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IELTS Reading Section Sample Questions

Natural Pesticides in India

Passage 1:

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 9 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 in comeby 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 objections of multinational pesticide corporations.

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.

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IELTS Speaking Section Sample Questions

IELTS Speaking Section Sample Papers Part 1

Introduction and interview

This part of the test begins with the examiner introducing himself or herself and checking the candidate’s identification. It then continues as an interview.

Let’s talk about your home town or village.

• What kind of place is it?

• What’s the most interesting part of your town/village?

• What kind of jobs do the people in your town/village do?

• Would you say it’s a good place to live? (Why?)

Let’s move on to talk about accommodation.

• Tell me about the kind of accommodation you live in?

• How long have you lived there?

• What do you like about living there?

• What sort of accommodation would you most like to live in?

IELTS Speaking Section Sample Papers Part 2

Candidate Task Card

Describe something you own which is very important to you.

You should say:

• where you got it from

• how long you have had it

• what you use it for

• and explain why it is important to you.

1. You will have to talk about the topic for 1 to 2 minutes.

2. You have one minute to think about what you're going to say.

3. You can make some notes to help you if you wish.

Rounding off questions

• Is it valuable in terms of money?

• Would it be easy to replace?

IELTS Speaking Section Sample Papers Part 3

Two-way discussion

Let’s consider first of all how people’s values have changed.

• What kind of things give status to people in your country?

• Have things changed since your parents’ time?

Finally, let’s talk about the role of advertising.

• Do you think advertising influences what people buy?

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IELTS Writing Section Sample Questions

IELTS Writing Section Sample Papers Part 1

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Write about the following topic:

The first car appeared on British roads in 1888. By the year 2000 there may be as many as 29 million vehicles on British roads.

Alternative forms of transport should be encouraged and international laws introduced to control car ownership and use.

To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Question: Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your knowledge or experience. Write at least 250 words.

IELTS Writing Section Sample Papers Part 2

You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.

You live in a room in college which you share with another student. However, there are many problems with this arrangement and you find it very difficult to work.

Question: Write a letter to the accommodation officer at the college. In the letter,

• describe the situation

• explain your problems and why it is difficult to work

• say what kind of accommodation you would prefer

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IELTS Listening Section Sample Questions

You will hear an extract from a talk given to a group who are going to stay in the UK.

Tapescript of audio

Good evening, and welcome to the British Council. My name is John Parker and I’ve been asked to talk to you briefly about certain aspects of life in the UK before you actually go there. So I'm going to talk first about the best ways of making social contacts there. Now you might be wondering why it should be necessary. After all, we meet people all the time. But when you’re living in a foreign country it can be more difficult, not just because of the language, but because customs may be different. If you’re going to work in the UK you will probably be living in private accommodation, so it won’t be quite so easy to meet people. But there are still things that you can do to help yourself. First of all, you can get involved in activities in your local community, join a group of some kind. For example, you’ll probably find that there are theatre groups who might be looking for actors, set designers and so on, or if you play an instrument you could join music groups in your area. Or if you like the idea of finding out about local history there’ll be a group for that too. These are just examples. And the best places to get information about things like this are either the town hall or the public library. Libraries in the UK perform quite a broad range of functions nowadays they’re not just confined to lending books, although that’s their main role of course.

Questions 11 – 16

Answer the questions below.

Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.

What TWO factors can make social contact in a foreign country difficult?

• 11 ...............................

• 12 ...............................

Which types of community group does the speaker give examples of?

• theatre

• 13 ..................................

• 14 ..................................

In which TWO places can information about community activities be found?

• 15 ..................................

• 16 ..................................

Answers:

11 & 12 in either order

• language
• Customs

13 & 14 in either order

• music (groups)
• local history (groups)

15 & 16 in either order

• (the) (public) library/libraries
• (the) town hall

Words in brackets are optional - they are correct, but not necessary. Alternative answers are separated by a slash (/).

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Free IELTS Sample Papers

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