Source-Based Writing Task (Level 4) — Practice Test 1
Thời gian: 75 phút
Dạng bài: Đọc 2 văn bản + 1 thống kê → Viết 2 đoạn văn
Đoạn 1: So sánh ý tưởng trong 2 văn bản (~150 từ)
Đoạn 2: Ý kiến cá nhân (~100 từ)
Cách thi: In đề, đọc trên màn hình, viết trên giấy, rồi chép bài vào máy
Source-Based Writing Task (Level 4) — Practice Test 1
Time: 75 minutes | Topic: Public Space, Symbols, and the Machines Learning to Read Them
Text A: The Return of the Public Square
For decades, urban planners in many advanced economies focused public investment on private amenities — shopping malls, gyms, individual gardens — while public squares, parks and community centres received less funding. Recent research suggests this priority may have been a mistake. A large survey of residents across several rural and urban regions found that access to a well-maintained public square was one of the strongest predictors of both mental well-being and a sense of community, more powerful in some cases than income itself. Advocates argue that a good square does one simple function: it gives people of different backgrounds a reason to be in the same place at the same time, without requiring them to spend money. Some cities have gone further, turning their public squares into deliberately multicultural spaces. A weekly market in one major square now hosts food stalls representing dozens of nations, and organisers report that trade at the market has boosted local business profit while giving residents from different communities a shared reason to gather. City guidelines for the square are updated each year based on resident feedback, and officials say the process must remain sensitive to smaller, less visible communities as well as the traders who generate the most attention. Multiple independent evaluations of the square, commissioned after it was founded, illustrate a consistent pattern: engagement rises sharply whenever the programming reflects more than one culture at once. Critics warn, however, that a square designed only for markets and events can start to feel less like a neutral, open-to-all space and more like a managed attraction, subtly excluding residents who cannot afford to shop there.
Text B: Smart Signage: How Cities Are Teaching Machines to Read Their Own Streets
City governments are increasingly investing in smart signage: physical signs whose key design elements — shape, colour, and proportion — are chosen so that both people and machines can read them. Delivery robots and self-driving shuttles are now common enough in some pilot districts that planners must ask an unusual design question: is this symbol explicit enough for a camera, not only for a person? Engineers say the answer often requires them to promote simpler, bolder icons than earlier generations of street signage, since an artificial vision system is far less capable of resolving fine detail than the human eye in poor light or heavy rain. Residents can opt out of location logging near these signs, though few have chosen to do so. The consequence, according to one transport agency, has been a citywide sign audit: any symbol judged to resemble another too closely, or to depend on knowledge a machine cannot reasonably be expected to have, is being replaced. Supporters call this an inevitable and worthwhile step, arguing that consistent signage is a shared resource that benefits everyone, human or automated, and that the prospect of fewer accidents outweighs the modest cost of new signs. Critics reply that treating every street as a training ground for machine vision, before the wisdom of the approach has been properly tested at scale, is premature and could turn ordinary residents into unpaid test subjects for private companies.
Statistic
According to a 2024 UN-Habitat report, cities with more publicly accessible squares per capita report violent-crime rates roughly 18 percent lower than comparable cities with fewer such spaces.
Task
Read the two texts and the statistic above. Then complete the following tasks:
Paragraph 1 — Comparison (~150 words)
Write ONE paragraph comparing the ideas in the two texts. You should analyse the relationships between the ideas in the sources (e.g., similarities, differences, cause and effect). Use your own words as much as possible.
Paragraph 2 — Personal Opinion (~100 words)
Write ONE paragraph giving and fully explaining your own opinion on the ideas in the sources. You should refer to the statistic in your response.