Level 6 Reading for Information Sample Item
From: J. Kimura, Senior Vice President of Molten Metals, Inc.
To: All e-mail users at Molten Metals, Inc.
To permit our employees to communicate directly with one another as well as with
vendors and customers, Molten Metals, Inc. provides a network of e-mail accounts.
Access to e-mail is at the sole discretion of Molten Metals, Inc., and we will determine
who is to be so empowered. Under President Duarte's leadership, all messages sent
and received (even those intended as personal) are treated as business messages.
Molten Metals, Inc. has the capability to and reserves the right to access, review, copy,
and delete any messages sent, received, or stored on the company e-mail server.
Molten Metals, Inc. will disclose these messages to any party (inside or outside the
company) it deems appropriate. Employees should treat this server as a constantly
reviewed, shared file stored in the system.
Due to the reduced human effort required to redistribute electronic information, a
greater degree of caution must be exercised by employees transmitting MM, Inc.
confidential information using company e-mail accounts. Confidential information
belonging to MM, Inc. is important to our independence and should never be
transmitted or forwarded to persons or companies not authorized to receive that
information. Likewise, it should not be sent or forwarded to other employees inside the
company who do not need to know that information.
MM, Inc. strongly discourages the storage of large numbers of e-mail messages for a
number of reasons. First, because e-mail messages frequently contain company
confidential information, it is good to limit the number of such messages to protect the
company's information. Second, retention of messages fills up large amounts of
storage space on the e-mail server and personal hard disks, and can slow down the
performance of both the network and individual personal computers. Finally, in the
event that the company needs to search the network server, backup tapes, or individual
hard disks for genuinely important documents, the fewer documents it has to search
through, the more economical the search will be. Therefore, employees are to delete
as soon as possible any e-mail messages they send or receive.
Based on the memo shown, personal messages transmitted or received using Molten Metals, Inc., e-mail accounts will be:
- automatically deleted upon detection.
- avoided by server staff to save company time.
- forwarded to private, personal accounts.
- grounds for personnel action.
- treated no differently from other messages.
Why this is a Level 6 item:
- The material is taken from a regulatory document.
- The sentences are formal and complicated.
- The paragraphs and sentences are filled with details and information.
- Sentences are long and more varied.
- Less common meanings of words are used.
- Examinees must apply complicated instructions to new situations.