Why Convenience Should Not Decide Everything
About this practice test
An opinion essay about the benefits and risks of convenience in everyday choices, including errands, food, online communication and relationships.
What you’ll practice
Finding detail
Locate specific information and evidence.
Interpreting ideas
Connect main points and inferences.
Evaluating arguments
Assess claims, evidence, and limitations.
What to expect:
12 questions with explanations to review after submission.
Study the questions and tasks
Work through the material below, or start the interactive practice above to complete an attempt. Try the exercises before opening any answer or transcript sections, then use them to review your work.
- Practice level
- B2. Try this level if you can follow the instructions and understand most of the language; choose an earlier level if you need more support.
- Question formats
- Yes / No / Not Given
How to approach this practice
Read the passage for its main idea, then return to the relevant sentence or paragraph for each question. Base answers on the passage.
Why Convenience Should Not Decide Everything
Convenience is one of the great promises of modern daily life. We can order food, pay bills, and reply to messages in seconds. I enjoy these tools as much as anyone else, and I would be unhappy to lose them. Still, I do not think convenience should be allowed to make every decision for us. It is a useful servant, but a poor master. When ease becomes the main rule, we risk choosing what feels light today and paying for it tomorrow. Consider small errands. A delivery fee may look like a fair trade for saving an hour, especially on a busy day. Sometimes it is. Yet the choice is rarely cost-free in a wider sense. A few clicks can encourage us to buy more than we planned, stay indoors when a short walk would have cleared our heads, or ignore shops and services that keep a neighbourhood alive. The obvious saving is only part of the picture. If every task is outsourced, ordinary competence begins to fade. Food is the clearest example. Ready meals, snack bars, and fast takeaways are not evil, and I would never claim that everyone should cook from scratch every night. But if convenience decides most meals, our tastes become narrower and our habits poorer. Cooking demands a little attention: choosing ingredients, waiting for them, tasting as we go. That effort is not wasted. It teaches patience and makes us notice what we are eating. A life organised entirely around speed can end up surprisingly thin. The same logic applies online. Instant messages and one-tap replies can be kind and practical, yet I do not believe every message deserves an immediate answer. Some pauses protect thought. They also remind other people that attention is valuable, not unlimited. If we train ourselves to react the moment a screen glows, we may lose the habit of thinking before speaking. Convenience is best when it removes empty friction, not when it erases reflection. I also worry about what convenience does to shared life. The easier option often asks less of us, but relationships usually grow through small, repeated efforts: visiting a neighbour, bringing food to a friend, reading a difficult book with a class rather than choosing the quickest summary. These actions are slower and sometimes awkward. They matter because they create a little resistance, and resistance can be healthy. It reminds us that other people are not products to be selected for speed. None of this means we should glorify inconvenience. A sensible person uses convenience where it genuinely saves energy, reduces waste, or helps people with limited time or strength. My point is simpler: convenience should be judged, not obeyed. Before choosing the easiest option, it is worth asking what that choice replaces, what it trains us to expect, and what kind of life it quietly builds. If we never ask those questions, then ease stops being a help and starts becoming a habit of surrender.
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Question 1 · Yes / No / Not Given
Decide whether the statement agrees with the writer’s or speaker’s view. Choose Not Given when the view is not stated.
Do the writer’s views agree with this statement? Schools should make cooking lessons compulsory.
Return to the passage, recording or visual- Yes
- No
- Not Given
Check answers and explanations
- Answer
- Not Given
The writer discusses the value of everyday cooking but gives no opinion on compulsory cooking lessons in schools. This is Not Given, rather than a view the writer rejects.
Cooking demands a little attention: choosing ingredients, waiting for them, tasting as we go
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Question 2 · Yes / No / Not Given
Decide whether the statement agrees with the writer’s or speaker’s view. Choose Not Given when the view is not stated.
Do the writer’s views agree with this statement? Convenience should decide most meals.
Return to the passage, recording or visual- Yes
- No
- Not Given
Check answers and explanations
- Answer
- No
No. The writer warns against that exact idea, saying that if convenience decides most meals, tastes and habits become poorer.
if convenience decides most meals, our tastes become narrower and our habits poorer
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Question 3 · Yes / No / Not Given
Decide whether the statement agrees with the writer’s or speaker’s view. Choose Not Given when the view is not stated.
Do the writer’s views agree with this statement? If every task is outsourced, ordinary competence begins to fade.
Return to the passage, recording or visual- Yes
- No
- Not Given
Check answers and explanations
- Answer
- Yes
Yes. The writer says exactly this in relation to outsourcing everyday tasks, so the statement matches the passage.
If every task is outsourced, ordinary competence begins to fade
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Question 4 · Yes / No / Not Given
Decide whether the statement agrees with the writer’s or speaker’s view. Choose Not Given when the view is not stated.
Do the writer’s views agree with this statement? Schools should ban fast food in canteens.
Return to the passage, recording or visual- Yes
- No
- Not Given
Check answers and explanations
- Answer
- Not Given
Not Given. The writer discusses food choices in general, but does not mention schools, canteens, or any ban on fast food.
Ready meals, snack bars, and fast takeaways are not evil
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Question 5 · Yes / No / Not Given
Decide whether the statement agrees with the writer’s or speaker’s view. Choose Not Given when the view is not stated.
Do the writer’s views agree with this statement? Convenience is a useful servant but a poor master.
Return to the passage, recording or visual- Yes
- No
- Not Given
Check answers and explanations
- Answer
- Yes
Yes. The writer states this directly, so the statement matches the passage. It is not a different idea or a reversal of it.
It is a useful servant, but a poor master
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Question 6 · Yes / No / Not Given
Decide whether the statement agrees with the writer’s or speaker’s view. Choose Not Given when the view is not stated.
Do the writer’s views agree with this statement? Convenience should be obeyed.
Return to the passage, recording or visual- Yes
- No
- Not Given
Check answers and explanations
- Answer
- No
No. The writer says the opposite: convenience should be judged, not obeyed. That directly rejects the statement.
convenience should be judged, not obeyed
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Question 7 · Yes / No / Not Given
Decide whether the statement agrees with the writer’s or speaker’s view. Choose Not Given when the view is not stated.
Do the writer’s views agree with this statement? Convenience can make people choose what feels light today and pay for it tomorrow.
Return to the passage, recording or visual- Yes
- No
- Not Given
Check answers and explanations
- Answer
- Yes
Yes. The writer explicitly says that convenience can lead to short-term ease and later costs, which matches the statement closely.
we risk choosing what feels light today and paying for it tomorrow
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Question 8 · Yes / No / Not Given
Decide whether the statement agrees with the writer’s or speaker’s view. Choose Not Given when the view is not stated.
Do the writer’s views agree with this statement? Some pauses protect thought.
Return to the passage, recording or visual- Yes
- No
- Not Given
Check answers and explanations
- Answer
- Yes
Yes. The writer says this directly when discussing quick online replies and the value of pausing before answering.
Some pauses protect thought
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Question 9 · Yes / No / Not Given
Decide whether the statement agrees with the writer’s or speaker’s view. Choose Not Given when the view is not stated.
Do the writer’s views agree with this statement? Cooking from scratch is always cheaper than ready meals.
Return to the passage, recording or visual- Yes
- No
- Not Given
Check answers and explanations
- Answer
- Not Given
Not Given. The passage discusses cooking, ready meals, and takeaways, but it does not compare their prices. The writer says cooking has benefits, not that it is always cheaper.
Food is the clearest example
I would never claim that everyone should cook from scratch every night
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Question 10 · Yes / No / Not Given
Decide whether the statement agrees with the writer’s or speaker’s view. Choose Not Given when the view is not stated.
Do the writer’s views agree with this statement? Messaging apps should impose a one-hour daily limit.
Return to the passage, recording or visual- Yes
- No
- Not Given
Check answers and explanations
- Answer
- Not Given
Not Given. The writer discusses pausing before replying to messages, but does not propose any daily time limit for messaging apps.
Instant messages and one-tap replies can be kind and practical, yet I do not believe every message deserves an immediate answer. Some pauses protect thought
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Question 11 · Yes / No / Not Given
Decide whether the statement agrees with the writer’s or speaker’s view. Choose Not Given when the view is not stated.
Do the writer’s views agree with this statement? Every message deserves an immediate answer.
Return to the passage, recording or visual- Yes
- No
- Not Given
Check answers and explanations
- Answer
- No
No. The writer says the opposite: some messages do not deserve an immediate answer. So the statement contradicts the passage.
I do not believe every message deserves an immediate answer
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Question 12 · Yes / No / Not Given
Decide whether the statement agrees with the writer’s or speaker’s view. Choose Not Given when the view is not stated.
Do the writer’s views agree with this statement? Delivery choices always support local shops and services.
Return to the passage, recording or visual- Yes
- No
- Not Given
Check answers and explanations
- Answer
- No
No. The writer says convenient choices can lead people to ignore local shops and services, so they do not always support them.
or ignore shops and services that keep a neighbourhood alive
What to review next
Find the words that support each answer. For a mistake, compare the question with the evidence and identify the detail or inference you missed.
A focused practice result shows how you did on these tasks. Use several activities across skills to decide what to study next; one practice score does not certify an overall CEFR level.
Before you practise: a worked example
Look for evidence in the text. Separate what the writer says from what you already know about the topic.
The library normally closes at six, but on Fridays it stays open until eight. When does it close on Friday?
The answer is eight. But introduces an exception to the normal closing time, so the first time mentioned is not the answer.
This teaching example is separate from the scored questions. After your test, compare any mistakes with the explanation and revisit the topic before trying again.