Grammar – How to Answer If Someone Gives Advice

Richard isn't driving right now. Last year, Richard rode his bicycle to work every day, but he has been taking the bus since the accident.

Why? You're speaking about something that started in the past, so you can't use takes. He has taken the bus more than once, so you can't use took.

You could say he has taken the bus:

Last year, Richard rode his bicycle to work every day, but he has taken the bus since the accident.

However, the inclusion of the first sentence in your example means that the focus is on the continuous state of Richard's actions in the present.

This means that:

Richard isn't driving right now. Last year, Richard rode his bicycle to work every day, but he has been taking the bus since the accident.

sounds more natural.

However, this is pretty nuanced and I would mark neither 2 nor 4 as incorrect. I am surprised that these are offered as exclusive options in the question you gave. Are you sure you can't pick multiple options?

There's a good chance I would say this in one of two ways:

1) I hope you pass the exam.

or:

2) I hope you do well on the exam.

Either someone passes the exam, or they don't, so we don't usually say, "I hope you pass it well."

However, in the context of test-taking, the verb do talks about how well someone does, so we can say, "I hope you do well on the exam."

When speaking, you could leave off the word "I" in front; it's considered implied and therefore you don't always need to say it:

Hope you ace your exam!

By the way, ace is a verb that means (according to CDO) "to do very well in an exam," so that's another verb you could use.