Tips: Listen for the part where the speaker gives a personal view. Check two things: must employers do it, and who decides how?

Why the other options are wrong:

• Employers should have to offer them, under one rule for the whole country.: The speaker does want a requirement. But the speaker says one rule for all of Canada would be too simple.
• Employers should be encouraged to offer them, with provinces choosing the details.: Provinces do get to choose the details. But the speaker says employers should be required to offer the leave.
• Employers should be encouraged to offer them, under one rule for the whole country.: Both parts are wrong. The speaker wants a requirement, and says one rule for the whole country is too simple.

Correct Answer: mental health days inside existing sick leave, or optional programmes.

Why this is correct: This group wants flexibility. They suggest mental health days inside existing sick leave, or optional programmes, rather than a strict national rule.

Tips: Several groups are described. Before you choose, check which group each idea belongs to.

Why the other options are wrong:

• a few separate protected days that employers are required to give.: This is closer to what the advocates want. The culture group prefers flexible options, not a new required entitlement.
• changing workloads and email habits instead of any leave days.: This group does blame heavy workloads and late emails. But they still support mental health days, inside sick leave or optional programmes.
• one strict national requirement that works the same way across Canada.: The culture group says the opposite. They want flexibility rather than a strict national requirement.

Correct Answer: help only partly if workloads stay unreasonable.

Why this is correct: Dr. Singh says mental health days help only to some extent. If workloads stay unreasonable, a single day off is just a temporary fix.

Tips: Several people give reasons in this report. Check whose reason each choice gives before you answer.

Why the other options are wrong:

• help only partly unless they are kept apart from sick leave.: Dr. Singh's group supports mental health days within existing sick leave. So keeping them apart is not their condition.
• help only partly, since stress is hard to define.: Dr. Singh does say the days help only partly. But the reason is heavy workloads, not that stress is hard to define.
• help only partly unless they are taken before a crisis.: Taking a day before a crisis is the supporters' point. Dr. Singh talks about what happens when workloads stay the same.

Correct Answer: Accepting of the aim as kind, and worried about fragile local businesses.

Why this is correct: The owner says the idea sounds compassionate, so the owner accepts its kind aim. But the owner is worried because some local businesses are already fragile.

Tips: A speaker can feel two things at once. Listen for each part of the comment and the word that joins them.

Why the other options are wrong:

• Dismissive of the aim as unrealistic, and worried about fragile local businesses.: The worry is right. But the owner does not dismiss the aim, because the owner says the idea sounds compassionate.
• Accepting of the aim as kind, and worried that workers could misuse the days.: The owner does accept the aim. But misuse is a fear of other critics; the owner talks about fragile businesses.
• Dismissive of the aim as unrealistic, and worried that workers could misuse the days.: Both parts are wrong. The owner accepts the aim, and the worry is about fragile businesses, not misuse.

Correct Answer: how an unplanned absence can cost a small firm revenue.

Why this is correct: The speaker says many businesses there have very lean teams. One unexpected absence can mean closing early or losing money.

Tips: When places are named, ask what they have in common and what point they help the speaker make.

Why the other options are wrong:

• how a planned absence can cost a small firm revenue.: The cost is right, but the kind of absence is wrong. The speaker talks about an unexpected absence, not a planned one.
• how staff in small teams feel pressure never to take time off.: Pressure not to take time off comes from the Toronto colleague's story. The provinces are about the cost of an absence to the business.
• how misuse of the days could cost a small firm revenue.: Losing money is right, but the cause is wrong. The loss comes from an unexpected absence, not from misuse.

Correct Answer: A few earlier days off might have prevented her long leave.

Why this is correct: She avoided days off and later needed extended leave. The story sits in the supporters' argument that an early day off can prevent long absences.

Tips: The answer is not said in exact words. Think about which argument the story is placed in.

Why the other options are wrong:

• A lighter workload might have prevented her long leave.: Workloads come from Dr. Singh's general point, later in the report. The speaker says nothing about this colleague's workload.
• A few earlier days off might have shortened her long leave.: The story is used to show that early days off can stop a long absence from happening. It is not about making the leave shorter.
• Her long leave caused less disruption than short breaks would have.: The speaker says the opposite. Her extended leave was far more disruptive for everyone involved.