The Berlin Trip Notice: True, False or Not Given
Read this notice from a school in Sachsen-Anhalt. 'Berlin trip for Year 10. Cost: €85 per student. Includes transport and museum entry; lunch is not included. Payment due by 15 March. Students receiving BuT benefits pay €40; bring proof to the school office. The trip is limited to 28 students. Priority goes to students who have missed no more than two class trips. If you are absent on the day, you lose the transport cost, but the museum ticket can be refunded if you cancel 48 hours before.' Aylin is in Year 10. She receives BuT benefits but has not yet shown proof. She has missed three class trips. She wants to go and asks, 'Can I pay after 15 March?' Her friend says, 'You will definitely get a place because you are in Year 10.' Aylin is unsure. The reading task uses True / False / Not given.
1. Statement: 'Aylin will pay €85.' Is this True, False or Not given? Explain your decision.
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Not given. The notice says students receiving BuT benefits pay €40, but only if they 'bring proof to the school office'. Aylin receives BuT benefits but has not yet shown proof, so we cannot know whether she will pay €40 or the full €85. The statement also uses 'will pay', which suggests certainty about a future event. The text gives a condition, not a guarantee. In True/False/Not given tasks, a detail that depends on an unstated action (bringing proof) is usually Not given, not False.
2. Statement: 'Aylin is guaranteed a place on the trip.' Is this True, False or Not given? Explain the difference between 'guaranteed' and 'priority'.
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False. The notice says priority goes to students who have missed no more than two class trips. Aylin has missed three, so she is not in the priority group. However, 'priority' is not the same as 'excluded': if fewer than 28 students apply, she could still go. But the statement says guaranteed, and that is definitely wrong. This is a typical judgement call: the answer is False rather than Not given because the text directly contradicts the certainty of 'guaranteed', even though it does not say she will be refused.
3. Statement: 'A student who cancels 48 hours before the trip gets back the museum ticket money but not the transport money.' True, False or Not given?
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True. The notice says: 'If you are absent on the day, you lose the transport cost, but the museum ticket can be refunded if you cancel 48 hours before.' The sentence makes a clear contrast: transport money is lost; museum ticket money can be refunded. The words 'but' and 'can be refunded' are the key signals. A false version would say 'gets all their money back' or 'loses both costs'; neither is supported.