1.Even international students whose first language is English can find themselves struggling to understand an alien academic culture. The problems are very familiar. Students? first problem is often with listening skills. They may feel nervous about this and it is certainly a steep learning curve. They need a structured listening experience, for instance how to pick out the main ideas. They also need help with academic reading ? how to approach an article or book, how to skim, read and make notes.
2. However, while a student?s confidence in listening skills grows, it is in the area of academic writing where more serious cultural differences become apparent. Much of British education is based on essay writing, but this may be a demanding task for students from other cultures. Suddenly, they are faced with the need to express their own ideas, develop their opinions and evaluate different issues, all in polished English. For some, the concept of originating this kind of written discourse can prove problematic, and they may find themselves scoring low marks because of plagiarism, or reproducing someone else?s ideas. In Britain, plagiarism is regarded as academic theft, though this is not always the case in other countries. Students are expected to do research in a library before tackling an assignment, and simply regurgitating lecture notes is also not acceptable.
3. The best way to overcome these hurdles is to be prepared. The first step is to take a test to assess the English language skills needed to cope with the issues of academic culture.
4. If an accredited test indicates that a student?s language skills are not sufficient to embark on a university degree, the next step is to consider pre-sessional courses, generally at the university where the student will take a degree. These can last from three weeks to an academic year, so it is wise for students to be realistic about their needs. It is generally accepted that approximately 200 hours of study are needed to improve on one bad score on some tests. Some of the ?new? universities that formed from polytechnics in 1992 are experimenting with new styles of pre-sessional and foundation courses. Elspeth Jones, Director of the Centre for Language Study at Leeds Metropolitan University explains, ?Our courses are monthly, and so students from parts of the world with a different academic year can enroll at any time.?

5. She feels that language training in new universities is generally more flexible than in older institutions. ?Universities like ours can take students with lower language test grades and can put them through a programme that will bring them up to the required standard, though we cannot guarantee how long it will take

Answer the questions
Academic writing includes

(a) how to approach an article

?(b) how to read a work

(c) how to make notes

?(d) All of these

What is the period of the pre-sessional course?

(a) 1 year??????????? (b) 3 months to a year??????????? (c) One month???????????? (d) 6 months

Plz help me answer these questions and explain why the options r correct.......in which line r the answers