The Creativity Myth, Locked Doors Open Access, A leap into history – IELTS Reading Answers
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The IELTS Academic Reading passage The Creativity Myth, along with the other two Academic passages – Locked Doors Open Access and A Leap into History make this a complete Reading practice test. In the IELTS Reading test, you have 60 minutes to attempt the questions and 20 minutes for each section.
Practice answering the complete test and set your timer.
Try to find the answers and attempt the questions given in the passages in the actual reading test. If you have scored 40/40, then we wish you all the best. If you haven’t, then we would advise you to take one of our IELTS reading practice tests.
Here are the question types in the reading test
Reading Passage 1 (The Creativity Myth)
- Matching information (Q.1 – Q.5)
- Multiple Choice Questions (Q.6 – Q.10)
- Yes/No or Not Given (Q.11 – Q.14)
Reading Passage 2 (Locked Doors Open Access)
- Multiple Choice Questions (Q.15 – Q.18)
- Summary completion (Q.19 – Q.24)
- Sentence Completion (Q.25 – Q.27)
Reading Passage 3 (A Leap into History)
- Diagram Completion Questions (Q.28 – Q.32)
- Yes/No or Not Given (Q.33 – Q.38)
- Multiple Choice Questions (Q.39 & Q.40)
Reading Passage 1
The Creativity Myth
B So, for many people, their actions and behavior are set in immovable blocks, their minds clogged with the cholesterol of habitual actions, preventing them from operating freely, and thereby stifling creation. Unfortunately, mankind’s very struggle for survival has become a tyranny – the obsessive desire to give order to the world is a case in point. Witness people’s attitude to time, social customs and the panoply of rules and regulations by which the human mind is now circumscribed.
C The groundwork for keeping creative ability in check begins at school. School, later university and then work, teach us to regulate our lives, imposing a continuous process of restrictions which is increasing exponentially with the advancement of technology. Is it surprising then that creative ability appears to be so rare? It is trapped in the prison that we have erected. Yet, even here in this hostile environment, the foundations for creativity are being laid; because setting off on the creative path is also partly about using rules and regulations. Such limitations are needed so that once they are learned, they can be broken.
D The truly creative mind is often seen as totally free and unfettered. But a better image is of a mind, which can be free when it wants, and one that recognizes that rules and regulations are parameters, or barriers, to be raised and dropped again at will. An example of how the human mind can be trained to be creative might help here. People’s minds are just like tense muscles that need to be freed up and the potential unlocked. One strategy is to erect artificial barriers or hurdles in solving a problem. As a form of stimulation, the participants in the task can be forbidden to use particular solutions or to follow certain lines of thought to solve a problem. In this way, they are obliged to explore unfamiliar territory, which may lead to some startling discoveries. Unfortunately, the difficulty in this exercise, and with creation itself, is convincing people that creation is possible, shrouded as it is in so much myth and legend. There is also an element of fear involved, however subliminal, as deviating from the safety of one’s thought patterns is very much akin to madness. But, open Pandora’s box and a whole new world unfold before your very eyes.
E Lifting barriers into place also plays a major part in helping the mind to control ideas rather than letting them collide at random. Parameters act as containers for ideas and thus help the mind to fix on them. When the mind is thinking laterally and two ideas from different areas of the brain come or are brought together, they form a new idea, just like atoms floating around and then forming a molecule. Once the idea has been formed, it needs to be contained or it will fly away, so fleeting is its passage. The mind needs to hold it in place for a time so that it can recognize it or call on it again. And then the parameters can act as channels along which the ideas can flow, developing and expanding. When the mind has brought the idea to fruition by thinking it through to its final conclusion, the parameters can be brought down and the idea allowed to float off and come in contact with other ideas.
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Questions 1-5
Reading Passage 1 has five paragraphs, A-E.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter A-E in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet. You may use any letter more than once.
1 the way parameters in the mind help people to be creative
2 the need to learn rules to break them
3 how habits restrict us and limit creativity
4 how to train the mind to be creative
5 how the mind is trapped by the desire for order
Questions 6-10
Choose the correct answers A-D and write them next to 6-10 on your answer sheet.
6 According to the writer, creative people
A are usually born with their talents
B are born with their talents
C are not born with their talents
D are geniuses
7 According to the writer, creativity is
A a gift from God or nature
B an automatic response
C difficult for many people to achieve
D a well-trodden path
8 According to the writer
A the human race’s fight to live is becoming a tyranny
B the human brain is blocked with cholesterol
C the human race is now circumscribed by talents
D the human race’s fight to survive stifles the creative ability
9 Advancing technology
A holds creativity in check
B improves creativity
C enhances creativity
D is a tyranny
10 According to the author, creativity
A is common
B is increasingly common
C is becoming rarer and rarer
D is a rare commodity
Questions 11-14
Do the following statements reflect the claims of the writer?
In boxes 11-14 on your answer sheet write
YES, if the statement agrees with the information in the passage
NO, if the statement contradicts the information in the passage
NOT GIVEN, if there is no information about the statement in the passage
11 Rules and regulations are examples of parameters.
12 The truly creative mind is associated with the need for free speech and a free society.
13 One problem with creativity is that people think it is impossible.
14 The act of creation is linked to madness.
Reading Passage 2
Locked Doors Open Access
Questions 15-18
15 According to the author, one thing we long for is
A the safety of the home
B security
C open access
D positive virtues
16 Access to many buildings
A is unauthorized
B is becoming more difficult
C is a cause of crime in many urban areas
D used to be called ‘Reception’
17 Buildings used to permit access to any users
A but now they do not
B and still do now
C especially offices and schools
D especially in urban areas
18 Secure zones
A do not allow access to the user
B compartmentalize the user
C are often like traps
D are not accessible to everybody
Questions 19-24
Complete the summary below using words from the box.
Write your answers in the blank spaces next to 19-24 on your answer sheet
The problem of physical access to buildings has now been 19………………………………by technology. Messages are 20………………………………with passwords not allowing 21…………………………to read someone else’s messages. But, while individuals are becoming increasingly 22……………………………..socially by the way, they do their job, at the same time more value is being put on 23 …………………………………. However, e-mail and voice-mail have led to 24…………………………………opportunities for person-to-person communication.
| Reducing off | Computer | Other people | Isolating |
| Teamwork | Decrease in | Similar | Solved |
| No different from | Overcame | Physical | Protected |
| Combat | Developed | Cut-off |
Questions 25-27
Complete the sentences below, with words taken from Reading Passage 2.
Use NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.
Write your answers in the blank spaces next to 25-27 on your answer sheet
25 The writer does not like……………………………….
26 An individual’s Home Page indicates their………………………………on the Internet.
27 Devices like mobile phones mean that location is…………………………..
Also check:
- IELTS Reading tips
- IELTS Reading Practice Test
- True False Not Given IELTS Reading
- IELTS Reading recent actual test
- IELTS past paper pdf
Reading Passage 3
A leap into history
Questions 28-32
Look at the following list of places (Questions 28-32) from paragraphs A-E of reading passage 3 and their locations on the map.
Write your answers in the boxes next to 28-32 on your answer sheet
Put the boxes at end of the questions
Match each place with its location on the map
28 The Sperrin Mountains
29 Dunluce Castle
30 Inishowen
31 The Glens of Antrim
32 Limavady
Questions 33-38
Do the following statements reflect the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 3?
YES, if the statement agrees with the information in the passage
NO, if the statement contradicts the information in the passage
NOT GIVEN, if there is no information about the statement in the passage
33 After 1639 the castle of Dunluce was not completely uninhabited.
34 For the author, Dunluce Castle evokes another period of history.
35 There were more than 1500 men on the Girona when it went down.
36 The writer believes that the Giant’s Causeway is worth going to visit.
37 The author recommends twilight as the best time to visit the Giant’s Causeway.
38 The more sturdy cage added to the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge has helped to increase the number of visitors to the area.
Questions 39 and 40
39 The writer feels that the Giant’s Causeway is
A an unsettling place
B a relaxing place
C a boring place
D an exciting place
40 Which of the following would be a good title for the passage?
A The Roe Valley Park
B The Giant’s Causeway
C Going East to West
D A leap into history
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The Creativity Myth Reading Answers (Passage 1)
Questions 1-5
| 1 | E. The paragraph is about the fact that parameters help our minds to be creative. |
| 2 | C. The answer lies in the key phrases: … keeping creative ability in check (in the first sentence) and Such limitations are needed so that once they are learned, they can be broken (the last sentence of the paragraph). The focus sentence is a combination of these two ideas. Note how the word yet divides the paragraph. It indicates the focus of the paragraph against the background in the first part. It also marks the division of Information In the whole passage. |
| 3 | A. The writer wrote the paragraph to show that habits limit our creativity and the habits we need to survive to play a role in this limitation. |
| 4 | D. The theme of the paragraph is how creativity works. |
| 5 | B, The paragraph deals with how parameters help the mind to be creative. |
Questions 6-10
| 6 | C. The answer is in the first line of the passage: It is a myth that creative people are born with their talents. Here, it is a myth = are not. |
| 7 | C, The answer is In paragraph A. The actual words are not in the paragraph, but the meaning is clear. A is not correct, because this is a myth; B is not correct, because the passage states that when we try to be creative, our automatic response takes over. D is not correct, because the well-trodden paths prevent creativity. Compare number 13 below. |
| 8 | D. The answer is in paragraph B: Unfortunately, mankind’s very struggle for survival has become a tyranny. The answer paraphrases this statement. A is not correct, because the passage says the struggle has become, i.e. is tyranny, not that it is becoming so; B is not correct, because cholesterol is not mentioned in relationship to the brain, but the mind, C is incorrect, because it is the mind which is circumscribed. |
| 9 | A. The answer is in paragraph C: a continuous process of restrictions, which is increasing exponentially with the advancement of technology. The statement Is a paraphrase of this section. Note B and C are the same; it is, therefore, not possible to have either of these two alternatives as your answer. Watch out for this feature In multiple-choice questions. |
| 10 | D. The answer is in paragraph C: Is it surprising then that creative ability appears to be so rare. This is a question and has the same meaning as the statement given, i.e. It is not surprising. Note C is not possible, because the passage doesn’t indicate whether the rarity is increasing or decreasing. |
Questions 11-14
| 11 | Yes. The answer is at the beginning of paragraph D: … and one that recognizes that rules and regulations are parameters… |
| 12 | Not Given. There is no reference to this statement in the passage. |
| 13 | Yes. The answer is in paragraph D: The difficulty in this exercise and with creation itself, is convincing people that creation is possible. The answer is a paraphrase of this part of the text. Compare number 7 above, |
| 14 | Yes. The answer is at the end of paragraph D: leaving the safety of one’s thought patterns is very much akin to madness; akin to – like. |
Locked Doors Open Access Reading Answers (Passage 2)
Question 15-18
| 15 | B. The answer is in the first paragraph. |
| 16 | B. Those buildings which used to allow free access to employees and other users (buildings such as offices, schools, colleges or hospitals) now do not. |
| 17 | A. Those buildings which used to allow free access to employees and other users (buildings such as offices, schools, colleges or hospitals) now do not. |
| 18 | D. It says in the text, ‘these buildings are divided into ‘secure zones’ which often have all the trappings of combination locks and burglar alarms. ‘ |
Questions 19-24
| 19 | Solved, Although the word combat appears In the original, it does not fit here grammatically. The past participle is needed. Note overcame Is the Simple Past, not the Past Participle. |
| 20 | computers. The plural is needed here. |
| 21 | other people. |
| 22 | cut-off. The word isolating does not fit grammatically. You need an adjective made from the past participle of the verb. Compare to 20 above. |
| 23 | team-work. |
| 24 | decrease in. |
Questions 25-27
| 25 | touch-tone systems |
| 26 | electronic presence |
| 27 | no longer geographical |
A leap into history Reading Answers (Passage 3)
Questions 28-32
| 28 | E |
| 29 | C |
| 30 | A |
| 31 | D |
| 32 | B |
Questions 33-38
| 33 | Not given. |
| 34 | YES. It says in the passage, ‘Ruined and forlorn its aspect maybe yet, in the haunting Celtic twilight of the long summer evenings, it is redolent of another age, another dream.’ |
| 35 | YES. It says in the passage, ‘Girona, from the Spanish Armada went down one dark October night in 1588 on its way to Scotland, of the 1500-odd men on board, nine survived.’ |
| 36 | YES. It says in the passage, ‘But it is certainly well worth a visit.’ |
| 37 | YES. It says in the passage, ‘The last lingering moments of the twilight hours are the best lime.’ |
| 38 | NOT GIVEN. |
Questions 39-40
| 39 | A |
| 40 | D |
Note how the answers In this section are jumbled; otherwise, it would be too easy!
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