This short test emulates the GMAT Reading Comprehension Section. Read the passage carefully and answer the following questions.
End Test Now
First, read the following passage. All questions refer to the passage, so make sure you read it carefully.
“Journalism as a profession is facing dreadful times. First, it has never been harder to become a journalist. Second, journalists are facing lower wages and no job security in today’s economy.
Today’s media has become global and instant. The internet allows everyone to become a journalist using applications like Twitter or Facebook. Anyone who’s on the scene can now write about it and post their articles online. Anyone with an opinion can start their own journalistic column in the form of an online blog. The need for real, professional journalism is at its lowest, and the competition between those few remaining individuals with a background and education in journalism is fierce.
With global economies going down the toilet, and people buying less and less newspapers for a variety of reasons, news companies are faced with financial difficulties. They can’t hire journalists or pay them the high salaries they deserve. As a result, journalists face low wages and lower job security. As a matter of fact, many newspaper companies are converting their regular journalists into contract-workers for lower pay, or even replacing them with unpaid interns.
Professional journalism is indeed in trouble. It’s hard to become a journalist, and once you do become one it’s even harder to make a living. If you are consider going into journalism, you might want to take this into account. Best of luck to you.”
Question 1: The primary purpose of the passage is to advise people to:
Support underpaid journalists
Buy more newspapers to help news companies
Boycott news companies who are underpaying journalists
Avoid or reconsider going into the journalism profession
Join Twitter or start a blog to become part of the global media
Question 2: The authors mentions all of the following challenges facing journalists EXCEPT:
Fierce competition in the industry
Lower demand for professional journalism
Maintaining online blogs on time
Lower average wages
Possibility of being replaced by interns
Question 3: According to the author, why can’t newspaper companies pay journalists the high wages they deserve?
People are not buying as many newspapers as they used to
Unpaid interns are a good, cheaper alternative to paid journalists
Becoming a journalist is very hard these days
Making regular staff writers into contract workers can reduce wages and thus expenses for companies
Job security is low while competition is high
Question 4: It can be inferred from the article that, in the future:
Journalism will bounce back and become a great profession
Newspaper companies will all go bankrupt and be replaced by Twitter
There will be less students enrolled in journalism programs at college
Demand for newspapers will rise until it meets the supply
Many existing journalists will have to find new career paths or at least part-time jobs to make ends meet
Question 5: Which of the following describes the relationship of the first paragraph to the rest of the article?
It poses a question to be answered later in the passage
It provides an introduction to the concept discussed later
It introduces conflicting elements to be reconciled
It explains one side of the argument
It introduces an opinion to be refuted later in the passage
When you are sure that you have answered as many questions as possible, click the ‘Done’ button below and view your results.