Light Pollution IELTS Reading Answers
This blog covers the full Light Pollution IELTS Reading passage, including accurate answers, keyword locations, and step-by-step explanations. It also shares expert tips for questions to help you improve score in the IELTS Reading exam.
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This article provides complete Light Pollution IELTS Reading answers, a passage taken from an actual IELTS Reading test. The guide helps candidates understand the passage, locate keywords, and answer questions accurately. With consistent practice, the IELTS Reading module can become one of the highest-scoring sections of the exam. To achieve a strong band score, it is essential to understand different IELTS Reading question types and apply effective strategies while answering them.
By practising and reviewing authentic IELTS Reading questions from previous tests, you can sharpen your skills and improve accuracy. Attempt the Light Pollution practice test below and explore more IELTS Reading practice tests on IELTSMaterial.com to boost your overall Reading performance.
Not sure how to answer IELTS Reading Matching Headings questions? Check out the video below for the latest tips and strategies!
For more Matching Headings Questions practice, take a look at IELTS Reading Tips & Practice Test: Matching Headings to Paragraphs exercises!
Light Pollution IELTS Reading Passage
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on the Reading Passage below.
A
After hours of driving south in the pitch-black darkness of the Nevada desert, a dome of hazy gold suddenly appears on the horizon. Soon, a road sign confirms the obvious: Las Vegas 30 miles. Looking skyward, you notice that the Big Dipper is harder to find than it was an hour ago.
B
Light pollution—the artificial light that illuminates more than its intended target area—has become a problem of increasing concern across the country over the past 15 years. In the suburbs, where over-lit shopping mall parking lots are the norm, only 200 of the Milky Way’s 2,500 stars are visible on a clear night. Even fewer can be seen from large cities. In almost every town, big and small, street lights beam just as much light up and out as they do down, illuminating much more than just the street. Almost 50 percent of the light emanating from street lamps misses its intended target, and billboards, shopping centers, private homes and skyscrapers are similarly over-illuminated.
C
America has become so bright that in a satellite image of the United States at night, the outline of the country is visible from its lights alone. The major cities are all there, in bright clusters: New York, Boston, Miami, Houston, Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago - and, of course, Las Vegas. Mark Adams, superintendent of the McDonald Observatory in west Texas, says that the very fact that city lights are visible from on high is proof of their wastefulness. “When you’re up in an airplane, all that light you see on the ground from the city is wasted. It’s going up into the night sky. That’s why you can see it.”
D
But don’t we need all those lights to ensure our safety? The answer from light engineers, light pollution control advocates and astronomers is an emphatic “no.” Elizabeth Alvarez of the International Dark Sky Association (IDA), a non-profit organization in Tucson, Arizona, says that overly bright security lights can actually force neighbours to close the shutters, which means that if any criminal activity does occur on the street, no one will see it. And the old assumption that bright lights deter crime appears to have been a false one: A new Department of Justice report concludes that there is no documented correlation between the level of lighting and the level of crime in an area. And contrary to popular belief, more crimes occur in broad daylight than at night.
For drivers, light can actually create a safety hazard. Glaring lights can temporarily blind drivers, increasing the likelihood of an accident. To help prevent such accidents, some cities and states prohibit the use of lights that impair night-time vision. For instance, New Hampshire law forbids the use of “any light along a highway so positioned as to blind or dazzle the vision of travelers on the adjacent highway.”
F
Badly designed lighting can pose a threat to wildlife as well as people. Newly hatched turtles in Florida move toward beach lights instead of the more muted silver shimmer of the ocean. Migrating birds, confused by lights on skyscrapers, broadcast towers and lighthouses, are injured, sometimes fatally, after colliding with high, lighted structures. And light pollution harms air quality as well: Because most of the country’s power plants are still powered by fossil fuels, more light means more air pollution.
So what can be done? Tucson, Arizona is taking back the night. The city has one of the best lighting ordinances in the country, and, not coincidentally, the highest concentration of observatories in the world. Kitt Peak National Optical Astronomy Observatory has 24 telescopes aimed skyward around the city’s perimeter, and its cadre of astronomers needs a dark sky to work with.
H
For a while, that darkness was threatened. “We were totally losing the night sky,” Jim Singleton of Tucson’s Lighting Committee told Tulsa, Oklahoma’s KOTV last March. Now, after retrofitting inefficient mercury lighting with low-sodium lights that block light from “trespassing” into unwanted areas like bedroom windows, and by doing away with some unnecessary lights altogether, the city is softly glowing rather than brightly beaming. The same thing is happening in a handful of other states, including Texas, which just passed a light pollution bill last summer. “Astronomers can get what they need at the same time that citizens get what they need: safety, security and good visibility at night,” says McDonald Observatory’s Mark Adams, who provided testimony at the hearings for the bill.
I
And in the long run, everyone benefits from reduced energy costs. Wasted energy from inefficient lighting costs us between $1 and $2 billion a year, according to IDA. The city of San Diego, which installed new, high-efficiency street lights after passing a light pollution law in 1985, now saves about $3 million a year in energy costs.
J
Legislation isn’t the only answer to light pollution problems. Brian Greer, Central Ohio representative for the Ohio Light Pollution Advisory Council, says that education is just as important, if not more so. “There are some special situations where regulation is the only fix,” he says. “But the vast majority of bad lighting is simply the result of not knowing any better.” Simple actions like replacing old bulbs and fixtures with more efficient and better-designed ones can make a big difference in preserving the night sky.
*The Big Dipper: a group of seven bright stars visible in the Northern Hemisphere.
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Light Pollution IELTS Reading Questions
Question 1-5
The first six paragraphs of Reading Passage 69 are lettered A-F.
Choose the most suitable headings for paragraphs A-F from the list of headings below.
NB There are more headings than paragraphs, so you will not use them all.
List of Headings
i Why lights are needed
ii Lighting discourages law breakers
iii The environmental dangers
iv People at risk from bright lights
v Illuminating space
vi A problem lights do not solve
vii Seen from above
viii More light than is necessary
ix Approaching the city
1 Paragraph B ..................................
2 Paragraph C ..................................
3 Paragraph D ..................................
4 Paragraph E ..................................
5 Paragraph F ..................................
Question 6-9
Complete each of the following statements with words taken from the passage.
Write ONE or TWO WORDS for each answer.
6. According to a recent study, well-lit streets do not .......................... or make neighbourhoods safer to live in.
7. Inefficient lighting increases .......................... because most electricity is produced from coal, gas or oil.
8. Efficient lights .......................... from going into areas where it is not needed.
9. In dealing with light pollution .......................... is at least as important as passing new laws.
Questions 10-13
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 69?
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
10. One group of scientists find their observations are made more difficult by bright lights.
11. It is expensive to reduce light pollution.
12. Many countries are now making light pollution illegal.
13. Old types of light often cause more pollution than more modern ones.
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Light Pollution IELTS Reading Answers
Let’s now review the answers to the questions from the passage in the reading section, Light Pollution IELTS Reading Answers, and assess your improvement for a high IELTS Reading band score.
| Question number | Answer | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | viii | Paragraph B puts forward the idea that “light pollution is the artificial light that illuminates more than its intended target area.” Moreover, “In almost every town, big or small, street lights beam just as much light up and out as they do down, illuminating much more than just streets.” The phrase ‘illuminates much more than intended area’ refers to making the area brighter than necessary. Hence, the appropriate heading for this answer is “viii.” |
| 2 | vii | Paragraph C talks about “America and how it has become so bright that in a satellite image of the United States at night, the outline of the country.” Besides that, “McDonald Observatory in West Texa says that the very fact that city lights are visible from on high.” The words ‘visible from on high’ specifies that it can be seen from above. Hence, the appropriate heading for this answer is “vii.” |
| 3 | vi | Paragraph D discusses more light pollution in detail. “Elizebeth Alvarez of the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA), a non-profit organization in Tucson, Arizona, says that overly bright security lights can actually force neighbours to close the shutters, which means if any criminal activity does occur on the street, no one will see it.” This line mentions the drawbacks of extra bright light and how a problem that light does not solve. Hence, the appropriate heading for this answer is “vi.” |
| 4 | iv | The Beginning of Paragraph E states that “for drivers, light can actually create a safety hazard. Glaring lights can temporarily blind drivers, increasing the likelihood of an accident. Moreover, a New Hampshire law forbids the use of any light along a highway so positioned to blind or dazzle the vision of travelers.” These lines point out how drivers are vulnerable to accidents due to bright lights. Hence, the appropriate heading for this answer is “iv.” |
| 5 | iii | As per Paragraph F, “badly designed lighting can pose a threat to wildlife as well as people. Moreover, migrating birds, confused by lights on skyscrapers, broadcast towers and lighthouses, are injured, sometimes fatally, after colliding with high, lighted structures. Also, light pollution harms air quality.” All these factors contribute to the environmental dangers. Hence, the appropriate heading for this answer is “iii.” |
| 6 | Deter crime | In Paragraph D, Elizabeth Alvarez of the International Dark Sky Association (IDA), a non-profit organisation in Tucson, Arizona, says that overly bright security lights can actually force neighbours to close the shutters, which means that if any criminal activity does occur on the street, no one will see it. Apart from that, the old assumption that bright lights deter crime appears to have been a false one. Hence, the correct answer is “deter crime.” |
| 7 | Air pollution | Paragraph F states that light pollution harms air quality as well: because most of the country’s power plants are still powered by fossil fuels (coal, gas, or oil), more light means more pollution. From this line we can infer that inefficient lighting increases air pollution. Hence, the correct answer is “air pollution” |
| 8 | Block light | The lines in Paragraph H, states that “now, after retrofitting inefficient mercury lighting with low-sodium lights that block light from ‘trespassing’ into unwanted areas like bedroom windows, and by doing away with some unnecessary lights altogether.” The phrase ‘lights that block light from ‘trespassing’ into unwanted areas’ implies that it blocks lights going into unwanted areas. Hence, the correct answer is “block light” |
| 9 | Education | In Paragraph J, there’s a line which states that “legislation isn’t the only answer to the light pollution problem. Rather, Brian Greer, Central Ohio representative for the Ohio Light Pollution Advisory Council, says that education is just as important, if not more so.” Therefore, the lines above confirm that education is as important as passing a new law. Hence, the correct answer is “education.” |
| 10 | True | In Paragraph D, “the light engineers, light pollution control advocates and astronomers is an emphatic ‘no.’” Moreover, in passage G, it is mentioned that Kitt Peak National Optical Astronomy Observatory has 24 telescopes aimed skyward around the city’s perimeter, and its cadre of astronomers need a dark sky to work with,” From these lines we can infer that astronomers belong to one group of scientists, who find it difficult to work in bright light. As the statement agrees with the information, the correct answer is “Yes.” |
| 11 | False | Paragraph I states that “wasted energy from inefficient lighting costs us between $1 and $2 billion a year, according to IDA. San Diego city, after passing a light pollution law in 1985, now saves about $3 million a year in energy costs.” We can infer that reducing light pollution is not expensive because San Diego was able to save millions when the pollution ordinance was passed. As the statement contradicts the information, the correct answer is “No.” |
| 12 | Not Given | In Paragraph I, we can find references of laws, which mentions light pollution legalising laws. Such as in San Diego city, after passing a light pollution law in 1985, it now saves about $3 million a year in energy costs.
However, there is no explicit mention of many countries making light pollution illegal. Hence, the correct answer is ‘Not Given.’ |
| 13 | True | The last lines of Paragraph J state that “simple actions like replacing old bulbs and fixtures with more efficient and better-designed ounces can make a big difference in preserving the night sky.” These lines confirm that old types of light bulbs cause more pollution and modern ones can. Hence, the correct answer is ‘Yes.’ |
Tips to Ace the Light Pollution IELTS Reading Answers
Let us check out some quick IELTS Exam Preparation Tips for Band Score of 8+ to answer the types of questions in the Reading Answers.
Matching Headings
- Read the headings first to understand the main ideas.
- Focus on the first and last lines of each paragraph.
- Identify the central idea, not examples or details.
- Watch for synonyms and paraphrasing in the passage.
- Do not choose a heading just because of a matching word.
Sentence Completion
- Read the sentence carefully to predict the missing information.
- Locate the relevant paragraph using keywords from the sentence.
- Follow the word limit exactly as given in the question.
- Use words directly from the passage—do not change their form.
- Check grammar to ensure the completed sentence makes sense.
True/False/Not Given (T/F/NG)
- Understand the statement carefully, noting absolute words like “all,” “always,” “never,” or “only.”
- Find the part of the passage that relates to the statement and read carefully.
- Use True if the statement matches the passage exactly, False if it contradicts, and Not Given if no information is provided.
- Watch for paraphrasing; the passage may use different words than the question.
- Avoid guessing; if information is missing, select Not Given rather than assuming.
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Mastering passages like Light Pollution IELTS Reading Answers requires careful attention to keywords, paraphrasing, and logical connections in the text. Using this guide’s answers, explanations, and tips, you can strengthen your reading strategies, boost accuracy, and enhance your overall IELTS Reading performance. Keep practising with more IELTS Reading Recent Actual Tests and answers on IELTSMaterial.com to improve your speed, accuracy, and overall performance.
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