Reading 2026-05 Test 63 — 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: The Origin of Paper

The word paper derives from the Greek term for the ancient Egyptian writing material called papyrus. In about 2400 BC, the Egyptians discovered how to make a writing surface out of papyrus, a type of reed that grows along waterways in southern Europe and North Africa. The Egyptians cut the plant into strips which they softened in water. Papyrus was cross-woven into a mat and then pounded into a hard, thin sheet.

As the papyrus plant requires subtropical conditions to grow, papyrus was not much used in Europe at that time; instead, the main material used for writing was parchment. This was made from animal skin and was extremely expensive. In fact, it has been estimated that a single book written on parchment required the skins of 300 sheep. The skins had to be specially prepared by drying them and they were then stretched on a special frame. It is not known when parchment was first introduced, but it was the main writing material in Europe for hundreds of years.

Paper—made from pulp, rags and fibres of plants—seems to have been invented in China and is considered to be one of the Four Great Inventions of Ancient China. In 105 AD, under the Han-Dynasty emperor Ho-Ti, a government official in China named Ts’ai Lun was the first to start a papermaking industry. Ts’ai Lun seems to have made his paper by mixing finely chopped mulberry bark and hemp rags with water, mashing the mixture flat with a stone mortar, and then pressing out the water and letting it dry in the sun. He may have based his idea on bark cloth, which was very common in China and also made from mulberry.

Previously, during the Shang (1600-1050 BC) and Zhou (1050-256 BC) dynasties of Ancient China, documents were ordinarily written on bone or bamboo (on tablets or bamboo strips bound and rolled together into scrolls), making them very heavy and awkward to transport. The light material of silk was sometimes used, but was normally too expensive to consider. When paper was first invented, it was used for purposes of wrapping or padding protection for delicate bronze mirrors. Although paper for writing became popular by the 3rd century AD, it continued to be used for wrapping and other purposes. During the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) paper was folded and sewn into square bags to preserve the flavour of tea. During the same period, according to a written account, tea was served from baskets with multi-coloured paper cups and paper napkins of different sizes and shapes. During the Chinese Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD) not only did the government produce the world’s first known printed paper money, or banknote, but paper money bestowed as gifts was wrapped in special paper envelopes.

Paper spread widely outside China; other Asian cultures, even after seeing paper, could not make it themselves. Instruction in the manufacturing process was required, and the Chinese were reluctant to share their secrets. It made its true push westward in 751 AD when the Tang Dynasty was at war with the Islamic world. During a battle on the banks of the Talas River, a Chinese caravan was captured which happened to include several papermakers. They were taken away to Samarkand, which was a good place to make paper because it had an abundant supply of hemp and flax. Samarkanders changed the technology of manufacturing paper. They began to prepare it in stone mills and Samarkand became an important papermaking centre.

The rudimentary and laborious process of papermaking was refined, and bulk manufacturing of paper began in Iran, where they invented a method to make a thicker sheet of paper, which helped transform papermaking from an art into an important business.

Gradually papermakers made their way further west through the Arab world—to Baghdad, Damascus and Cairo. Finally, when the Moors from North Africa invaded Spain and Portugal, they brought the technology with them and so it was that papermaking entered Europe in the 12th century.

In Europe, the preferred medium for the artists and literati of the time was still the smooth and lustrous parchment. The notion of paper being used as a practical everyday item did not occur until the 15th century, when Johannes Gutenberg perfected movable-type printing, which included the use of metal moulds and alloys, a special press, and oil-based inks, allowing the mass production of printed books. The birth of the modern paper and printing industry is commonly marked from this date.

Printing technology rapidly developed and created an ever-increasing demand for paper. The early European papers were made from recycled cotton and linen—and a huge trade quickly developed around the trading of old rags. It is said that the disease known as the Black Death entered England from Europe on these old rags. Yet soon this source became insufficient and some curious attempts were made to find new materials. Experiments with fibres such as straw, cabbage, wasp nests and finally wood resulted in inexpensive—and replaceable—materials for papermaking. Today, the long, soft fibres of softwoods such as spruce have become the most suitable source of pulp for the mass production of pap.

1
In Ancient China, writing was occasionally done on silk.
2
Coloured paper was invented during the Tang Dynasty.
3
Papermakers from Samarkand were captured by the Chinese.
4
Papermaking as a large-scale industry originated in Iran.
5
Papermaking skills were brought to Europe via North Africa.
6
When Gutenberg invented movable type, paper materials were very expensive.
7
The end of the trade in rags was brought about by the difficulty of transporting them.
8
Egypt about 2400 BC a plant called papyrus: ______ of the plant were softened in water, woven and pounded.
9
Europe unknown parchment made from the skin of animals such as ______.
10
Europe unknown parchment: skin was dried and ______.
11
China 105 AD: ______ of a mulberry tree and hemp rags.
12
______ 751 AD flax and hemp mills made of stone were used.
13
Samarkand 751 AD flax and hemp mills made of ______ were used.

Reading Passage 2: The Internal Body Clock

Each of our cells has an internal ‘clock’ which dictates our daily rhythms. But why?

A From buffalo to bacteria, oaks to algae, all life follows the same relentless 24-hour cycle, which is driven by the rising and setting of the Sun. Or is it? Over 250 years ago, a French scientist performed a simple experiment that blew apart the idea that all life on Earth does the bidding of the Sun. Intrigued by the way some flowers open and close their leaves each day, Jean-Jacques de Mairan put a heliotrope in a darkened room and observed the effect. He was expecting the plant, robbed of sunlight, to cease its daily routine. To his astonishment, its leaves continued to open and close as if in response to some invisible timekeeper.

B But what – and where – is this internal timekeeper? And how does it achieve such astonishing regularity? These are the mysteries at the forefront of chronobiology, the study of the effect of time in living organisms. The search for answers is about more than just tying up some scientific loose ends. Internal ‘clocks’ clearly cause a lot of hardship. When an individual’s ‘clock’ is knocked out of synchronization through having to work at night or go on long-haul flights, that person can be left utterly unable to think or act. Yet even when these ‘clocks’ work correctly, the natural rhythms of alertness they generate prove dangerous: traffic accident statistics show two deadly peaks, at 4 a.m. and again twelve hours later when people are at their least alert.

C During the 1970s, best-selling books began to emerge claiming such phenomena were manifestations of so-called biorhythms, a set of three cycles governing physical, emotional and intellectual traits. Said to start from the moment of birth and repeat every 23, 28 and 33 days respectively, they were supposed to result in ‘critical days’ when one or more cycles led to sub-optimal performance, with unfortunate consequences.

D Scientists have since dismissed biorhythms as pseudoscience, insisting the existence of the three cycles has no basis in fact. In 1998, Dr Terence Hines of Pace University, New York State published the most comprehensive study of the claims made for biorhythms, reviewing the results of over 130 investigations. He found that three-quarters of them failed to provide any support for biorhythms. Most of the remainder contained blunders ranging from faulty mathematics to basic errors in statistics, while the handful of positive studies were explicable as flukes.

E But there is no doubting the existence of 24-hour biological cycles – or, rather, ones roughly 24 hours long. Following de Mairan’s pioneering work, other researchers found that when deprived of the cues provided by sunlight, organisms settle down to ‘free-running’ cycles that are close to, but rarely exactly, 24 hours. In the case of humans, the cycle is typically around 24.5 hours long. This is the so-called ‘circadian’ cycle (from the Latin meaning ‘about a day’), the length of which is generated by the mysterious internal ‘clock’.

F During the late 1960s, chronobiologists believed they had found the ‘clock’, in the form of the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), a collection of nerves in a region of the brain known as the hypothalamus. Linked to photosensitive cells in the eye, the SCN senses daylight and triggers the release of hormones like melatonin, which keep body functions in synchronization with the time of day. For a few years the SCN was regarded as the ultimate pacemaker – at least in higher organisms such as ourselves. But in 1971, scientists at the California Institute of Technology working with fruit flies found evidence for something truly amazing. Fruit flies appeared to have genes affecting the daily rhythm of their behavior – suggesting that there are ‘clocks’ inside each of their cells. Further evidence for this emerged in 1995, when researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital isolated nerve cells from the SCN, and found they kept up a circadian cycle without help from daylight. Finally in 1997, scientists at Northwestern University in Illinois found a gene that regulates the daily rhythms of cellular activity in mammals.

G The details of how this gene, known as CLOCK, actually works are still being investigated, but they could culminate in better ways of coping with shift-work and jet-lag. Professor Takahashi, who led the research, says that now that we know that circadian clocks exist throughout our bodies, we will need new strategies and therapeutics to reset all of our cells. But how do all the biochemical ‘clocks’ inside their cells stay in synchronization and why did organisms bother to acquire a link with sunlight? So far, no-one knows, though there are several theories. For example, sunlight might be useful in keeping the myriad cellular ‘clocks’ in lockstep.

H In the search for answers, researchers are studying the behavior of a microbe called cyanobacterium. In 2005, a team at Nagoya University, Japan, showed that chemical reactions between three proteins produced by this bacterium ebbed and flowed on a 24-hour cycle. Cyanobacterium is the oldest form of life on Earth, so this suggests that cellular ‘clocks’ have existed for over three billion years. All subsequent organisms have followed suit, says Professor Johnson of Vanderbilt University, Tennessee. ‘Bacteria, fungi, plants and animals all appear to have evolved clock systems independently from each other.’ Quite why is still unknown. But one thing is clear: the daily routine of life is certainly not a modern invention.

14
Support for an earlier finding from experiments on insects
15
Criticism of the way some research data was analysed
16
Reference to a basic test on a plant
17
A statement that the length of natural cycles varies slightly between living things
18
Reference to a theory that became popular with the public
19
The SCN is able to perceive ______ as a result of connections to the eye.
20
Several years later, research involving ______ showed that the timing of their normal actions was regulated by certain genes or 'clocks', in their cells.
21
Several years later, research involving fruit flies showed that the timing of their normal actions was regulated by certain ______ or 'clocks', in their cells.
22
Other scientists went on to conduct experiments in the dark that proved that a ______ was maintained by individual SCN cells.
23
23–24. Which TWO of the following problems are stated as being linked with the internal ‘clock’?
- A. a decrease in output in workplaces without windows to let in natural light
- B. a failure among workers on night-shifts to perform tasks
- C. an increase in casualties on the roads at specific times of day
- D. a decline in efficiency on certain days in a number of fixed cycles
- E. a rise in mood swings dependent on the appearance of the Sun
24
25–26. Which TWO of the following issues relating to internal ‘clocks’ remain to be solved, according to information in the passage?
- A. the precise length of the free-running daily cycle in different animals
- B. the reason for ‘clocks being temporarily driven out of synchronisation
- C. the reason for living beings forming a connection with the Sun’s rhythms
- D. the way in which all ‘clocks’ in a single organism are able to stay in step with one another
- E. the location of the ‘clocks’ across the whole range of living organism

Reading Passage 3: The Peopling of Patagonia

The human settlement of the southern extremity of the Americas has always fascinated pre-historians. Viewed from a global perspective, this was the last major continental land mass to be reached by human beings. The earliest occupation of Patagonia carries obvious implications for understanding when the North and South American continents were peopled, because it gives a baseline that all calculations regarding the rate of dispersion of humans throughout both continents must take into account.

For many years the human settlement of North and South America has been conceived of as beginning in the far north and travelling progressively southwards to Patagonia. However, fundamental disagreements developed concerning the length of time involved. Some scholars accepted a human presence in the Americas as early as 20,000 years ago, while others proposed that it could date no earlier than 8,000 years ago, and the debate is still with us today.

The idea of a relatively 'late' settlement of the Americas (around 8,000 years ago) implies that a rapid process of migration took place. Herein lies a second debate which revolves around the question of how migration is to be understood. The 'late' model demands a hypothetical migration conceived of as a single, continually advancing wave of settlement. This has always been difficult to take seriously and many scholars now support the idea of an early model that sees the migration as a less ordered migration, and this is surely the most realistic scenario as migrants slowly adapted to the diverse natural habitats they would have met while travelling through the continent.

Those who argue for an earlier settlement, however, must contend with the lack of unequivocal evidence for archaeological sites older than around 14,000 years. Nevertheless, evidence for human occupation of the centre of South America is now securely dated to around 12,500 years ago at the Monte Verde site, which casts doubt on the 'late model'. The lack of archaeological evidence further south for this time period may be explained by the obstacle to humans on foot posed by the huge glacial streams that were present at that time.

We can speculate then that the retreat of the Patagonian glaciers around 14,000 years ago allowed the initial human intrusion into a pristine environment, which was similar to that of early post-glacial Europe. Human settlement of the vast horizontal expanse of treeless high country must have been tenuous at best, and the evidence for this occupation remains relatively scant, most of it coming from rock shelters in Argentina and Chile. There is, however, reliable evidence from these sites to confirm the presence of humans by around 11,000 years ago in different habitats, and some hints of an even older occupation. However, some other sites where evidence for even earlier human occupation was initially posited, have recently come under fresh scrutiny. This is because anthropologists have come to recognise that bones or other evidence may be deposited in caves by natural agency, in other words by other forces such as floods or predators, and not necessarily by human.

We shall turn now to a more detailed discussion of the archaeological evidence found in various parts of Patagonia. At the site located beside Chinchihuapi Creek, excavations have produced convincing evidence of human occupation, including hut foundations and wooden artefacts. They were buried in layers of peat, which has the property of preserving wood remarkably well, and as a result radiocarbon dating tests have shown these artefacts to date from around 12,500 years ago. One of the most famous Patagonian sites is a cave known as Los Toldos. However, the evidence from this site has recently been called into question, because dispersed flecks of carbon used in the test process were taken unsystematically from many different places in the site. As a result, the association of this material with the artefacts is not at all clear. About 150 kilometres south is the site called El Ceibo, where a similar collection of artefacts to that found at Los Toldos has been discovered from the lowest levels of the dig, but as yet no radiocarbon dates are available and this sort of analysis of the existing evidence is required before the site's value can be confirmed.

The Arroyo Feo site is located very close to the high plateau. The artefacts from the earliest occupations were found at the same depth and have the same origins as those from Los Toldos, and have been securely dated to around 9,000 years ago. Another site that is mentioned in the debate is at Las Buitreras, where a number of stone flakes associated with bone remains of various animals have been discovered. However, anthropologists now believe that presumed cut marks on the bones are somewhat dubious, and despite detailed testing there is no way of securely relating any of these remains with human occupation. Finally some 50 kilometers to the south is the site at Cueva Fell, which was the first Patagonian site to be systematically studied by modern archaeological methods. However, it is now recognised that the utility of this site must be restricted to its direct vicinity, given changes to the nearby area caused by flooding, and findings cannot be freely extrapolated further afield.

In conclusion, based on the evidence from a number of reliable sites, it seems probable that human populations reached Patagonia around 11,000 years ago.

25
27 In the first paragraph, what is the writer's main point about migration to Patagonia?
- A. It started earlier than previously thought.
- B. Historians have overlooked its importance.
- C. It impacts on research into the wider region.
- D. Researchers have calculated its effects on the environment.
26
28 In the second paragraph, what is the writer's purpose?
- A. to challenge previous research
- B. to propose new areas to investigate
- C. to summarise a scholarly debate
- D. to suggest reasons for human migration
27
29 The writer refers to the 'late' model in order to
- A. compare it with another theory of migration.
- B. evaluate the success of American migration.
- C. criticise the speed of research into migration.
- D. compare migration in different parts of the world.
28
30 What is the writer's main point about the 'early' model?
- A. Scholars support the idea of fast migrations.
- B. It is too random to be a convincing theory.
- C. South America was more habitable at an earlier time.
- D. It is more consistent with the physical conditions of the land.
29
31 What does the writer suggest about the Monte Verde site?
- A. It is much younger than researchers once estimated.
- B. It provides supporting evidence for relatively early settlement.
- C. Archaeologists believe the site is of questionable value.
- D. Streams exposed the site, making new research possible.
30
32 The conditions encountered by the first migrants to Patagonia were unique.
31
33 In the high country the first migrants hunted wild animals for food.
32
34 Archaeologist have failed to draw conclusions from the evidence found at rock shelters in Argentina and Chile.
33
35 Archaeological evidence can be moved from place to place in a variety of ways.
34
36 Building remains and other evidence have been found in ______ at the Chinchihuapi Creek site, and because of this it has been possible to date them to around 12,500 years ago.
- A. fixed date
- B. random collection
- C. similar properties
- D. good condition
- E. scientific evaluation
- F. huge quantities
- G. new samples
- H. reliable connection
- I. skilled preservation
- J. immediate surroundings
35
37 However, the ______ of the samples taken from Los Toldos means that this site is of doubtful value.
36
38 The remains found at the Arroyo Feo site show ______ and date from around 9,000 years ago.
37
39 Unfortunately no ______ can be made between the samples taken from Las Buitreras and human presence.
38
40 The findings of the work carried out at Cueva Fell cannot provide useful information beyond the ______.

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1. TRUE
The passage says that in Ancient China, writing was sometimes done on silk, so this statement is true.
2. NOT GIVEN
There is no information in the passage about when coloured paper was invented, so the answer is not given.
3. FALSE
The passage explains that Chinese papermakers were captured by people from Samarkand, not the other way around, so this statement is false.
4. TRUE
The passage states that papermaking as a large-scale industry began in Iran, making this statement true.
5. TRUE
It is mentioned that papermaking skills reached Europe through North Africa, so this statement is true.
6. NOT GIVEN
The passage does not say whether paper was expensive when Gutenberg invented movable type, so the answer is not given.
7. FALSE
The passage says the trade in rags ended for reasons other than transport difficulties, so this statement is false.
8. strips
The passage says strips of the papyrus plant were softened, woven, and pounded to make paper.
9. sheep
The passage mentions that parchment was made from the skin of animals such as sheep.
10. stretched
It says the skin was dried and stretched to make parchment.
11. bark
The passage says the bark of a mulberry tree and hemp rags were used in China in 105 AD.
12. samarkand
The passage states that in Samarkand in 751 AD, flax and hemp mills made of stone were used.
13. stone
It is stated that the mills in Samarkand were made of stone.
14. F
Section F supports an earlier finding from experiments on insects.
15. D
Section D criticises the way some research data was analysed.
16. A
Section A refers to a basic test on a plant.
17. E
Section E states that the length of natural cycles varies slightly between living things.
18. C
Section C mentions a theory that became popular with the public.
19. daylight
The passage says the SCN can perceive daylight because of its connections to the eye.
20. fruit flies
The passage explains that research with fruit flies showed their normal actions were regulated by certain genes or 'clocks'.
21. genes
It says the timing of fruit flies' actions was regulated by certain genes or 'clocks' in their cells.
22. circadian cycle
The passage states that experiments in the dark proved a circadian cycle was maintained by individual SCN cells.
23. B / C
Option B is correct because the passage links night-shift workers' performance to internal clocks, and option C is correct because it mentions more road casualties at certain times. Option A is tempting but only mentions decreased output, not a direct link to internal clocks.
24. C / D
Option C is correct because the passage says the reason for connecting with the Sun’s rhythms is not yet known, and option D is correct because it says how all clocks in one organism stay in step is still a mystery. Option E is tempting but the passage says the location is known for some organisms.
25. C
Option C is correct because the writer says Patagonia migration affects research into the wider region.
26. C
Option C is correct because the writer summarises a scholarly debate about migration.
27. A
Option A is correct because the writer refers to the 'late' model to compare it with another migration theory.
28. D
Option D is correct because the writer says the 'early' model matches the physical conditions of the land.
29. B
Option B is correct because the passage says Monte Verde provides evidence for early settlement.
30. NOT GIVEN
The passage does not say if the conditions for the first migrants to Patagonia were unique, so the answer is not given.
31. NOT GIVEN
There is no information about what the first migrants hunted in the high country, so the answer is not given.
32. NO
The passage says archaeologists have drawn conclusions from rock shelter evidence, so this statement is not correct.
33. YES
The passage explains that archaeological evidence can be moved in different ways, so this statement is correct.
34. D
The passage says building remains and other evidence were found in good condition at Chinchihuapi Creek, making it possible to date them.
35. B
The passage says the samples from Los Toldos are of random collection, so the site is of doubtful value.
36. C
The passage says remains at Arroyo Feo show similar properties and date from about 9,000 years ago.
37. H
The passage says no reliable connection can be made between Las Buitreras samples and human presence.
38. J
The passage says findings at Cueva Fell cannot provide useful information beyond the immediate surroundings.

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Reading Passage 1: The Origin of Paper

Reading Passage 2: The Internal Body Clock

Reading Passage 3: The Peopling of Patagonia

Answer sheet

Answer key