Make sure your headset is on. The Writing section measures your ability to use writing to communicate in an academic environment. There will be 2 writing tasks. For the first task, you will be asked to read a passage and listen to a lecture. You will then answer a question based on what you have read and heard. For the second task, you will be asked to answer a question based on your own knowledge and experience. Now listen to the directions for the first writing task. The Integrated Writing Task For this task, you will read a passage about an academic topic. A clock at the top of the screen will show how much time you have to read. Then the passage will be removed and you will listen to a lecture about the same topic. You will be able to see the passage again when it is time to write. You may take notes while you read and listen. You will then have 20 minutes to write a response to a question that asks you about the relationship between the reading passage and the lecture. Using information from the reading and the lecture, try to answer the question as completely as possible. The question does not ask you to express your personal opinion. Typically, an effective response will be 150 to 225 words long. Your response will be judged on the quality of your writing and on the completeness and accuracy of the content. You may use your notes to help you answer. Now you will see the reading passage for 3 minutes. Remember the reading passage will be available to you again when you write. After the reading time ends, the lecture will begin immediately, so keep your headset on until the lecture is over. Reading DDT has a half-life of anywhere from a month in running water to fifteen years in contaminated soil. Like any toxic pesticide, it is extremely dangerous, both to humans and to the natural world in general, and was therefore banned in most parts of the world in the 1970s. Its damaging effects to the environment were first recorded by a woman named Rachel Carson, who wrote a book on the subject called Silent Spring. She started investigating DDT when she noticed that the number of song birds around her home decreased shortly after neighboring farms started using the pesticide. She discovered that the chemical built up in animals as it progressed along the food chain. Small animals had only small amounts of DDT in their bodies, but they passed that poison along to whatever predators had the misfortune to eat them. This meant that predators at the top of their food chain, such as bald eagles, ended up accumulating large amounts of the toxin in their bodies. DDT had terrible effects on them. One of the worst was that it caused the birds to produce eggs that had shells that were too thin. As a result, the chicks inside died before they were born. That was why the number of birds around Rachel Carson's home was decreasing. Humans, of course, are also at the top of their food chain, so this raised questions about our own exposure to the chemical. It was already known that DDT could be poisonous to humans from its effects on those who sprayed it. Especially in the developing world, where workers sprayed excessive amounts of the pesticide without the benefit of protective gear, humans were often directly sickened by the toxin. Eventually, most governments decided that DDT served no useful purpose that could not be carried out by using safer chemicals, so it was banned. Listening Question Directions: You have 20 minutes to plan and write your response. Your response will be judged on the quality of your writing and on how well you present the points in the lecture and their relationship to the reading passage. Typically, an effective response will be 150-225 words long. Question: Summarize the points made in the lecture being sure to explain how they challenge or cast doubt on specific points made in the reading. DDT has a half-life of anywhere from a month in running water to fifteen years in contaminated soil. Like any toxic pesticide, it is extremely dangerous, both to humans and to the natural world in general, and was therefore banned in most parts of the world in the 1970s. Its damaging effects to the environment were first recorded by a woman named Rachel Carson, who wrote a book on the subject called Silent Spring. She started investigating DDT when she noticed that the number of song birds around her home decreased shortly after neighboring farms started using the pesticide. She discovered that the chemical built up in animals as it progressed along the food chain. Small animals had only small amounts of DDT in their bodies, but they passed that poison along to whatever predators had the misfortune to eat them. This meant that predators at the top of their food chain, such as bald eagles, ended up accumulating large amounts of the toxin in their bodies. DDT had terrible effects on them. One of the worst was that it caused the birds to produce eggs that had shells that were too thin. As a result, the chicks inside died before they were born. That was why the number of birds around Rachel Carson's home was decreasing. Humans, of course, are also at the top of their food chain, so this raised questions about our own exposure to the chemical. It was already known that DDT could be poisonous to humans from its effects on those who sprayed it. Especially in the developing world, where workers sprayed excessive amounts of the pesticide without the benefit of protective gear, humans were often directly sickened by the toxin. Eventually, most governments decided that DDT served no useful purpose that could not be carried out by using safer chemicals, so it was banned.