Listening is widely considered to be one of the most important communication skills.
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Research findings should be organized by the source of information.
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All routine messages involve requests or questions.
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Asking “What do you think?” at the end of a presentation is not recommended, as it is
too simple a question to move the discussion forward.
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The HR department sends out a memo to all department heads in the company, detailing
the new mentoring program the company is planning to implement. The department
heads discuss the new initiative with the supervisors who report to them at their
monthly meeting. According to this information the department heads are the primary
audience of the message but the supervisors are not part of the secondary audience
because they did not receive a physical copy of the memo.
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Podcasts can be played online through streaming media or can be downloaded and
played from your own computer or mobile device.
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If you’re pressed for time, it’s a good idea to skip the analysis step and jump ahead to
composing your message.
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In addition to serving as a persuasive tool, a sales proposal often serves as a sales
contract.
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All request messages should always use the direct organizational approach.
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The rise of social media puts additional pressure on businesses to handle bad-news
messages well.
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By showing appreciation and acknowledging team members’ contributions, you can
persuade team members to continue working at a high level.
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While face-to-face surveys increase the likelihood that participants will respond
because of personal contact, they are time-consuming to conduct.
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Sales messages typically require persuasion to influence and motivate the audience.
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Analyzing is crucial to developing a message that supports your business goals and
positively affects audience reaction.
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A cover message introduces the audience to the proposal.
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Because of the easy accessibility of online information, books have become obsolete for
research purposes.
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All cultures around the world interpret facial expressions the same way.
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You can control the placement of page numbers in your document by inserting headers
or footers.
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While answering questions from people in the front of the room, the presenter should
lower his or her voice.
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Within Indian culture, saying “no” without actually saying it is considered evasive.
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The evaluating process does not end when you have delivered the report.
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Unsolicited proposals usually take the form of a letter, memo, or email.
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Dylan is creating a proposal to ask his supervisor to invest in some new software and
hardware for their department. Dylan doesn’t need to worry about making his proposal
very convincing or detailed, because casual and unstructured proposals are acceptable
for all internal proposals.
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When composing a business message, you should always work in a quiet location.
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Listening comprehension refers to how well you hear what is being said.
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A presenter should avoid speaking slowly, especially at the beginning of the
presentation.
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One option for promoting your web-, video-, or e-portfolio is to create a QR (Quick
Response) code an image that embeds a hyperlink that can be scanned by a smartphone
application.
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While dressing for an interview, make sure that your shoes are as dark or darker than
your suit.
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Since communication skills, like speaking and writing, are so important, most of people
in the workplace master them.
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You can use the concept of “AIDA” in your cover letters to sell yourself to an employer.
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________ is the process of influencing your audience to agree with your point of view,
recommendation, or request.
A) Coercion
B) Persuasion
C) Active listening
D) Encoding
E) Channeling
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When listing educational information on your résumé, ________.
A) always include it near the bottom of the résumé
B) list only schools from which you have received (or will receive) a degree
C) if you have several stops and starts in pursuit of a single degree, list all the
institutions along the way
D) if you are a transfer student, be sure to list the school where you earned credits but
did not graduate
E) never include your grade point average
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Alexander is going to appear for an interview at Heldring Inc., a consulting firm which
is owned by only two partners and not listed on a stock exchange. He is preparing for
the interview by researching about the company.
Alexander can look for financial information about Heldring Inc., through ________.
A) MarketWatch
B) Yahoo! Finance
C) Standard & Poors
D) Hoover’s Handbook of Private Companies
E) Kiplinger’s
Answer:
Amy is preparing for her first interview. She knows that the dress code at the company
is business casual, but no one there has given her any instructions on how to dress for
the meeting.
Amy asks you to help her decide what she should wear. Which of the following would
be the best advice to give her?
A) Amy should strive to express her personality through clothing and accessories.
B) Amy may safely assume that casual attire is appropriate for the interview.
C) Amy should wear a bold accessory like a loud patterned scarf or distinct piece of
jewelry.
D) Amy’s interview outfit should be a set rather than a mixed-matched top and bottom.
E) Amy should avoid wearing close-toed and closed-heel shoes.
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Assume that the choices given below for effective communication are in the form of a
sequential list of items that are each preceded by a bullet point. According to the rules
for formatting important lists, which of the following steps is NOT grammatically
parallel to the others?
A) select best medium for message
B) determine audience needs
C) the purpose of the message should be determined
D) anticipate questions and potential objections
E) identify desired outcome
Answer:
With the rise of social media, the controlling of bad news ________.
A) is done only by external public relations professionals
B) has become less important
C) is only handled by corporate communication professionals
D) can be done by all employees
E) has become mandatory by law
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Jane needs to create a presentation to teach her coworkers how to work with the new
database system. This means that her presentation will be ________.
A) informational
B) persuasive
C) instructional
D) collaborative
E) anecdotal
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________ interviews require applicants to perform under work-based conditions.
A) Traditional one-on-one
B) Telephone
C) Panel
D) Action
E) Virtual
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What is the purpose of your proposal?
A) to conduct a social gathering for small children
B) to highlight the importance of reading to the whole community
C) to teach children some effective reading techniques
D) to determine the average literacy level among children
E) to bring more potential customers into the store
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Which of the following is an example of confirmation?
A) alerting customers about a sale
B) informing your employees about a promotion within your department
C) notifying the public about job opportunities in your company
D) sharing new terms of service with your customers
E) acknowledging that you have received the files that your client sent
Answer:
Connor’s supervisor asks him to analyze whether their plan to start web-based retailing
can be implemented as proposed. His supervisor is asking Connor for a(n) ________.
A) trip report
B) feasibility report
C) progress report
D) compliance report
E) investigation report
Answer:
To remain competitive, businesses need to ________.
A) change their procedures and policies in response to customer needs and the state of
the economy
B) give the appearance of change while maintaining the status quo
C) remain faithful to their tried and true methodologies even in the face of changing
demands from their clients and the economy
D) change their procedures and policies every few years, even if customer needs and
the economy don’t warrant it
E) avoid change until it is absolutely necessary, as it can be very disruptive to the way
an organization is run
Answer:
With reference to Cialdini’s techniques for appealing to emotion, which of the following
is most likely to be involved in the technique of scarcity?
A) including names and testimonials
B) reminding your audience that they have made similar decisions in the past
C) highlighting the exclusivity of your offer
D) showing that you appreciate your audience
E) giving people a gift
Answer:
A ________ compares multiple items according to a single characteristic.
A) frequency polygon
B) line chart
C) horizontal bar chart
D) histograph
E) paired bar chart
Answer:
Which of the following types of fallacies involves supporting an idea by comparing it to
something that is not comparable?
A) false analogy
B) red herring
C) false dilemma
D) ad hominem attack
E) hasty generalization
Answer:
A speaker says, “We need to wait for Kelly to meet with Amanda in accounting. Once
she gives us the answer we will get the report out within four hours.” Which of the
following would do the most to clarify the meaning of the statements above?
A) the speaker substituting “her” for ‘she”
B) the listener asking, “Who is Kelly’s supervisor?”
C) the speaker substituting “one of the accountants” for “Amanda”
D) the listener asking, “Will Kelly or Amanda provide us with the answer?”
E) the speaker substituting “ASAP” for “within four hours”
Answer:
Stacey runs a small technology company. She has tried to retain all her staff, but her
business is losing money and she has no alternative but to let several employees go.
These workers are professional, loyal, and highly effective, but Stacey can no longer
bear the expense of their salaries and benefits. She feels terrible about letting these
employees go, and even somewhat guilty that she couldn’t improve the bottom line
enough to save their jobs. As the business is a technology company, much of the
communication is done via email, text messaging, etc.
While thinking about how to deliver the bad news, Stacey considers letting the
employees know via a text message. In this case, which of the following statements is
most accurate regarding the use of text messages?
A) While Stacey may justify using a text message to fire the employees since, as a
technology company, the staff is comfortable with that medium, it would be more
appropriate to deliver the news in person.
B) Stacey should use a text message to deliver the message, since delivering the
message in such a way will make it easier for her to sugarcoat the bad news.
C) While the employees might find this method impersonal, there are no other
repercussions that Stacey might face as a result of using a text message to fire the
employees.
D) It would be appropriate since it allows Stacey to quickly deliver the news while also
avoiding a potentially uncomfortable situation.
E) This method will be appropriate because employees would always prefer to receive
bad news via a text message.
Answer:
A copyright marking ________.
A) is legally required for all slides in all presentations
B) should always be included in the header of a slide
C) is a common convention that serves no real purpose
D) is occasionally done but is not recommended
E) indicates that the slide is a part of the report deck that you or your company
produced
Answer:
Jamie is writing an unsolicited cover letter to a company that she would like to work
for. She should ________.
A) just name the position she is interested in applying for
B) avoid ending her cover letter by requesting an interview
C) try to send the letter to someone in the company with whom she is connected to
through her professional network
D) find a sample of an unsolicited cover letter and cut and paste its text into a new
document so she can just change her name and the position title
E) avoid outlining her skills in the cover letter as the skills will be listed in the résumé.
Answer:
If you are preparing a report for readers who are not native English speakers, which of
the following would be best to include?
A) Signage installation is regulated, so we must obtain a permit.
B) We will need to get a permit before we can put up a sign.
C) Due to the local regulatory environment, we will need to procure a permit in
advance of installing our signage.
D) Local regulations forbid the installation of signage without prior approval.
E) In order to mount our signs as planned, we will need to get authorization in advance.
Answer:
Courtney chooses a letter format and uses a formal tone for the proposal she is creating.
Most likely ________.
A) this is a sales proposal which is around ten pages long
B) this is a proposal of less than a paragraph to the administrative department in her
company
C) it is an internal proposal for a coworker with whom she has worked closely before
D) it is an internal proposal of less than a page to her supervisor
E) this is an external proposal to a new client that is two or three pages long
Answer:
________, or citing your sources, is a key part of all writing in academia and most
professional writing.
A) Paraphrasing
B) Plagiarizing
C) Abstracting
D) Quoting
E) Documenting
Answer:
Candace is getting ready to attend her first career fair. She knows that you have already
been to several career fairs, so she asks you to help her prepare.
How should Candace follow up after the career fair?
A) Candace should text a brief message to all the recruiters she spoke with, saying how
much she enjoyed meeting them.
B) Candace should write a good formal thank you letter, and mail copies of it to the
recruiters whose companies she is particularly interested in.
C) Candace should send short, personalized email messages thanking the recruiters she
met with for their time, and reiterating her interest in their specific positions.
D) Candace should write a generic email thanking the recruiters for their time, and
include names of all of the recruiters she spoke with in cc.
E) Candace should send an email saying thank you to all the recruiters with whom she
spoke and avoid attaching a copy of her résumé since the recruiters already have it.
Answer:
In business presentations, when presenting as a team, ________.
A) everyone on the team must participate equally in the presentation
B) avoid introducing the next presenter
C) interrupt immediately if a teammate forgets to mention a point
D) practice transitions from person to person
E) be prepared to present your own slides only
Answer:
Which of the following is an example of an external source?
A) memos sent to the employees of the company
B) financial reports published by the company
C) company databases
D) experts within the company
E) industry journals
Answer:
________ are any phrases, sentences, paragraphs even single, distinctive words that you
take from any of your sources.
A) Paraphrases
B) Quotations
C) Summaries
D) Citations
E) Footnotes
Answer:
A hearing loss is an example of a ________ barrier.
A) psychologic
B) semantic
C) language
D) physiological
E) mixed message
Answer:
Anya is creating a formal report on whether her company should expand into a new
product line.
Anya’s report is 60 pages. She is including an executive summary that is twelve pages
long. This is ________.
A) too long; for a report of this length an executive summary should only be about six
pages
B) too long; an executive summary should always be a maximum of five pages
C) too short; for a report of this length an executive summary should be about 18 pages
D) too short; an executive summary should always be a minimum of 20 pages
E) the correct length of the executive summary for this report
Answer:
You need to tell one of the vendors, Greg, that his performance lately has not been up to
your expectations. Which of the following statements would be best to use in a message
delivering this bad news?
A) You have failed to live up to our expectations.
B) During the last quarter your performance has failed to satisfy.
C) Recent results have not met the standards agreed upon at the outset of our
relationship.
D) We are not at all pleased with the way you have done your job in recent months.
E) You have disappointed us and you need to improve your performance dramatically.
Answer:
________ refers to the learned and shared patterns in a society.
A) Context
B) Ethics
C) Collaboration
D) Professionalism
E) Culture
Answer:
Which of the following must be avoided on an interview day?
A) You should present yourself in the reception area a minute or two after your
appointment time, so as not to appear too eager.
B) If time permits, you should use the restroom prior to your interview.
C) It’s a good idea to determine in advance how long it will take you to get to the
interview location, so you can plan an appropriate departure time.
D) If you arrive more than 10 minutes early, you should wait outside the reception area,
so you don’t make the interviewer feel obligated to meet with you ahead of schedule.
E) You should enter the reception area about 10 minutes before your scheduled
interview appointment.
Answer: