CAEC Mock Exam 1

All 50 questions in this test

Every question and its answer choices. The correct answers and explanations appear when you take the test above.

1. A student notes, "The leaves on the plant are yellow." What kind of statement is this?

   1. A theory
   2. An inference
   3. A hypothesis
   4. An observation

2. Bay Road Bridge to Close for Repairs The Bay Road bridge over Mill Creek will close to all traffic from May 5 to August 29 while crews replace its deck, the county announced Tuesday. The bridge, built in 1964, carries about 6,000 vehicles a day. A county inspection last fall found that salt and freeze-thaw cycles had cracked the concrete deck. "The bridge is safe today, but it will not stay safe without this work," said county engineer Hana Sato. During the closure, drivers will be detoured along Route 9 and Pine Street, adding about seven minutes to a typical trip. A temporary footbridge will let pedestrians and cyclists continue to cross. Some business owners on Bay Road are worried. "Summer is our busiest season," said Luis Ortega, who runs a bakery near the bridge. "If people can't drive past, they won't stop." The county says it chose the summer because concrete cures best in warm weather. The $3.2-million project is funded jointly by the county and the province.

   According to the Bay Road bridge article, how will pedestrians cross Mill Creek during the closure?

   1. By a free shuttle bus
   2. On a temporary footbridge
   3. By the Route 9 detour
   4. They will not be able to cross

3. Simplify the expression with a power: 2 × 3².

   1. 36
   2. 12
   3. 18
   4. 11

4. A student tests whether the temperature of water affects how fast sugar dissolves. She uses three beakers with 200 mL of water at 10 °C, 25 °C and 50 °C. In each, she stirs in 10 g of sugar at the same speed and times how long it takes to dissolve. Results: 10 °C: 95 s; 25 °C: 60 s; 50 °C: 28 s.

   Based on the sugar experiment's results, about how long would sugar take to dissolve in water at 40 °C?

   1. About 20 s
   2. About 100 s
   3. About 65 s
   4. About 40 s

5. A taxi charges $12 plus $0.25 per minute of waiting. Which expression gives the cost for m minutes?

   1. 0.25(12 + m)
   2. 12m + 0.25
   3. 12 + 0.25m
   4. 12.25m

6. How is the CAEC Writing task scored?

   1. Position, voice and conventions count equally
   2. Only the thesis statement is scored
   3. Length is worth half of the score
   4. Only spelling and grammar are scored

7. Baseboard is needed around a 5 m by 4 m room, except for a 1 m doorway. How many metres are needed?

   1. 20 m
   2. 19 m
   3. 18 m
   4. 17 m

8. Northgate Community Centre — Winter Programs Registration opens Monday, January 6, at 9 a.m. online or at the front desk. Residents of Northgate register first; non-residents may register starting January 13. Learn to Skate (ages 4–8) Saturdays, 10:00–10:45 a.m., 8 weeks. $64. Helmets are required; CSA-approved hockey helmets are accepted. Adult Conversational French Tuesdays, 7:00–8:30 p.m., 10 weeks. $90. Beginner level; no textbook needed. Seniors' Chair Yoga (ages 60+) Mondays and Thursdays, 1:00–2:00 p.m., 8 weeks. $48 for both days or $28 for one day per week. Fee assistance: Households with low incomes may apply for a 50% reduction on program fees. Apply at the front desk with proof of income before registering. Cancellations: Full refunds are given up to seven days before a program starts. After that, refunds are given only with a medical note.

   A senior wants Chair Yoga only on Thursdays. According to the Northgate brochure, what is the fee?

   1. $28
   2. $14
   3. $48
   4. $56

9. To: All warehouse staff From: Priya Nandakumar, Operations Manager Subject: New shift schedule starting March 3 Starting Monday, March 3, we are moving from two shifts to three so that orders can ship within 24 hours. Day shift: 6:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Evening shift: 2:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Night shift: 10:00 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. The 30-minute overlap between shifts is for handover. Outgoing team leads will brief incoming leads on unfinished orders and any equipment problems. Night-shift staff will receive a premium of $2.00 per hour on top of their regular wage. Shift choices will be offered by seniority. Please submit your first and second choices on the form in the break room by Friday, February 21. If you have child-care or transportation needs that affect your availability, please speak with Human Resources before February 21 so we can take them into account. Thank you for helping us serve our customers faster.

   What can a reader conclude from the paragraph about child-care and transportation needs in the shift memo?

   1. The company is willing to consider personal circumstances
   2. Human Resources will choose every worker's shift
   3. Workers with children cannot work the night shift
   4. Transportation to the warehouse will be provided

10. Plastic shopping bags are cheap and light. Which is an unintended environmental consequence of their wide use?

    1. Litter that harms wildlife in waterways
    2. Lower prices for groceries at the store
    3. Easier carrying of shopping bags home
    4. Less weight to carry in delivery trucks

11. The chance of rain is 30% on Saturday and 30% on Sunday, independently. What is the chance it rains on both days?

    1. 15%
    2. 60%
    3. 30%
    4. 9%

12. An essay is addressed to a city council. Which sentence has the most suitable tone?

    1. Council totally needs to get it together on buses, seriously.
    2. Anyone who disagrees with me about buses is clueless.
    3. We respectfully ask council to fund more evening bus routes.
    4. Buses are kind of whatever, but maybe add some?

13. Northgate Community Centre — Winter Programs Registration opens Monday, January 6, at 9 a.m. online or at the front desk. Residents of Northgate register first; non-residents may register starting January 13. Learn to Skate (ages 4–8) Saturdays, 10:00–10:45 a.m., 8 weeks. $64. Helmets are required; CSA-approved hockey helmets are accepted. Adult Conversational French Tuesdays, 7:00–8:30 p.m., 10 weeks. $90. Beginner level; no textbook needed. Seniors' Chair Yoga (ages 60+) Mondays and Thursdays, 1:00–2:00 p.m., 8 weeks. $48 for both days or $28 for one day per week. Fee assistance: Households with low incomes may apply for a 50% reduction on program fees. Apply at the front desk with proof of income before registering. Cancellations: Full refunds are given up to seven days before a program starts. After that, refunds are given only with a medical note.

    A family cancels Learn to Skate three days before it starts, with no medical note. Based on the Northgate brochure, what happens?

    1. They do not receive a refund
    2. They are moved to the next session
    3. They receive a 50% refund
    4. They receive a full refund

14. Which factor most often influences which research projects get done?

    1. The weather on the first day
    2. The researcher's birthday
    3. The colour of the laboratory
    4. Available funding

15. In a double-blind study, who knows which participants receive the real treatment during the study?

    1. Only the participants taking part
    2. Only the researchers running it
    3. Everyone involved in the study
    4. Neither participants nor the researchers

16. Find the product of the decimals 6.4 × 0.5.

    1. 3.2
    2. 32
    3. 12.8
    4. 0.32

17. A student tests whether the temperature of water affects how fast sugar dissolves. She uses three beakers with 200 mL of water at 10 °C, 25 °C and 50 °C. In each, she stirs in 10 g of sugar at the same speed and times how long it takes to dissolve. Results: 10 °C: 95 s; 25 °C: 60 s; 50 °C: 28 s.

    In the sugar-dissolving experiment, what is the dependent variable?

    1. Size of the beakers
    2. Time for the sugar to dissolve
    3. Temperature of the water
    4. Speed of stirring

18. Why might two historians describe the same event differently?

    1. One of them must be lying on purpose
    2. They use different sources and perspectives
    3. Only one source exists for every event
    4. History never changes once it is written

19. Interest rates rise. What usually happens to borrowing for homes and cars?

    1. It tends to decrease
    2. It tends to increase sharply because loans cost less
    3. It stops completely because banks close
    4. It stays the same because rates do not affect loans

20. A photo 4.5 cm wide is enlarged by a scale factor of 3. How wide is the enlargement?

    1. 7.5 cm
    2. 1.5 cm
    3. 13.5 cm
    4. 12 cm

21. Choose the correct revision of the words in capitals: "The box of old photos WERE stored in the attic."

    1. was
    2. are being
    3. were
    4. have been

22. Which right is protected by the Charter's mobility rights?

    1. Moving to another country without a passport
    2. Living and working in any province
    3. Driving any vehicle without a licence on public roads
    4. Changing jobs without telling an employer ahead of time

23. Which sentence uses the apostrophe correctly?

    1. The children's coats are hanging by the door.
    2. The childrens coats are hanging by the door.
    3. The children's coat's are hanging by the door.
    4. The childrens' coats are hanging by the door.

24. What should the introduction of a CAEC persuasive essay do?

    1. Present the issue and state a clear position
    2. Avoid saying which side the writer takes
    3. List every argument in full detail
    4. Tell a joke unrelated to the topic

25. Northgate Community Centre — Winter Programs Registration opens Monday, January 6, at 9 a.m. online or at the front desk. Residents of Northgate register first; non-residents may register starting January 13. Learn to Skate (ages 4–8) Saturdays, 10:00–10:45 a.m., 8 weeks. $64. Helmets are required; CSA-approved hockey helmets are accepted. Adult Conversational French Tuesdays, 7:00–8:30 p.m., 10 weeks. $90. Beginner level; no textbook needed. Seniors' Chair Yoga (ages 60+) Mondays and Thursdays, 1:00–2:00 p.m., 8 weeks. $48 for both days or $28 for one day per week. Fee assistance: Households with low incomes may apply for a 50% reduction on program fees. Apply at the front desk with proof of income before registering. Cancellations: Full refunds are given up to seven days before a program starts. After that, refunds are given only with a medical note.

    According to the Northgate brochure, which statement about Learn to Skate is true?

    1. A CSA-approved hockey helmet may be worn
    2. No helmet is needed for beginners
    3. It runs on Tuesday evenings for 10 weeks
    4. It is open to children aged 4 to 12

26. A researcher reports only the trials that supported her idea and leaves out the rest. What is this an example of?

    1. A controlled variable
    2. Random sampling
    3. Selective reporting
    4. Peer review

27. A recipe needs 2 1/4 cups of flour. How much flour is needed for 4 batches?

    1. 6 1/4 cups
    2. 8 cups
    3. 8 1/4 cups
    4. 9 cups

28. Which statement best describes how scientific knowledge develops?

    1. Only famous scientists can add new ideas
    2. Science is a list of facts to memorize
    3. Once published, a theory can never change
    4. Ideas can change when new evidence is found

29. Without a calculator, what is 2/3 + 1/4?

    1. 3/7
    2. 3/12
    3. 11/12
    4. 8/12

30. Which service is usually a municipal responsibility?

    1. Firefighting
    2. Postal delivery to every address
    3. Employment insurance for workers
    4. Criminal law across the country

31. A pattern starts at 5 and adds 3 each time. Which rule gives the nth term?

    1. 5n + 3
    2. n + 3
    3. 3n + 5
    4. 3n + 2

32. The night before her first day at the warehouse, Rosa laid out her clothes the way she used to lay out her children's school clothes: jeans, a grey sweatshirt, the steel-toed boots that still smelled of the store. She was forty-six. She had not had a paycheque of her own in nineteen years. At six-thirty the next morning, the supervisor, a tall man named Okafor, handed her a scanner the size of a brick. "Every box has a story," he said. "This tells you where it's going." Rosa nodded as if she understood. The scanner beeped at her like an impatient bird. By ten o'clock her feet ached and she had sent two boxes to the wrong bay. A young worker named Dylan, who could not have been older than her son, showed her how to tilt the scanner so the red line caught the label. "Took me a week," he said. She doubted that, but she was grateful he said it. At lunch she sat alone in her car and ate the sandwich she had made at five. Through the windshield she watched the trucks back up to the loading doors, one after another, patient as cattle. She thought about driving home. Instead, she went back inside. In the afternoon the scanner stopped sounding like a bird and started sounding like a yes. When the whistle blew at three, Okafor checked her numbers and raised his eyebrows. "Not bad for day one," he said. Rosa drove home with the window down, even though it was October.

    In the warehouse story, what does the change from the scanner sounding "like an impatient bird" to "like a yes" show?

    1. The warehouse became quieter in the afternoon
    2. The scanner was repaired during lunch
    3. Rosa has grown more confident in her work
    4. Rosa has stopped paying attention to sounds

33. Calculate 15 percent of eighty.

    1. 15
    2. 8
    3. 1.2
    4. 12

34. What are the three parts of Canada's Parliament?

    1. The Governor General, the Cabinet and the Supreme Court of Canada
    2. The Sovereign, the Senate and the House of Commons
    3. The Prime Minister, the Cabinet and the provincial premiers together
    4. The Supreme Court, the Senate and the municipal councils of each city

35. What is the capital city of Canada?

    1. Vancouver, the largest city in B.C.
    2. Toronto, the largest city in Ontario
    3. Montréal, the largest city in Quebec
    4. Ottawa

36. The night before her first day at the warehouse, Rosa laid out her clothes the way she used to lay out her children's school clothes: jeans, a grey sweatshirt, the steel-toed boots that still smelled of the store. She was forty-six. She had not had a paycheque of her own in nineteen years. At six-thirty the next morning, the supervisor, a tall man named Okafor, handed her a scanner the size of a brick. "Every box has a story," he said. "This tells you where it's going." Rosa nodded as if she understood. The scanner beeped at her like an impatient bird. By ten o'clock her feet ached and she had sent two boxes to the wrong bay. A young worker named Dylan, who could not have been older than her son, showed her how to tilt the scanner so the red line caught the label. "Took me a week," he said. She doubted that, but she was grateful he said it. At lunch she sat alone in her car and ate the sandwich she had made at five. Through the windshield she watched the trucks back up to the loading doors, one after another, patient as cattle. She thought about driving home. Instead, she went back inside. In the afternoon the scanner stopped sounding like a bird and started sounding like a yes. When the whistle blew at three, Okafor checked her numbers and raised his eyebrows. "Not bad for day one," he said. Rosa drove home with the window down, even though it was October.

    What does the last line of the warehouse story, driving "with the window down, even though it was October," suggest?

    1. Rosa's car heater is broken
    2. Rosa feels free and proud after the day
    3. Rosa wants to hear the trucks again
    4. Rosa is worried about the cold weather

37. Which outline is best organized for a persuasive essay on raising the minimum age for e-scooter rental?

    1. Thesis; safety reason; cost-of-injury reason; counter-argument and reply; conclusion
    2. A story about a scooter ride; a list of scooter brands; then the thesis
    3. Conclusion first; then the thesis; then one reason repeated three times over
    4. Thesis; reasons for both sides given equal space; and no conclusion at all

38. A 13 m ladder leans against a wall with its foot 5 m from the wall. How high up the wall does it reach?

    1. 8 m
    2. 18 m
    3. 12 m
    4. 13.9 m

39. A fair coin is flipped and a fair six-sided die is rolled. What is the probability of heads and a 6?

    1. 1/6
    2. 2/3
    3. 1/8
    4. 1/12

40. Why do scientists try to replicate an experiment done by another lab?

    1. To check that the results hold up when repeated
    2. To make the original results look weaker
    3. To avoid writing their own hypothesis
    4. To copy the other lab's work for credit

41. In what year was the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms entrenched in the Constitution?

    1. 1931
    2. 1982
    3. 1960
    4. 1867

42. The night before her first day at the warehouse, Rosa laid out her clothes the way she used to lay out her children's school clothes: jeans, a grey sweatshirt, the steel-toed boots that still smelled of the store. She was forty-six. She had not had a paycheque of her own in nineteen years. At six-thirty the next morning, the supervisor, a tall man named Okafor, handed her a scanner the size of a brick. "Every box has a story," he said. "This tells you where it's going." Rosa nodded as if she understood. The scanner beeped at her like an impatient bird. By ten o'clock her feet ached and she had sent two boxes to the wrong bay. A young worker named Dylan, who could not have been older than her son, showed her how to tilt the scanner so the red line caught the label. "Took me a week," he said. She doubted that, but she was grateful he said it. At lunch she sat alone in her car and ate the sandwich she had made at five. Through the windshield she watched the trucks back up to the loading doors, one after another, patient as cattle. She thought about driving home. Instead, she went back inside. In the afternoon the scanner stopped sounding like a bird and started sounding like a yes. When the whistle blew at three, Okafor checked her numbers and raised his eyebrows. "Not bad for day one," he said. Rosa drove home with the window down, even though it was October.

    In the warehouse story, which literary device is used in "patient as cattle"?

    1. Simile
    2. Alliteration
    3. Metaphor
    4. Personification

43. Choose the correct revision: "Every applicant must bring THEIR OWN resumes to the interview."

    1. their own resume
    2. their owns resumes
    3. they're own resume
    4. there own resumes

44. Which is a primary source about life in Upper Canada in the 1830s?

    1. A settler's diary written in 1834
    2. A modern film based on settler life
    3. A 2020 textbook chapter about the colony
    4. An encyclopedia article written last year

45. In a test of a new fertilizer, one group of plants gets no fertilizer. What is this group called?

    1. The hypothesis group
    2. The variable group
    3. The control group
    4. The dependent group

46. What is the last step before a bill passed by Parliament becomes law?

    1. A national vote by all citizens
    2. Royal assent
    3. A second reading in the Senate chamber
    4. Approval by the Supreme Court of Canada

47. Let Our Libraries Lend More Than Books When the Riverside branch library began lending tools last spring, some councillors called it a gimmick. They were wrong. In its first six months, the library lent out drills, ladders and sewing machines more than 1,400 times, according to the library's own report. Think about what that means. A family that needs a ladder twice a year no longer has to buy one for $150 and store it in a crowded apartment. A student fixing a bike can borrow a wrench set instead of paying for a repair. Every tool lent is money that stays in a household budget. Critics say the city should not be in the hardware business. But libraries have always lent things people need and cannot easily afford. A century ago that meant books. Today it can also mean a stud finder. The program costs about $12,000 a year, less than one per cent of the library's budget. Council will vote on its future next month. I believe it should not only keep the program but expand it to every branch in the city. A library that lends a ladder is still doing what libraries do best: sharing.

    What is the writer's main purpose in the editorial about the library tool-lending program?

    1. To advertise tools for sale at a local store
    2. To persuade council to keep and expand the program
    3. To explain how to use a stud finder safely
    4. To report on the history of public libraries

48. Two numbers add to 48. One is 6 more than the other. What is the smaller number?

    1. 42
    2. 21
    3. 27
    4. 24

49. An L-shaped room is a 10 m × 6 m rectangle with a 4 m × 3 m corner cut out. What is its area?

    1. 60 m²
    2. 72 m²
    3. 39 m²
    4. 48 m²

50. Why did many early towns in Canada grow along rivers and lakes?

    1. Rivers kept all insects away from the towns
    2. Laws required towns to be built near water
    3. Lakes made winters much warmer everywhere
    4. Water was used for transportation and trade