Australia’s Convict Colonies, Crows Can be Craftsmen too, Coming into the World Reading Answers

Courtney Miller

20 min read

Updated On Aug 14, 2024

Reading Passage 1
Australia’s Convict Colonies
Reading Passage 2
Crows Can be Craftsmen too
Reading Passage 3
Coming into the World
Answers
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The IELTS Reading passage, Australia’s Convict Colonies, along with the other two IELTS Academic Reading passages – Crows Can be Craftsmen too and Coming into the World makes this a complete IELTS Reading practice test. You will have 60 minutes to complete this whole test, which consists of 40 questions in total.

Here are the question types in this reading test:

IELTS Reading Multiple Choice Question
IELTS Reading Matching Headings to Paragraph
IELTS Reading Note Completion
Diagram Completion IELTS Reading
IELTS Reading Matching Features
IELTS Reading Summary Completion
IELTS Reading Yes/No/Not Given

Want to know how to solve the note completion questions for IELTS Reading? Check out the video for some effective tips!

Reading Passage 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on the Reading Passage below. Find the practice test with the Australia’s Convict Colonies PDF here.

Australia’s Convict Colonies

Questions 1-3

Which THREE of the following statements are true of free settlers in the Australian prison colonies, according to the text?

Choose THREE letters A-H.

NB, Your answers may be given in any order.

A They were mainly skilled workers and single women.

B They all welcomed Governor Macquarie’s policies.

C 25 per cent of them were born in the colonies.

D 160,000 of them went to Australia between 1787 and 1868.

E 8,000 of them arrived in Australia in the 1820s.

F They established families, businesses and farms.

G Convicts who were assigned to them provided them with labour.

H They campaigned in favour of emancipist rights.

Questions 4-9

Reading Passage 1 has seven paragraphs, A-G.

Choose the correct heading for paragraphs B-G from the list of headings below.

List of Headings

Free settlers
Transportation of convicts
The end of transportation
Convict life
The colonial population
The treatment of convicts
Opponents of transportation
The first settlements

Example: Paragraph A ___ii___

4 Paragraph B _________

5 Paragraph C _________

6Paragraph D _________

7 Paragraph E ______ ___

8 Paragraph F _________

9Paragraph G _________

Questions 10-13

Complete the notes below.

Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.

Australia’s Convict Colonies

Events preceding first settlement

1615-convicts first transported to 10________________ controlled by Britain

1770 – Cook claims SE Australian coast for Britain, calling it 11_________________

*1775 – 1783 – Revolutionary War in America halts transportation there

1787 – Botany Bay chosen as site for new 12_________________ ; first convict fleet sets sail

1788 – fleet reaches Botany Bay but 13________________ chosen instead

Reading Passage 2

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on the Reading Passage below. Find the practice test with the Crows Can be Craftsmen too PDF here.

Crows Can be Craftsmen too

Questions 14-17

Complete the diagrams.

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

Questions 18-22

Write the correct letter, A, B, or C in boxes 18-22 on your answer sheet.

Classify the following statements as referring to the crow(s) in

A the study by Hunt and Gray

B the study by Kacelnik, Chappell, and Weir

C both studies

18 can share tool-making skills with other crows

19 can make special tools for a particular purpose

20 can solve problems by understanding rather than learning

21 can make tools better than British crows

22 can manufacture hooks to extract food

Questions 23-26

Complete the summary.

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

It used to be thought that only human beings used tools. Even after we learned that many other 23__________________________ also do so, it was still believed that only humans were intelligent enough to gradually evolve better tools. A study of crows in
24_________________________ , however, shows that these birds use a leaf tool which has been evolved over several generations. A crow in another study has shown the humanlike ability to understand 25__________ in order to manufacture tools, which not even 26___________ can do.

Reading Passage 3

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on the Reading Passage below. Find the practice test with the Coming into the World PDF here.

Coming into the World

A little-known island community comes in from the cold.

Questions 27 and 28

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D and write them next to 27 and 28 on your answer sheet.

27 The writer describes the islands of Tristan da Cunha as

Adifficult to find in an emergency.

B a place the media didn’t understand.

C somewhere different countries claimed to own.

D is unknown to most members of the public.

28 What does the writer say about the islanders?

A They could go for years with no contact with outsiders.

B They had no means of leaving the island to speak to others.

C They exchanged messages with boats that went past them.

D They travelled to the mainland on the supply ship.

Questions 29-34

Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 3? Write

YES, if the statement agrees with the writer’s views

NO, if the statement contradicts the writer’s views

NOT GIVEN, if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

29 People living on Tristan da Cunha are self-sufficient.

30 The islanders often get ill.

31 Some islanders were reluctant to return after the volcanic eruption.

32 The selling of postage stamps has generated revenue for the islanders.

33 There is no television service on Tristan da Cunha.

34 Communications with the island are often interrupted.

Questions 35-40

Complete the summary.

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

First colonised in the early part of the 19^th century, Tristan da Cunha remained unknown to many people in the rest of the world until a 35_______________ forced the small population of this remote island to evacuate their homes and brought their existence to the attention of 36________________. After spending two years as refugees in

37_________________ , the British Government reluctantly allowed them to return to the island once it had been established that the danger had passed. The
38___________________ of the island improved when rebuilding work had been completed, partly because of a new interest in the 39_________________Disaster was to strike the island again nearly forty years later when a 40_________________ destroyed many buildings on the island.

Answers

Now it’s time to check the answers to the above questions from the passages in the reading section of IELTS Academic and understand how you need to improve for a higher IELTS Reading band score.

Australia’s Convict Colonies Reading Answers (Passage 1)

1 Answer: A

Question Type: Multiple Choice Question

Answer location: Paragraph A, last line

Answer explanation: In the reference paragraph, the author mentions that “between 1787 and 1868, almost 160,000 convicts, of whom about 25,000 were women, were sent to Australia to serve sentences ranging from 7 years to live.” Around 1,60,000 Convicts, out of whom 25,000 were women, were sent to Australia to serve sentences ranging from 7 years to live as a punishment as well as labor.

2 Answer: E

Question Type: Multiple Choice Question

Answer location: Paragraph E, line 1

Answer explanation: You can note the paraphrasing here. In the passage, it states that “the first group of free settlers had arrived in Australia in 1793 to seek their fortune in the new land. Their numbers grew, with about 8,000 free settlers arriving in the 1820s to take advantage of free land grants and cheap convict labor.” This line confirms that their number increased as 8,000 more free settlers arrived there in the 1920s to take advantage of free lands.

3 Answer: G

Question Type: Multiple Choice Question

Answer location: Paragraph G, line 1

Answer explanation: The opening line of paragraph G puts forward the information that “convicts not involved in public work were assigned to free settlers, providing labour in exchange for food, clothing and shelter.” Here, we can deduce that convicts served part of their sentences in Britain before being transported to the colony, where they worked as labor on badly needed public construction projects under the system in Van Diemen’s Land in exchange for food, clothing, and shelter.

4 Answer: viii

Question Type: Matching Headings

Answer location: Paragraph B, line 1

Answer explanation: The entire sentence has been paraphrased here. In the passage, it states that “eleven ships set sail from England in 1787 to take the first group of about 750 British convicts to Australia.” From this information, we can deduce that this passage discusses the first settlements as it mentions that in 1787 first group of British convicts sailed to Australia.

5 Answer: vi

Question Type: Matching Headings

Answer location: Paragraph C, line 2

Answer explanation: In paragraph C it is given that “some masters treated the convicts cruelly, and the punishment of convicts, particularly in the early days, could be arbitrary and savage.” Here, we can observe how harshly convicts were treated by masters in Australia.

6 Answer: v

Question Type: Matching Headings

Answer location: Paragraph D, last line

Answer explanation: You can note the paraphrasing here. In the passage, it states that “25 per cent of the population now consisted of people born in the colonies, and free people outnumbered convicts.” Here, we can observe this passage discusses the colonial population.

7 Answer: i

Question Type: Matching Headings

Answer location: Paragraph E, line 1

Answer explanation: If you read thoroughly, there’s a line in the said paragraph that describes “the first group of free settlers had arrived in Australia in 1793 to seek their fortune in the new land.” This paragraph enunciates the first group of free settlers.

8 Answer: vii

Question Type: Matching Headings

Answer location: Paragraph F, line 1

Answer explanation: A line in the said paragraph infers that “during the 1820s there was a lengthy campaign to win certain rights for emancipists, which was opposed by wealthy free settlers.” Free immigrants expressed their dissatisfaction with low wages, transportation, and limited rights, on the other hand, this was opposed by wealthy free settlers.

9 Answer: iii

Question Type: Matching Headings

Answer location: Paragraph G, line 2

Answer explanation: If you read thoroughly, there’s a line in the said paragraph that describes “Transportation to the eastern colonies was abolished in 1852.” The term abolish signifies formally putting an end to (a system, practice, or institution). Thus, we can deduce that this passage includes details about the end of transportation in the eastern colonies of Australia.

10 Answer: American colonies

Question Type: Note Completion

Answer location: Paragraph A, line 2

Answer explanation: Few lines in the said paragraph convey that “since 1615, convicts had been transported to Britain’s American colonies, both as punishment and a source of labor, but this practice was halted by the Revolutionary War in America (1775-1783).” This line confirms that in 1615 first set of convicts were transported to Britain’s American colonies.

11 Answer: New South Wales

Question Type: Note Completion

Answer location: Paragraph A, line 4

Answer explanation: In the said paragraph, you can point out that “Captain Cook, exploring the southeast coast of Australia in 1770, had named the land New South Wales and claimed it for Britain.” In 1770, the British government decided to establish a new colony and Captain cook who was exploring the southeast coast of Australia claimed/named it to be New South Wales and claimed it for Britain.

12 Answer: prison colony

Question Type: Note Completion

Answer location: Paragraph B, line 1

Answer explanation: The opening line of paragraph B puts forward the information that “eleven ships set sail from England in 1787 to take the first group of about 750 British convicts to Australia. The fleet reached Botany Bay in January 1788, but nearby Sydney Cove was selected as a more suitable site for the new settlement, which later became the city of Sydney.” It was in 1787 that the first convict fleet sets sail and reached Botany Bay, which was chosen as a suitable site for a new prison colony.

13 Answer: Sydney Cove

Question Type: Note Completion

Answer location: Paragraph B, line 2

Answer explanation: According to paragraph B “the fleet reached Botany Bay in January 1788, but nearby Sydney Cove was selected as a more suitable site for the new settlement, which later became the city of Sydney.” The fleet (a group of ships sailing together) which left Britain in 1787 reached Botany Bay on January 1788, but nearby Sydney Cove was selected/chosen as a new settlement site.

Crows Can be Craftsmen too Reading Answers (Passage 2)

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14 Answer: rips

Question Type: Diagram Completion

Answer location: Paragraph C, line 1

Answer explanation: If you read thoroughly, a line in the passage specifies that “Long ago, the birds discovered that they could rip the serrated edge off the leaves to make a wide tool.” Also, “the crow nips the leaf, rips along the fibers, makes another cut and tears again, repeating until it has a tool with usually two, three or four steps.” The term segregate means set apart from the rest or from each other; isolate or divide. Thus, confirms that crows (birds) in order to make a wide tool, use to cut leaves and rip away/apart the rest of the section.

15 Answer: pandanus

Question Type: Diagram Completion

Answer location: Paragraph B, last line

Answer explanation: Paragraph B provides the information that “after an intensive field survey of local crow industry, the scientists found that the birds rip the leaves of the pandanus tree to fashion three distinct types of tool for grub and insect extraction: wide, narrow and tapered.” Here, the term leaf can be referred to as leaves of the pandanus tree.

16 Answer: wide

Question Type: Diagram Completion

Answer location: Paragraph B, last line

Answer explanation: If you observe, in the said paragraph to the fact that “after an intensive field survey of local crow industry, the scientists found that the birds rip the leaves of the pandanus tree to fashion three distinct types of tool for grub and insect extraction: wide, narrow and tapered.” Here, three distinct types of tool for grub and insect extraction is discussed, which are wide, narrow and tapered.

17 Answer: tapered

Question Type: Diagram Completion

Answer location: Paragraph B, last line

18 Answer: A

Question Type: Matching features

Answer location: Paragraph C, 2nd last line

Answer explanation: If you read thoroughly, there’s a line that claims, “leaf tool manufacture is an example of culture: the birds leam through example and their tool-making wisdom grows in sophistication down the generations. The crows appear to have the cognitive requirements for cumulative, though rudimentary, technological evolution, said Dr. Gray. Tool manufacture in New Caledonian crows shows striking flexibility and innovation.” Hence, we can deduce that the given information refers to crows in the study by Hunt and Grey.

19 Answer: C

Question Type: Matching features

Answer location: Paragraph B, last line

Answer explanation: In the said paragraph, refer that, “Dr. Gavin Hunt and Dr. Russell Gray of the University of Auckland have spent the past decade studying feathered technology in New Caledonia, 900 miles north-east of Australia. After an intensive field survey of local crow industry, the scientists found that the birds rip the leaves of the pandanus tree to fashion three distinct types of tool for grub and insect extraction: wide, narrow and tapered“ Also, the first line of paragraph E, states that “Betty began making tools after her partner snatched away a hook made for her by the researchers, forcing her to make her own from garden wire to fish out morsels from a tube.” Here, we can deduce that “distinct types of tools” have been paraphrased to “special tools”. Crows in a study by Hunt and Grey make tools for purpose grub and insect extraction. Moreover, Betty (the crow) makes tools after her partner snatched away a hook made for her. This is a study by Kacelnik, Chappell, and Weir.

20 Answer: B

Question Type: Matching features

Answer location: Paragraph D & E, last lines

Answer explanation: The answer is clearly mentioned in the said paragraph and line. In the passage, it is said that “it complements his own research, with Dr. Jackie Chappell and Alex Weir, which has turned Betty the New Caledonian crow into a star by revealing her to be the first animal, other than man, to show a basic understanding of cause and effect.” Also, “Although many animals use tools, purposeful modification of objects to solve new problems, without training or prior experience, is virtually unknown.” Since it is given that many animals are able to solve the issue without training or prior experience it implies that they can solve a problem through understanding, training/learning is not required.

21 Answer: B

Question Type: Matching features

Answer location: Paragraph C, last line; Paragraph F, line 4

Answer explanation: In the said paragraph, refer that, “the crows appear to have the cognitive requirements for cumulative, though rudimentary, technological evolution, said Dr. Gray. Tool manufacture in New Caledonian crows shows striking flexibility and innovation.” And, “the crow family are the Einsteins of the avian world, though Prof Kacelnik added that, at least in terms of tool making, the Pacific crows are smarter than their British cousins.” Here, Prof Kacelnik stated that in terms of tool marking, the Pacific crows can make smarter/better tools than British crows.

22 Answer: C

Question Type: Matching features

Answer location: Paragraph D, line 2; Paragraph E, line 2

Answer explanation: The answer is clearly mentioned in the said paragraph and line. In the passage, it is said that “they often strip a twig of leaves and cut it off just below a shortened offshoot to create a hook to get bugs out.” A line in paragraph E, claims that “she wedged the end of the wire into the base of the food tube and turned her head to form the hook.” Here, according to the study of Hunt and Grey, crows create a hook to get bugs out (their food). Moreover, according to Kacelnik, Chappell, and Weir’s study Betty the crow wedged wire (creates a hook) into the base of the food.

23 Answer: animals

Question Type: summary completion

Answer location: Paragraph A, line 6

Answer explanation: In the said paragraph, refer that, “then it was found that many animals also used them, from the’ fishing sticks’ of apes to the rocks dropped on ostrich eggs by Egyptian vultures.” It was widely believed that only humans could use tools despite founding/learning that many other animals could also use them.

24 Answer: New Caledonia

Question Type: summary completion

Answer location: Paragraph B, line 4

Answer explanation: Few lines in said paragraph discuss that “A new study shows that the crows of New Caledonia are inventive. With their evolving leaf tools, the birds have levered man off his pedestal.” Here, it confirms that a new study shows that crows of New Caledonia are inventive because they use leaf tool.

25 Answer: physical laws

Question Type: summary completion

Answer location: Paragraph E, line 3

Answer explanation: Paragraph E intimates that “although chimps use sticks in experiments, they have not shown any human-like understanding of basic physical laws.” Here, the author states that crows have a humanlike ability to understand things such as physical laws to manufacture tools.

26 Answer: chimpanzees/chimps

Question Type: summary completion

Answer location: Paragraph E, line 2

Answer explanation: If you read thoroughly, there’s a line that claims, “she wedged the end of the wire into the base of the food tube and turned her head to form the hook. What amazed the researchers is that she can even adapt her hooks if they are not up to the job, something that even chimpanzees are unable to do.” Here, the author states that crows (betty) have a human-like ability to understand things such as physical laws to manufacture tools which even chimpanzees are unable to do.

Coming into the World Reading Answers (Passage 3)

27 Answer: D

Question Type: Multiple Choice Questions

Answer location: Paragraph A, line 1

Answer explanation: Paragraph A puts forward the information that “back in early 1961, few outside the corridors of dwindling British power had heard of the archipelago centered on the main island of Tristan da Cunha, from which the scattered islands that make up the group took their name.” From the given information, we can deduce that Tristan da Cunha was little-known to the public as it is given that few outsides of British power had heard of.

28 Answer: C

Question Type: Multiple Choice Questions

Answer location: Paragraph B, last line

Answer explanation: The answer is clearly mentioned in the said paragraph and line. In the passage, it is said that “communications with the outside world relied predominantly on signals to passing fishing boats and the annual visit of the vessel that supplied the islanders with the goods they could not produce themselves.“ The author states that islanders in order to communicate/exchange messages with people had to rely on passing fishing boats (boats that went past them).

29 Answer: NO

Question Type: Multiple Choice Questions

Answer location: Paragraph B, last line

Answer explanation: In the reference paragraph, the author mentions that “communications with the outside world relied predominantly on signals to passing fishing boats and the annual visit of the vessel that supplied the islanders with the goods they could not produce themselves.” Since people of islanders could not produce certain goods and relied on vessels that were supplied there, we can deduce that people living on Tristan da Cunha were not self-sufficient.

30 Answer: NOT GIVEN

Question Type: Multiple Choice Questions

Answer location: N/A

Answer explanation: None of the paragraphs confirms or denies that the islanders often get ill.

31 Answer: YES

Question Type: Multiple Choice Questions

Answer location: Paragraph F, line 2

Answer explanation: If you read thoroughly, there’s a line that claims “eventually, word came through that the island was again habitable and, despite strong resistance from the British Government, the vast majority of the islanders voted to return, turning their backs on the temptations of the brighter lights of their temporary home in favour of their own.” The term reluctant signifies unwilling and hesitant; disinclined. A vast majority voted to return which means there is a minority unwilling to return. So the answer is yes.

32 Answer: YES

Question Type: Multiple Choice Questions

Answer location: Paragraph G, line 1

Answer explanation: The opening line of paragraph G claims that “the last of the returning islanders arrived in November 1963 and, with the rebuilding of the crawfish canning industry and growing demand for the island’s stamps amongst dedicated collectors following the publicity caused by the volcanic eruption, the local economy soon recovered, although communications remained as difficult as they had ever been.” Here, demand for the island’s stamps also helped recover the local economy. We can understand that stamps were being sold and generated money for the islanders.

33 Answer: NOT GIVEN

Question Type: Multiple Choice Questions

Answer location: N/A

Answer explanation: None of the paragraphs confirms or denies that there is no television service on Tristan da Cunha.

34 Answer: NOT GIVEN

Question Type: Multiple Choice Questions

Answer location: N/A

Answer explanation: None of the paragraphs confirms or denies that communications with the island are often interrupted.

35 Answer: volcanic eruption

Question Type: summary completion

Answer location: Paragraph A, line 2

Answer explanation: If you read thoroughly, there’s a line that claims “it would take a dramatic volcanic eruption, and an emergency evacuation that would grab the attention of the media, to bring attention to this mysterious outpost of the British Empire.” It is given that Tristan da Cunha island was discovered in the 19th century when a dramatic volcanic eruption shifted the attention of the world towards the island as many had to evacuate their homes.

36 Answer: the media

Question Type: summary completion

Answer location: Paragraph A, line 2

Answer explanation: In the said paragraph, you can point out that “it would take a dramatic volcanic eruption, and an emergency evacuation that would grab the attention of the media, to bring attention to this mysterious outpost of the British Empire.” The Tristan da Cunha island which remained unknown for many years suddenly became notable due to a dramatic volcanic eruption and it brought a lot of media attention along with it.

37 Answer: England

Question Type: summary completion

Answer location: Paragraph D, 2nd last line; Paragraph F, line 2

Answer explanation: If you read thoroughly, a line in the passage specifies that “the entire population eventually found themselves in England, where they were met with unwanted and unexpected attention from the media.” And, “eventually, word came through that the island was again habitable and, despite strong resistance from the British Government, the vast majority of the islanders voted to return, turning their backs on the temptations of the brighter lights of their temporary home in favour of their own.” After the volcanic eruption, the entire population of the island became refugees in England.

38 Answer: (local) economy

Question Type: summary completion

Answer location: Paragraph G, line 1

Answer explanation: If you observe, in the said paragraph to the fact that “the last of the returning islanders arrived in November 1963 and, with the rebuilding of the crawfish canning industry and a growing demand for the island’s stamps amongst dedicated collectors following the publicity caused by the volcanic eruption, the local economy soon recovered, although communications remained as difficult as they had ever been.” Hence we understand that the local economy of the island improved.

39 Answer: island’s stamps

Question Type: summary completion

Answer location: Paragraph G, line 1

Answer explanation: According to the opening line of paragraph G, “the last of the returning islanders arrived in November 1963 and, with the rebuilding of the crawfish canning industry and a growing demand for the island’s stamps amongst dedicated collectors following the publicity caused by the volcanic eruption, the local economy soon recovered, although communications remained as difficult as they had ever been.” The island’s local economy recovered rapidly due to the new interest (growing demand) for the island’s stamps.

40 Answer: hurricane

Question Type: summary completion

Answer location: Paragraph H, line 1

Answer explanation: If you read thoroughly, there’s a line that claims, “things have changed with developments in technology, but at the beginning of the present century, the island was again cut off from the rest of the world when, on May 23^rd2001, a hurricane tore through the area.” However, things again changed for the island when a hurricane destroyed many buildings on the island nearly forty years later.