Hannah, a training coordinator, meets with all the trainers in her organization to
generate ideas about how to make their training sessions more interactive. She asks the
trainers to begin by sharing all their ideas, without thinking about whether the ideas are
relevant. She writes these ideas down on a white board. She says that once they have
generated as many ideas as they can, she will zero in on the most useful ones. This
scenario best illustrates the process of:
A. editing.
B. bypassing.
C. freewriting.
D. brainstorming.
E. proofreading.
Answer:
The best way for an applicant to demonstrate knowledge about a company in a job
application letter is by:
A. providing relevant evidence to support claims that the applicant can do the job.
B. presenting information about the company, as though it will be news to the reader.
C. highlighting the job responsibilities the applicant had in a previous job.
D. making the job application letter general enough so that it can be sent to a number
of different companies.
E. repeating the knowledge learned from the company website and other sources.
Answer:
Which of the following is a good practice when finding stories to tell through visuals?
A. Simplify the data on a selected topic and convert numbers to easy-to-understand
units.
B. Present all of the data collected, discuss what is relevant, and allow the audience to
interpret the rest on their own.
C. Combine the data from several important stories into one visual.
D. Tell all of the stories that a data set allows in order not to waste any information.
E. Focus on all the stories and topics related to the primary topic of research.
Answer:
Team leaders practicing informational leadership are most likely to:
A. check if tasks are carried out.
B. check and resolve conflicts.
C. check people’s feelings.
D. set the agenda.
E. evaluate text and ideas.
Answer:
Which of the following best defines boilerplate?
A. It refers to sentences and words from old documents that you use in a new
document without crediting the original writer.
B. It refers to the creation of original content by a writer and the protection of this
content through a copyright statement.
C. It refers to using the language from a previous document that a writer legitimately
adds in a new document.
D. It refers to using someone else’s work and passing it off as your own.
E. It refers to the inaccessibility of a piece of writing because it has strict plagiarism
rules.
Answer:
Which of the following is a guideline that should be followed while using colors and
decorative devices?
A. Using colors to highlight minor points or information in the body of a text
B. Using as many highlighting devices as possible to make the document look
appealing
C. Analyzing an audience before making color choices because meanings of colors
may vary
D. Avoiding the usage of color to highlight points because it deemphasizes remaining
information
E. Using a lot of decorative devices to make a document attractive to the audience
Answer:
Mildred Gilbert is the head of the production department at Nebula Inc. He exhibits the
characteristics of a judging type of person according to the Myers-Briggs typology. In
this context, Gilbert would expect his subordinates to:
A. work with multiple solution alternatives when making decisions.
B. exhibit flexibility and spontaneity in solving problems.
C. keep all solution options open as long as possible.
D. work toward making a decision in a planned and an orderly way.
E. seek lots of information before making decisions.
Answer:
Which of the following should be undertaken while creating disciplinary notices?
A. Present them directly to increase their importance.
B. Present them by starting and ending with a positive statement.
C. Minimize the severity of an issue with the help of buffers.
D. Use generalizations and inferences for all statements made.
E. Avoid citing quantifiable observations of the employee’s behavior.
Answer:
Which of the following statements is true about bar charts as visuals or data displays?
A. Bar charts are hard to interpret because they ask people to compare distance along
different scales.
B. Bar charts can be used to show correlations and to compare items over time.
C. Bar charts are not used for comparing one item to another.
D. Bar charts should use the three-dimensional (3D) perspective to make comparison
easier.
E. Bar charts should always use different colors for different meanings.
Answer:
Stuart and his team are troubled by the behavior of one of their team members, Anna,
who has not been doing her fair share of the work. She does not seem to care about
helping the team meet its target. Which of the following is an effective way for Stuart
and his team to handle this conflict with Anna?
A. They should ask Anna to leave the team without asking for explanations about her
behavior.
B. They should tell Anna that her contribution is a must if she wants to remain in the
team.
C. They should make team decisions unilaterally so that Anna does not feel pressured.
D. They should be sure that they are respecting what Anna is capable of contributing.
E. They should assign other people’s tasks to Anna so that the new tasks give her
incentive to perform.
Answer:
Which of the following guidelines should be followed while editing a document?
A. The editing process should always be followed by the revision process.
B. The editing process should ensure that there is subject-verb and noun-pronoun
agreement.
C. Acknowledgements should not be made when information is borrowed from outside
the organization.
D. A spell-check should be performed instead of manual proofreading.
E. The editing process must not make changes in language.
Answer:
Elisa, a student working for her school journal, is conducting a rough pretest of a survey
to determine the maximum amount students are willing to pay for the journal. She
distributes the survey questionnaire to the first 20 students who walk into the union
room. The sample she is using is typically called a _____.
A. quota sample
B. random sample
C. stratified sample
D. convenience sample
E. census
Answer:
Maria lives in a country where most of the information is inferred from social
relationships and little is explicitly conveyed. A large portion of the power structure is
dominated by women, and the culture emphasizes group goals over individual goals.
According to anthropologist Edward Hall, which of the following types of cultures does
this country reflect?
A. Monochronic culture
B. High-context culture
C. Masculine culture
D. Individualist culture
E. Power-driven culture
Answer:
Fernando is concerned about an intersection near his house that has been the cause of a
few minor accidents in the neighborhood. Cars tend to speed at the turn and collide with
vehicles approaching from the other direction. Fernando decides to request the Traffic
Committee Board of his neighborhood place a stop sign at the intersection, but he is
aware that they are generally not very receptive to inputs from the residents. Which of
the following subject lines is most likely to ensure that his audience listens to his
arguments?
A. “The dangers of intersection number 12 are being overlooked by the committee”
B. “Reasons why intersection number 12 is dangerous and requires immediate action”
C. “Arguments on the importance of a stop sign at intersection number 12”
D. “Proposal to place a stop sign at intersection number 12”
E. “Urgent requirement of a stop sign in our neighborhood”
Answer:
_____ reports document the causes of a failure or possible products that are not
economically or technically feasible under current conditions.
A. Trip
B. Closure
C. Accident
D. Interim
E. Credit
Answer:
When opening an oral presentation, you should ideally:
A. share jokes directed against the audience to draw their attention.
B. explain why you are qualified to speak on the topic.
C. summarize the five vital points of your presentation.
D. capture the audience’s interest and establish a rapport with them.
E. begin by reading information out loud from your notes or references.
Answer:
Pablo is a fresh college graduate. He is eager to impress with his job application letter
and wants it to stand out among all the other letters the employers receive. Which of the
following could separate him from other applicants applying for the same position?
A. His knowledge of the company
B. A list of his job responsibilities, not accomplishments
C. A generic description of himself
D. An exaggerated discussion of his strengths
E. His “complete” knowledge of the field he is applying to
Answer:
Which of the following best describes credibility?
A. It is the illogical advice you provide.
B. It is the reason you offer to prove your solution is best.
C. It is the exaggerated opinion that supports your idea.
D. It is the common error you make in an opening statement.
E. It is the audience’s response to you as the source of the message.
Answer:
Regarding nonsexist language, which of the following is true of courtesy titles for
women?
A. Irrespective of whether a woman is married or single, address her as “Miss.”
B. When you happen to know that a woman is married, always address her as “Mrs.”
C. If a woman types her name in a certain way, use the title she designates to herself to
address her.
D. No matter how a woman introduces herself on the phone, always respond by
addressing her as “Miss.”
E. If a woman has a professional title, use a different title than you would use for a man
in the same profession.
Answer:
Melissa works as an assistant editor at a publishing house in Manhattan. Since she
resides 15 miles away from her workplace, she spends a lot of time travelling. As a
result, she barely finds time to spend with her children. She intends to talk to her
manager to ask him if she could work from home for a few days a week. Which of the
following would be a good common ground for Melissa to propose?
A. Making time for family
B. Strengthening personal relationships
C. Preventing travel woes
D. Increasing productivity
E. Finding time for household work
Answer:
Which of the following is true of using notes in an oral presentation?
A. You should use key phrases in your notes to help you if you go blank during your
presentation.
B. While delivering your presentation, you should focus most of your attention on your
notes.
C. While delivering your presentation, you should direct your gaze at the screen and
not the audience.
D. While delivering your presentation, you should hold your note cards very low, so
that the audience cannot view them.
E. You should prepare your notes so that you can read directly from them during the
presentation.
Answer:
Which of the following guidelines should be followed while writing business plans?
A. Aligning the business plan idea to meet the writer’s crucial needs
B. Using me-attitude to demonstrate confidence in one’s project
C. Having a vague, lengthy beginning listing out all details
D. Highlighting the needs the project will meet for the funding organization
E. Skipping the executive summary which investors find unnecessary
Answer:
Arisa constructs a line graph to depict the increasing productivity of her team members
over the past year. She puts time on the vertical axis and productivity on the horizontal
axis. She labels both the axis, and also gives a title to the graph. She does not use
perspectives, because she feels that they will make the values difficult to read. When
she presents her graph to her manager, he is dissatisfied, because it does not show him
what he needs to know. Which of the following is the most likely reason for his
dissatisfaction with the graph?
A. She has depicted time on the vertical axis, not the horizontal axis.
B. She has labeled the axis when she shouldn’t have.
C. She has used a line graph instead of a pie chart.
D. She has used less than three lines in the graph.
E. She has avoided the use of perspectives.
Answer:
Sylvia, a manager at a media company, is faced with an ethical dilemma. She is
required to decide whether to fire one of her team members because of his ethical
misconduct. To make the decision, she primarily considers whether her decision would
still be good if she was one of those negatively impacted by it. According to Michael
Davis’s system for ethical decision making, which of the following tests for options is
Sylvia primarily using?
A. Harm
B. Publicity
C. Defensibility
D. Organization
E. Self-application
Answer:
Bernardo creates a written presentation in which he depicts most of his numerical data
in black-and-white graphs. He uses as few lines as necessary and uses stripes and wavy
lines to indicate different segments. He does not add any clip art to the graph. He
strictly avoids using chartjunk. Which of the following should Bernardo do to improve
the quality of his graphs further?
A. He should use more chartjunk to decorate the graph.
B. He should use more lines, because they increase clarity.
C. He should add clip art to the graph to make it more relevant.
D. He should use shades of grey instead of stripes and wavy lines.
E. He should try to convert the graph into a picture to make it more artistic.
Answer:
Which of the following is a disadvantage of e-mails?
A. It is expensive.
B. It is time-consuming.
C. It does not create a paper trial.
D. It can be sent to only one person at a time.
E. It can lead to misinterpretation of sarcasm and irony.
Answer:
Which of the following is true about information overload?
A. It is a secondary purpose of informative and positive messages.
B. It is made up of crucial data such as annual reports which tend to be lengthy.
C. It makes people become selective about the messages they open and read.
D. It is desirable, because it keeps people informed about vital happenings.
E. It is a strategy to make employees in a company more efficient and productive.
Answer:
Which of the following can make your résumé look busy?
A. Using enough spacing
B. Using vertical lists
C. Using many fonts
D. Using white space to group items
E. Using bulleted points
Answer:
Jovina, a delivery manager, is required to inform a client that she will not be able to
make his delivery by the required date. Her company has been dealing with a labor
strike, which will delay the delivery by almost a week. Since Jovina has a good
relationship with this client, she expects him to understand. In which of the following
ways should Jovina put across the negative message to her client?
A. She should first inform him about the strike and then state that the delivery will be
delayed.
B. She should clearly and unemotionally tell him that there might be a delay in
delivery, but she should not provide any other information.
C. She should begin by telling him that one of her team members had forgotten to
inform her of the delivery date.
D. She should mention the delay at least a few times in the body to ensure the message
is clear to him.
E. She should end her message with an apology and a statement of regret.
Answer:
_____ refers to checking if a document is free from typographical errors.
A. Revising
B. Brainstorming
C. Freewriting
D. Proofreading
E. Clustering
Answer:
Which of the following makes a good buffer for a negative message?
A. Putting the reader in a less positive frame of mind
B. Stating a specific principle
C. Starting with the bad news
D. Implying a positive
E. Thanking the reader for something he or she has done
Answer:
Abigail, who is working on the “Clean Energy” campaign, needs to write a business
plan to install solar power panels in 30 villages of Jakarta. The section of the report that
the funding agency will read to make initial decisions about her proposal is the:
A. background/history.
B. executive summary.
C. conclusion.
D. appendix.
E. body.
Answer:
While writing your report, if you are unable to prove the claim you originally hoped to
make:
A. manipulate the data to support you original claim.
B. discard the report completely and start afresh on new findings.
C. modify your conclusions such that they fit your data to make a useful report.
D. skip the recommendations and conclusions section to let the audience draw their
own findings.
E. suggest an anti-hypothesis for further study.
Answer:
Which of the following is considered good etiquette during an onsite interview that
involves a meal?
A. Taking large bites and completing your meal soon so that you can resume your
interview
B. Accepting alcohol at lunch and dinner but never having more than two drinks
C. Eating a light meal, so that you don’t feel drowsy during the interview
D. Sitting in a very relaxed position, so that the interviewer thinks you are not nervous
E. Leaning forward with your arms on the table, since it shows positive body language
Answer:
Which of the following best represents a polychronic culture?
A. Employees follow strict work schedules according to clock time.
B. Employees give importance to establishing bonds between colleagues.
C. Employees undertake one task at a time and avoid multitasking.
D. Employees maintain a rigid structure of undertaking activities.
E. Employees divide time into small segments and assign tasks accordingly.
Answer: