vegetables are encased in plastic sacks. They can be CURRENT
dropped into a pan of (15)________ water with the leftovers BOIL
(16)________ away after the meal. TV dinners are cooked and THROW
(17)________ in throw-away trays. In Toffler’s view, the American SERVICE
home has become little more than a large (18)________ plant. PROCESS
Toffler further (19)________ that his countrymen are developing BELIEF
throw-away values to go with throw-away products. He says that easy
(20)________ leads to shorter man-thing relationships. DISPOSABLE

Remember that you must transfer your answers to the ANSWER BOOKLET.
Only answers in the ANSWER BOOKLET will be marked.

Section C Sentence Manipulation (25 Points; 2.5 points each for

questions 21-30)
For questions 21-30, complete the second sentence so that it has a similar
meaning to the first sentence, using the word given. DO NOT CHANGE THE WORD
GIVEN. You must use between three and eight words, including the word given.
Here is an example (0).
Example:
0 Do you mind if I watch you while you paint?
objection
9
 Do you ______________________________ you while you paint?
0 have any objection to my watching
Write only the missing words in the ANSWER BOOKLET.

21. Although he is still a student, he is ready to work as a volunteer when he grows up.
commit
Although he is a student, he is ready to ______________________________ volunteering when
he grows up.

22. To both my parents, I owe my early acquaintance with the beloved Harry Potter series.
grateful
I_____________________________ my early acquaintance with the beloved Harry Potter series.

23. Charges were laid against the large company for dumping sewage into the river.
accuse
The large company ______________________________ sewage into the river.

24. The scientists are proud of their exactitude and accuracy in conducting research.
pride
The scientists________________________their exactitude and accuracy in conducting research.

25. It makes a lot of difference to the environment whether you eat plant-based cuisines.
impact
Whether you eat plant-based cuisines______________________________ the environment.

26. It was announced that the test that was to be administered all over the country would be
postponed.
wide
It was announced that the test administered__________________________would be postponed.

27. The husband lived for many more years than his wife.
outlive
The husband ______________________________ many years.

28. The novel coronavirus is transmissible among people.

transmission
The novel coronavirus has the feature of______________________________.

29. Although she was over 70 years old, she didn’t want to retire.
intention

10
 She______________________________of retiring despite her age.

30. Mary was 12 years old and Anne 16.

respectively
Mary and Anne were ______________________________.

Remember that you must transfer your answers to the ANSWER BOOKLET.
Only answers in the ANSWER BOOKLET will be marked.

Part III Reading Comprehension (70 points; 15 points each for

the three questions under Task A, 25 points for Task B)
This section contains three texts. Each text has two tasks:
• Task A contains three questions, each worth 15 points.
You are required to answer ALL THREE QUESTIONS in Task A on one text.
• Task B has one question, which is scored out of 25 points.
You are required to answer ONE Task B, but you must NOT answer Task A and
Task B on the same text.
Your answers are to be written in the ANSWER BOOKLET.

Text 1

We can’t rely on shops to revive our town centres

SIMON JENKINS THE GUARDIAN DECEMBER 12, 2019

Another winter passes, and the plague
continues its rampage through the high
streets of Britain. Shutters are going up and
stores are closing. The disease fells
everything from the corner post office and
pub to mighty names like Marks & Spencer.
Like the climate crisis and the erosion of the
countryside, the traumas of urban geography
pass unnoticed because their impact is local.
But the world is composed of locals.
High streets are seen by planners as places where people shop. They are not. In their winding,
funky idiosyncrasy, they are places of character, where people congregate, communicate and feel at
home in company. Their shops can be replaced by out-of-town hypermarkets, and now by online
warehouses. But their society is irreplaceable.
The figures are grim. November capped another dire year, with retail footfall down 4.3%,
accelerating last year’s 3.8% drop. Fashion outlets have led the plunge this year, followed by
restaurants, pubs, banks and electrical stores. Four hundred village shops are closing annually. Some
of the UK’s biggest retail landowners will this year stand to have billions wiped off their value. This

11
is the tipping point into catastrophe.
The reason is simple: “clicks for bricks”. In 2017, online shopping was forecast to rise from
17% of consumer spending to 40% by 2030. Clothing has reached those heights already. Online
retailers deliver goods to the door. Free returns enable people to order clothes, wear them once and
send them back – and still the retailer makes a profit. The telltale is America. Since the start of
2017, 150,000 jobs have been lost in the American retail sector. An era is passing.
Is there any light? Not much. In Britain, governments have done all they can to kill off high
streets. Ministers have capitulated to the “Tesco lobby”, allowing out-of-town to replace high street
wherever it wanted. High streets everywhere have had the commercial blood sucked from them.
Acres of countryside have vanished to car-borne shoppers at hypermarkets, which will soon lie as
deserted as petrol stations. This was mindless planning.
Meanwhile the Treasury has savaged town centre shops with murderous business rates, while
letting off out-of-town retail virtually free. The wheel has now travelled full circle, as out-of-town
now howls about online retail getting away with fiscal murder. John Lewis’s business rates in its
flagship London store rose from £6.6m to £10.5m in just three years. All governments promise to
reform these rates, but never do.
British high streets are stumbling fitfully into the experience economy. Surviving shops focus
on beauty, fitness, coffee, charity and loans. Intriguingly, too, the number of bookshops is actually
rising. In some of its locations, Ikea offers not goods but “planning studios” for online shoppers.
A more intelligent government initiative has been the modest £40m boost to Historic England’s
“heritage action zones”, driven by evidence that smartening up old high streets makes them attractive
destinations to casual shoppers or just visitors.
If there is social wrong that cries out for a solution it is personal isolation. The bonds that once
held people of all ages in the embrace of neighbourhood and community are snapping. This stretches
from the Facebook agonies of the young to the greatest curse of old age, not ill-health, but loneliness.
The humdrum institutions of the high street – the pub, the library, the police station – were all salves
to such ailments. But the magnet was the need to shop.
That magnet now must become the craving to congregate, the search for company and
enjoyment. The marketplace is clearly shifting to services and experiences, but one solution would
be a version of France’s town hall enterprise. It would be the commandeering of the one building that
is immovable and familiar to all, the local church. In the middle ages, the church was a true one-stop
shop for local activity and welfare. For young and old, busy and idle, profit and loss, art and music, it
should be that again.

(taken from
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/12/shops-town-centre-high-street-online-ret
ail. Edited)

Task A
1. In your own words, describe what the British high streets are for and what is happening to them.
(15 points)

2. Explain what the factors are that have contributed to the changes in the UK’s high streets. (15
points)

3. Outline the current and possible future changes to shopping in the UK. (15 points)

Task B
Based on the text you have just read, what are the measures that need to be taken to revive the UK’s
town centres? (25 points)

12
 Text 2

The Rise of College ‘Grade Forgiveness’

JEFFREY SELINGO THE ATLANTIC JUNE 29, 2018

Grade inflation is often considered a
product of a consumer era in higher
education, in which students are treated
like customers to be pleased. But
another, related force—a policy often
buried deep in course catalogs called
“grade forgiveness”—is helping raise
grade-point averages. Different
schools’ policies can work in slightly
different ways, but in general, grade
forgiveness allows students to retake a course in which they received a low grade, and the most
recent grade or the highest grade is the only one that counts in calculating a student’s overall GPA.
(Both grades still appear on the student’s transcript.)
The rise of grade forgiveness scans as yet another instance of colleges treating students as
customers to be satisfied—similar to campus amenities such as luxurious dorms, palatial recreational
facilities, and cornucopian dining halls. Indeed, there seems to be demand for do-overs. “Students
are asking for it,” said Jack Miner, Ohio State University’s registrar and executive director of
enrollment services. “We’re attracting and retaining stronger students and there’s more competition
to get into majors and graduate schools, and a small change in their GPA can help.”
Ohio State expanded its grade-forgiveness policy three years ago to cover all undergraduates
instead of just freshmen. Miner says that about 4,500 students—roughly 10 percent of Ohio State’s
undergraduate population—take advantage of the policy in any given year. Most students see their
grades rise in the second attempt, usually a full letter grade or a full letter and a half, Miner said. Still,
about 15 percent of students who receive a failing grade in the first attempt have the same outcome
in the second. “That’s a wake-up call for those students that maybe they need to reconsider their
major,” Miner said.
Miner is generally optimistic about the promise of grade forgiveness, but others are concerned
about what it could do to academic dynamics. “It teaches students that their work in a course doesn’t
matter because there’s always another chance,” said Jonathan Marx, a professor of sociology at
Winthrop University, in South Carolina.
Marx and his colleague David Meeler, an associate professor of philosophy, have studied
grade-forgiveness programs at eight public institutions in an unnamed southern state. What they
found is that 5 percent of the seniors they polled at one of the institutions used grade-forgiveness
policies to keep anywhere from a quarter to half of all of their coursework from counting toward
their GPA.
“Everyone knows about grade inflation, but this is GPA distortion, and few people looking at a
student’s GPA know it happens…Institutions are allowing students to manage their grades to get the
highest reward,” Meeler said, as opposed to requiring students to work with faculty members to
master the material.
College officials tend to emphasize that the goal of grade forgiveness is less about the grade
itself and more about encouraging students to retake courses critical to their degree program and
graduation without incurring a big penalty. “Ultimately,” Ohio State’s Miner said, “we see students
achieve more success because they retake a course and do better in subsequent courses or master the

13
content that allows them to graduate on time.”
That said, there is a way in which grade forgiveness satisfies colleges’ own needs as well. For
public institutions, state appropriations are sometimes tied partly to their success on metrics such as
graduation rates and student retention—so better grades can, by boosting figures like those, mean
more money. And anything that raises GPAs will likely make students—who, at the end of the day,
are paying the bill—feel they’ve gotten a better value for their tuition dollars, which is another big
concern for colleges.
Indeed, grade forgiveness is just another way that universities are responding to consumers’
expectations for higher education. Since students and parents expect a college degree to lead to a job,
it is in the best interest of a school to churn out graduates who are as qualified as possible—or at
least appear to be. On this, students’ and colleges’ incentives seem to be aligned.

(taken from https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2018/06/college-grades-gpa/564095/.

Edited)

Task A
1. In your own words, explain grade forgiveness and the reasons for the rise of such a practice. (15
points)

2. How does the author describe the grade forgiveness policy of Ohio State University and the
students’ reaction to it? (15 points)

3. Briefly summarize the opinions of Jack Miner, Jonathan Marx and David Meeler. (15 points)

Task B
Based on the text you have just read, what are the dilemmas of college administrators and faculty
with regard to the grade forgiveness policy? (25 points)

14
 Text 3

Athletic Authorities Must Reckon With Racing Tech Again

FRANCESCA DEROSA WIRED JANUARY 24, 2020

On October 12, 2019, Eliud Kipchoge crossed
under a pink finishing arch emblazoned with the
time 1:59:40. He had just become the first person to
run a marathon in under two hours.
For a few hours, this achievement, long
unthinkable, was celebrated across the world. Then
came the question: What was the deal with his fancy
looking sneakers? Kipchoge was wearing Nike
Vaporfly Alphas, a shoe that had been designed
specifically for him, as part of Nike’s long-standing attempt to break the two-hour barrier.
Nike claims that Vaporflys make people run faster, longer. They have published a study to
prove it. World Athletics, the governing body of track and field, will be the ultimate judge. The
question is a difficult one for them, and one they’ve faced before. The last time World Athletics
made a high-profile decision about a potentially performance-enhancing “technical aid,” they caused
international outcry and were overruled by the Court of Sport Arbitrage. This was in 2008, when
they attempted to ban Oscar Pistorius from running in the regular Olympics with his Flex-Foot
Cheetah artificial legs. The “Bionic Olympian” caused a headache for World Athletics.
World Athletics (then called the IAAF) was acting on the certainty that “running blades,”
engineered specifically for running fast, could perform better than regular legs. “We cannot accept
something that provides advantages,” their director of development Elio Locatelli told The New York
Times in 2007. “Next will be another device where people can fly with something on their back.”
George Dvosrky, board member of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, proposed the
idea that athletes could “do something as seemingly radical as having their healthy natural limbs
replaced by artificial limbs. ... Is it self mutilation,” he asked, “when you’re getting a better limb?”
Later in 2007, the IAAF invited Pistorius to three days of testing in Germany. Months later,
they declared their results. Flex-Foot Cheetahs were, indeed, springs. They provided an advantage,
and Pistorius could not use them to compete against athletes not using them. Pistorius could not
compete in the Olympics.
In banning running blades, the IAAF believed they were setting a strong precedent for the
future. After all, they told the Times in 2007, if they allowed these carbon-fiber “technical aids,”
what would stop able-bodied athletes in the future from “wearing carbon-fiber plates or other
unsuitably springy devices in their shoes.”
Pistorius and his team did not accept this response, claiming for one that the test’s focus on
energy expenditure when running on Cheetahs, at speed, was arbitrary. They funded their own study,
which considered metabolic factors like endurance and oxygen intake. It concluded that running on
blades, though mechanically different than running on legs, put the same kind of stress on the human
body. The Court of Sport Arbitrage, presented with this evidence, agreed to overturn the IAAF’s
ruling. Pistorius was allowed to run.
This highly public string of events was unfortunate for the IAAF. While awaiting test results,
they told the London Times that they resented being portrayed as the villain. With their upcoming
decision about Nike Vaporflys, do they risk falling into the same traps? Yes and no.
 They are no longer groping blindly through the world of disability activism and Paralympic
sport. Now they’re contending with one of the largest sporting companies in the world, which raked
in nearly $40 billion last year.
But they are faced with the same questions of fair play and accessibility. Only leg amputees can
compete in Flex-Foot Cheetahs. And even though versions of the Nike Vaporfly are available for
sale to the public, only Nike-sponsored athletes can wear them in elite competition. An even smaller
subset of these have access to Vaporflys custom-designed for their gait in Nike’s Non-Disclosure
Agreement (NDA)-protected Sports Research Laboratory.
This could be a threat to the level playing field that World Athletics so values. Their sport, after
all, is one of the few that can be performed without the purchase of any equipment. Pistorius in his
bionic legs and Nike with its fancy shoes disrupt this paradigm. They have the potential of turning
“pure athletics” into a race between cyborgs.
Once again, World Athletics has to decide where to draw a line, and determine how much the
threat of the cyborg matters. It will be interesting to see if the organization sticks to its guns, or risks
contradicting its carefully set precedent in exchange for the promise, rather than the fear of,
technology.

(taken from
https://www.wired.com/story/opinion-athletic-authorities-must-reckon-with-racing-tech-again/.
Edited)

Task A

1. What did the IAAF find out about Oscar Pistorius’s artificial legs and what were their concerns?
(15 points)
2. How did Oscar Pistorius manage to fight back against the IAAF? (15 points)
3. What does the author think of the fate of World Athletics in the case of Nike Vaporflys? (15
points)

Task B

What lessons should World Athletics learn from the case of the “Bionic Olympian”? (25 points)

16
Part IV Composition (90 points)
In this part you are required to write a composition on the ONE of the following
topics related to the text you have NOT answered a Task A or Task B question on.
The composition is intended to reflect language study in the areas of information,
argument, persuasion, narration and aesthetic use of language.
You must write a minimum of 250 words.

<EITHER>
Text 1
Analyse the graphs below. Summarise the main points and comment on the rise of e-commerce and
consumers’ expectations of online shopping in the United States.

https://www.statista.com/chart/20519/retail-store-openings-and-closings-in-the-united-states/

https://www.statista.com/chart/14011/e-commerce-share-of-total-retail-sales/

17
https://www.statista.com/chart/14012/features-making-a-great-online-shopping-experience/

<OR>
Text 2

What are the purposes of a college degree? To what extent is grade forgiveness justifiable and
unjustifiable for these purposes?

<OR>
Text 3

With the advancement of technology, should athletes work with sports research labs to harness it for
performance enhancement? Give reasons for your answer.

18