Tricky Sums and Psychology IELTS Reading Answers

Kasturika Samanta

10 min read

Updated On Nov 29, 2024

Practice the IELTS Academic Reading passage with ‘Tricky Sums and Psychology' here and get access to our expert tricks to crack the question types in it as well!

Reading Passage 2
Answer Key
Answers and Explanation
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The Academic passage, ‘Tricky Sums and Psychology Reading Answers’, is a reading passage that consists of 12 questions.

With diligent practice, the IELTS Reading Module can be the top-scoring category for IELTS aspirants. To score well, you must understand how to approach and answer the different question types in the Reading Module.

By solving and reviewing Sample Reading questions from past IELTS papers, you can ensure that your Reading skills are up to the mark. Take the practice test Tricky Sums and Psychology below and try more IELTS reading practice tests from IELTSMaterial.com.

The question types found in this passage are:

IELTS Matching Information (Q. 14-19)
IELTS True/False/Not Given (Q. 20-25)

Reading Passage 2

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-25, which are based on the Reading Passage below.

Tricky Sums and Psychology

A In their first years of studying mathematics at school, children all over the world usually have to learn the times table, also known as the multiplication table, which shows what you get when you multiply numbers together. Children have traditionally learned their times table by going from ‘1 times 1 is 1’ all the way up to ‘12 times 12 is 144’.

B Times tables have been around for a very long time now. The oldest known tables using base 10 numbers, the base that is now used everywhere in the world, are written on bamboo strips dating from 305 BC, found in China. However, in many European cultures the times table is named after the Ancient Greek mathematician and philosopher Pythagoras (570-495 BC). And so it is called the Table of Pythagoras in many languages, including French and Italian.

C In 1820, in his book The Philosophy of Arithmetic, the mathematician John Leslie recommended that young pupils memorize the times table up to 25 x 25. Nowadays, however, educators generally believe it is important for children to memorise the table up to 9x 8,10 x 10 or 12 X12.

D The current aim in the UK is for school pupils to know all their times tables up to 12 x 12 by the age of nine. However, many people do not know them, even as adults. Recently, some politicians have been asked arithmetical questions of this kind. For example, in 1998, the schools minister Stephen Byers was asked the answer to 7 x 8. He got the answer wrong, saying 54 rather than 56, and everyone laughed at him.

E In 2014, a young boy asked the UK Chancellor George Osborne the exact same question. As he had passed A-level maths and was in charge of the UK’s economic policies at the time, you would expect him to know the answer. However, he simply said, ‘I’ve made it a rule in life not to answer such questions.’

F Why would a politician refuse to answer such a question? It is certainly true that some sums are much harder than others. Research has shown that learning and remembering sums involving 6,7,8 and 9 tends to be harder than remembering sums involving other numbers. And it is even harder when 6,7,8 and 9 are multiplied by each other. Studies often find that the hardest sum is 6×8, with 7×8 not far behind. However, even though 7×8 is a relatively difficult sum, it is unlikely that George Osborne did not know the answer. So there must be some other reason why he refused to answer the question.

G The answer is that Osborne was being ‘put on the spot’ and he didn’t like it. It is well known that when there is a lot of pressure to do something right, people often have difficulty doing something that they normally find easy. When you put someone on the spot and ask such a question, it causes stress. The person’s heart beats faster and their adrenalin levels go up. As a result, people will often make mistakes that they would not normally make. This is called ‘choking’. Choking often happens in sport, such as when a footballer takes a crucial penalty. In the same way, the boy’s question put Osborne under great pressure. He knew it would be a disaster for him if he got the answer to such a simple question wrong and feared that he might choke. And that is why he refused to answer the question.

Questions 14-19

The text has seven paragraphs, A-G.

Which paragraph contains the following information?

14 a 19th-century opinion of what children should learn

15 the most difficult sums

16 the effect of pressure on doing something

17 how children learn the times table

18 a politician who got a sum wrong

19 a history of the times table

Questions 20-25

Do the following statements agree with the information given in the text? For questions 20-25, 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

20 Pythagoras invented the times table in China.

21 Stephen Byers and George Osborne were asked the same question.

22 All children in the UK have to learn the multiplication table.

23 George Osborne did not know the answer to 7 X 8.

24 7 X 8 is the hardest sum that children have to learn.

25 Stephen Byers got the sum wrong because he choked.

Answer Key

Question No.	Answer	Question No.	Answer
14	C	20	False
15	F	21	True
16	G	22	True
17	A	23	False
18	D	24	False
19	B	25	Not Given

Answers and Explanation

14 Answer: C

Question type: Matching Information

Answer location: Paragraph C, line 1

Answer explanation: In the given location, it is given that “In 1820, in his book The Philosophy of Arithmetic, the mathematician John Leslie recommended that young pupils memorize the times table up to 25 x 25.”. This shows that in the third paragraph the writer refers to a 19th century (1820) opinion of mathematician John Leslie that young learners should learn (memorize) the times table up to 25 x 25. Hence, the answer is C.

15 Answer: F

Question type: Matching Information

Answer location: Paragraph F, line 3 – line 5

Answer explanation: In the mentioned lines, it is given “Research has shown that learning and remembering sums involving 6,7,8 and 9 tends to be harder than remembering sums involving other numbers. And it is even harder when 6,7,8 and 9 are multiplied by each other. Studies often find that the hardest sum is 6×8, with 7×8 not far behind.”. This reference proves that the sixth paragraph deals with the discussion on the most difficult sums (the hardest sum is 6×8, with 7×8 not far behind). Hence, the answer is F.

16 Answer: G

Question type: Matching Information

Answer location: Paragraph G, line 2

Answer explanation: In the specified line, it is given “It is well known that when there is a lot of pressure to do something right, people often have difficulty doing something that they normally find easy.”. In other words, the last paragraph discusses the effect of pressure on doing something, which is more the pressure, more difficult it is to perform or answer. Hence, the answer is G.

17 Answer: A

Question type: Matching Information

Answer location: Paragraph A, line 2

Answer explanation: In the first paragraph, it is stated that “Children have traditionally learned their times table by going from ‘1 times 1 is 1’ all the way up to ‘12 times 12 is 144’.”. It can be pointed out that in the first paragraph, the writer relates the process of how children learn the times table. Hence, the answer is A.

18 Answer: D

Question type: Matching Information

Answer location: Paragraph D, line 4 – line 5

Answer explanation: Through reference lines like, “…in 1998, the schools minister Stephen Byers was asked the answer to 7 x 8. He got the answer wrong, saying 54 rather than 56, and everyone laughed at him.”, it can be concluded that the fourth paragraph provides an example of a politician (schools minister Stephen Byers) who got a sum wrong (said 54 instead of 56 when asked the answer to 7 x 8). Hence, the answer is D.

19 Answer: B

Question type: Matching Information

Answer location: Paragraph B

Answer explanation: In the mentioned section, it is stated that “Times tables have been around for a very long time now. The oldest known tables using base 10 numbers, the base that is now used everywhere in the world, are written on bamboo strips dating from 305 BC, found in China.”. Based on this reference, it can be concluded that the second paragraph explains the history of the times table, the oldest being the one found in China. Hence, the answer is B.

20 Answer: False