Modelo A — NO MORE UNIVERSITY HAZING! (¡NO MÁS NOVATADAS!)
It's Thursday night. Twenty students meet on a vacant lot near Madrid's university area to initiate first-year students into college life. The roles are clearly defined. The veterans are well dressed and armed with cartons of cheap wine. The first-year students are wearing costumes and are already drunk. In one corner, a new student is on his knees vomiting while five others egg him on: "You're going to keep on drinking until we see your dinner diced!". As September comes around again, so does this supposed rite of passage. A few years ago, the controversy over these initiation rituals surfaced once more in the wake of a viral video of an aggressive punch from a veteran boy to a first-year student girl during one such session. Both parties, who were living at a student residence in Madrid, were suspended for two weeks.
Laura Croas, a psychologist specializing in issues related to bullying, believes that hazing persists for two main reasons: "Firstly, at that age belonging to a group is extremely important and you accept humiliations because you're scared of the consequences if you don't. Secondly, the victims believe that they will be the hazers further down the line. They accept being the victim of hazing because later they will be the veteran". Croas explains that, although some of the rituals seem harmless, hazing plays on the victim's emotions and can leave its mark as an adult. She also sheds light on the veterans' role and why hazing tends to go too far. "In group therapy, we can clearly observe our capacity as human beings to abuse power in an assumed role. It's an erroneous way of channeling the rage we carry inside us. We experience what is known as a 'power rush', which comes with a thought: I was once a victim but now I have climbed higher".
Madrid's Complutense University has launched its annual 'No more hazing' campaign in a bid to phase out the practice, with an anti-hazing meeting point where established students help the newcomers. "The students feel more comfortable with one another," says the vice-rector, and she gives a piece of advice to the new students "Remember: quitting the group when you are being hazed takes character, courage, and integrity. No one has the right to humiliate you. You have to show assertiveness and self-confidence. You can enjoy the university atmosphere and make good friends, but not at any price".
1. Answer these questions about the text. Use your own words wherever possible (2 points, 1 each).
a. According to Laura Croas, why does hazing persist?
b. What is the aim of the anti-hazing meeting point and what advice does the vice-rector give?

Modelo A — 2. Read the following statements, decide whether they are true or false and justify your answer by quoting evidence from the text (1 point, 0,50 each).
a. Not only the boy but also the girl involved in the aggressive punch were suspended.
b. Hazing can go too far when those formerly abused, become abusers and experience a power rush.

Modelo A — 3. Find in the text the word or group of words which match these definitions (1 point, 0,25 each).
a. Continue (paragraph 1).
b. A blow, a hard hit with the fist (paragraph 1).
c. Inoffensive, innocuous, without bad effects (paragraph 2).
d. Abandoning, leaving (paragraph 3).

Modelo A — 4. Complete the text using the correct words from the box below. There are 2 words that you won't need (2 points, 0,25 each).
Forty (a)_ have been received across Spain in the last year (b)_ rituals ranging (c)_ cold showers in the small hours of the morning to enforced drinking or coating newcomers in products such as flour. Lucas, who (d)_ live at a student residence in Madrid, says that (e)_ he was humiliated as a freshman he was never the one making others suffer as a veteran. "The (f)_ they did was make me eat my own vomit mixed with soup. If you have never been (g)_ it, it's hard to understand why we don't say no. It seems easy from the outside, but when you are part of it, you feel you have (h)_ choice".
BOX: NO, USED TO, THROUGH, REGARDING, WORST, COMPLAINS, ALTHOUGH, FROM, WORSE, COMPLAINTS

Modelo A — 5. Write a composition of around 150-200 words on ONE of the following topics (4 points)
a. Last year you started university and suffered from hazing and humiliation by a group of veterans. Write an email to your friend telling him/her about it.
b. "It is better to follow the crowd in order to fit in with a group than to challenge the rules". Do you agree with this statement? Give your opinion.

Modelo B — THE SUCCESSFUL FINNISH EDUCATION SYSTEM
In recent years, the Finnish education model has attained universal recognition for its quality and standards. From newspaper comment pieces to political podcasts, people across the globe have been investigating just what makes the Finnish education model one of the best in the world, according to the excellent results in PISA tests. Finland might be a country of just under 5.5 million, and a per-pupil budget that falls below the UK and the US. Yet, it also happens to produce the smartest, most well-rounded students. Perhaps the key reason is that education focuses on the promotion of teaching autonomy, creative learning, and equal ability classes.
Although preschool is free for everyone -with 97% of kids attending – compulsory schooling doesn't take place until the age of 7. Early years are focused on natural play, rather than academic learning, thus fostering interaction with other children. Play doesn't stop at the age of seven either, it is encouraged all the way through schooling. This is, after all, where the bulk of our creativity develops. In other countries in the world, from the age of six, students are tested to assess their academic capabilities, thus, it is easy for children who underachieve early in life to be written off and placed in lower sets, which in turn discriminates against their chances. Not in Finland, where there are no standardized tests, so there is a lack of competition that runs throughout a child's schooling. The difference between the strongest and the weakest students is the smallest on earth. 93% of students graduate from secondary education and 66% of pupils attend university. This is evidently an education system that works.
As for teachers, in Finland they have more respect within their society. They work in a confident atmosphere, built on a mutual trust between teachers, students and parents. Parents especially know that their kids are being taught by the brightest people in society. So they back whatever happens when their children are in the school environment. Moreover, teachers are trusted to do what they do best -- teach --, having complete freedom as to how they teach what is on the curriculum and without the pressure of league tables or inspections. About school assignments, Finland issues a lot less homework to students than most countries on earth. Most of the education happens in the classroom, which is, after all, where you would expect it to happen. Home time is there to develop soft skills, gain life experience and foster close family bonds.
1. Answer these questions about the text. Use your own words wherever possible (2 points, 1 each).
a. In Finland there are no standardized tests. What's the consequence of this for students?
b. What are the characteristics of the teaching profession in Finland?

Modelo B — 2. Read the following statements, decide whether they are true or false and justify your answer by quoting evidence from the text (1 point, 0,50 each).
a. Finland spends less money on each student than the UK or US.
b. A six-year-old kid doesn't have to attend school in Finland.

Modelo B — 3. Find in the text the word or group of words which match these definitions (1 point, 0,25 each).
a. Concentrates on (paragraph 1).
b. Promoting, encouraging (paragraph 2).
c. Do less than expected, especially in schoolwork (paragraph 2).
d. Support (paragraph 3).

Modelo B — 4. Complete the text using the correct words from the box below. There are 2 words that you won't need (2 points, 0,25 each).
What can we learn from the educational system of Finland that is considered (a)_ system in the world? Maybe it is like this because various facts like curiosity, creativity, experimentation, and many other things are predominant. (b)_ does not mean to give information that (c)_ repeated until it is memorized. For the Fins, learning to think is more important. The government does not decide what the educational system should be (d)_ and every college is allowed to organize its (e)_ programme of studies. Here in Spain, every government that is elected (f)_ a specific period of time adopts a new education law without taking (g)_ consideration the people who are directly affected (h)_ this: students, teachers, and parents.
BOX: TEACHING, INTO, FOR, BY, LIKE, OWN, THE BEST, IS BEING, TEACH, IS BEEN

Modelo B — 5. Write a composition of around 150-200 words on ONE of the following topics (4 points)
a. There is a teacher job available in a school in Helsinki (Finland). Write a formal application letter to the school head teacher showing your interest for the job. Remember to include your abilities, skills and all the suitable information you may provide in order to get the job.
b. Do exams provide a good way to measure students' knowledge? Give your opinion about this topic. You can present other alternatives you may consider appropriate to assess students.