IELTS Reading Practice Test - 1: Enhance Your Skills with Authentic Exercises

In the IELTS Reading section, the candidates encounter three different passages. All three passages can be of variable difficulties and there are 40 questions asked in total to the candidates. The reading section can be very tricky to a candidate who have fewer language and vocabulary skills. The candidate must be able to tackle this challenge by improving their vocabulary and English skills. They must also practice techniques of skimming and scanning so that they can understand the most important sections of the passages while answering the questions,

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This Story also Contains

1. IELTS Reading Practice Test 1
2. Natural Pesticides in India
3. Numeracy: Can Animals Tell Numbers?
4. Multitasking Debate - Can you do them at the same time?
5. IELTS READING TIPS AND TRICKS

Here in this article, you can find IELTS Reading Samples for the IELTS Academic section and its corresponding answers. The questions are compiled from previous year’s IELTS question papers and the answers are written by IELTS experts

IELTS Reading Practice Test 1

The Reading section of the IELTS examination is one of the most important sections of the test. The section's difficulty depends on the variety and the length of the questions. Normally, the reading section is considered more difficult due to the diverse range of questions and difficulty in the passages. There are three such passages asked in the reading section. Hence attempting the IELTS reading practice tests and assessing themselves is a key approach that must be followed by the candidates.. These IELTS reading practice tests come with a lot of benefits. When the candidate attempts various IELTS reading practice tests with answers. They are able to receive a deeper insight into the examination pattern. There are various IELTS reading practice tests online that can help the candidates to enhance their IELTS examination preparation. Additionally, they can also take up different IELTS reading mock tests online for extra practice.

The Reading section analyses the attention to detail and main idea, comprehension, and understanding of the nature and tone of the author skills of the candidate. As there is no shortcut to success, a dedicated IELTS Reading practice is necessary for the candidates to achieve success in the IELTS examination.

Through the contents of this article, a candidate will be able to find a lot of previous year’s IELTS questions with detailed answers designed to help the candidates in their IELTS preparation. Without efficient IELTS reading practice, this section might pose great difficulty to the candidates and hence, this article throws a glimpse into what a candidate can expect for the Reading on the exam day.

Natural Pesticides in India

A. A dramatic story about cotton farmers in India shows how destructive pesticides can be for people and the environment; and why today’s agriculture is so dependent on pesticides. This story also shows that it’s possible to stop using chemical pesticides without losing a crop to ravaging insects, and it explains how to do it.

B. The story began about 30 years ago, a handful of families migrated from the Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh, southeast India, into Punukula, a community of around 900 people farming plots of between two and 10 acres. The outsiders from Guntur brought cotton culture with them. Cotton wooed farmers by promising to bring in more hard cash than the mixed crops they were already growing to eat and sell: millet, sorghum, groundnuts, pigeon peas, mung beans, chilli, and rice. But raising cotton meant using pesticides and fertilisers until then a mystery to the mostly illiterate farmers of the community. When cotton production started spreading through Andhra Pradesh state. The high value of cotton made it an exceptionally attractive crop, but growing cotton required chemical fertilisers and pesticides. As most of the farmers were poor, illiterate, and without previous experience using agricultural chemicals, they were forced to rely on local, small-scale agricultural dealers for advice. The dealers sold them seeds, fertilisers, and pesticides on credit and also guaranteed the purchase of their crops. The dealers themselves had little technical knowledge about pesticides. They merely passed on promotional information from multinational chemical companies that supplied their Products.

C. At first, cotton yields were high, and expenses for pesticides were low because cotton pests had not yet moved in. The farmers had never earned so much! But within a few years, cotton pests like bollworms and aphids plagued the fields, and the farmers saw how rapid insect evolution can be. Repeated spraying killed off the weaker pests, but left the ones most resistant to pesticides to multiply. As pesticide resistance mounted, the farmers had to apply more and more of the pesticides to get the same results. At the same time, the pesticides killed off birds, wasps, beetles, spiders, and other predators that had once provided natural control of pest insects. Without these predators, the pests could destroy the entire crop if pesticides were not used. Eventually, farmers were mixing pesticide “cocktails” containing as many as ten different brands and sometimes having to spray their cotton as frequently as two times a week.

They were really hooked!

D. The villagers were hesitant, but one of Punukula’s village elders decided to risk trying the natural methods instead of pesticides. His son had collapsed with acute pesticide poisoning and survived but the hospital bill was staggering. SECURE’s staff coached this villager on how to protect his cotton crop by using a toolkit of natural methods that India’s Center for Sustainable Agriculture put together in collaboration with scientists at Andhra Pradesh’s state university. They called the toolkit “Non-Pesticide Management” — or” NPM.”

E. The most important resource in the NPM toolkit was the neem tree (Azadirachta indica ) which is common throughout much of India. The neem tree is a broad-leaved evergreen tree related to mahogany. It protects itself against insects by producing a multitude of natural pesticides that work in a variety of ways: with an arsenal of chemical defences that repel egg-laying, interfere with insect growth, and most importantly, disrupt the ability of crop-eating insects to sense their food.

F. In fact, neem has been used traditionally in India to protect stored grains from insects and to produce soaps, skin lotions, and other health products. To protect crops from insects, neem seeds are simply ground into a powder that is soaked overnight in water. The solution is then sprayed onto the crop. Another preparation, neem cake, can be mixed into the soil to kill pests and diseases in the soil, and it doubles as an organic fertilizer high in nitrogen. Neem trees grow locally, so the only “cost” is the labour to prepare neem for application to fields.

G. The first farmer’s trial with NPM was a complete success! His harvest was as good as the harvests of farmers who were using pesticides, and he earned much more because he did not spend a single rupee on pesticides. Inspired by this success, 20 farmers tried NPM the next year. SECURE posted two well-trained staff in Punukula to teach and help everyone in the village, and the village women put pressure on their husbands to stop using toxic chemicals. Families that were no longer exposing themselves to pesticides began to feel much better, and the rapid improvements in income, health, and general well-being quickly sold everyone on the value of NPM. By 2000, all the farmers in Punukula were using NPM, not only for cotton but for their other crops as well.

H. The suicide epidemic came to an end. With the cash, health, and energy that returned when they stopped poisoning themselves with pesticides, the villagers were inspired to start more community and business projects. The women of Punukula created a new source of income by collecting, grinding, and selling neem seeds for NPM in other villages. The villagers rescued their indentured children and gave them special six-month “catch-up” courses to return to school.

I. Fighting against pesticides, and winning, increased village solidarity, self-confidence, and optimism about the future. When dealers tried to punish NPM users by paying less for NPM cotton, the farmers united to form a marketing cooperative that found fairer prices elsewhere. The leadership and collaboration skills that the citizens of Punukula developed in the NPM struggle have helped them to take on other challenges, like water purification, building a cotton gin to add value to the cotton before they sell it, and convincing the state government to support NPM over the objection of multinational pesticide corporations.

Extracted from - IELTS Reading Practice Sets. Copyright © 2016 by IDP education, British Council and Cambridge Assessment English

NATURAL PESTICIDES IN INDIA QUESTIONS

Questions 1-4

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?

In boxes 1-4 on your answer sheet, write

TRUE, if the statement is true

FALSE, if the statement is false

NOT GIVEN if the information is not given in passage

1. Cotton in Andhra Pradesh state could really bring more income to the local farmers than traditional farming.

2. The majority of farmers have used agricultural pesticides for 30 years.

3. The yield of cotton is relatively lower than that of other agricultural crops.

4. The farmers didn’t realise the spread of the pests was so fast.

Questions 5-11

Complete the summary below.

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 5-11 on your answer sheet.

The Making of Pesticide Protecting Crops against Insects

The broad-leaved neem tree was chosen, it is a fast-growing and 5___________________ tree and produces the amount of 6____________________ for itself that can be effective like insects repellent. Firstly, neem seeds need to be crushed into 7______________________ form, which is left behind 8________________________ in water. Then we need to spray the solution onto the crop. A special 9_______________________ is used when mix with soil in order to eliminate bugs and bacteria, and its effect 10______________ when it adds the level of 11___________in this organic fertilizer meanwhile.

Questions 12-14

Answer the questions below.

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer Write your answers in boxes 12-14 on your answer sheet.

12. In which year did all the farmers use NPM for their crops in Punukula?

13. What gave the women of Punukula a business opportunity to NPMs?

14. Name one project that the citizens of Punukula decided to develop in the NPM.

1. Answer: NOT GIVEN

Process to attempt the solution: Skim the passage for information about the income potential of cotton in Andhra Pradesh. Find relevant information in Paragraph B, where it mentions that cotton promised to bring in more hard cash than the mixed crops farmers were already growing.

The majority of farmers had used agricultural pesticides for 30 years.

2. Answer: FALSE

Process to attempt the solution: Look for information about the farmers' use of agricultural pesticides before 30 years ago. Find the relevant information in Paragraph B, which states that the farmers from Guntur brought cotton cultivation about 30 years ago, and the use of pesticides was a mystery to them at that time. Your answer is correct.

The yield of cotton is relatively lower than that of other agricultural crops.

3. Answer: NOT GIVEN

Process to attempt the solution: Check for information on the relative yield of cotton compared to other agricultural crops. Note that the passage does not provide this specific information; therefore, the answer is "Not Given." Your answer is correct.

The farmers didn’t realise the spread of the pests was so fast.

4. Answer: TRUE

Process to attempt the solution: Search for information on whether the farmers realised the rapid spread of pests. Find the relevant information in Paragraph C, which indicates that within a few years, cotton pests plagued the fields, suggesting that the farmers did realise the fast spread of pests. Your answer is correct.

5. Answer: evergreen

Process to attempt the solution: Identify the description of the neem tree in the passage, specifically in Paragraph E, where it is referred to as a broad-leaved evergreen tree.

6. Answer: natural pesticides

Process to attempt the solution: Look for information about what the neem tree produces for itself. Paragraph E mentions that the neem tree produces a multitude of natural pesticides.

7. Answer: powder

Process to attempt the solution: Search for details about the preparation of neem seeds. Paragraph F states that neem seeds are ground into a powder.

8. Answer: overnight

Process to attempt the solution: Focus on the steps involved in the preparation of neem seeds. Paragraph F mentions that the neem seed powder is soaked overnight in water.

9. Answer: neem cake

Process to attempt the solution: Identify the substance used when mixed with soil to eliminate bugs and bacteria. Paragraph F mentions that neem cake is used for this purpose.

10. Answer: doubles

Process to attempt the solution: Look for information about the additional benefits of neem cake. Paragraph F states that its effect doubles as it adds the level of nitrogen in the organic fertiliser.

10. Answer: nitrogen

Process to attempt the solution: Refer to Paragraph F, where it mentions that the effect of neem cake is enhanced as it adds the level of nitrogen in this organic fertiliser.

12. Answer: 2000

Process to attempt the solution: Refer to Paragraph G, where it mentions that by 2000, all the farmers in Punukula were using NPM.

13. Answer: neem seeds

Process to attempt the solution: Look for information about the business opportunities for the women of Punukula. In Paragraph H, it mentions that women created a new source of income by collecting, grinding, and selling neem seeds for NPM in other villages.

14. Answer: building a cotton gin

Process to attempt the solution: Look for information about projects developed by the citizens of Punukula in Paragraph I. It mentions building a cotton gin as one of the projects.

NOTE

The passage emphasizes the shift from chemical pesticides to Non-Pesticide Management (NPM) among Indian cotton farmers using neem trees. Relevant to IELTS Reading, it underlines the importance of systematic practice through IELTS reading practice tests and reading IELTS practice tests online. The True/False/Not Given questions test comprehension of income, pesticide use duration, and cotton yield. Completion questions, crucial in IELTS reading exam practice online, focus on the neem tree's role in pesticide production. Short answer questions inquire about the year all farmers adopted NPM, business opportunities for women, and projects undertaken due to NPM's success in Punukula.

Numeracy: Can Animals Tell Numbers?

A. Prime among basic numerical faculties is the ability to distinguish between a larger and a smaller number, says psychologist Elizabeth Brannon. Humans can do this with ease – providing the ratio is big enough – but do other animals share this ability? In one experiment, rhesus monkeys and university students examined two sets of geometrical objects that appeared briefly on a computer monitor. They had to decide which set contained more objects. Both groups performed successfully but, importantly, Brannon’s team found that monkeys, like humans, make more errors when two sets of objects are close in number. The students’ performance ends up looking just like a monkey’s. It’s practically identical,’ she says.

B. Humans and monkeys are mammals, in the animal family known as primates. These are not the only animals whose numerical capacities rely on ratio, however. The same seems to apply to some amphibians. Psychologist Claudia Uller’s team tempted salamanders with two sets of fruit flies held in clear tubes. In a series of trials, the researchers noted which tube the salamanders scampered towards, reasoning that if they had the capacity to recognise the number, they would head for the larger number. The salamanders successfully discriminated between tubes containing 8 and 16 flies respectively, but not between 3 and 4, 4 and 6, or 8 and 12. So it seems that for the salamanders to discriminate between two numbers, the larger must be at least twice as big as the smaller. However, they could differentiate between 2 and 3 flies just as well as between 1 and 2 flies, suggesting they recognise small numbers in a different way from larger numbers.

C. Further support for this theory comes from studies of mosquitofish, which instinctively join the biggest shoal they can. A team at the University of Padova found that while mosquitofish can tell the difference between a group containing 3 shoal-mates and a group containing 4, they did not show a preference between groups of 4 and 5. The team also found that mosquitofish can discriminate between numbers up to 16, but only if the ratio between the fish in each shoal was greater than 2:1. This indicates that the fish, like salamanders, possess both the approximate and precise number systems found in more intelligent animals such as infant humans and other primates.

D. While these findings are highly suggestive, some critics argue that the animals might be relying on other factors to complete the tasks, without considering the number itself. ‘Any study that’s claiming an animal is capable of representing number should also be controlling for other factors,‘ says Brannon. Experiments have confirmed that primates can indeed perform numerical feats without extra clues, but what about the more primitive animals?

E. To consider this possibility, the mosquitofish tests were repeated, this time using varying geometrical shapes in place of fish. The team arranged these shapes so that they had the same overall surface area and luminance even though they contained a different number of objects. Across hundreds of trials on 14 different fishes, the team found they consistently discriminated 2 objects from 3. The team is now testing whether mosquitofish can also distinguish 3 geometric objects from 4.

F. Even more primitive organisms may share this ability. Entomologist Jurgen Tautz sent a group of bees down a corridor, at the end of which lay two chambers – one which contained sugar water, which they like, while the other was empty. To test the bees’ numeracy, the team marked each chamber with a different number of geometrical shapes – between 2 and 6. The bees quickly learned to match the number of shapes with the correct chamber. Like the salamanders and fish, there was a limit to the bees’ mathematical prowess – they could differentiate up to 4 shapes but failed with 5 or 6 Shapes.

G. These studies still do not show whether animals learn to count through training, or whether they are born with the skills already intact. If the latter is true, it would suggest there was a strong evolutionary advantage to a mathematical mind. Proof that this may be the case has emerged from an experiment testing the mathematical ability of three and four-day-old chicks. Like mosquitofish, chicks prefer to be around as many of their siblings as possible, so they will always head towards a larger number of their kin. If chicks spend their first few days surrounded by certain objects, they become attached to these objects as if they were family. Researchers placed each chick in the middle of a platform and showed it two groups of balls of paper. Next, they hid the two piles behind screens, changed the quantities and revealed them to the chick. This forced the chick to perform simple computations to decide which side now contained the biggest number of its “brothers”. Without any prior coaching, the chicks scuttled to the larger quantity at a rate well above chance. They were doing some very simple arithmetic, claim the Researchers.

H. Why these skills evolved is not hard to imagine since it would help almost any animal forage for food. Animals on the prowl for sustenance must constantly decide which tree has the most fruit, or which patch of flowers will contain the most nectar. There are also other, less obvious, advantages of numeracy. In one compelling example, researchers in America found that female coots appear to calculate how many eggs they have laid – and add any in the nest laid by an intruder – before making any decisions about adding to them. Exactly how ancient these skills are is difficult to determine. Only by studying the numerical abilities of more and more creatures using standardised procedures can we hope to understand the basic preconditions for the evolution of numbers.

Extracted from - IELTS Reading Practice Sets. Copyright © 2016 by IDP education, British Council and Cambridge Assessment English

NUMERACY CAN ANIMALS TELL NUMBERS QUESTIONS

Questions 15-20

On your answer sheet, write

TRUE, if the statement is true

FALSE, if the statement is false

NOT GIVEN, if the information is not given in the passage

15. Primates are better at identifying the larger of two numbers if one is much bigger than the other.

16. Jurgen Tautz trained the insects in his experiment to recognize the shapes of individual numbers.

17. The research involving young chicks took place over two separate days.

18. The experiment with chicks suggests that some numerical ability exists in newborn animals.

19. Researchers have experimented by altering quantities of nectar or fruit available to certain wild animals.

20. When assessing the number of eggs in their nest, coots take into account those of other birds.

NUMERACY CAN ANIMALS TELL NUMBERS ANSWERS

15. Answer: TRUE

Process to attempt the solution: Refer to Paragraph A, where it mentions that both humans and monkeys make more errors when two sets of objects are close in number.

16. Answer: FALSE

Process to attempt the solution: Check Paragraph F, which it states that the bees were not trained but were tested for numeracy based on the number of geometrical shapes.

17. Answer: NOT GIVEN

The process to attempt the solution: The passage doesn't provide information about whether the research with chicks took place over two separate days.

18. Answer: TRUE

Process to attempt the solution: Examine Paragraph G, where it mentions that three and four-day-old chicks demonstrated numerical ability without prior coaching.

19. Answer: NOT GIVEN

The process to attempt the solution: The passage doesn't provide information about researchers experimenting with altering quantities of nectar or fruit.

20. Answer: TRUE

The process to attempt the solution: Check Paragraph H, where it mentions that female coots appear to calculate how many eggs they have laid, including those laid by an intruder.

NOTE

The passage discusses in depth the numerical abilities of various animals, evaluating their capacity to distinguish between different quantities. Following the IELTS Reading standards, the discussion involves numeracy tests with respect to IELTS reading practice tests and reading IELTS practice tests with answers. True/False/Not Given questions evaluate the comprehension of primates, salamanders, mosquitofish, bees, and chicks in numerical tasks, reflecting the structure of IELTS reading exam practice online. The research explores whether these animals exhibit innate or learned numerical skills, aligning with the broader theme of IELTS academic reading practice.

Multitasking Debate - Can you do them at the same time?

A. Talking on the phone while driving isn’t the only situation where we’re worse at multitasking than we might like to think we are. New studies have identified a bottleneck in our brains that some say means we are fundamentally incapable of true multitasking. If experimental findings reflect real-world performance, people who think they are multitasking, are probably just underperforming in all – or at best, all but one – of their parallel pursuits. Practice might improve your performance, but you will never be as good as when focusing on one task at a time.

B. The problem, according to Rene Marois, a psychologist at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, is that there’s a sticking point in the brain. To demonstrate this, Marois devised an experiment to locate it. Volunteers watch a screen and when a particular image appears, a red circle, say, they have to press a key with their index finger. Different coloured circles require presses from different fingers. The typical response time is about half a second, and the volunteers quickly reach their peak performance. Then they learn to listen to different recordings and respond by making a specific sound. For instance, when they hear a bird chirp, they have to say “ba”; an electronic sound should elicit a “ko”, and so on. Again, no problem. A normal person can do that in about half a second, with almost no effort.

C. The trouble comes when Marois shows the volunteers an image, and then almost immediately plays them a sound. Now they’re flummoxed. “If you show an image and play a sound at the same time, one task is postponed,” he says. In fact, if the second task is introduced within the half-second or so it takes to process and react to the first, it will simply be delayed until the first one is done. The largest dual-task delays occur when the two tasks are presented simultaneously; delays progressively shorten as the interval between presenting the tasks lengthens.

D. There are at least three points where we seem to get stuck, says Marois. The first is simply identifying what we’re looking at. This can take a few tenths of a second, during which time we are not able to see and recognize the second item. This limitation is known as the “attentional blink”: experiments have shown that if you’re watching out for a particular event and a second one shows up unexpectedly any time within this crucial window of concentration, it may register in your visual cortex but you will be unable to act upon it. Interestingly, if you don’t expect the first event, you have no trouble responding to the second. What exactly causes the attentional blink is still a matter of debate.

E. A second limitation is in our short-term visual memory. It’s estimated that we can keep track of about four items at a time, fewer if they are complex. This capacity shortage is thought to explain, in part, our astonishing inability to detect even huge changes in scenes that are otherwise identical, so-called “change blindness”. Show people pairs of near-identical photos – say, aircraft engines in one picture have disappeared in the other – and they will fail to spot the differences. Here again, though, there is disagreement about what the essential limiting factor really is. Does it come down to a dearth of storage capacity, or is it about how much attention a viewer is Paying?

F. A third limitation is that choosing a response to a stimulus – breaking when you see a child in the road, for instance, or replying when your mother tells you over the phone that she’s thinking of leaving your dad – also takes brainpower. Selecting a response to one of these things will delay by some tenths of a second your ability to respond to the other. This is called the “response selection bottleneck” theory, first proposed in 1952.

G. But David Meyer, a psychologist at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, doesn’t buy the bottleneck idea. He thinks dual-task interference is just evidence of a strategy used by the brain to prioritise multiple activities. Meyer is known as something of an optimist by his peers. He has written papers with titles like “Virtually perfect time-sharing in dual-task performance: Uncorking the central cognitive bottleneck”. His experiments have shown that with enough practice – at least 2000 tries – some people can execute two tasks simultaneously as competently as if they were doing them one after the other. He suggests that there is a central cognitive processor that coordinates all this and, what’s more, he thinks it uses discretion sometimes it chooses to delay one task while completing another.

H. Marois agrees that practice can sometimes erase interference effects. He has found that with just 1 hour of practice each day for two weeks, volunteers show a huge improvement at managing both his tasks at once. Where he disagrees with Meyer is in what the brain is doing to achieve this. Marois speculates that practice might give us the chance to find less congested circuits to execute a task – rather like finding trusty back streets to avoid heavy traffic on main roads – effectively making our response to the task subconscious. After all, there are plenty of examples of subconscious multitasking that most of us routinely manage: walking and talking, eating and reading, watching TV and folding the laundry.

I. It probably comes as no surprise that generally speaking, we get worse at multitasking as we age. According to Art Kramer at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, who studies how ageing affects our cognitive abilities, we speak in our 20s. Though the decline is slow through our 30s and on into our 50s, it is there; and after 55, it becomes more precipitous. In one study, he and his colleagues had both young and old participants do a simulated driving task while carrying on a conversation. He found that while young drivers tended to miss background changes, older drivers failed to notice things that were highly relevant. Likewise, older subjects had more trouble paying attention to the more important parts of a scene than young drivers.

J. It’s not all bad news for over-55s, though. Kramer also found that older people can benefit from the practice. Not only did they learn to perform better, but brain scans also showed that underlying that improvement was a change in the way their brains became active. While it’s clear that practice can often make a difference, especially as we age, the basic facts remain sobering. “We have this impression of an almighty complex brain,” says Marois, “and yet we have very humbling and crippling limits.” For most of our history, we probably never needed to do more than one thing at a time, he says, and so we haven’t evolved to be able to. Perhaps we will in the future, though. We might yet look back one day on people like Debbie and Alun as ancestors of a new breed of true multitaskers.

Extracted from - IELTS Reading Practice Sets. Copyright © 2016 by IDP education, British Council and Cambridge Assessment English

MULTITASKING DEBATE CAN YOU DO THEM AT THE SAME TIME QUESTIONS

Questions 21-27

Complete the summary below.

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 21-27 on your answer sheet.

The (21) __________ comes when Marois shows the volunteers an (22) __________, and then almost immediately plays them a sound. Now they’re flummoxed. “If you show an image and play a sound at the same time, one task is (23) __________,” he says. In fact, if the second task is introduced within the (24) __________ or so it takes to process and react to the first, it will simply be delayed until the first one is done. The largest dual-task delays occur when the two tasks are presented (25) __________; delays (26) __________ shorten as the interval between presenting the tasks (27) __________.

Questions 28-32

The reading Passage has ten paragraphs A-J.

Which paragraph contains the following information?

Write the correct letter in boxes 28-32 on your answer sheet.

28. A theory explains delay happens when selecting one reaction

29. Different age group responds to important things differently

30. Conflicts happen when visual and audio elements emerge simultaneously

31. An experiment designed to demonstrate the critical part of the brain for multitasking

32. A viewpoint favours the optimistic side of multitasking performance

Questions 33-35

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

Write your answers in boxes 33-35 on your answer sheet.

33. Which one is correct about the experiment conducted by Rene Marois?

A. Participants performed poorly on the listening task solely

B. Volunteers press a different key on different colours

C. Participants need to use different fingers on the different coloured objects

D. They did a better job on Mixed image and sound information

34. Which statement is correct about the first limitation of Marois’s experiment?

A. “attentional blink” takes about ten seconds

B. Lag occurs if we concentrate on one object while the second one appears

C. We always have trouble in reaching the second one

D. The first limitation can be avoided by certain measures

35. Which one is NOT correct about Meyer’s experiments and statements?

A. Just after failure in several attempts can people execute dual-task

B. Practice can overcome dual-task interference

C. Meyer holds a different opinion on Marois’s theory

D. An existing processor decides whether to delay another task or not

Questions 36-40

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 3?

In boxes 36-40 on your answer sheet, write

YES, if the statement is true

NO, if the statement is false

NOT GIVEN, if the information is not given in the passage

36. The longer gap between the two presenting tasks means a shorter delay toward the second one.

37. Incapable human memory causes people to sometimes miss the differences when presented with two similar images.

38. Marois has a different opinion on the claim that training removes the bottleneck effect.

39. Art Kramer proved there is a correlation between multitasking performance and genders.

40. The author doesn’t believe that the effect of practice could bring any variation.

MULTITASKING DEBATE CAN YOU DO THEM AT THE SAME TIME ANSWERS

21. Answer: trouble

Process to attempt the solution: Identify the word in the passage that describes the challenge or difficulty faced by the volunteers when both an image and a sound are presented simultaneously.

22. Answer: image

The process to attempt the solution: Locate the term in the passage referring to the individuals participating in Marois's experiment.

23. Answer: postponed

Process to attempt the solution: Find the term in the passage that describes what happens to one of the tasks when an image and a sound are presented simultaneously.

24. Answer: half-second

Process to attempt the solution: Identify the duration mentioned in the passage, representing the time it takes to process and react to the first task, leading to a delay in the second task.

25. Answer: simultaneously

Process to attempt the solution: Look for the word that describes how the two tasks are presented in Marois's experiment.

26. Answer: progressively

Process to attempt the solution: Identify the term indicating how delays change as the interval between presenting the tasks increases.

27. Answer: lengthens

Process to attempt the solution: Find the word that describes what happens to the interval between presenting the tasks as the delays change.

28. Answer: Paragraph F

Process to attempt the solution: Search for details about the theory explaining the delay in selecting one reaction, discussed in Paragraph F.

29. Answer: Paragraph I

Process to attempt the solution: Look for information regarding how different age groups respond to important things differently, which is found in Paragraph I.

30. Answer: Paragraph C

Process to attempt the solution: Identify the paragraph that discusses conflicts when visual and audio elements emerge simultaneously, located in Paragraph C.

31. Answer: Paragraph B

Process to attempt the solution: Locate the paragraph that describes an experiment designed to demonstrate the critical part of the brain for multitasking, which is found in Paragraph B.

32. Answer: Paragraph G

Process to attempt the solution: Search for the paragraph presenting a viewpoint favouring the optimistic side of multitasking performance, which is found in Paragraph G.

33. Answer: D

Process to attempt the solution: Go to Paragraph B where Rene Marois's experiment is discussed. Identify the information about how volunteers perform when an image and sound are presented simultaneously. Check for the correct option.

34. Answer: B

Process to attempt the solution: Look for information about the first limitation of Marois's experiment in Paragraph D. Identify details about the "attentional blink" and its impact on concentrating on the second object.

35. Answer: A

Process to attempt the solution: Refer to Paragraph G where David Meyer's experiments are mentioned. Identify the information that contradicts Meyer's statements or opinions on executing dual tasks. Check for the correct option.

36. Answer: YES

Process to Attempt the Solution: Refer to Paragraph C, which discusses delays in dual-task situations. Identify information about the relationship between the gap and delay. Check for the correct option.

37. Answer: YES

Process to Attempt the Solution: Check the information in Paragraph E about the limitations in short-term visual memory. Find details about people missing differences in similar images. Check for the correct option.

38. Answer: NO

Process to Attempt the Solution: Look for information in Paragraph H about Marois's opinion on training and the bottleneck effect. If there is no clear information, mark it as "NO."

39. Answer: NOT GIVEN

Process to Attempt the Solution: Check the information in Paragraph I about Art Kramer's study on multitasking and ageing. If there is no clear information about the correlation with genders, mark it as "NOT GIVEN."

40. Answer: NOT GIVEN

Process to Attempt the Solution: Refer to Paragraph H where Marois's and Meyer's opinions on practice are discussed. Identify the author's stance on the effect of practice. Check for the correct option.

NOTE

The passage discusses the challenges of multitasking, revealing a brain bottleneck hindering true multitasking. Rene Marois's experiment demonstrates delays when processing simultaneous image and sound tasks, impacted by attentional blink, visual memory limits, and response selection. Questions 28-32 debate this phenomenon, with Marois proposing a delay theory (paragraph D), while David Meyer suggests a strategic aspect to dual-task interference. Questions 33-35 focus on Marois's experiment, emphasizing delays in simultaneous tasks. Meyer challenges the bottleneck idea, asserting strategic brain choices. The discourse provides valuable insights for those engaging in IELTS reading practice tests and IELTS exam reading practice to enhance overall IELTS score.

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