IELTS Reading: Practice with Demo

Introduction:

Let’s be honest—when was the last time you read something for an hour straight without getting distracted? If you’re like most of us, your reading habits probably involve scrolling through social media, reading two lines, and then checking your messages. But in the IELTS Reading test, you’re in for a challenge—a 60-minute battle where your reading skills, patience, and focus are put to the ultimate test.

But don’t worry! You’ve got this. And with the right mindset (and a little bit of humor), you’ll be ready to tackle those passages like a pro.

What’s the IELTS Reading Test?

You’ve got 60 minutes to read three long passages and answer 40 questions. Easy, right? Well, the passages are no Instagram captions—expect complex topics, whether you're taking the Academic or General IELTS. In the Academic version, you’ll be grappling with science, history, and business, which sounds fancy and intellectual but might make you feel like you’re reading a textbook from an alternate universe. In the General version, you’ll get texts on everyday topics like workplace notices and ads—less intimidating but still tricky, trust me.

You have just one minute and 30 seconds per question. Sounds like a breeze, right? But the trick is, the test is designed to make you think you know the answer, but then throw a curveball just when you think you’ve got it. Paraphrased statements, “almost right” answers—it’s all part of the fun.

The Questions

The questions come in all shapes and sizes, and honestly, some might even make you chuckle. Here’s a taste of the ones that will test both your reading skills and your ability to stay calm under pressure:

• True/False/Not Given – Basically, you’ll be playing Sherlock Holmes. Is it true? False? Or did they just not mention it at all? A real test of your powers of deduction.
• Matching Headings – Here’s where you find the main idea of each paragraph. It’s like a “find the theme” scavenger hunt.
• Multiple Choice – Four options, one correct answer, and somehow, each one looks almost right. It’s like being on a game show, minus the cash prize.
• Sentence Completion – Fill in the blanks with words that actually make sense. Not a random guess like you might have done in school.
• Matching Information – This one’s a “where’s Waldo” for information. Find it fast or risk getting lost in a sea of words.

IELTS Academic VS IELTS General Training

True/False/Not Given

What is it?

You’re given statements, and you must decide if they are:

• TRUE → The statement completely matches the passage.
• FALSE → The statement contradicts the passage.
• NOT GIVEN → The passage doesn’t say anything about it.

Example

Passage: The Eiffel Tower was built in 1889 as part of the World’s Fair. It remains one of the most visited monuments in the world today.

Question: The Eiffel Tower was originally built as a military observation post.

Answer: FALSE (The passage says it was built for the World’s Fair, not for military purposes.)

Matching Headings

What is it?

You’re given a list of headings (titles) and must match them to the correct paragraphs based on the main idea.

Example

Passage: Social media has transformed the way people interact. Platforms like Facebook and Instagram allow instant global communication, making distance less of a barrier.

Matching Headings:
A) The Rise of E-commerce
B) The Impact of Social Media on Communication
C) The History of the Internet

Answer: B) The Impact of Social Media on Communication (The paragraph talks about how social media changes how people interact.)

Multiple Choice

What is it?

You pick the correct answer from four options (A, B, C, D).

Example

Passage: The Amazon Rainforest produces 20% of the world’s oxygen and is home to thousands of plant and animal species. However, deforestation is threatening its ecosystem.

Question: What is one major problem affecting the Amazon Rainforest?
A) Overfishing
B) Climate change
C) Deforestation
D) Lack of oxygen

Answer: C) Deforestation (The passage states deforestation is threatening the ecosystem.)

Sentence Completion

What is it?

You complete a sentence with words from the passage.

Example

Passage: The Sahara Desert, covering 9.2 million square kilometers, is the largest hot desert in the world.

Question: The Sahara Desert is the world’s largest _____. (NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS)

Answer: hot desert

Matching Information

What is it?

You must find specific information in different paragraphs of a passage.

Example

Passage: Marie Curie was a pioneer in radioactivity research. Her discoveries led to advancements in medical treatments, including cancer radiation therapy.

Question: Which paragraph mentions a contribution to medicine?

Answer: The paragraph about cancer radiation therapy.

Sample Answer Sheet

Academic Reading (practice Questions)

Section 1

READING PASSAGE 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.

We French do love to demonstrate

(A) Josiane Bertrand has a small family business - a neighbourhood charcuterie selling sausage, poached pigs' trotters, pate and jellied pig snouts. Her ham, she says, is the best in Paris and her queue of customers is long. Despite the ceaseless rain outside - among all its other woes, France is now flooding - it's a convivial crowd waiting to be served, and the animated conversation is all about strikes.

(B) If the opinion pages of Le Monde are to be believed, the charcuterie queue is a pretty accurate reflection of the mood of the country. Split, roughly half and half, between those for the Work Bill and those against. Philippe's 28. He's landed what most French would regard as a dream job. He's a fonctionnaire working in local government. A fonctionnaire is an employee of the French state in almost any form of public administration and service. It's a job for life - with solid pay and conditions, fixed working hours, a good pension, generous holidays. So, what many young French people aspire to is not to change the world - explore, create, set-up alone - but, with self-employment difficult and taxes punitive, they dream of becoming steadily employed bureaucrats.

(C) Philippe knows he's lucky. And he's against any change. "I'm happy," he says. "I know exactly where I am and where I'll be in 40 years' time, with a good pension." Eleonore, who has four children, two of them dancing around the shop as they wait, is in her early 40s. As a secondary school teacher she has also got a job for life and generous state benefits. But, unlike Philippe, she's all for change. "It can't go on like this. For every person like me, there are 20 or more with no hope at all," she says.

(D) A quarter of all French people under 25, many of them well-qualified, have no work. A large number of those are from immigrant families, making their chances of employment even slimmer. These are the kind of people who voted Francois Hollande into the presidency in 2012, with his pledge to end the country's employment troubles.

(E) Now he's made a new promise, putting his own political career on the line - he's not running for re-election next spring unless he cuts unemployment. A bold move for a president with an approval rating of only 14% in a country riven by industrial disputes. Along with his prime minister, Manuel Valls, and Pierre Gattaz - known as the "boss of bosses", president of Medef, the largest federation of employers in France - Hollande stands against the combined power of the country's two biggest unions.

(F) The proposed Work Bill runs to over 500 pages. It aims to simplify and liberalise the French Work Code which, at 3,689 pages, is a vast labyrinth beset with perils for employers. The unions won't even consider negotiations until the bill is removed from parliament. The president and his allies refuse to change a word of it. "It's a good law, good for France," says Hollande. The result? Total stalemate. An ongoing siege. Just after one o'clock on the glassed-in terrace of a popular restaurant on the Boulevard Montparnasse, and everything begins to go quiet. The traffic disappears from the street. Cordons of riot police move in, three columns deep, flanked by armoured vans. There's a whirr of helicopters overhead.

(G) In the distance, a gathering roar and blare - the protesters. The noise becomes deafening. The riot police take up positions. Frederique, the waiter, temporarily locks the doors - and those having lunch find themselves exhibits in a kind of transparent, gastronomic showcase along with various grilled fish, bottles of wine and assorted desserts. Looking in from the outside, hundreds of protesters passing down the boulevard, some marching, others ambling, a few dancing to music booming from the accompanying floats. Looking out from the inside, the lunchers. The lunchers comment on the demonstrators, the demonstrators wave cheerily at the lunchers. There's general resigned, amused talk amid the eating - "Here we go again," and "Where will this round end?" And self-deprecating comments such as, "We French do love to demonstrate…"

(H) Then it all subsides, passes on, the noise, the marchers, the red balloons and pounding music, leaving a trailing wake of litter. Frederique unlocks the doors. The conversation leaves the political, returns to the personal. Similar reforms have already been implemented in Italy and Spain. Germany did so long ago - its unemployment, at 5%, is less than half that of France, which according to some commentators here now stands alone as the last bastion of 20th Century-style socialism in Europe.

Questions 1-8

Reading Passage 1 has eight paragraphs, A-H.

Which paragraph contains what information? Choose the headings and write the correct letter, A-H, in boxes 1-8 on your answer sheet.

1. A bold promise ___________

2. Similar reforms in other countries ___________

3. A refusal to change the law ___________

4. Unemployment rate statistics ___________

5. The dream of young French people ___________

6. Different opinions ___________

7. Best ham in all Paris ___________

8. The demonstration itself ___________

Questions 9-13

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

In boxes 9-13 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

9. Most French would say that Philippe has a very good job. 

10. Eleonore and Philippe have same views on the situation. 

11. 25% of all people in France have no job. 

12. Francois Hollande might not run for re-election next year. 

13. The French Work Code is considered simpler than the proposed Work Bill. 

14. The unemployment rate in Spain is less than in Italy. 

Section 2

READING PASSAGE 2

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 15-27, which are based on Reading Passage 2 below.

How I was floored by a tick

When Allan Little began to feel ill, he knew almost immediately what it was - Lyme Disease. But getting a medical diagnosis, and treatment, took a lot longer. I'd been going for years to the same little town in New England and Lyme Disease is everywhere there. You can't walk more than a few hundred metres in the countryside without coming across a public health notice warning you not to get bitten by a deer tick.

So the intense headache, the aching limbs, the burning joints, the ferocious fever and night sweats that hit me in a matter of hours, a few days after I'd got back to London, were all consistent with what I'd read about the condition. I went to a London GP, who wasn't convinced. She took a blood sample and advised me to go home, rest, and take paracetamol. The next day, the blood test came back. It was negative for Lyme. My condition grew worse. I could hardly stand up. I called another doctor, who came to my house. He was also sceptical. He took another blood test. This too came back negative. But he gave me a prescription for powerful painkillers which made me feel well enough to get on a train to Edinburgh, my home town.

Within three hours of arriving at Waverley Station I was an in-patient in the Infectious Diseases Department of the city's Western General Hospital: diagnosis, Acute Lyme Disease. By now I had found the tick bite and the distinctive livid red rash, about six inches in diameter. (To be fair to those London GPs, I hadn't noticed it when I'd consulted them.)

"It's attacked your liver," the Edinburgh Consultant said. "You have three distinct kinds of liver inflammation". I made a lame sick-bed joke: "You're sure that's not like Lager-and-Lime Disease then?" She laughed politely and reassured me that that would look quite different. Why then had both blood tests come back negative? Dr Roger Evans of Raigmore Hospital in Inverness is one of the UK's leading Lyme Disease researchers. "In early Lyme Disease," he told me, "the test is not reliable because no antibodies have been produced. In the first few weeks of infection, you could test negative, but still have Lyme Disease."

This is a problem for GPs, especially in urban centres where Lyme Disease is unfamiliar. Lyme is not a viral infection. It's bacterial. GPs will not prescribe antibiotics if they think you're showing symptoms of a viral infection - and it does look and feel like a bad case of flu, or chronic fatigue syndrome, neither of which can, or should, be treated with antibiotics. "In the early weeks of infection, when the blood test is not reliable," says Evans, "the GP needs to assess the patient clinically, looking for other symptoms that identify Lyme Disease." In other words, symptoms that distinguish it from flu.

If you have been bitten:

• Remove the tick as soon as possible - the safest way is to use a pair of fine-tipped tweezers, or a tick removal tool
• Grasp the tick as close to the skin as possible, pull upwards slowly and firmly, as mouthparts left in the skin can cause a local infection
• Once removed, apply antiseptic to the bite area, or wash with soap and water and keep an eye on it for several weeks for any changes
• Contact your GP if you begin to feel unwell and remember to tell them you were bitten by a tick or have recently spent time outdoors

Catching it early is vital. Angela Howard fell ill with Lyme Disease in the 1990s. She had never heard of it. Her doctor, she says, told her to go home and see whether her symptoms persisted. It was only when a visiting American friend saw the distinctive rash - concentric red rings around the place where the tick bite had occurred that she realised she might have Lyme Disease. She says her doctor was still reluctant to diagnose Lyme. "Doctors say you can only get this abroad - that it comes from overseas. But I hadn't been abroad. I'd been picnicking in Wiltshire." She was not treated early and her symptoms have persisted for years.

There is an accumulation of anecdotal evidence that Lyme Disease often goes undiagnosed. One problem is that no-one knows how prevalent it now is. It is not a notifiable disease in the National Health Service - doctors are not required to inform a central database when they diagnose it. So there is no reliable evidence of how widespread it is, or where in the country you are most likely to get it. Roger Evans at Raigmore Hospital wants to remedy that.

"We're using Scotland as a pilot study," he said. "We're trying to create maps of areas where there's a risk of tick exposure. We're using satellite data from the European Space Agency to create an app that will give information, but which will also be interactive, so that users can put in information about where they've been bitten and whether the Lyme Disease rash has appeared." Why has Lyme, which 30 years ago seemed largely limited to a small area of New England - Lyme is the town in Connecticut where it was first identified - now so prevalent across the continental USA and in Europe? One theory is climate change: that small gradations in climate can create new habitats for micro-organisms, or keep them alive and active for longer.

I was struck, at the time of my own treatment, that awareness was far greater in Scotland than in England and Wales. And awareness of the condition is vital to catching it early. For when you catch it early, treatment is easy and in most cases successful. It floors you though. It took me four or five months to get my strength and stamina back. It is a debilitating and dangerous illness and there is no doubt that it is getting more common. You can get it in the Scottish Highlands, in Devon and Cornwall, in Richmond Park in London and probably in your own back garden - anywhere where there are small furry animals on whose skins a deer tick can live. If you get it, you can get treatment. But take it from me: it really helps if you know what it is you've got.

Questions 15-22

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

In boxes 15-22 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

15. Alan had no doubt about his illness from the beginning.

16. Both blood tests were negative for Lyme Disease. 

17. Alan didn't become a Waverley Station patient for more than 3 hours.

18. Blood tests were inaccurate because they were taken unprofessionally. 

19. Lyme Disease is very unfamiliar in the UK. 

20. When bitten, you should remove the tick, preferably with a tool.  

21. After you remove the tick and apply antiseptic, you should take paracetamol.  

22. It is advise to contact a doctor, if you feel ill after removing the tick. 

Questions 23-27

Complete the sentences below.

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

Write your answers in boxes 23-27 on your answer sheet.

23. Angela's friend recognized the Lyme Disease as soon as she saw the  rash ______________.

24. One problem is, it's unknown how  ______________ Lyme Disease is nowadays.

25. Roger Evans says that they try to create maps of Scotland where there's a risk of ______________ .

26. The one possible reason for Lyme Diseases to move all over the world is ______________ .

27. You can catch the disease even in your own back ______________ .

Section 3

READING PASSAGE 3

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 29–40, which are based on Reading Passage 3 below.

The Truth About ART

Modern art has had something of a bad press recently - or, to be more precise, it has always had a bad press in certain newspapers and amongst certain sectors of the public. In the public mind, it seems, art (that is, graphic art - pictures - and spatial art - sculpture) is divided into two broad categories. The first is 'classic' art, by which is meant representational painting, drawing and sculpture; the second is 'modern' art, also known as abstract or non-representational. British popular taste runs decidedly in favour of the former, if one believes a recent survey conducted by Charlie Moore, owner of the Loft Gallery and Workshops in Kent, and one of Britain's most influential artistic commentators. He found that the man (or woman) in the street has a distrust of cubism, abstracts, sculptures made of bricks and all types of so-called 'found' art, He likes Turner and Constable, the great representatives of British watercolour and oil painting respectively, or the French Impressionists, and his taste for statues is limited to the realistic figures of the great and good that litter the British landscape - Robin Hood in Nottingham and Oliver Cromwell outside the Houses of Parliament. This everyman does not believe in primary colours, abstraction and geometry in nature - the most common comment is that such-and-such a painting is "something a child could have done".

Lewis Williams, director of the Beaconsfield Galleries in Hampshire, which specialises in modern painting, agrees. "Look around you at what art is available every day," he says. "Our great museums and galleries specialise in work which is designed to appeal to the lowest common denominator. It may be representational, it may be 'realistic' in one sense, but a lot of it wouldn't make it into the great European galleries. Britain has had maybe two or three major world painters in the last 1000 years, so we make up the space with a lot of second-rate material."

Williams believes that our ignorance of what modern art is has been caused by this lack of exposure to truly great art. He compares the experience of the average British city-dweller with that of a citizen of Italy, France or Spain.

"Of course, we don't appreciate any kind of art in the same way because of the paucity of good art in Britain. We don't have galleries of the quality of those in Madrid, Paris, Versailles, Florence, New York or even some places in Russia. We distrust good art - by which I mean both modern and traditional artistic forms - because we don't have enough of it to learn about it. In other countries, people are surrounded by it from birth. Indeed they take it as a birthright, and are proud of it. The British tend to be suspicious of it. It's not valued here."

Not everyone agrees. Emily Cope, who runs the Osborne Art House, believes that while the British do not have the same history of artistic experience as many European countries, their senses are as finely attuned to art as anyone else's.

"Look at what sells - in the great art auction houses, in greetings cards, in posters. Look at what's going on in local amateur art classes up and down the country. Of course, the British are not the same as other countries, but that's true of all nationalities. The French artistic experience and outlook is not the same as the Italian. In Britain, we have artistic influences from all over the world. There's the Irish, Welsh, and Scottish influences, as well as Caribbean, African and European. We also have strong links with the Far East, in particular the Indian subcontinent. All these influences come to bear in creating a British artistic outlook. There's this tendency to say that British people only want garish pictures of clowns crying or ships sailing into battle, and that anything new or different is misunderstood. That's not my experience at all. The British public is poorly educated in art, but that's not the same as being uninterested in it."

Cope points to Britain's long tradition of visionary artists such as William Blake, the London engraver and poet who died in 1827. Artists like Blake tended to be one-offs rather than members of a school, and their work is diverse and often word-based so it is difficult to export.

Perhaps, as ever, the truth is somewhere in between these two opinions. It is true that visits to traditional galleries like the National and the National Portrait Gallery outnumber attendance at more modern shows, but this is the case in every country except Spain, perhaps because of the influence of the two most famous non-traditional Spanish painters of the 20th century, Picasso and Dali. However, what is also true is that Britain has produced a long line of individual artists with unique, almost unclassifiable styles such as Blake, Samuel Palmer and Henry Moore.

Questions 29–37

Classify the following statements as referring to

A Charlie Moore

B Lewis Williams

C Emily Cope

Write the appropriate letters A, B or C in boxes 29-37 on your answer sheet.

29. British people don't appreciate art because they don't see enough art around them all the time. 

30. British museums aim to appeal to popular tastes in art. 

31. The average Englishman likes the works of Turner and Constable. 

32. Britain, like every other country, has its own view of what art is. 

33. In Britain, interest in art is mainly limited to traditional forms such as representational painting. 

34. British art has always been affected by other cultures. 

35. Galleries in other countries are of better quality that those in Britain. 

36. People are not raised to appreciate art. 

37. The British have a limited knowledge of art. 

 

Questions 38–40

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

Write the correct letter in boxes 38-40 on your answer sheet.

38. Many British artists

1.  are engravers or poets
2.  are great but liked only in Britain
3.  do not belong to a school or general trend
4.  are influenced by Picasso and Dal

39. Classic' art can be described as

1.  sentimental, realistic paintings with geometric shapes
2.  realistic paintings with primary colours
3.  abstract modern paintings and sculptures
4.  realistic, representational pictures and sculptures

40. In Spain, people probably enjoy modern art because

1.  their artists have a classifiable style
2.  the most renowned modern artists are Spanish
3.  they attend many modern exhibitions
4.  they have different opinions on art

Academic Reading (practice Answers)

Section 1

1. E
2. H
3. F
4. D
5. B
6. C
7. A
8. G
9. True
10. False
11. False
12. True
13. Not Given

Section 2

14. True

15. True

16. False

17. False

18. Not Given

19. True

20. Not Given

21. True

22. Distinctive

23. Prevalent

24. Tick exposure

25. Climate change

26. Garden

Section 3

29. B

30. B

31. A

32. C

33. A

34. C

35. B

36. B

37. C

38. C

39. D

40. B

IELTS General Reading (Practice Questions)

Section 1

Read Section 1 and answer Questions 1–14

EMERGENCY PROCEDURES

Revised July 2011

This applies to all persons on the school campus

In cases of emergency (e.g. fire), find the nearest teacher who will: send a messenger at full speed to the Office OR inform the Office via phone ext. 99.

PROCEDURE FOR EVACUATION

1. Warning of an emergency evacuation will be marked by a number of short bell rings. (In the event of a power failure, this may be a hand-held bell or siren.)

2. All class work will cease immediately.

3. Students will leave their bags, books and other possessions where they are.

4. Teachers will take the class rolls.

5. Classes will vacate the premises using the nearest staircase. If these stairs are inaccessible, use the nearest alternative staircase. Do not use the lifts. Do not run.

6. Each class, under the teacher’s supervision, will move in a brisk, orderly fashion to the paved quadrangle area adjacent to the car park.

7. All support staff will do the same.

8. The Marshalling Supervisor, Ms Randall, will be wearing a red cap and she will be waiting there with the master timetable and staff list in her possession.

9. Students assemble in the quad with their teacher at the time of evacuation. The teacher will do a head count and check the roll.

10. Each teacher sends a student to the Supervisor to report whether all students have been accounted for. After checking, students will sit down (in the event of rain or wet pavement they may remain standing).

11. The Supervisor will inform the Office when all staff and students have been accounted for.

12. All students, teaching staff and support personnel remain in the evacuation area until the All Clear signal is given.

13. The All Clear will be a long bell ring or three blasts on the siren.

14. Students will return to class in an orderly manner under teacher guidance.

15. In the event of an emergency occurring during lunch or breaks, students are to assemble in their home-room groups in the quad and await their home-room teacher.

Questions 1-8

Complete the sentences below.

Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the text for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 1–8 on your answer sheet.

1. In an emergency, a teacher will either phone the office or _____________.
2. The signal for evacuation will normally be several _____________.
3. If possible, students should leave the building by the _____________.
4. They then walk quickly to the _____________.
5.  _____________ will join the teachers and students in the quad.
6. Each class teacher will count up his or her students and mark _____________.
7. After the _____________ , everyone may return to class.

8. If there is an emergency at lunchtime, students gather in the quad in _____________ and wait for their teacher.

Read the texts below and answer Questions 9–14

Community Education

SHORT COURSES: BUSINESS

Business Basics
Gain foundation knowledge for employment in an accounts position with bookkeeping and business basics through to intermediate level; suitable for anyone requiring knowledge from the ground up.
Code B/ED011
16th or 24th April 9am–4pm
Cost $420

Bookkeeping
This course will provide students with a comprehensive understanding of bookkeeping and a great deal of hands-on experience.
Code B/ED020
19th April 9am–2.30pm (one session only so advance bookings essential)
Cost $250

New Enterprise Module
Understand company structures, tax rates, deductions, employer obligations, profit and loss statements, GST and budgeting for tax.
Code B/ED030
15th or 27th May 6pm–9pm
Cost $105

Social Networking – the Latest Marketing Tool
This broad overview gives you the opportunity to analyse what web technologies are available and how they can benefit your organisation.
Code B/ED033
1st or 8th or 15th June 6pm–9pm
Cost $95

Communication
Take the fear out of talking to large gatherings of people. Gain the public-speaking experience that will empower you with better communication skills and confidence.
Code B/ED401
12th or 13th or 14th
July 6pm–9pm
Cost $90

Questions 9–14

Do the following statements agree with the information given in the text?
In boxes 9–14 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

9. Business Basics is appropriate for beginners.

10. Bookkeeping has no practical component.

11. Bookkeeping is intended for advanced students only.

12. The New Enterprise Module can help your business become more profitable.

13. Social Networking focuses on a specific website to help your business succeed.

14. The Communication class involves speaking in front of an audience.

Section 2

Read Section 2 and answer Questions 15–28

BENEFICIAL WORK PRACTICES FOR THE KEYBOARD
OPERATOR

(A) Sensible work practices are an important factor in the prevention of muscular fatigue; discomfort or pain in the arms, neck, hands or back; or eye strain which can be associated with constant or regular work at a keyboard and visual display unit (VDU).

(B) It is vital that the employer pays attention to the physical setting such as workplace design, the office environment, and placement of monitors as well as the organisation of the work and individual work habits. Operators must be able to recognise work-related health problems and be given the opportunity to participate in the management of these. Operators should take note of and follow the preventive measures outlined below.

(C) The typist must be comfortably accommodated in a chair that is adjustable for height with a back rest that is also easily adjustable both for angle and height. The back rest and sitting ledge (with a curved edge) should preferably be cloth-covered to avoid excessive perspiration.

(D) When the keyboard operator is working from a paper file or manuscript, it should be at the same distance from the eyes as the screen. The most convenient position can be found by using some sort of holder. Individual arrangement will vary according to whether the operator spends more time looking at the VDU or the paper – whichever the eyes are focused on for the majority of time should be put directly in front of the operator.

(E) While keying, it is advisable to have frequent but short pauses of around thirty to sixty seconds to proofread. When doing this, relax your hands. After you have been keying for sixty minutes, you should have a ten minute change of activity. During this spell it is important that you do not remain seated but stand up or walk around. This period could be profitably used to do filing or collect and deliver documents.

(F) Generally, the best position for a VDU is at right angles to the window. If this is not possible then glare from the window can be controlled by blinds, curtains or movable screens. Keep the face of the VDU vertical to avoid glare from overhead lighting.

(G) Unsatisfactory work practices or working conditions may result in aches or pain.
Symptoms should be reported to your supervisor early on so that the cause of the trouble can be corrected and the operator should seek medical attention.

Questions 15–21

The text on the next page has seven sections, A–G.

Choose the correct heading for each section from the list of headings below.
Write the correct number, i-x , in boxes 15–21 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings

1. How can reflection problems be avoided?
2. How long should I work without a break?
3. What if I experience any problems?
4. When is the best time to do filing chores?
5. What makes a good seat?
6. What are the common health problems?
7. What is the best kind of lighting to have?
8. What are the roles of management and workers?
9. Why does a VDU create eye fatigue?
10. Where should I place the documents?

15. Section A _____________

16. Section B _____________

17. Section C _____________

18. Section D _____________ 

19. Section E _____________ 

20. Section F _____________ 

21. Section G _____________ 

Workplace dismissals

Before the dismissal

If an employer wants to dismiss an employee, there is a process to be followed.
Instances of minor misconduct and poor performance must first be addressed through some preliminary steps.
Firstly, you should be given an improvement note. This will explain the problem, outline any necessary changes and offer some assistance in correcting the situation. Then, if your employer does not think your performance has improved, you may be given a written warning. The last step is called a final written warning which will inform you that you will be dismissed unless there are improvements in performance. If there is no improvement, your employer can begin the dismissal procedure.
The dismissal procedure begins with a letter from the employer setting out the charges made against the employee. The employee will be invited to a meeting to discuss these accusations. If the employee denies the charges, he is given the opportunity to appear at a formal appeal hearing in front of a different manager. After this, a decision is made as to whether the employee will be let go or not.

Dismissals

Of the various types of dismissal, a fair dismissal is the best kind if an employer wants an employee out of the workplace. A fair dismissal is legally and contractually strong and it means all the necessary procedures have been correctly followed. In cases where an employee’s misconduct has been very serious, however, an employer may not have to follow all of these procedures. If the employer can prove that the employee’s behaviour was illegal, dangerous or severely wrong, the employee can be dismissed immediately: a procedure known as summary dismissal.
Sometimes a dismissal is not considered to have taken place fairly. One of these types is wrongful dismissal and involves a breach of contract by the employer. This could involve dismissing an employee without notice or without following proper disciplinary and dismissal procedures. Another type, unfair dismissal, is when an employee is sacked without good cause.
There is another kind of dismissal, known as constructive dismissal, which is slightly peculiar because the employee is not actually openly dismissed by the employer. In this case the employee is forced into resigning by an employer who tries to make significant changes to the original contract. This could  mean an employee might have to work night shifts after originally signing on for day work, or he could be made to work in dangerous conditions.

Questions 22 and 23

Complete the sentences below.

Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the text for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 22–23 on your answer sheet.

22. If an employee receives a  , this means he will lose his job if his work does not get better.

23. If an employee does not accept the reasons for his dismissal, a  can be arranged.

Questions 24–28

Look at the following descriptions (Questions 24–28) and the list of terms in the box below.

Match each description with the correct term A–E.

Write the appropriate letter A–E in boxes 24–28 on your answer sheet.

24. An employee is asked to leave work straight away because he has done something really bad.

25. An employee is pressured to leave his job unless he accepts conditions that are very different from those agreed to in the beginning.

26. An employer gets rid of an employee without keeping to conditions in the contract.

27. The reason for an employee’s dismissal is not considered good enough.

28. The reasons for an employee’s dismissal are acceptable by law and the terms of the employment contract.

A Fair dismissal

B Summary dismissal

C Unfair dismissal

D Wrongful dismissal

E Constructive dismissal

Section 3

Read Section 3 and answer Questions 29–40

CALISTHENICS

The world’s oldest form of resistance training

(A) From the very first caveman to scale a tree or hang from a cliff face, to the mighty armies of the Greco-Roman empires and the gymnasiums of modern American high schools, calisthenics has endured and thrived because of its simplicity and utility. Unlike strength training which involves weights, machines or resistance bands, calisthenics uses only the body’s own weight for physical development.

(B) Calisthenics enters the historical record at around 480 B.C., with Herodotus’ account of the Battle of Thermopolylae. Herodotus reported that, prior to the battle, the god-king Xerxes sent a scout party to spy on his Spartan enemies. The scouts informed Xerxes that the Spartans, under the leadership of King Leonidas, were practicing some kind of bizarre, synchronised movements akin to a tribal dance. Xerxes was greatly amused. His own army was comprised of over 120,000 men, while the Spartans had just
300. Leonidas was informed that he must retreat or face annihilation. The Spartans did not retreat, however, and in the ensuing battle they managed to hold Xerxes’ enormous army at bay for some time until reinforcements arrived. It turns out their tribal dance was not a superstitious ritual but a form of calisthenics by which they were building awe-inspiring physical strength and endurance.

(C) The Greeks took calisthenics seriously not only as a form of military discipline and strength, but also as an artistic expression of movement and an aesthetically ideal physique. Indeed, the term calisthenics itself is derived from the Greek words for beauty and strength. We know from historical records and images from pottery, mosaics and sculptures of the period that the ancient Olympians took calisthenics training seriously.
They were greatly admired – and still are, today – for their combination of athleticism and physical beauty. You may have heard a friend whimsically sigh and mention that someone ‘has the body of a Greek god’. This expression has travelled through centuries
and continents, and the source of this envy and admiration is the calisthenics method.

(D) Calisthenics experienced its second golden age in the 1800s. This century saw the birth of gymnastics, an organised sport that uses a range of bars, rings, vaulting horses and balancing beams to display physical prowess. This period is also when the phenomena of strongmen developed. These were people of astounding physical strength and development who forged nomadic careers by demonstrating outlandish feats of strength to stunned populations. Most of these men trained using hand balancing and horizontal bars, as modern weight machines had not yet been invented.

(E) In the 1950s, Angelo Siciliano – who went by the stage name Charles Atlas – was crowned “The World’s Most Perfectly Developed Man”. Atlas’s own approach stemmed from traditional calisthenics, and through a series of mail order comic books he taught these methods to hundreds of thousands of children and young adults through the 1960s and 1970s. But Atlas was the last of a dying breed. The tides were turning, fitness methods were drifting away from calisthenics, and no widely-regarded proponent of the method would ever succeed him.   

(F) In the 1960s and 1970s calisthenics and the goal of functional strength combined with physical beauty was replaced by an emphasis on huge muscles at any cost. This became the sport of body building. Although body building’s pioneers were drawn from the calisthenics tradition, the sole goal soon became an increase in muscle size. Body building icons, people such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sergio Oliva, were called mass monsters because of their imposing physiques. Physical development of this nature was only attainable through the use of anabolic steroids, synthetic hormones which boosted muscle development while harming overall health. These body builders also relied on free weights and machines, which allowed them to target and bloat the size of individual muscles rather than develop a naturally proportioned body.
Calisthenics, with its emphasis on physical beauty and a balance in proportions, had little to offer the mass monsters.

(G) In this “bigger is better” climate, calisthenics was relegated to groups perceived to be vulnerable, such as women, people recuperating from injuries and school students.
Although some of the strongest and most physically developed human beings ever to have lived acquired their abilities through the use of sophisticated calisthenics, a great deal of this knowledge was discarded and the method was reduced to nothing more than an easily accessible and readily available activity. Those who mastered the rudimentary skills of calisthenics could expect to graduate to weight training rather than advanced calisthenics.

(H) In recent years, however, fitness trends have been shifting back toward the use of calisthenics. Bodybuilding approaches that promote excessive muscle development frequently lead to joint pain, injuries, unbalanced physiques and weak cardiovascular health. As a result, many of the newest and most popular gyms and programmes emphasize calisthenics-based methods instead. Modern practices often combine elements from a number of related traditions such as yoga, Pilates, kettle-ball training, gymnastics and traditional Greco-Roman calisthenics. Many people are keen to recover the original Greek vision of physical beauty and strength and harmony of the mind-body connection.

Questions 29-35

The text has eight paragraphs, A–H.

Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A–H, in boxes, 29–35 on your answer sheet.

29. The origin of the word ‘calisthenics’. 

30. The last popular supporter of calisthenics. 

31. The first use of calisthenics as a training method. 

32. A multidisciplinary approach to all-round health and strength. 

33. Reasons for the survival of calisthenics throughout the ages. 

34. The use of a medical substance to increase muscle mass and strength. 

35. A reference to travelling showmen who displayed their strength for audiences. 

QUESTIONS 36–40

Complete the summary below.

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

Write your answers in boxes 36–40 on your answer sheet.

During the sixties and seventies, attaining huge muscles became more important than (36) _____________  or having an attractive-looking body. The first people to take up this new sport of body building had a background in calisthenics but the most famous practitioners became known as (37) _____________ on account of the impressive size of their muscles. Drugs and mechanical devices were used to develop individual muscles to a monstrous size. Calisthenics then became the domain of ‘weaker’ people: females, children and those recovering from (38) _____________. Much of the advanced knowledge about calisthenics was lost and the method was subsequently downgraded to the status of a simple, user-friendly activity. Once a person became skilled at this, he would progress to (39) _____________ . Currently a revival of calisthenics is under way as extreme muscle building can harm the body leaving it sore, out of balance, and in poor (40) _____________ .

IELTS General Reading (Practice Answers)

Section 1

1. Send a messenger
2. Short bell rings
3. Nearest staircase
4. Quadrangle
5. Support staff
6. The roll
7. All clear signal
8. Home-room groups
9. True
10. False
11. Not given
12. Not given
13. False
14. True

Section 2

15. vi

16. viii

17. v

18. x

19. ii

20. i

21. iii

22. Final written warning

23. Formal appeal hearing

24. B

25. E

26. D

27. C

28. A

Section 3

29. C

30. E

31. B

32. H

33. A

34. F

35. D

36. Functional strength

37. Mass monsters

38. Injuries

39. Weight training

40. Cardiovascular health

Conclusion:

Practicing for the IELTS Reading test might feel like wrestling with a dictionary, but trust me—it’s worth it! Every passage you read, every tricky question you crack, gets you one step closer to your dream score. Think of it like a mental gym—your reading speed improves, your vocabulary expands, and your confidence skyrockets.

Yes, some texts might feel as dry as old toast, but guess what? With consistent practice, you’ll start spotting answers faster, understanding complex ideas easily, and even enjoying the challenge.

So, keep pushing, keep practicing, and remember—every expert was once a beginner.