IELTS Academic Reading Practice Test — February 2026 Test 233

Exam month: 2026-02

In this test

About this set: compiled and lightly cleaned up from real test material that test-takers recalled. IELTS draws from a global question pool, so this material circulates worldwide. To give you a complete, sittable test, material reported around the same period is assembled together — so a set may combine content from several exam dates, not one single sitting. Any audio is a recreation for practice. Organized for study convenience. Based on test-taker recalls — not official IELTS material.

Reading Passage 1: Fishbourne Roman Palace

Fishbourne Roman Palace is in the village of Fishbourne in West Sussex, England. This large palace was built in the 1st century AD, around thirty years after the Roman conquest of Britain, on the site of Roman army grain stores that had been established after the invasion during the reign of the Roman Emperor Claudius in 43 AD. The rectangular palace was built around formal gardens, the northern half of which has been reconstructed. There were extensive alterations in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, with many of the original black-and-white mosaic floors being overlaid with more sophisticated coloured ones, including a perfectly preserved mosaic of a dolphin in the north wing. More alterations were in progress when the palace burnt down in around 270 AD, after which it was abandoned.
Local people had long believed that a Roman palace once existed in the area. However, it was not until 1960 that the archaeologist Barry Cunliffe of Oxford University first systematically excavated the site, after workmen had accidentally uncovered a wall while they were laying a water main. The Roman villa excavated by Cunliffe’s team was so grand that it became known as Fishbourne Roman Palace, and a museum was erected to preserve some of the remains. This is administered by the Sussex Archaeological Society.
In its day, the completed palace would have comprised four large wings with colonnaded fronts. The north and east wings consisted of suites of private rooms built around courtyards, with a monumental entrance in the middle of the east wing. In the north-east corner there was an assembly hall. The west wing contained state rooms, a large ceremonial reception room and a gallery. The south wing contained the owner’s private apartments. The palace included as many as fifty mosaic floors, under-floor central heating and a bathhouse. In size, Fishbourne Palace would have been approximately equivalent to some of the great Roman palaces of Italy, and was by far the largest known Roman residence north of the European Alps, at about 500 feet (150 m) square. A team of volunteers and professional archaeologists is involved in an ongoing archaeological excavation on the site of nearby, possibly military, buildings.
The first buildings to be erected on the site were constructed in the early part of the conquest in 43 AD. Later, two timber buildings were constructed, one with clay-and-mortar floors and plaster walls, which appears to have been a house of some comfort. These buildings were demolished in the 60s AD and replaced by a substantial stone house, which included colonnades and a bath suite. It has been suggested that the palace itself, incorporating the previous house in its south-east corner, was constructed around 73–75 AD. However, Dr Miles Russell of Bournemouth University re-interpreted the ground plan and the collection of objects found, and has suggested that, given the extremely close parallels with the imperial palace of Domitian in Rome, its construction may more plausibly date to after 92 AD.
With regard to who lived in Fishbourne Palace, there are a number of theories. For example, one proposed by Professor Cunliffe is that, in its early phase, the palace was the residence of Tiberius Claudius Cogidubnus, a local chieftain who supported the Romans and who may have been installed as king of a number of territories following the first stage of the conquest. Cogidubnus is known from a reference to his loyalty in Agricola, a work by the Roman writer Tacitus, and from an inscription commemorating a temple dedicated to the gods Neptune and Minerva found in the nearby city of Chichester. Another theory is that it was built for Sallustius Lucullus, a Roman governor of Britain in the late 1st century, who may have been the son of the British prince Adminius. Two inscriptions recording the presence of Lucullus have been found in Chichester, and the redating by Miles Russell suggests that, if the palace was designed for Lucullus, then it may have been in use for only a few years, as the Roman historian Suetonius records that Lucullus was executed by the Emperor Domitian in or shortly after 93 AD.
Additional theories suggest that either Verica, a British king of the Roman Empire in the years preceding the Claudian invasion, was the owner of the palace, or Tiberius Claudius Catuarus, following the recent discovery of a gold ring belonging to him. The palace outlasted the original owner, whoever he was, and was extensively re-planned early in the 2nd century AD and subdivided into a series of smaller apartments. Further redevelopment was begun in the late 3rd century AD, but these alterations were incomplete when the north wing was destroyed in a fire in around 270 AD. The damage was too great to repair, and the palace was abandoned and later dismantled.
A modern museum has been built by the Sussex Archaeological Society, incorporating most of the visible remains, including one wing of the palace. The gardens have been replanted using authentic plants from the Roman period.
  1. 1

    Fishbourne Palace was the first structure to be built on its site.

  2. 2

    Fishbourne Palace was renovated more than once.

  3. 3

    Fishbourne Palace was large in comparison with Roman palaces in Italy.

  4. 4

    Research is continuing in the area close to Fishbourne Palace.

  5. 5

    Researchers agree on the identity of the person for whom Fishbourne Palace was constructed.

  6. 6

    Fishbourne Palace was burnt down by local people.

  7. 7

    The first buildings on the site contained food for the _________.

  8. 8

    The palace building surrounded __________.

  9. 9

    In the 2nd and 3rd centuries colour was added to the __________ of the palace.

  10. 10

    The first part of the palace to be found was part of a __________.

  11. 11

    Sallustius Lucullus - he may have lived there until approximately __________ AD.

  12. 12

    Catuarus - his __________ was found there.

  13. 13

    A __________ has been built on the site to help protect it.

Reading Passage 2: How plants fight back

A. Recent research has shown that plants are more aware of their environment and more active in their responses than was ever previously imagined. Simon Gilroy, a professor of botany at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the USA, has spent much of his career trying to understand how plants work. Now, Gilroy and one of his post-doctoral researchers, Masatsugu Toyota, have produced a series of videos that shows how plants responded when they subjected them to wounds, including scissor cuts and caterpillar bites.
B. Gilroy and Toyota discovered that when one part of a plant is attacked or damaged, a wave of calcium spreads throughout the rest of the plant. The calcium alerts the plant to danger and the need to deploy defence tactics. The team were able to see this by utilising a naturally occurring fluorescent-green protein which binds to the calcium, making its path visible. While scientists already knew that plants reacted to danger via an electrical charge that moves across their tissue, they didn't know exactly how it happened. Gilroy and Toyota suspected it had something to do with glutamate—an abundant neurotransmitter in animals—triggers this wave of calcium.
C. The find was fortuitous given that Gilroy hadn't intended to study wounding at all. His real passion is understanding how plants sense gravity and seem to know which way is up—something that's proving extremely hard to work out. It was during the early stages of an experiment into gravity that Toyota came across the wounding response. 'We work very intensely on the calcium signal, because it's a ubiquitous signal. Biology uses it absolutely everywhere,' explains Gilroy. 'It makes your heart beat, it makes your muscles contract. Plants use it for a lot of their signalling machinery. We had some hints that the gravity-sensing system is based around the calcium signal, and so we were developing the technology to image calcium cells in real-time.' It was during this process that Gilroy and Toyota realised they'd captured something never usually visible to humans.
D. The team found that the calcium travels at one millimetre per second, fast enough to spread to other leaves in just a couple of minutes. From the data collected up to now, it appears that how far the calcium travels depends on the extent of the wound, or, as Gilroy puts it, 'The more you hurt it, the louder it screams.' That 'scream' can result in a range of responses. 'Plants are masters of chemistry,' says Gilroy. 'We deal with the world by running away from it, plants deal with the world by growing in response to it, or by making a tonne of stuff.' That 'tonne of stuff' could be chemicals that poison a hungry insect, or that make the plant unattractive, tough or unpalatable. Some plants even make proteins that block the ability of a caterpillar's gut to digest the plant material. This is dinner that fights back.
E. The next step for Gilroy and his team is to delve deeper into the signalling response on a cellular level, dissecting the genes and proteins responsible. In contrast to our understanding of human nerve cells, Gilroy admits that the equivalent responses in plants are still barely understood. He is also going to widen the scope of the study and look at other signals that plants send out—signals regarding temperature and changes in light and touch. Gilroy explains that there may be a wider use for the research, albeit a long way in the future. Once scientists have managed to identify the specific genes that make the signalling process work and can understand what happens when you switch those genes on and off, it's not hard to think about the potential. 'You can imagine that we should be able to take a crop plant and switch on its defences on-call,' says Gilroy. 'We're nowhere near that point yet, but once we get there—say you're in a field and you predict there's going to be an outbreak of some pest, you could go in and pre-defend all of the plants in the field, but you do it on-call so the plants aren't wasting their resources defending themselves the whole time.'
F. For now, though, Gilroy is happy to simply increase understanding of plants. He is energetic in his insistence that they are not the inactive and unreceptive organisms that people generally believe them to be. For that reason, he's as enthusiastic about the way the videos bring the response process to life as he is about the future potential of the research. 'When you look at a plant, just because it doesn't do what we do, and it doesn't move, that doesn't mean it isn't doing anything. They're hugely dynamic organisms,' he says.
  1. 14

    reference to the different ways in which plants protect themselves from being eaten

  2. 15

    an explanation of how scientists were able to observe plants sending warning signals

  3. 16

    mention of a commonly held view about plant life

  4. 17

    examples of the means used by scientists to provoke plants’ signalling response

  5. 18

    reference to the idea that we could one day manipulate plants’ signalling abilities

  6. 19

    the purpose of the research which led to Gilroy and Toyota’s discovery

  7. 20

    a comparison regarding levels of scientific knowledge about responses in plants and humans

  8. 21

    As part of their research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Simon Gilroy and Masatsugu Toyota made several ________ revealing plants’ reactions to cuts, bites and other ________. These indicated how the spread of calcium warns plants about the presence of ________. The use of a brightly coloured ________ enabled the researchers to see the movement of calcium through the plant. The research also showed how ________ activates the release of calcium in the plant.

  9. 22

    Which TWO aspects of the calcium signal in plants does the writer mention?

    • A. the volume of calcium released following an attack
    • B. the rate at which calcium flows through plants
    • C. the different parts of the plant where calcium is produced
    • D. the species of plants which produce calcium as a warning signal
    • E. the link between the severity of an attack and the distance calcium moves
  10. 23

    Gilroy’s team have made certain plans for the future. Which TWO plans are mentioned by the writer?

    • A. research plants’ reactions to heat and cold
    • B. use their findings to help grow a greater variety of crops
    • C. investigate warning signals in organisms other than plants
    • D. analyse further the chemical processes involved in signalling responses
    • E. conduct studies to compare human cell and plant cell behaviour

Reading Passage 3: Understanding the Origins of Workplace Behaviour

Charles Darwin, the brilliant anthropologist and creator of the theory of evolution, is not normally associated with the modern business world. Nevertheless, Darwinian evolutionary theory is the foundation of a new wave of ideas about human behaviour in general and particularly the way people behave in the workplace; these ideas have given the title of ‘evolutionary psychology’. Evolutionary psychology revolves around the notion that our brains, like our bodies, have an inherited evolutionary design that has scarcely changed for 10,000 years. As respected evolutionary psychology experts Leda Cosmides and John Tooby comment, ‘our modern skulls house a Stone Age mind’. The US biologist Edward O. Wilson sees evolutionary psychology as being a discipline which is based on both sociobiology, which is the study of the biological basis of social behaviour, and psychology, which is the systematic study of human behaviour.
Nigel Nicholson, an organisational psychologist from the London Business School, is a strong supporter of evolutionary psychology and on this subject has published Managing the Human Animal. His book takes the reader on a journey from the Stone Age plains of the savannah to the modern office, and includes a discussion of Darwinism and behavioural psychology, together with a dissection of dysfunctional organisational behaviour. It is an effective approach explaining why people behave as they do, particularly at work. Evolutionary psychology is increasingly being cited in management circles, where managers are trying to understand puzzling aspects of human behaviour and, by doing so, improve the workplace. Nicholson believes that evolutionary psychology can help managers understand what goes wrong in organisational life and what they can do about it.
Nicholson maintains that evolutionary psychology dismisses the long-held assumption that our minds are like blank pages just waiting for culture and experience to write on them and shape our nature. He points out that sophisticated research shows the brain actually houses a store of knowledge when we are born, and now genetic research is establishing there are certain genes that account for abilities, tastes and tendencies. The stored knowledge in the human brain has not changed much since the Stone Age. As Tooby and Cosmides stress, there have not been enough generations for a brain that is well-adapted to our post-industrial life to evolve through natural selection.
The evolutionary psychology version of human nature revolves around some key elements which we have inherited from our hunter-gatherer minds. One key element is emotion. Emotion was originally essential to keep early man alive and safe from predators. Emotion was, and continues to be, our radar, guiding us throughout today’s techno-defined business world. Despite this, the business world emphasises rational, not emotional, behaviour, and does not admit the importance of emotion. We still use the emotional part of our minds to make sense of other people’s behaviour and to create an impression, so we can often be taken in by appearances. This mental predisposition actually works best in small communities (the tribe), not in much larger environments filled with people we barely know (the modern workplace). Our minds naturally try to re-create our ancestral communities with networks of no more than 150 people, where there are clear hierarchies and leaders. As a consequence, it takes very little to trigger people’s innate distrust of others because our safety in antiquity depended on supporting our near family and friends, whom we valued more than other people.
So what advice does Nicholson have for the corporate world? He thinks that by knowing the reasons for people’s behaviour it is possible to mould corporate environments into places that have more chance of working efficiently and being pleasant places to work in. Nicholson admits that not everybody in the business world agrees with his belief in the effectiveness of evolutionary psychology in the workplace. One group that resists the theory of evolutionary psychology is young MBA graduates who are just beginning their careers and feel that evolutionary psychology will make their lives at work more difficult. Older and wiser executives point out that they still tend to cling to the idea of a magic formula to bring people into line with corporate strategy. But that is back-to-front thinking, according to Nicholson, who contends that we should be reinventing our business structures, not our fundamental human nature.
At the end of his book, Nicholson gives his forecast of what will and will not change in the business world. He believes that most people will still prefer more traditional forms of work and throughout their lives will continue to aim at lifelong status advancement. He also maintains that the line between work and home will be less defined, but that people will prefer traditional working patterns if working from home leaves them isolated from their work community. He doubts that the high-tech ideas of virtual companies will ever be very successful because people will still want to meet each other face-to-face. Nicholson describes his ideal organisation in the future: it would be decentralised, with small sub-units; the staff would be from diverse backgrounds and be allowed a high degree of self-determination. New endeavours and creativity would replace systems and rationality. Nicholson acknowledges that there is a long way to go in terms of the translation of his ideas of evolutionary psychology into practical propositions, but he is confident more and more people will come round to his way of thinking.
  1. 24

    27 The writer’s purpose in the first paragraph is to

    • A. oppose the views of Charles Darwin.
    • B. compare experts’ opinions of Darwin’s theory.
    • C. explain the theory of evolutionary psychology.
    • D. name experts in the field of evolutionary psychology.
  2. 25

    28 In the third paragraph, which view about evolutionary psychology matches Nicholson’s opinion?

    • A. Our characters determine our career choices.
    • B. We begin life without any preconceived notions.
    • C. Our interests and skills depend on our environment.
    • D. We inherit ideas and characteristics from our ancestors.
  3. 26

    29 The writer discusses the key element of emotion in order to

    • A. criticise primitive survival strategies.
    • B. explain attitudes and actions at work.
    • C. demonstrate the slowness of evolution.
    • D. suggest companies today are poorly structured.
  4. 27

    30 Which of the following does Nicholson predict will happen in the business world?

    • A. Companies will remain in city centres.
    • B. Promotion will no longer motivate people.
    • C. Employees will be less independent than now.
    • D. Social interaction will remain important to workers.
  5. 28

    31 Which of the following is the most suitable title for Reading Passage 3?

    • A. How successful companies manage change.
    • B. Understanding the origins of workplace behaviour.
    • C. Darwin’s theories rejected by modern management.
    • D. Why post-industrial organisations need to evolve more quickly.
  6. 29

    32 Nicholson makes a persuasive argument in his book.

  7. 30

    33 Tooby and Cosmides believe natural selection through the generations has prepared us for modern times.

  8. 31

    34 Our reliance on technology causes emotional problems in the workplace.

  9. 32

    35 People today are more trusting than they used to be.

  10. 33

    Nicholson believes that if we know why people act the way they do, we can change ____ so employees will work more efficiently. Nicholson’s ideas are unwelcome to ____, but some executives are more open to what evolutionary psychology says. However, these executives still believe that there is a ____ that will make employees act according to the company’s practices. According to Nicholson, these senior executives are engaging in ____, and we should not try to change ____ but instead we should change our business structures.

    • A. business leaders
    • B. MBA graduates
    • C. promotion structures
    • D. reward strategy
    • E. magic formula
    • F. strategic planning
    • G. back-to-front thinking
    • H. business environments
    • I. human nature

Answer sheet

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Answer key

  1. 1. FALSE

    The answer is FALSE because the passage says there were earlier buildings on the site before Fishbourne Palace was built.

  2. 2. TRUE

    The answer is TRUE because the passage mentions that Fishbourne Palace was renovated more than once.

  3. 3. FALSE

    The answer is FALSE because the passage states that Fishbourne Palace was not large compared to Roman palaces in Italy.

  4. 4. TRUE

    The answer is TRUE because the passage says that research is still happening near Fishbourne Palace.

  5. 5. FALSE

    The answer is FALSE because the passage explains that researchers do not all agree about who the palace was built for.

  6. 6. NOT GIVEN

    The answer is NOT GIVEN because the passage does not say who burnt down the palace.

  7. 7. Roman army

    The answer is 'Roman army' because the passage says the first buildings stored food for the Roman army.

  8. 8. formal gardens

    The answer is 'formal gardens' because the passage says the palace building surrounded formal gardens.

  9. 9. mosaic floors

    The answer is 'mosaic floors' because the passage says colour was added to the mosaic floors in the 2nd and 3rd centuries.

  10. 10. wall

    The answer is 'wall' because the passage says the first part of the palace found was part of a wall.

  11. 11. 93

    The answer is '93' because the passage says Sallustius Lucullus may have lived there until about 93 AD.

  12. 12. ring

    The answer is 'ring' because the passage says Catuarus's ring was found there.

  13. 13. museum

    The answer is 'museum' because the passage says a museum has been built on the site to protect it.

  14. 14. D

    The answer is D because this section talks about different ways plants protect themselves from being eaten.

  15. 15. B

    The answer is B because this part explains how scientists observed plants sending warning signals.

  16. 16. F

    The answer is F because this section mentions a common belief about plant life.

  17. 17. A

    The answer is A because this part gives examples of how scientists made plants respond with signals.

  18. 18. E

    The answer is E because this section discusses the idea of changing plants' signalling abilities in the future.

  19. 19. C

    The answer is C because this part explains why Gilroy and Toyota did their research.

  20. 20. E

    The answer is E because this section compares what we know about plant and human responses.

  21. 21. videos / wounds / danger / protein / glutamate

    The answers are 'videos / wounds / danger / protein / glutamate' because the passage says researchers made videos showing plants' reactions to wounds, showing how calcium warns of danger, and used a coloured protein to see calcium move, and that glutamate starts the calcium release.

  22. 22. B / E

    The answers are B and E because the passage mentions the speed (rate) of calcium flow and the link between attack severity and how far calcium moves. Options A and D are not mentioned.

  23. 23. A / D

    The answers are A and D because the passage says the team plans to study plants' reactions to heat and cold and to analyse the chemical processes in signalling. Options B, C, and E are not mentioned as plans.

  24. 24. C

    The answer is C because the first paragraph explains what evolutionary psychology is.

  25. 25. D

    The answer is D because Nicholson thinks we inherit ideas and characteristics from our ancestors.

  26. 26. D

    The answer is B because the writer discusses emotion to explain attitudes and actions at work.

  27. 27. D

    The answer is D because Nicholson predicts that social interaction will always be important to workers.

  28. 28. B

    The answer is B because the passage is about understanding where workplace behaviour comes from.

  29. 29. YES

    The answer is YES because the passage says Nicholson makes a strong argument in his book.

  30. 30. NO

    The answer is NO because Tooby and Cosmides do not believe natural selection has prepared us for modern times.

  31. 31. NOT GIVEN

    The answer is NOT GIVEN because the passage does not say if technology causes emotional problems at work.

  32. 32. NOT GIVEN

    The answer is NOT GIVEN because the passage does not say if people are more trusting now than before.

  33. 33. H / B / E / G / I

    The answers are H / B / E / G / I because Nicholson says we should change business environments, his ideas are unwelcome to MBA graduates, some executives believe in a magic formula, these executives are engaging in back-to-front thinking, and we should not try to change human nature.

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