Final test
Every chapter tested, one capstone client file and two drafting tasks
Work saves locally in this browser
How the final test works
Read this before you start. It takes two minutes.
What is in the test
- There are 114 scored items. Sections 2 to 4 test chapters 1 to 11 evenly: nine items from every chapter, 99 in all. Section 5 is a capstone reading with 15 items. Section 6 has two short drafting tasks that your teacher marks.
- Every item in sections 2 to 4 carries a chip, for example Ch 4, that shows the chapter it comes from. Your result is broken down by chapter in the same way.
- Each exercise has a Check exercise button. Checking marks the exercise and locks it, so answer every item first. In sections 2 to 4, a wrong answer then shows a short clue that points back to the chapter, not the answer itself.
- In the word-building items, type one word or phrase. Capital letters and a final full stop do not matter, and British and American spellings are both accepted where both are correct.
- Your answers save in this browser as you work. Nothing is sent anywhere, and you can close the page and come back in the same browser.
- When you have finished, go to section 7 and press Finish test. You will see your total, a score for each section and each chapter, a level band and a list of the chapters to revisit.
Legal vocabulary and precision
Choose the term, distinction or reading point that each item tests.
Word building and key phrases
Produce the word form, collocation or fixed phrase that completes each sentence.
True or false
Decide whether each statement is accurate according to the chapter it comes from.
Capstone reading: one client, five problems
A board briefing that draws on charterparties, environmental law, leases, company law and employment law.
Before you start
Read the whole briefing once without answering. Then complete the gaps in Exercise 5a and answer Exercise 5b. The drafting tasks in section 6 use the same facts, so keep the briefing in mind.
Capstone reading: board briefing for Meridian Bunkering Ltd
Meridian Bunkering Ltd supplies marine fuel to ships calling at a Mediterranean port. It operates from a leased quayside depot and uses chartered tankers to bring fuel from the refinery terminal. This briefing summarises five matters on which the board seeks advice before its meeting on 20 October. It is preliminary, and no view on liability should be drawn from it.
1. The charter dispute. Under a voyage charter of the tanker M/T Coral Wren, the master (1) notice of readiness at 06:00 on 14 May. The owners now claim demurrage for 41 hours (2) the laytime allowed. Meridian contends that the vessel’s cargo pumps had failed, so that she was not physically ready and the notice was invalid. The charterparty contains an arbitration clause, so the dispute is likely to be (3) to a tribunal rather than decided by a court. The statement of facts, pumping records and port log may prove decisive and should be secured now.
2. The compliance notice. In August, fuel oil leaked from a depot pipeline into the harbour. Last week the environmental regulator served a compliance notice requiring Meridian to investigate the source and (4) the affected foreshore within 28 days. Under the polluter-pays principle, the costs of preventing and making good environmental damage are generally (5) to the responsible operator. The regulator must nevertheless act within the powers conferred on it by legislation, and the evidence linking the leak to Meridian’s own pipeline has yet to be tested.
3. The lease. The landlord has written to say that the leak may amount to a breach of the tenant’s covenant to comply with environmental law, and has (6) all its rights. Any reply should avoid admissions. The lease also contains a break clause, the effect of (7) may depend on precise compliance with the conditions attached to it. No break notice should be served until those conditions have been checked. The lease also prohibits assignment without the landlord’s consent.
4. The board. A regional fuel distributor has offered to acquire the depot business. One director, Mr Galea, is also a director of that distributor, and he should (8) that interest to the board before the offer is discussed. If the depot business is sold, the buyer can be expected to seek warranties and an indemnity in respect of the leak, and, depending on how the sale is structured, depot staff may transfer to the buyer. Notice of the meeting should reach every director. Because cash flow is tight, the directors should also bear in mind that, where insolvency threatens, their focus may shift towards the interests of (9).
5. The workforce. Management proposes to reduce the depot workforce by 22 roles. Depending on the numbers involved and the applicable law, the company may be required to (10) employee representatives in good time, before any final decision on dismissals is taken. Selection criteria should be objective and applied consistently.
Next steps. We recommend that the board treat the 28-day deadline as the most urgent item, preserve all evidence relating to the leak and the voyage, and take no irreversible step on the lease, the sale or the redundancies until the documents have been reviewed.
Drafting: advise on the Meridian file
Two short professional texts, based only on the facts in the briefing.
Task 6a
Advice email to the client
150 to 180 words
You are an associate at the firm that prepared the briefing. Meridian’s managing director, Ms Daniela Farrugia, writes: ‘The board meets on 20 October. What should we do this week, and what should we avoid doing?’ Write an email to Ms Farrugia advising her on the immediate priorities. Use only the facts in the briefing and do not give a final view on liability.
Checklist
- Open with the purpose of the email and make clear that the advice is preliminary, with no conclusion on liability.
- Identify the 28-day compliance notice as the most urgent item and ask for the evidence relating to the leak to be preserved.
- Deal accurately with at least two further issues (charter dispute, lease, Mr Galea’s conflict, redundancies), using hedged language.
- Include at least one clear instruction (Please arrange…) and one warning against an irreversible step (Please do not… until…).
- Close with a specific request or next step (documents, deadline) and a professional sign-off.
Task 6b
Internal memo comparing two options
150 to 180 words
Your supervising partner, Ms Mifsud, asks for a short internal memo before she meets the board. The board will choose between Option A, selling the depot business to the regional fuel distributor of which Mr Galea is a director, and Option B, keeping the depot and reducing the workforce. Meridian remains the addressee of the compliance notice whichever option is chosen. Write a memo comparing the advantages and risks of the two options and giving a provisional recommendation.
Checklist
- Use memo headings (To, From, Re) and give each option its own section.
- Give at least one advantage and at least two risks for each option.
- Deal correctly with Mr Galea’s conflict and the need to show that the price is fair.
- Refer accurately to at least two other legal points from the briefing (landlord’s consent to assignment, the compliance notice, duties towards the workforce, staff transferring to a buyer, warranties or an indemnity, directors’ duties where insolvency threatens).
- End with a provisional, conditional recommendation (provided that, subject to, pending).
- Keep a concise internal register, without client-facing courtesies.
Your result
Your score updates each time you check an exercise. Press Finish test when you have done everything.
By section
By chapter
No result yet. Check your exercises, then press Finish test.
End of the course
Where to go from here.
Teacher’s answer key
Answers, notes, sources, model answers and the marking rubric.
Final test answer key
Using the final test
- PurposeChapter 12 closes the series. Sections 2 to 4 sample every chapter evenly: nine items per chapter (four vocabulary and precision, three word building, two true or false), 99 in all. Section 5 combines a voyage charter, an environmental compliance notice, a lease, a director’s conflict and a redundancy proposal in one client file, and section 6 turns that file into two drafting tasks.
- Bands97 to 114: C1 range, the course is consolidated; set extended drafting and use the flagged chapters as revision. 80 to 96: secure B2; revisit the flagged chapters and redo their writing tasks. 57 to 79: B2 threshold; work back through the flagged chapters, starting with their vocabulary exercises, before a retake. Below 57: start again from chapter 1 with the core vocabulary. The cut-offs are the placement test’s 85, 70 and 50 percent applied to 114 items. Moderate every band with the drafting marks.
- Chapters to revisitThe result lists every chapter below 60 percent with a link to it. With nine items per chapter, that means five correct or fewer. Treat one chapter’s figure as a pointer, not a diagnosis.
- Locking and cluesChecking an exercise marks and locks it, as in the placement test. Each wrong item in sections 2 to 4 then shows its clue, which points back to the chapter without giving the answer. Finish test checks whatever is left and counts blank items as wrong. Clear all answers in section 7 wipes the saved work in that browser and starts again.
- GuessingThe selection and true-or-false items have two to four options, so a learner who guesses every one of them can expect about 28 of 114. Treat a total near that figure as no evidence of legal English at all.
- DraftingMark each task out of 20 with the rubric at the end of this key. Otto flags surface errors only; it does not judge the legal content, the hedging or the register.
- SecurityThis is a client-side test, so a determined learner who reads the page source can still find the answers. For a decision that matters, sit the test in the room.
Educational material based on teacher-supplied pages. Verify current law, terminology and local procedure before relying on any legal proposition.