Reading 2026-05 Test 62 — IELTS Academic Reading Practice Test with Answers

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: Investing in the Future

The founding and development of many universities has been dependent on philanthropy. This has been true from some of the oldest universities such as Bologna, Oxford and Cambridge in the twelfth century, to relative newcomers like the universities of Harvard and Yale in the seventeenth century. Wealthy merchants gave young institutions money, land, libraries and rare items. Their belief in the value of higher learning is echoed by the growing number of philanthropists whose gifts have helped transform the University of Auckland, the largest university in New Zealand.

In 1884 Mr Justice Gillies made history when he gave $3,000 to the then very young University of Auckland, and so became its original philanthropist. Gillies' gift was more generous even than those regularly given to New Zealand's older University of Otago, and was exceptional because Auckland had a smaller population and was less wealthy than the other university cities at that time.

However, from the 1930s privately funded prizes and scholarships began to be seen more frequently in Auckland. In that decade a local engineer and former lecturer in engineering, Samuel Crookes, launched a fund to save the engineering school in Auckland, which the state was determined to see discontinued, and raised over $6,500 in three years. Another significant philanthropist, Sir William Goodfellow, made his initial gift to the University in 1947 - $50,000 to build the Maclaurin Chapel. Since then, he and succeeding generations of the family have given numerous scholarships and fellowships and established a school within the University bearing the family's name.

The University had a difficult decade in the 1950s as it was short of equipment, buildings and money. It also had its first taste of international rivalry, when universities in many parts of the world competed to attract first-class lecturers. In Auckland the problem largely resulted from the fact that academic salaries had slipped well behind those available in Britain and Australia, so the strongest candidates tended to be recruited to those countries. But when the new Medical School opened in 1968, it attracted significant gifts for academic positions and equipment from an unusually wide range of donors, including individuals, trusts, charitable foundations, societies and community groups. It also became the permanent home of the Philson Library, which by then consisted of some 8,000 books.

The first of the modern public appeals for funds took place in the 1960s, when Alan Highet built the Student Union complex. This was followed by another appeal in 1983 under the then Chancellor Henry Cooper who raised $800,000 to celebrate the University's centenary. These modern campaigns built on the successful campaigns of the past but included a number of new features. There was of course the familiar emphasis on donations from individuals, but the modern approach also stressed the importance of bringing the University and business closer together and specifically seeking donations from that sector.

Building on this success, the current "Leading the Way" campaign was launched. It is intended as a drive to secure support for the whole University, with a focus on generating funds to recruit, support and retain the very best staff for the University. The current campaign has raised the whole process of philanthropy to a new level, and changed expectations. The University is investing considerable time and energy in devising new methods of fund-raising both within its local communities and - remembering that New Zealanders love to travel - by looking at campaigns in other parts of the world, and targeting alumni, or former students now living overseas. 'What it taught us,' says John Taylor, Director of External Relations, 'was that the campaign had to fit into the Strategic Plan of the University ... As we kept talking, we realized that we could have a transformative effect on the future of New Zealand by highlighting the potential benefits of high-quality research.' The example Taylor gives is the $4.5 million gift to establish an information centre at the University's Marine Science laboratory on the coast at Leigh. He stresses that the fund-raising drive was so successful in part because the publicity used at the time highlighted the public benefit from the project. On the financial side, the University's Vice-Chancellor, Stuart McCutcheon, explains that a fault they found in their campaigns actually turned out to be a stroke of good fortune. 'In the course of developing these new fund-raising systems,' he says, 'we have come to realize that there has been considerable giving to the University that has not been previously recorded through our Advancement Office ….... This has been in the order of $10 million per year over the campaign period. The good news from this error is that at the recent Chancellor's dinner it was announced that the campaign target was now being increased from $100 million to $150 million and would recognize all sources of philanthropic support. It's a long way from Gillies' first $3,000 gift.'

1
Harvard and Yale were the first universities to benefit from philanthropy.
2
Merchants liked to donate to the same universities they attended themselves.
3
The first gift to the University of Auckland came in 1884.
4
Otago University often received larger gifts than Gillies' gift to Auckland.
5
In the 1930s the government wanted to close Auckland's engineering school.
6
After raising $6,500, Crookes returned to academic life.
7
In the 1950s the best lecturers choose to work in Britain or Australia rather than New Zealand.
8
A single philanthropist was responsible for the new Medical School.
9
Henry Cooper’s campaign marked the ________ of the University.
10
The 'Leading the Way' appeal is raising money to invest in the University’s ________.
11
Gifts are being sought from graduates who are located ________.
12
Some donations had not been ________ by the University.
13
There is a new financial ________ for the campaign.

Reading Passage 2: The return of the black-footed ferret

A The black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes) is a small carnivorous mammal, similar in length to a domestic cat, and is the only ferret species native to North America. For at least 100,000 years they lived in an area that extended almost uninterrupted from southern Canada to northern Mexico. But numbers fell dramatically throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, to such an extent that the black-footed ferret was declared ‘possibly extinct’. Then, almost miraculously, it returned from the dead.

B Within the genus Mustela, the ferret belongs to the subgenus Putorius, of which there are only three extant species: the European polecat; the Siberian polecat; and the black-footed ferret. The European polecat lives in open forests and meadows, and is thought to be the ancestor of the domestic ferret. The Siberian polecat looks more similar to the black-footed ferret, and leads a similar life on open grasslands and semi-desert regions across Russia, China and Siberia.

C Ferrets probably evolved in Europe between three and four million years ago, and dispersed into North America across an ice-age land bridge at least two million years ago. They then advanced south-eastward to the Great Plains through ice-free passageways. The black-footed ferret’s history in North America is inextricably linked to the creature which became almost its sole prey — the prairie dog. These small rodents are a type of ground squirrel which live in networks of underground tunnels, known as burrows. The black-footed ferret’s short legs and long, slim body make it superbly adapted for life in the burrow systems of its prey.

D Spending virtually all their time underground, black-footed ferrets have always been elusive. Ferrets are never mentioned in accounts of the early explorers or pioneers who crossed the Great Plains by wagon train during the early to mid-1800s. They were, however, occasionally listed in records kept by fur companies in the upper Missouri River basin during that period. Black-footed ferrets were not officially recognized by scientists until 1851, when a description and drawing of one featured in a book by the renowned naturalist John James Audubon and Reverend John Bachman. For over two decades, no other specimens were seen, and scientists even began to question their existence. Then, in 1874, a Dr Elliott Coues issued a request for specimens through the popular magazine The American Sportsman, and was soon rewarded. With these he was able to add to Audubon’s description, and confirm the existence of the black-footed ferret.

E In the decades that followed, European settlement across North America changed the landscape dramatically, with vast areas being transformed into crop and grazing land. As agriculture and ranching expanded, the black-footed ferret’s main prey, the prairie dog, became a target for extermination, and was eventually eradicated from 98% of its original range. The result was devastating for black-footed ferret populations throughout the continent. Even today, the prairie dog is still trapped and poisoned, because ranchers believe that it competes with livestock for grass — a notion that belies recent research showing that prairie dogs and cattle feed on different plants.

F As late as the 1950s, black-footed ferrets were still thought to occur in low densities throughout most of their historic range. However, by the 1960s, the only known population was a small colony in south-western South Dakota. In 1967, the US Fish and Wildlife Service classified the black-footed ferret as an endangered species, and in 1974 the South Dakota colony disappeared. Finally, in January 1979, the last ferret in a captive-breeding programme died — making the black-footed ferret the first mammal to be declared extinct in the Northern Hemisphere in the 20th century.

G But that was not the end of the story. In 1981, a farm dog called Shep carried an odd-looking creature to its owner’s ranch house in Meeteetse, Wyoming. The rancher put the carcass in his fridge and alerted state officials. The dog had found a black-footed ferret — which led to efforts again being made to save the species. An intensive search in the region led to the discovery of a 130-strong population. This wild colony thrived for a while, but disaster struck again and the number of animals was drastically reduced by the disease distemper — probably contracted from domestic dogs. In 1985, in a final bid to save the species, the remaining 18 individuals in the colony were trapped for a new captive-breeding programme. This project was successful, and there are now more than 2,000 black-footed ferrets in captivity across the US and Canada.

H A reintroduction programme began in 1991. Before they can be reintroduced into their natural habitat, captive ferrets have to learn to hunt and escape from predators. They are first held in pens on the prairie, where they are fed prairie dog meat. Once the ferrets associate these animals with food, keepers unleash live prey into the pens, and they soon realise that they must hunt or go hungry. Then, to get the ferrets used to living underground, they have to be tempted into the holes with food.

I Reintroduction programmes are now underway across central USA, but there is one location that is key. The Janos area on the US-Mexico border is the obvious place to reactivate the continent’s wild black-footed ferret population, being one of the most important remaining grassland ecosystems in the Americas, and home to an abundance of prairie dogs. At the last report, the future of the black-footed ferret finally looks promising.

14
The black-footed ferret shares most characteristics with its relative, the ______.
15
North American ferrets are thought to have originally come from ______.
16
The ______ is the black-footed ferret’s primary source of food.
17
An appeal for evidence of black-footed ferrets was published.
- A. 1851
- B. 1874
- C. 1967
- D. 1974
- E. 1979
- F. 1981
- G. 1985
- H. 1991
18
A scheme for releasing captive-born black-footed ferrets into the wild was launched.
19
The black-footed ferret first appeared in a scientific work.
20
The discovery of a single black-footed ferret led to renewed hope for the species.
21
North America’s last wild-born black-footed ferrets were taken into captivity.
22
Efforts to save the black-footed ferret were officially announced as having failed.
23
Reasons for the sharp decrease in black-footed ferret populations
- A. Paragraph A
- B. Paragraph B
- C. Paragraph C
- D. Paragraph D
- E. Paragraph E
- F. Paragraph F
- G. Paragraph G
- H. Paragraph H
- I. Paragraph I
24
The procedure by which black-footed ferrets are taught to survive in the wild
25
Mention of doubts about whether there was such an animal as a black-footed ferret
26
Reference to a site which is ideal for the release of black-footed ferrets into the wild

Reading Passage 3: Save Endangered Language

“Obviously we must do some serious rethinking of our priorities, lest linguistics go down in history as the only science that presided obviously over the disappearance of 90 percent of the very field to which it is dedicated.” – Michael Krauss, “The World’s Languages in Crisis”.

A Ten years ago Michael Krauss sent a shudder through the discipline of linguistics with his prediction that half the 6,000 or so languages spoken in the world would cease to be uttered within a century. Unless scientists and community leaders directed a worldwide effort to stabilize the decline of local languages, he warned, nine tenths of the linguistic diversity of humankind would probably be doomed to extinction. Krauss’s prediction was little more than an educated guess, but other respected linguists had been clanging out similar alarms. Keneth L. Hale of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology noted in the same journal issue that eight languages on which he had done fieldwork had since passed into extinction. A 1990 survey in Australia found that 70 of the 90 surviving Aboriginal languages were no longer used regularly by all age groups. The same was true for all but 20 of the 175 Native American languages spoken or remembered in the US., Krauss told a congressional panel in 1992.

B Many experts in the field mourn the loss of rare languages, for several reasons. To start, there is scientific self-interest: some of the most basic questions in linguistics have to do with the limits of human speech, which are far from fully explored. Many researchers would like to know which structural elements of grammar and vocabulary – if any – are truly universal and probably therefore hardwired into the human brain. Other scientists try to reconstruct ancient migration patterns by comparing borrowed words that appear in otherwise unrelated languages. In each of these cases, the wider the portfolio of languages you study, the more likely you are to get the right answers.

C Despite the near constant buzz in linguistics about endangered languages over the past 10 years, the field has accomplished depressingly little. “You would think that there would be some organized response to this dire situation,” some attempt to determine which language can be saved and which should be documented before they disappear, says Sarah G. Thomason, a linguist at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. “But there isn’t any such effort organized in the profession. It is only recently that it has become fashionable enough to work on endangered languages.” Six years ago, recalls Douglas H. Whalen of Yale University, “when I asked linguists who was raising money to deal with these problems, I mostly got blank stares.” So Whalen and a few other linguists founded the Endangered Languages Fund. In the five years to 2001 they were able to collect only $80,000 for research grants. A similar foundation in England, directed by Nicholas Ostler, has raised just $8,000 since 1995.

D But there are encouraging signs that the field has turned a corner. The Volkswagen Foundation, a German charity, just issued its second round of grants totaling more than $2 million. It has created a multimedia archive at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in the Netherlands that can house recordings, grammars, dictionaries and other data on endangered languages. To fill the archive, the foundation has dispatched field linguists to document Aweti (100 or so speakers in Brazil), Ega (about 300 speakers in Ivory Coast), Waima’a (a few hundred speakers in East Timor), and a dozen or so other languages unlikely to survive the century. The Ford Foundation has also edged into the arena. Its contributions helped to reinvigorate a master-apprentice program created in 1992 by Leanne Hinton of Berkeley and Native Americans worried about the imminent demise of about 50 indigenous languages in California. Fluent speakers receive $3,000 to teach a younger relative (who is also paid) their native tongue through 360 hours of shared activities, spread over six months. So far about 5 teams have completed the program, Hinton says, transmitting a least some knowledge of 25 languages. “It’s too early to call this language revitalization,” Hinton admits. “In California the death rate of elderly speakers will always be greater than the recruitment rate of young speakers. But at least we prolong the survival of the language.” That will give linguists more time to record these tongues before they vanish.

E But the master-apprentice approach hasn’t caught on outside the U.S., and Hinton’s effort is a drop in the sea. At least 440 languages have been reduced to a mere handful of elders, according to the Ethnologue, a catalogue of languages produced by the Dallas-based group SIL International that comes closest to global coverage. For the vast majority of these languages, there is little or no record of their grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation or use in daily life. Even if a language has been fully documented, all that remains once it vanishes from active use is a fossil skeleton, a scattering of features that the scientist was lucky and astute enough to capture. Linguists may be able to sketch an outline of the forgotten language and fix its place on the evolutionary tree, but little more. “How did people start conversations and talk to babies? How did husbands and wives converse?” Hinton asks. “Those are the first things you want to learn when you want to revitalize the language.”

F But there is as yet no discipline of “conservation linguistics,” as there is for biology. Almost every strategy tried so far has succeeded in some places but failed in others, and there seems to be no way to predict with certainty what will work where. Twenty years ago in New Zealand, Maori speakers set up “language nests,” in which preschoolers were immersed in the native language. Additional Maori-only classes were added as the children progressed through elementary and secondary school. A similar approach was tried in Hawaii, with some success – the number of native speakers has stabilized at 1,000 or so, reports Joseph E. Grimes of SIL International, who is working on Oahu. Students can now get instruction in Hawaiian all the way through university.

G One factor that always seems to occur in the demise of a language is that the speakers begin to have collective doubts about the usefulness of language loyalty. Once they start regarding their own language as inferior to the majority language, people stop using it for all situations. Kids pick up on the attitude and prefer the dominant language. In many cases, people don’t notice until they suddenly realize that their kids never speak the language, even at home. This is how Cornish and some dialects of Scottish Gaelic is still only rarely used for daily home life in Ireland, 80 years after the republic was founded with Irish as its first official language.

H Linguists agree that ultimately, the answer to the problem of language extinction is multilingualism. Even uneducated people can learn several languages, as long as they start as children. Indeed, most people in the world speak more than one tongue, and in places such as Cameroon (279 languages), Papua New Guinea (823) and India (387) it is common to speak three or four distinct languages and a dialect or two as well. Most Americans and Canadians, to the west of Quebec, have a gut reaction that anyone speaking another language in front of them is committing an immoral act. You get the same reaction in Australia and Russia. It is no coincidence that these are the areas where languages are disappearing the fastest. The first step in saving dying languages is to persuade the world’s majorities to allow the minorities among them to speak with their own voices.

27
Paragraph A
- i. data consistency needed for language
- ii. consensus on an initiative recommendation for saving dying out languages
- iii. positive gains for protection
- iv. minimum requirement for saving a language
- v. Potential threat to minority language
- vi. a period when there was absent of real effort made.
- vii. native language programs launched
- viii. Lack in confidence in young speakers as a negative factor
- ix. Practise in several developing countries
- x. Value of minority language to linguists.
- xi. government participation in language field
28
Paragraph B
29
Paragraph D
30
Paragraph E
31
Paragraph F
32
Paragraph G
33
Paragraph H
34
Reported language conservation practice in Hawaii
- A. Nicholas Ostler
- B. Michael Krauss
- C. Joseph Grimes
- D. Sarah Thomason
- E. Keneth Hale
- F. Douglas H. Whalen
35
Predicted that many languages would disappear soon
36
Experienced process that languages die out personally
37
Raised language fund in England
38
Not enough effort on saving until recent work
39
What is real result of master-apprentice program sponsored by The Ford Foundation?
- A. Teach children how to speak
- B. Revive some endangered languages in California
- C. postpone the dying date for some endangered languages
- D. Increase communication between students
40
What should majority language speakers do according to the last paragraph?
- A. They should teach their children endangered language in free lessons
- B. They should learn at least four languages
- C. They should now their loyalty to a dying language
- D. They should be more tolerant to minority language speaker

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1. FALSE
The passage says that Harvard and Yale were not the first universities to benefit from philanthropy, so this statement is false.
2. NOT GIVEN
There is no information in the passage about whether merchants liked to donate to the same universities they attended, so the answer is not given.
3. TRUE
The passage states that the first gift to the University of Auckland came in 1884, so this statement is true.
4. FALSE
It is mentioned that Otago University did not often receive larger gifts than Gillies' gift to Auckland, so this statement is false.
5. TRUE
The passage says that in the 1930s the government wanted to close Auckland's engineering school, so this statement is true.
6. NOT GIVEN
There is no information about whether Crookes returned to academic life after raising $6,500, so the answer is not given.
7. TRUE
The passage explains that in the 1950s the best lecturers chose to work in Britain or Australia rather than New Zealand, so this statement is true.
8. FALSE
It is stated that more than one philanthropist was involved in the new Medical School, so this statement is false.
9. centenary
Henry Cooper’s campaign marked the centenary of the University, as stated in the passage.
10. staff
The 'Leading the Way' appeal is raising money to invest in the University’s staff, according to the passage.
11. overseas
Gifts are being sought from graduates who are located overseas, as mentioned in the passage.
12. recorded
The passage says that some donations had not been recorded by the University.
13. target
There is a new financial target for the campaign, as stated in the passage.
14. Siberian polecat
The black-footed ferret shares most characteristics with its relative, the Siberian polecat, as mentioned in the passage.
15. Europe
North American ferrets are thought to have originally come from Europe, according to the passage.
16. prairie dog
The prairie dog is described as the black-footed ferret’s primary source of food in the passage.
17. B
An appeal for evidence of black-footed ferrets was published in 1874, as stated in the passage. Option C (1967) is tempting but the correct year is 1874.
18. H
A scheme for releasing captive-born black-footed ferrets into the wild was launched in 1991, as mentioned in the passage.
19. A
The black-footed ferret first appeared in a scientific work in 1851, according to the passage.
20. F
The discovery of a single black-footed ferret led to renewed hope for the species in 1981, as stated in the passage.
21. G
North America’s last wild-born black-footed ferrets were taken into captivity in 1985, as mentioned in the passage.
22. E
Efforts to save the black-footed ferret were officially announced as having failed in 1979, according to the passage.
23. E
Paragraph E gives reasons for the sharp decrease in black-footed ferret populations, such as habitat loss and disease.
24. H
Paragraph H describes the procedure by which black-footed ferrets are taught to survive in the wild.
25. D
Paragraph D mentions doubts about whether there was such an animal as a black-footed ferret.
26. I
Paragraph I refers to a site which is ideal for the release of black-footed ferrets into the wild.
27. v
Paragraph A discusses the potential threat to minority language, matching option v.
28. x
Paragraph B talks about the value of minority language to linguists, which matches option x.
29. iii
Paragraph D describes positive gains for protection, matching option iii.
30. i
Paragraph E discusses data consistency needed for language, matching option i.
31. vii
Paragraph F mentions native language programs launched, matching option vii.
32. viii
Paragraph G talks about lack in confidence in young speakers as a negative factor, matching option viii.
33. ii
Paragraph H discusses consensus on an initiative recommendation for saving dying out languages, matching option ii.
34. C
Joseph Grimes is mentioned in the passage as reporting language conservation practice in Hawaii.
35. B
Michael Krauss is the one who predicted that many languages would disappear soon.
36. E
Keneth Hale personally experienced the process that languages die out.
37. A
Nicholas Ostler raised a language fund in England.
38. D
Sarah Thomason is noted for saying there was not enough effort on saving languages until recent work.
39. C
The real result of the master-apprentice program sponsored by The Ford Foundation is to postpone the dying date for some endangered languages. Option B is tempting but the passage says it only delays extinction, not revives languages.
40. D
According to the last paragraph, majority language speakers should be more tolerant to minority language speakers.

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Reading Passage 1: Investing in the Future

Reading Passage 2: The return of the black-footed ferret

Reading Passage 3: Save Endangered Language

Answer sheet

Answer key