Natural Pesticide In India, Numeracy: Can Animals Tell Numbers?, Multitasking Debate Reading Answers

The IELTS Reading passage, Natural Pesticide In India, along with the other two Academic passages – Numeracy: Can Animals Tell Numbers? and Multitasking Debate makes this a complete Reading practice test. 

You will have 60 minutes to complete the whole test, which consists of 40 questions in total.

Here are the question types in this reading test: 

Reading Passage 1 (Natural Pesticide In India)

• True/False/Not Given Questions
• Summary Completion
• Short-answer Questions

Reading Passage 2 (Numeracy: Can Animals Tell Numbers?)

• Table Completion
• True/False/Not Given Questions

Reading Passage 3 (Multitasking Debate)

• Matching information
• Multiple Choice Questions
• Yes/No/Not Given Questions

Set your timer and take the test now!

Before you take the test, take a look at IELTS Reading Yes, No, Not Given with Answers to brush up on your skills!

Check the answer key with explanations of Natural Pesticide In India and unlock the answers to other passages by signing up.

Reading Passage 1

Natural Pesticide In India

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 the passage

1. Cotton in Andhra Pradesh state could really bring more income to the local farmers than traditional farming.

2. The majority of farmers had used agricultural pesticides before 30 years.

3. The yield of cotton is relatively lower than that of other agricultural crops.

4. The farmers didn’t realize 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 5-10 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 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 decide to develop in the NPM.

Also check: 

• IELTS Reading
• IELTS Reading tips
• True False Not Given IELTS Reading
• IELTS Reading recent actual test
• IELTS past paper pdf

Reading Passage 2

Numeracy: Can Animals Tell Numbers?

Questions 15-21

Answer the table below.

Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 15-21 on your answer sheet

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2? In boxes 22-27 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 the passage

22. Primates are better at identifying the larger of two numbers if one is much bigger than the other.

23. Jurgen Tautz trained the insects in his experiment to recognize the shapes of individual numbers.

24. The research involving young chicks took place over two separate days.

25. The experiment with chicks suggests that some numerical ability exists in newborn animals.

26. Researchers have experimented by altering quantities of nectar or fruit available to certain wild animals.

27. When assessing the number of eggs in their nest, coots take into account those of other birds.

Reading Passage 3

Multitasking Debate

Questions 28-32

The reading Passage has ten paragraphs A-J.

Which paragraph contains the following information?

Write the correct letter in boxes 28-32 on your answer sheet.

28. A theory explained delay happens when selecting one reaction

29. Different age group responds to important things differently

30. Conflicts happened when visual and audio element emerge simultaneously

31. An experiment designed to demonstrates the critical part of the brain for multitasking

32. A viewpoint favours the optimistic side of multitasking performance

Questions 33-35

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

Write your answers in boxes 33-35 on your answer sheet.

33. Which one is correct about the experiment conducted by Rene Marois?

A. participants performed poorly on the listening task solely

B. volunteers press a different key on different colour

C. participants need to use different fingers on the different coloured object

D. they did a better job on Mixed image and sound information

34. Which statement is correct about the first limitation of Marois’s experiment?

A.  “attentional blink” takes about ten seconds

B. lag occurs if we concentrate on one object while the second one appears

C. we always have trouble in reaching the second one

D. the first limitation can be avoided by certain measures

35. Which one is NOT correct about Meyer’s experiments and statements?

A. just after failure in several attempts can people execute dual-task

B. Practice can overcome dual-task interference

C. Meyer holds a different opinion on Marois’s theory

D. an existing processor decides whether to delay another task or not

Questions 36-40

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 3?

In boxes 36-40 on your answer sheet, write

YES, if the statement is true

NO, if the statement is false

NOT GIVEN, if the information is not given in the passage

36. The longer gap between the two presenting tasks means a shorter delay toward the second one.

37. Incapable human memory cause people to sometimes miss the differences when presented with two similar images.

38. Marois has a different opinion on the claim that training removes the bottleneck effect.

39. Art Kramer proved there is a correlation between multitasking performance and genders.

40. The author doesn’t believe that the effect of practice could bring any variation.

Answers

Reading Passage 1

1.

Answer: NOT GIVEN

Question type: True/False/Not Given Questions

Answer location: Paragraph B, line 4

Answer explanation: 

2.

Answer: FALSE

Question type: True/False/Not Given Questions

Answer location: Paragraph B, line 6

Answer explanation: If you read thoroughly, there’s a line in the said paragraph that describes “most of the farmers were poor, illiterate, and without previous experience using agricultural chemicals.” Here, the term agricultural pesticides have been paraphrased to agricultural chemicals. Thus, it suggests that farmers were poor and illiterate and did not have any past knowledge of using agricultural pesticides.

3.

Answer: NOT GIVEN

Question type: True/False/Not Given Questions

Answer location: Paragraph C, line 1

Answer explanation:  If you observe, in the said paragraph, it provides the information that “at first, cotton yields were high, and expenses for pesticides were low because cotton pests had not yet moved in.” However, there is no information given whether cotton yields were lower than other crops or not. 

4.

Answer: TRUE

Question type: True/False/Not Given Questions

Answer location: Paragraph C, line 3

Answer explanation: The answer is clearly mentioned in the said paragraph and line. You must note the paraphrasing here. In the passage, it is said that “but within a few years, cotton pests like bollworms and aphids plagued the fields, and the farmers saw how rapid insect evolution can be.” Here, the term “farmers saw how rapid insect evolution can be” has been paraphrased. Hence, farmers were not aware that it would spread fast.

5.

Answer: evergreen

Question type: Summary Completion

Answer location: Paragraph E, line 2

Answer explanation: In the said paragraph, you can refer to, “neem tree is a broad-leaved evergreen tree.” Here, it denotes that broad-leaved neem-tree are considered evergreen trees.

6.

Answer: natural pesticides

Question type: Summary Completion

Answer location: Paragraph E, line 3

Answer explanation: If you read thoroughly, there’s a line that claims “It protects itself against insects by producing a multitude of natural pesticides that work in a variety of ways.” This line indicates that neem tree produces natural pesticides.

7.

Answer: powder

Question type: Summary Completion

Answer location: Paragraph F, line 2

Answer explanation:  A line in the said paragraph indicates that “to protect crops from insects, neem seeds are simply ground into a powder that is soaked overnight in water.” From this line, we can infer that “ground” has been paraphrased to crushed. Hence, neem seeds are crushed into a powder.

8.

Answer: overnight

Question type: Summary Completion

Answer location: Paragraph F, line 2

Answer explanation: In the said paragraph, you can point out that “to protect crops from insects, neem seeds are simply ground into a powder that is soaked overnight in water.” From this line, we can infer that neem seed powder is soaked in water overnight.

9.

Answer: neem cake

Question type: Summary Completion

Answer location: Paragraph F, line 4

Answer explanation: If you read thoroughly, a line in the passage specifies that “the solution is then sprayed onto the crop. Another preparation, neem cake, can be mixed into the soil to kill pests.”  Here, this line confirms that neem cake is prepared to be used when mixed with soil.

10.

Answer: doubles

Question type: Summary Completion

Answer location: Paragraph F, line 5

Answer explanation: If you read thoroughly, there’s a line that claims, “can be mixed into the soil to kill pests and diseases in the soil, and it doubles as an organic fertilizer high in nitrogen.” This line indicates that neem cake is mixed with soil to double its effect.

11.

Answer: Nitrogen

Question type: Summary Completion

Answer location: Paragraph F, line 5

Answer explanation: The answer is clearly mentioned in the said paragraph and line. In the passage, it is said that “it doubles as an organic fertilizer high in nitrogen.” Here, it confirms that when the neem cake is added to the soil nitrogen content is increased.

12.

Answer: In 2000

Question type: Short Answer Questions

Answer location: Paragraph G, last line

Answer explanation: The answer is clearly mentioned in the said paragraph and line. In the passage, it is said that “by 2000, all the farmers in Punukula were using NPM, not only for cotton but for their other crops as well.”

13.

Answer: neem seeds

Question type: Short Answer Questions

Answer location: Paragraph H, line 2

Answer explanation: A line in said paragraph provides the information that “the women of Punukula created a new source of income by collecting, grinding, and selling neem seeds for NPM in other villages.” Thus, we can infer that it was the seeds that gave business opportunities to women of Punukula.

14.

Answer: water purification

Question type: Short Answer Questions

Answer location: Paragraph I, line 3

Answer explanation: It is given that “ 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 objection of multi-national pesticide corporations..” From this line, we can deduce that citizens of Punukula developed a water purification project. 

Reading Passage 2

15. identical

Answer: identical

Question type: Table Completion

Answer location:  Paragraph A, last line

Answer explanation: Few lines in said paragraph discuss that “monkeys, like humans, make more errors when two sets of objects are close in number. The students’ performance ends up looking just like a monkey. It’s practically identical,’ she says.” Here, the experiment conducted on rhesus monkeys and humans indicates that the result of the experiment for both humans and monkeys were identical.

Answer: balls of paper

Question type: Table Completion

Answer location: Paragraph G, line 6

Answer explanation: A line in the said paragraph indicates that “Researchers placed each chick in the middle of a platform and showed it two groups of balls of paper.” Here, two groups have been paraphrased to two sets and it implies that in an experiment, chicks chose between two sets of balls of paper. 

Answer: count/calculate eggs

Question type: Table Completion

Answer location: Paragraph H, line 3

Answer explanation: In the said paragraph, you can point out that America found that “female coots appear to calculate how many eggs they have laid – and add any in the nest laid by an intruder – before making any decisions about adding to them.” Since female coots are observed calculating their eggs, it is evident that these birds have the ability to count/calculate eggs.

Answer: fruit flies

Question type: Table Completion

Answer location: Paragraph B, line 3

Answer explanation: In the said paragraph, you can refer to “the same seems to apply to some amphibians. Psychologist Claudia Uller’s team tempted salamanders with two sets of fruit flies held in clear tubes.” Here, we can observe that in a mathematical experiment salamander was seen offered or temped with fruit files in clear tubes.

19.

Answer: mosquitofish

Question type: Table Completion

Answer location: Paragraph C, line 1

Answer explanation: If you read thoroughly, there’s a line in the said paragraph that describes that “further support for this theory comes from studies of mosquitofish, which instinctively joins the biggest shoal they can.” It implies that the next experiment was conducted on mosquitofishes which joined the group containing more number of fishes. Later geometrical shapes were used to check their numeracy capabilities. So the answer is “mosquitofish”.

20.

Answer: surface area

Question type: Table Completion

Answer location: Paragraph E, line 2

Answer explanation: Paragraph E puts forward this idea that “the team arranged these shapes so that they had the same overall surface area and luminance even though they contained a different number of objects.” Here, it is evident that these shapes were arranged considering the two parameters – overall surface area and luminance.

Answer: sugar water

Question type: Table Completion

Answer location: Paragraph F, line 2

Answer explanation: The answer is clearly mentioned in the said paragraph and line. In the passage, it is said that the “entomologist Jurgen Tautz sent a group of bees down a corridor, at the end of which lay two chambers – one which contained sugar water, which they like, while the other was empty.” Hence, in the research, it has been observed that bees figured where the sugar water was stored.

Answer: TRUE

Question type: True/False/Not Given Questions

Answer location: Paragraph A, line 1

Answer explanation: A line in the said paragraph mentions that “prime among basic numerical faculties is the ability to distinguish between a larger and a smaller number, says psychologist Elizabeth Brannon. Humans can do this with ease – providing the ratio is big enough – but do other animals share this ability?” From this line, we can infer that primates’ capabilities rely on ratio, which implies that their capabilities are based on proportion, such as if one is bigger than the other. 

Answer: FALSE

Question type: True/False/Not Given Questions

Answer location: Paragraph F, line 2

Answer explanation: Paragraph F puts forward the information that “to test the bees’ numeracy, the team marked each chamber with a different number of geometrical shapes – between 2 and 6.” According to this line, Jurgen Tautz conducted an experiment on bees to check their ability to identify different geometrical shapes. Therefore, we can deduce that his experiment was not about recognizing the shapes of individual numbers.

Answer: NOT GIVEN

Question type: True/False/Not Given Questions

Answer location: N/A

Answer explanation: None of the information in the passage confirms that the research took place for two days.

Answer: TRUE

Question type: True/False/Not Given Questions

Answer location: Paragraph G, line 5

Answer explanation: If you read thoroughly, there’s a line that claims “this may be the case has emerged from an experiment testing the mathematical ability of three and four-day-old chicks.” Also, this forced the chick to perform simple computations to decide which side now contained the biggest number of its “brothers”. “Without any prior coaching, the chicks scuttled to the larger quantity at a rate well above chance. They were doing some very simple arithmetic, claim the researchers.”  Through this experiment we can infer that animals develop numerical ability from birth.

Answer: NOT GIVEN

Question type: True/False/Not Given Questions

Answer location: N/A

Answer explanation: None of the passages confirms or denies that researchers have experimented by altering quantities of nectar or fruit available to certain wild animals.

27.

Answer: TRUE

Question type: True/False/Not Given Questions

Answer location: Paragraph H, line 4

Answer explanation: The answer is clearly mentioned in the said paragraph and line. You must note the paraphrasing here. In the passage, it is said that “researchers in America found that female coots appear to calculate how many eggs they have laid – and add any in the nest laid by an intruder – before making any decisions about adding to them.” Here, ” calculate how many eggs they have laid” and “add any in the nest laid by an intruder ” have been paraphrased to assess the number of eggs in their nest.

Reading Passage 3

Answer: F

Question type: Matching Information Questions

Answer location: Paragraph F, line 2

Answer explanation: If you read thoroughly, there’s a line that claims “selecting a response to one of these things will delay by some tenths of a second your ability to respond to the other.” This confirms that delays tend to happen when selecting a response to one.

Answer: I

Question type: Matching Information Questions

Answer location: Paragraph I, last line

Answer explanation: The answer is clearly mentioned in the said paragraph and line. You must note the paraphrasing here. In the passage, it is said that “It probably comes as no surprise that, generally speaking, we get worse at multitasking as we age.” Likewise, “older subjects had more trouble paying attention to the more important parts of a scene than young drivers.” Since old subjects have difficulty processing certain tasks as young drivers, we can comprehend that different age groups respond to things in a different manner.

Answer: C

Question type: Matching Information Questions

Answer location: Paragraph C, line 2

Answer explanation: You can note the paraphrasing here. In the passage, it states that “if you show an image and play a sound at the same time, one task is postponed.” Here, the term image and sound has been paraphrased to visual and audio element.

Answer: B

Question type: Matching Information Questions

Answer location: Paragraph B, line 2

Answer explanation: In the said paragraph, you can point out that “Marois devised an experiment to locate it. Volunteers watch a screen and when a particular image appears, a red circle, say, they have to press a key with their index finger. Different coloured circles require presses from different fingers. Typical response time is about half a second, and the volunteers quickly reached their peak performance.” The experiment conducted by Marios proves that a critical part of the brain performs multitasking activity.

Answer: G

Question type: Matching Information Questions

Answer location: Paragraph G, line 2

Answer explanation: A line in the passage mentions that “he thinks dual-task interference is just evidence of a strategy used by the brain to prioritise multiple activities. Meyer is known as something of an optimist by his peers.” From this line we can say that David Meyer shares a viewpoint which is optimistic of multitasking.

Answer: D

Question type: Multiple Choice Questions

Answer location: Paragraph B, line 3

Answer explanation: If you read through, there is a line that claims that “different coloured circles require presses from different fingers. Typical response time is about half a second, and the volunteers quickly reached their peak performance. Then they learn to listen to different recordings and respond by making a specific sound.” Hence, we can deduce that Marois’s experiment was about how better-mixed image and sound works.

Answer: B

Question type: Multiple Choice Questions

Answer location: Paragraph D, line 5

Answer explanation: If you observe clearly, a line points out that “experiments have shown that if you’re watching out for a particular event and a second one shows up unexpectedly any time within this crucial window of concentration, it may register in your visual cortex but you will be unable to act upon it.” Here, this line indicates the limitation of the Marois experiment that if you’re watching out for a particular event and a second one shows up unexpectedly any time, you will not be able to give all attention to the second one. Hence, it implies that lag occurs if we concentrate on one object or particular event while the second one appears/shows up.

Answer: A

Question type: Multiple Choice Questions

Answer location: Paragraph G, line 4

Answer explanation: It is given that “his experiments have shown that with enough practice – at least 2000 tries – some people can execute two tasks simultaneously as competently as if they were doing them one after the other.” Here, the attempt count is mentioned as 2000, which is contradictory to the word several in the given option.

Answer: YES

Question type: Yes/No/Not Given Questions

Answer location: Paragraph C, last line

Answer explanation: A line in the said paragraph signifies that “the largest dual-task delays occur when the two tasks are presented simultaneously; delays progressively shorten as the interval between presenting the tasks lengthens.” It confirms that longer gap between the two presenting tasks means a shorter delay toward the second one.

Answer: YES

Question type: Yes/No/Not Given Questions

Answer location: Paragraph E, line 2

Answer explanation: Paragraph E brings forth the idea that “this capacity shortage is thought to explain, in part, our astonishing inability to detect even huge changes in scenes that are otherwise identical, so-called “change blindness.”  Here, the term otherwise identical has been paraphrased to miss the differences when presented with two similar images.

Answer: NO

Question type: Yes/No/Not Given Questions

Answer location: Paragraph E, line 2

Answer explanation: If you read thoroughly, there’s a line that claims, “Marois agrees that practice can sometimes erase interference effects.” Here, the line clearly says he agrees with the claim and not that he shares different opinion.

Answer: NOT GIVEN

Question type: Yes/No/Not Given Questions

Answer location: Paragraph I, line 2

Answer explanation: In paragraph I, there is a line which helps to point out the study of Art Kramer which is based on the correlation of age and multitasking. However, there is no information about the study on correlation between multitasking performance and genders.

Answer: NOT GIVEN

Question type: Yes/No/Not Given Questions

Answer location: Paragraph J, line 2

Answer explanation: If you observe, a line states that “Kramer also found that older people can benefit from the practice.” However, we cannot conclude that the author does or does not believe in this because there is no information about the author’s belief in this concept.

Continue with…Test 2