Civil Service Reading Comprehension Practice Test Results

Question 1
53% answer correctly

A perennial stream or perennial river is a stream or river (channel) that has continuous flow in parts of its stream bed all year round during years of normal rainfall. `Perennial` streams are contrasted with `intermittent` streams which normally cease flowing for weeks or months each year, and with `ephemeral` channels that flow only for hours or days following rainfall.


Which of the following is the correct order of stream type from the least amount of time flowing to the most amount of time flowing over the course of a year?

Perennial, intermittent, ephemeral.
Ephemeral, intermittent, perennial.
Perennial, ephemeral, intermittent.
Ephemeral, perennial, intermittent.
Question 2
76% answer correctly

Warren Wilfred Freer (27 December 1920 - 29 March 2013), was a New Zealand politician and member of the Labour Party. Freer represented the Mount Albert electorate in Parliament from 1947 to 1981, when he retired.

He was only 26 when he entered Parliament in a by-election for the Mount Albert seat following the death of Arthur Richards, and he held the seat for 34 years until he was succeeded by Helen Clark and then David Shearer.

He was a cabinet minister in the Third Labour Government of 1972-1975, holding the portfolios of Trade and Industry and of Energy Resources and was a candidate for the deputy leadership of the New Zealand Labour Party in 1974, dropping out in the third ballot.

In 1955 he was the first Western politician to visit China.


According to this passage:

Freer was born in New Zealand.
Freer was the first politician to visit China.
Freer retired in 1974.
Freer was the first Western politician to visit China
Question 3
54% answer correctly

Ohio started the month of July with its pedal to the metal. The Buckeye State became the 34th state to adopt the 70 miles-an-hour speed limit. Drivers can now do up to 70 on more than 570 of Ohio`s 1,332 miles of interstate highway. Congress repealed the 55 mph national limit in 1995. Despite predictions of calamity and carnage on the highways, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported in October 1998 that `the traffic death rate dropped to a record low level in 1997`. That pattern has continued since then.


You can infer from this paragraph that the author _______________ higher speed limits.

Is against
Is in favor of
Does not know about
Has no opinion about