level 3
Sample Exam Items
The MTELP Series is designed to measure both learner achievement and
progress. It is suitable for adult or young adult language learners and can be
used appropriately in a range of institutions. The MTELP Series is available at
three levels of proficiency: beginner, intermediate, and advanced. Test forms
at each level have different item types and unique content.
The following pages contain samples of MTELP Series Level 3 items.
MTELP Series
Level 3 Sample Items
Listening Comprehension
In each form of the Level 3 test, 25 items assess
listening comprehension. There are two types of
listening comprehension items.
1. What problem does the man have?
a. He forgot to submit a document.
b. He hasn’t been paid.
c. He can’t attend a training session.
Part 1: In the first type, test takers hear a
conversation between two speakers. After the
conversation, test takers must answer three or four
questions about the conversation, selecting the
correct answer from the three options provided.
2. Why does the woman mention the accounts
payable department?
a. to check the man has done something
b. to tell the man where to go next
c. to explain the reason for a problem
3. What does the woman mean when she says: Click here to play Part 1 audio.
To play audio, you may need to download the PDF and open it in
Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat.
Listening, Part 1 samples
[Audio Only: Listen to a conversation in an office.
[Audio Only: Oh, I see, there’s some paperwork from
our end that is still outstanding.]
a. Some paperwork still needs to be done.
b. Some paperwork was submitted to the
wrong place.
c. Some paperwork was filled in wrongly.
M: Miss Brooks, I still haven’t gotten a check
from your department, for the training session
I gave . . .
W: You haven’t? Hmm, that’s odd. Did you talk to
someone at the accounts payable department
about it?
M: Yeah, and they said to ask you.
W: All right. I’ll look at my records again to make
sure all the necessary paperwork got submitted.
Let me just take a look. Oh, I see, there’s some
paperwork from our end that is still outstanding.
I’m very sorry about that.
M: That’s OK. Not really urgent but I did want to
get it all sorted out.
W: Of course. I’ll finalize everything today and then
you should be paid by the end of the week.
M: OK. Thanks for your help.]
MTELP Series level 3 – Sample Test Items 1
Listening Comprehension, Part 2: In the second
type, test takers hear an interview featuring several
speakers. The interview is followed by a series of
questions about it. The test taker must select the
correct answer to each question from the three
options provided.
Click here to play Part 2 audio.
To play audio, you may need to download the PDF and open it in
Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat.
Listening, Part 2 samples
[Audio Only:
M:Recently, an Ohio couple surprised the art world by
auctioning off a special collection of antique art and
furniture. The items were made by Shakers, people
who came from rural communities in the United
States called Shaker communities. The pieces were
in excellent condition, and many were fine examples
of art that Shakers created for everyday personal
use. Personal items such as these are difficult to find
outside of museums. Jennifer Wilson reports.
W:Shaker antiques and reproductions are commanding
higher prices than ever before. Valued for their simple
lines and good quality, many people consider Shaker
furniture to be the perfect combination of form and
function. The best examples of Shaker art can be
found in museums—such as the National Gallery
of Art—and in Shaker villages located mainly in
the Northeastern United States. However, because
only one Shaker village still has active community
members, very few “new” pieces of authentic Shaker
art and furniture are produced for public sale today.
So who are the Shakers, and why are Shaker items so
popular? Historian Dr. Ted Parker tells us more about
this unique group of people.
M:Many people can identify certain styles of rocking
chairs or candle stands as being Shaker, but
few people are familiar with the origin of these
classic designs. The Shakers originally came from
Manchester, England, and settled in the United States
in 1774. They shared goals similar to other religious
groups who went to the U.S. seeking the freedom to
form communities of like-minded people. Although
only nine Shakers arrived in New York in 1774, their
numbers grew to over five thousand by the mid-1800s.
W:This is surprising because Shakers didn’t marry or
have children. People weren’t “born into” the Shaker
community. Rather, the only ways a person could
become a Shaker was by converting as an adult or
through adoption as a child. Shakers often took in
orphans and children whose parents could not take
care of them. They provided the children with a good
education and taught them skills that they would
need as adults. Many children chose to remain in
the community after they were grown. Nowadays,
though, there are very few Shakers. However, some
Shaker villages have been preserved.
M:Today there is only one active Shaker village, with
just a few inhabitants. The others are like museums,
where tourists can see how they once lived. In these
villages, one can see how the Shakers’ belief in
harmony and order is reflected in everything from the
neat, practical design of their communities to simple
objects like tables and chairs, baskets, and rugs. They
focused on the functionality of each item, creating
harmonious lines that revealed the natural beauty of
the materials used. They also created more traditional
art such as drawings and paintings, and various types
of needlework and wood carvings. Although the
Shakers avoided the use of ornate decorations, they
expressed creativity in subtle ways through the skilled
use of symbols such as birds and hearts.
W:The Shakers lived simple lives, yet they showed
a deep appreciation for beauty, even in everyday
personal objects like pincushions used for sewing.
Unfortunately, there are few places where the public
can see such items, so many people hope the pieces
sold at auction end up in a museum rather than a
collector’s home.]
4. What are the speakers mainly talking about?
a. the establishment of an art museum
b. key features of Shaker art
c. an art exhibition
5. What was unusual about the Shaker art sold at
this auction?
a. The pieces came from a Shaker museum.
b. It was not typical of other Shaker designs.
c. Some pieces were made for personal use.
6. What do people admire about Shaker art
and furniture?
a. It is ornately designed and carved.
b. It is both beautiful and useful.
c. It is complex yet functional.
7. Where did the Shakers originally come from?
a.Manchester
b. New York
c.Ohio
8. What would one be likely to see in a Shaker
village today?
a. examples of Shaker furniture
b. a community of artists
c. elaborate architecture
MTELP Series level 3 – Sample Test Items 2
Cloze
Next are two cloze passages with 20 items that assess a range of reading skills. Each passage has had 10 words or
phrases removed and the test taker must select the appropriate word, from four answer choices to complete the
intended meaning of the original passage. The cloze section of the test has been designed to test a range of skills such
as vocabulary range, grammatical knowledge, and discourse competence.
Cloze Passage sample
9.
a.need
b.must
c.ought
d.would
10.
a.lack
b.neglect
c.ignore
d.decline
11.
a.fashion
b.style
c.way
d.path
12.
a.be
b.had
c.have
d.is
13.
a.by
b.for
c.to
d.with
14.
a.necessary
b.able
c.possible
d.capable
15.
a.absolute
b.additional
c.above
d.unaware
16
a.result
b.choice
c.ability
d.image
17.
a.arranged
b.installed
c.fastened
d.linked
18.
a.Compared
b.According
c.Thanks
d.Similar
This passage is about computer intelligence.
As computers become increasingly powerful,
the question of whether a computer can possess
true intelligence is likely to become more widely
discussed. To create a truly intelligent computer,
we (9) provide it with several characteristics that
most computers currently (10) .
To be considered intelligent, a computer would
have to have a (11) to sense its environment.
It would not be necessary to equip a computer
with a great number of different senses, because
any basic sense can easily (12) extended. For
instance, humans do not have an innate ability to
perceive radio waves, but (13) the aid of a radio
it is (14) to sense the signal. An (15) example
is the sense of sight. Although we cannot directly
detect individual cells in the human body, a
microscope gives us this (16) . A microphone and
a camera, (17) to a computer, would, therefore,
achieve some progress towards intelligence.
(18) to other challenges though, giving a
computer the ability to sense is a relatively easy
problem. The tasks of providing built-in motivation
and consciousness are far more difficult.
MTELP Series level 3 – Sample Test Items 3
Reading Comprehension
Finally, there are 15 reading comprehension items. Test takers are presented with three reading passages. Each passage
is followed by several items that tap a range of reading skills. Test takers must select the correct answer from four
options.
19. What is the main purpose of the passage?
a. to compare two opposing perspectives on
film music
b. to propose a solution to an academic
controversy
c. to explain why film studies is an
interdisciplinary field
d. to explain the situation with an
academic field
Reading Comprehension sample
This passage is about the study of film music.
People who study film music often complain about
the lack of recognition their field receives. The
study of film music is an interdisciplinary field,
falling in between cinema studies and musicology.
This is one of the reasons why it receives so little
attention. For example, when film music scholars,
who often do not have music-degree credentials
on par with the pure musicologists, write about film
soundtracks, their articles are often ignored by the
musicologists. Conversely, when the work of film
music scholars touches on the visual aspects of
film, the cinema studies people often treat it as the
work of amateurs. So with the members of the two
fields most closely related to it ignoring it, it is easy
to understand why members of the film music field
feel a degree of frustration.
20. In the first paragraph, why does the author
mention visual aspects of film?
a. to emphasize what film music scholars do
b. to provide an example of a criticism
c. to introduce work that is often ignored
d. to make a link with the next paragraph
21. In the final sentence of the second paragraph,
what does the word their refer to?
a. cinema studies scholars
b. film music scholars
c.musicologists
d. fields of cinema studies and musicology
Adding to the problem is the way members of the
fields of cinema studies and musicology see the
“other side” of the film music discipline. Cinema
studies scholars focus on the visuals and the
dialogue of a film. The music is of secondary
importance to them. In the same vein, pure
musicologists spend their career analyzing music.
They do not see the value of attempting to integrate
other factors—such as the visuals of a film—into
their analysis of music.
22. What do paragraph 2 and paragraph 3 have in
common?
a. They both discuss causes of a situation.
b. They both offer solutions to a problem.
c. They both oppose the point made in
paragraph 1.
d. They both indicate a problem is difficult
to solve.
So members of the film music community face an
uphill battle. Exacerbating the problem is the fact
that film music is literally in the background for
most films: it plays an auxiliary role and exists to
support the visual or the dialogue. It often happens
that filmgoers leave a film and are not able to recall
anything about the film’s music. It is not given a
central role in the movie, just as it struggles to
create a distinct role for itself in academia.
23. According to the passage, how are visual
action and spoken dialogue in a film similar?
a. They are more important than the music.
b. They are overlooked by filmgoers.
c. They determine the type of music on the
soundtrack.
d. They compete to play the central role in
the film.
MTELP Series Level 3 Sample Key
1.B
2.A
3.A
4.B
5.C
6.B
7.A
8.A
9.B
10.A
11.C
12.A
13.D
14.C
15.B
16.C
17.D
18.A
19.D
20.B
21.C
22.A
23.A
MTELP Series level 3 – Sample Test Items 4
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find a link for ordering.
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Call 1 866.696.3522.
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MTELP Series level 3 – Sample Test Items 5
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