IELTS Reading Practice Test 24
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In the Academic Reading practice test, “Can Animals count?,A revolutionary material And The growth of intelligence” there are 40 questions of various question types. We at IELTSMaterial.com would urge every IELTS aspirant to time this test as in the real exam and find the answers without looking at the key. If you have scored 40/40, then we wish you all the best. If you haven’t, then we would earnestly advise you to take one of our IELTS reading practice tests.
Here are question types in this reading test
Reading Passage 1 (Can Animals count?)
- Table completion
- True or False / Not Given
Reading Passage 2 ( A revolutionary material)
- Matching headings
- Matching features
- Summary completion
Reading Passage 3 (The growth of intelligence)
- Multiple Choice Questions
- Yes/No or Not Given
- Summary completion
Reading Passage 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.
Can Animals count?
IELTS Actual Test Questions (February-March 2023)
4.8 of 5
4.6 of 5
4.8 of 5
4.8 of 5
Questions 1-7
Complete the table below.
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in blank spaces next to 1-7 on your answer sheet.
|
ANIMAL NUMERACY |
||
| Subjects | Experiment | Results |
| Mammals and birds | ||
| rhesus monkeys and humans | looked at two sets of geometrical objects on a computer screen | performance of two groups is almost performance of two groups is almost 1……. |
| chicks | chose between two sets of 2……
which are altered |
chicks can do calculations in order to choose the larger group |
| coots | the behaviour of 3…….. birds was
observed |
the bird seems to have the ability to count eggs |
| Amphibians, fish and insects | ||
| salamanders | offered clear tubes containing different quantities of 4……….. | salamanders distinguish between numbers over four if a bigger number is at least two times larger |
| 5…………… | shown real shoals and later artificial ones of geometrical shapes; these are used to check
influence of total of 6…….. and brightness |
subjects know the difference between two and three and possibly three and four, but not between four and five |
| bees | had to learn where 7…….. was
stored |
could soon choose the correct place |
Questions 8-13
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?
In boxes 8-13 on your answer sheet, write
TRUE, if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE, if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN, if there is no information on this
8 Primates are better at identifying the larger of two numbers if one is much bigger than the other.
9 Jurgen Tautz trained the insects in his experiment to recognise the shapes of individual numbers.
10 The research involving young chicks took place over two separate days.
11 The experiment with chicks suggests that some numerical ability exists in newborn animals.
12 Researchers have experimented by altering quantities of nectar or fruit available to certain wild animals.
13 When assessing the number of eggs in their nest, coots take into account those of other birds.
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Reading Passage 2
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26, which are based on Reading Passage 2 below.
Questions 14-18
Reading Passage 2 has five paragraphs A-E.
Write the correct number, i-viii, in boxes 14-18 on your answer sheet.
Choose the correct heading for each paragraph, A-E, from the list of headings below.
List of Headings
|
i |
A lack of consistent policy |
| ii | Learning from experience |
| iii | The greatest advantage |
| iv | The role of research |
| v | A unique material |
| vi | An irrational anxiety |
| vii | Avoiding the real challenges |
| viii | A sign of things to come |
14 Paragraph A
15 Paragraph B
16 Paragraph C
17 Paragraph D
18 Paragraph E
Questions 19-23
Look at the following statements (Questions 19-23) and the list of people below.
Match each statement to the correct person A-D.
Write the correct letter, A-D, in boxes 19-23 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once.
19 Comparison of two approaches to packaging revealed an interesting result.
20 People are expected to do the right thing.
21 Most food reaches UK shops in good condition.
22 Complex issues are ignored in the search for speedy solutions.
23 It is merely because of the way societies operate that using plastic seems valid.
| People
A Tim Lang B Dick Searle C Helene Roberts D Steve Kelsey |
Questions 24-26
Complete the summary below.
Write NO MORE THAN ONE WORD from the text for each answer.
Write your answers in blank spaces next to 24-26 on your answer sheet.
A revolutionary material
Plastic packaging has changed the way we consume food. However, we instinctively dislike it, partly because it is the product of 24……… processes, but also because it seems to be 25……………. so we feel it is wasteful. Nevertheless, it is thanks to plastic that for many people their choice of food is no longer restricted by the 26……….. in which it is available or the location of its source.
Reading Passage 3
The growth of intelligence
Questions 27-30
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write your answers next to 27-30 on your answer sheet
27 Most researchers accept that one feature of intelligence is the ability to
A change in our behaviour according to our situation.
B react to others’ behaviour patterns.
C experiment with environmental features.
D cope with unexpected setbacks.
28 What have psychometricians used statistics for?
A to find out if cooperative tasks are a useful tool in measuring certain skills
B to explore whether several abilities are involved in the development of intelligence
C to demonstrate that mathematical models can predict test results for different skills
D to discover whether common sense is fundamental to developing children’s abilities
29 Why are Horn and Cattell mentioned?
A They disagreed about the interpretation of different intelligence tests.
B Their research concerned both linguistic and mathematical abilities.
C They were the first to prove that intelligence can be measured by testing a range of special skills.
D Their work was an example of research into how people’s cognitive skills vary with age.
30 What was innovative about Piaget’s research?
A He refused to accept that children developed according to a set pattern.
B He emphasised the way children thought more than how well they did in tests.
C He used visually appealing materials instead of traditional intelligence tests.
D He studied children of all ages and levels of intelligence.
Questions 31-36
Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in Reading Passage 3?
In boxes 31-36 on your answer sheet, write
YES, if the statement agrees with the views of the writer
NO, if the statement contradicts the views of the writer
NOT GIVEN, if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
31 A surprising number of academics have come to the same conclusion about what the term intelligence means.
32 A general test of intelligence is unlikely to indicate the level of performance in every type of task.
33 The elderly perform less well on comprehension tests than young adults.
34 We must take into account which skills are tested when comparing intelligence at different ages.
35 Piaget’s work influenced theoretical studies more than practical research.
36 Piaget’s emphasis on active learning has been discredited by later researchers.
Questions 37-40
Complete the summary using the list of words, A-I, below.
Write the correct letter, A-I, in blank spaces next to 37-40 on your answer sheet.
| A | adult | B | practical | C | verbal |
| D | spatial | E | inquisitive | F | uncertain |
| G | academic | H | plentiful | I | unfamiliar |
Researchers investigating the development of intelligence have shown that 37…….………… skills become more significant with age. One good predictor of 38………………… intelligence is the degree to which small children are 39……………about their surroundings and how much interest they show on finding themselves in a 40………………setting.
Answers
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Can Animals count? Reading Answers (Passage 1)
Questions 1-7
(The table is arranged in a logical way, but the information is not in exactly the same order as it is given in the passage.)
| 1. | identical: The first paragraph says ‘The students’ performance ends up looking just like a monkey’s. It’s practically [= almost] identical’. |
| 2. | balls of paper: The sixth paragraph says ‘… showed it two groups of balls of paper … changed the quantities’ (although the text mentions ‘siblings’ and ‘brothers’, the experiment did not use other chicks). |
| 3. | female: The last paragraph says ‘researchers in America found that female coots appear to calculate’ (the text also mentions ‘an intruder’, but it was the ‘counting’ behaviour/behaviour of the coots that the researchers were interested in). |
| 4. | fruit flies: The second paragraph says ‘tempted salamanders with two sets of fruit flies held in clear tubes’. |
| 5. | mosquitofish: The third paragraph says ‘studies of mosquitofish, which instinctively join the biggest shoal’. |
| 6. | surface area: The fourth paragraph says ‘The team arranged these shapes so that they had the same overall [= total] surface area and luminance [= brightness] …’. |
| 7. | sugar water: The fifth paragraph says ‘two chambers – one which contained sugar water, which they like, while the other was empty. … The bees quickly learned … the correct chamber’. |
Questions 8-13
(come in the same order as the information in the passage.)
| 8. | TRUE: The first paragraph says ‘rhesus monkeys and university students … had to decide which set contained more objects…. monkeys, like humans, make more errors when two sets of objects are close in number’; primates are defined in the second paragraph:‘Humans and monkeys are mammals, in the animal family known as primates.’ |
| 9. | FALSE: The fifth paragraph says ‘the number of shapes [= how many shapes, not the actual shape of individual numerals]’. |
| 10. | NOT GIVEN: Although the sixth paragraph says ‘If chicks spend their first few days surrounded by certain objects’, this is a general statement, not how long the experiment lasted; ‘three- and four-day-old chicks’ tells us the age of the chicks, but it does not say that the experiment took place on two days; we do not know whether it was repeated on more than one day. |
| 11. | TRUE: The sixth paragraph says that these were almost newborn ‘three- and four-day-old chicks’ and that they ‘scuttled [= ran] to the larger quantity at a rate well above chance. They were doing some very simple arithmetic, claim the researchers’. |
| 12. | NOT GIVEN: Although the last paragraph says ‘Animals on the prowl … decide which tree has the most fruit, or which patch of flowers will contain the most nectar’ and that this would be an ‘obvious advantage[s] of numeracy’, we are not told whether any researchers have carried out experiments involving the animals searching for these foods. |
| 13. | TRUE: The last paragraph says ‘female coots appear to calculate … and add any in the nest laid by an intruder [= another bird]’. |
A revolutionary material Reading Answers (Passage 2)
Questions 14-26
| 14. | vi: ‘The facts, however, do not justify our unease.’ |
| 15. | i:‘… a squall [= storm] of conflicting initiatives … It’s a squall that dies down and then blows harder from one month to the next.’ |
| 16. | v: ‘… there’s nothing quite like plastic.’ |
| 17. | iii: ‘… there is one law of plastic that… prevails over [= is more important than] all others …. a little goes a long way … And in the packaging equation, weight is the main issue … ’ |
| 18. | vii: ‘To target plastic on its own is to evade the complexity of the issues.’ |
| 19. | C: Paragraph E says ‘… explains that in fact they found apples in fours on a tray covered by plastic film needed 27 per cent less packaging in transportation than those sold loose [= not wrapped before they are sold]’. |
| 20. | A: Paragraph B says ‘It is being left to the individual conscience’. |
| 21. | B: Paragraph C says ‘… in the UK, waste in supply chains [= the way goods get from producer to consumer] is about 3 per cent’. |
| 22. | D: Paragraph E says ‘the hunger [= desire] to do something quickly is diverting effort away from more complicated questions’. |
| 23. | A: Paragraph E says ‘Plastic as a lightweight food wrapper is now built-in as the logical thing … It only makes sense if you have a structure [i.e. social structure, society] such as exists now.’ |
| 24. | industrial (Paragraph A) |
| 25. | indestructible (Paragraph A) |
| 26. | seasons (Paragraph A) |
The growth of intelligence Reading Answers (Passage 3)
Questions 27-40
| 27. | A: The first paragraph says ‘intelligence involves the capacity … to adapt to one’s environment’.
Distraction B: There is no suggestion in the text that we change behaviour according to what other people do; C: The word ‘environment’ is used in this text in a more abstract way, i.e. ‘surroundings’; D: Although the text states that the ‘capacity … to learn from experience’ is one feature of intelligence and we can suppose that coping with ‘unexpected setbacks’ would be one outcome of learning from experience, which is one feature of intelligence, this is not stated anywhere in the text. |
| 28. | B: The second paragraph says ‘The former group [‘psychometricians’ in the previous paragraph] has examined the issue by determining how children’s abilities on a wide range of tasks intercorrelate, or go together.’
Distraction A: Although there is a wide range of ‘tasks’, there is no suggestion that any of them are ‘cooperative’. However, psychometricians are interested in how the individual tasks ‘intercorrelate, or go together’; C: The text only states that psychometricians have used statistics in their research, not that they use mathematical models to predict results; D: ‘Common sense’ [- good practical, logical abilities] is not the same as ‘general intelligence’ [overall intellectual ability], |
| 29. | D: The third paragraph says ‘studies of age-related changes …
For instance, … Horn and Cattell … fluid abilities peak in early adult life, whereas crystallised abilities increase up to advanced old age’. Distraction A: Horn and Cattell didn’t argue with each other. Instead they ‘argued for’ something [= they put forward the idea]; B: It is true that Their research concerned both linguistic and mathematical abilities’ (tests of‘mental manipulation of abstract symbols’ and ‘comprehension and information’) but this is not why Horn and Cattell are mentioned; C: Their research was about certain special skills, but not general intelligence. |
| 30. | B: The fifth paragraph says ‘the focus should be on the thinking processes involved rather than on levels of cognitive achievement’.
Distraction A: In fact, the text tells us the opposite: ‘a second element concerns the notion that development proceeds … in a set order’; C: The text does not tell us what materials he used, only that his work was ‘backed up by observations’; D: The text does not describe exactly the range of either ages or intelligence. |
| 31. | NO: The first paragraph says ‘quite difficult to define [= what is meant by] in unambiguous terms and unexpectedly controversial [= people disagree about it]’. |
| 32. | YES: The second paragraph says ‘general measures of intelligence tend to have considerable powers… Nevertheless, it is plain that it is not at all uncommon for individuals to be very good at some sorts of the task and yet quite poor at some others’. |
| 33. | NO: The third paragraph says the test suggests the opposite of the statement: ‘Crystallised abilities’ which are ‘assessed by tests of comprehension … increase up to advanced old age’, whereas ‘Fluid abilities … that require mental manipulation of abstract symbols’ ‘by contrast… peak in early adult life’. |
| 34. | YES: The fourth paragraph says ‘These findings seemed to suggest a substantial lack of continuity [= a big difference] between infancy and middle childhood. However, it is important to realise that the apparent discontinuity [= what appears to be a difference] will vary according to which of the cognitive skills were assessed in infancy.’ |
| 35. | NOT GIVEN: In the fifth paragraph we are told Piaget was influential regarding both (‘immense body of research’ and ‘subsequent thinking’) but there is no mention that either one of these things had a bigger impact than the other. |
| 36. | NO: The last paragraph says ‘his view that the child is an active agent of learning … has stood the test of time [= it is still respected]’, even if the previous paragraph states that ‘most of his concepts have had to be … radically revised, or rejected’. The summary outlines the ideas in the fourth paragraph. |
| 37. | C: verbal: ‘verbal abilities are more important later on’. |
| 38. | A: adult: ‘It has been found that tests of coping with novelty do predict later intelligence’ (the text does not deal with ‘academic ability’ in particular).
Note: ‘academic ability’ is the natural collocation, not ‘academic intelligence ’ |
| 39. | E: inquisitive: ‘their interest in and curiosity about the environment’. |
| 40. | I: unfamiliar: ‘the extent to which this is applied to new situations’. |
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