Reading 2026-06 Test 16 — 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: In Deep Water

While we know that the sea is a big place, few of us realise just how big it really is. More than 66% of the world's surface is covered by ocean, and the sea makes up 97% of the environments on Earth that can support living things. The vast majority of this area — and New Zealand's seas are no exception — remains unexplored. In fact, the deepest parts of the ocean are so poorly known that nearly every submarine dive or research trawl (pulling up specimens from the seabed) brings new knowledge of genuine significance to oceanographers. Our present knowledge of land biodiversity (all animal and plant life) compared with ocean biodiversity is one measure of how early we are in the task of researching the deep sea. A good example is the New Zealand takahe bird. In 1948, a small population of takahe, a flightless bird which at that time was thought to be extinct, was found living in New Zealand's mountains. The rediscovery of this one species created a sensation among bird lovers. In dramatic contrast, new species from New Zealand's deep sea are today being discovered at a rate of about one every two weeks.

What's more, catching, examining and naming a new species is only the first step in the learning process. Just because an animal has been given a scientific name and shelf space in a museum doesn't necessarily mean that we know anything at all about its lifestyle and ecology.

Most deep-sea animals have never been seen alive, and the few that have were almost certainly acting unnaturally in the glare of lights from the submarine camera with which they were observed. For this reason, our understanding of life in the deep sea relies heavily on conjecture. Fierce debate continues among scientists over such details as how fast a giant squid can swim, and why lantern fish flash their little lights. In some respects, deep-sea biology parallels the way that detectives hunt for criminals, requiring comparable problem-solving and clue-finding skills.

The sea floor around New Zealand has a wide range of seabed features. One of the most important are seamounts, which are underwater volcanoes. Most of the world's charted seamounts were discovered in the past 40 years, although the exact number around New Zealand is not known. One of the most conspicuous is the Bollons Seamount, which among others was visited by a scientific expedition in 2002. It rises more than three kilometres above the surrounding seabed, and measures two hundred kilometres across, making it a remarkable size, and therefore of particular interest.

Research has shown that these mountains of the deep are home to many species, although it is not clear why. One theory is that the ocean currents cause plankton, which is an important source of food, to thrive on their upper surfaces. Another factor is that they are not completely draped with the fine mud that covers just about everything else in the deep sea. Instead, their rocky surfaces provide attachment points for animals like sponges and anemones. Many seamounts are found on the Chatham Rise, which is a huge platform in a remote part of the ocean. The top of the rise is covered with small seamounts, many of which have been named by the inhabitants of the nearby Chatham Islands. They come fishing here because a valuable species called orange roughy seasonally migrates to these shallow waters to spawn.

Canyons are another of New Zealand's underwater features. These trenches cut deeply into the sea floor and come unusually close to land. At Goose Bay, the squid that live in the canyon attract sperm whales, and every year thousands of people come to see the whales just off the coast, helping local tourism. Further south, near the city of Dunedin, several canyons are found. Since the 1960s, the University of Otago's ship Munida has conducted research in this area, leading to many unusual discoveries. Among these was a population of button-sized coral, whose remains had originally been mistaken by early fossil collectors for small dinosaur bones. Scientists believe that canyons were created when powerful underwater currents cut into the seabed. Nearly all submarine canyons are located offshore from a large river, and it was the force of this flowing from the land into the sea that set the underwater current in motion. However, there are other explanations for canyons in other parts of the world, and a spectacular example took place in November 1929, when a significant earthquake in Canadian waters triggered an underwater current that travelled more than 720 kilometres, creating a canyon and cutting an undersea communication cable in the process.

Research in the seas around New Zealand has resulted in a far better understanding of the seamounts, canyons and other underwater features that stand out from the otherwise flat sea floor. Indeed, the seabed generally is very flat compared to the land. To deal with this, oceanographers use a technique called 'vertical exaggeration' in their maps, to make changes in ocean depth more apparent. Unfortunately, this has resulted in many people believing that the seabed is much steeper than it really is. But this misunderstanding aside, we know much more about the deep ocean today than we did even 20 years ago, and the speed of scientists' discoveries is only likely to increase.

1
Research trawls in the deepest oceans tend to produce important findings.
2
In New Zealand, research into land biodiversity is better understood than ocean research.
3
The takahe bird was first recorded as a species in 1948.
4
Museums only display a small number of their specimens from the deep ocean.
5
Filming specimens gives accurate information about the normal behaviour of their species.
6
Scientists disagree about the swimming speed of giant squid.
7
The approach used by deep-sea biologists is similar to that used in police investigations.
8
The Bollons Seamount is unusual because of its ____________.
9
Seamounts are home to many species, perhaps because there is more food and less ____________.
10
The Chatham Rise is considered a good place for ____________ by local people.
11
The presence of whales in Goose Bay has resulted in the development of ____________.
12
A species of ____________ has been discovered near Dunedin.
13
One canyon near Canada was formed when a big ____________ started a current in 1929.

Reading Passage 2: How are deserts formed

A desert refers to a barren section of land, mainly in arid and semi-arid areas, where there is almost no precipitation and the environment is hostile for any creature to inhabit. Deserts have been classified in a number of ways, generally combining total precipitation, how many days the rainfall occurs, temperature, humidity, and sometimes additional factors. In some places, deserts have clear boundaries marked by rivers, mountains or other landforms, while in other places there are no clear-cut borders between deserts and other landscape features.

In arid areas where there is no covering of vegetation to protect the land, sand and dust storms frequently take place. This phenomenon often occurs along the desert margins rather than within the deserts, where there is already no finer material left. When a steady wind starts to blow, fine particles on the open ground begin vibrating. As the wind picks up, some of the particles are lifted into the air. When they fall onto the ground, they hit other particles, which are then jerked into the air in their turn, initiating a chain reaction.

There has been a great deal of publicity about how severe desertification can be, but the academic circle has never agreed on its causes. A common misunderstanding is that a shortage of precipitation causes desertification—yet land in some barren areas will soon recover after rain falls. In fact, more often than not, human activities are responsible. It is widely accepted that the explosion in world population, especially in developing countries, is the primary cause of soil degradation and desertification. As populations become denser, the cultivation of crops has expanded into progressively drier areas. These regions are especially likely to go through periods of severe drought, which explains why crop failures are common. The raising of most crops requires the natural vegetation cover to be removed first; when crop failures occur, extensive tracts of land are left devoid of plant cover and thus susceptible to wind and water erosion. Throughout the 1990s, dry-land areas experienced a population growth of 18.5 per cent, mostly in severely impoverished developing countries.

Livestock farming in semi-arid areas accelerates soil erosion and becomes one of the reasons for advancing desertification. In such areas, where the vegetation is dominated by grasses, the breeding of livestock is a major economic activity. Grasses are necessary for anchoring barren topsoil in a dry-land area. When a specific field is used to graze an excessive herd, it loses vegetation cover, and the soil is trampled as well as pulverised, leaving the topsoil exposed to destructive forces such as wind and unexpected thunderstorms. For centuries, nomads have grazed their flocks and herds wherever pasture could be found, and oases have offered opportunities for a more settled way of living. For some nomads, wherever they move, the desert follows.

Trees are of great importance when it comes to maintaining topsoil and slowing down wind speed. In many Asian countries, firewood is the chief fuel used for cooking and heating, which has caused uncontrolled clear-cutting of forests in dry-land ecosystems. When too many trees are cut down, windstorms and dust storms tend to occur.

What is worse, political conflicts and wars can also contribute to desertification. To escape invading enemies, refugees often move into some of the most vulnerable ecosystems on the planet. They bring along their traditional cultivation practices, which may not be suitable for their new settlements.

In the 20th century, one state in the United States had a large section of farmland that turned into desert. Since then, measures have been enforced so that such a phenomenon will not happen again. To avoid the recurrence of desertification, people must find livelihoods that do not rely on traditional land uses, are less demanding on local natural resources, yet can still generate viable income. Such livelihoods include, but are not limited to, dry-land aquaculture for the raising of fish, crustaceans and industrial compounds derived from micro-algae, greenhouse agriculture, and activities related to tourism. Another way to prevent desertification is to create economic prospects in the city centres of dry-lands and in areas outside them. Changing the wider economic and institutional structures so that people have new ways to support themselves would help alleviate the pressures that drive desertification.

In today’s society, new technologies are being used to address the problems brought about by desertification. Satellites, for example, have been utilised to investigate the influence that people and livestock have on our planet. However, this does not mean that alternative technologies are not needed to help tackle the processes of desertification.

14
a reference to the irregular movement of particles
15
mention of productive land turning into desert in the 20th century
16
types of deserts
17
mention of technical methods used to tackle the problems of deserts
18
the influence of migration on desertification
19
lack of agreement among scientists about the causes of desertification
20
a description of the harmful effects of farming practices
21
It is difficult to ascertain where deserts end in some areas.
- TRUE. TRUE
- FALSE. FALSE
- NOT GIVEN. NOT GIVEN
22
The media is uninterested in the problems of desertification.
23
The most common cause of desertification is a lack of rainfall.
24
Farming animals in semi-arid areas will increase soil erosion.
25
People in Asian countries no longer use firewood as their chief fuel.
26
Technology for studying the relationship between people, livestock and desertification has not yet been invented.

Reading Passage 3: Personality and Appearance

A When Charles Darwin applied to be the “energetic young man” that Robert Fitzroy, the Beagle’s captain, sought as his gentleman companion, he was almost let down by a woeful shortcoming that was as plain as the nose on his face. Fitzroy believed in physiognomy - the idea that you can tell a person’s character from their appearance. As Darwin’s daughter Henrietta later recalled, Fitzroy had “made up his mind that no man with such a nose could have energy”. This was hardly the case. Fortunately, the rest of Darwin’s visage compensated for his sluggardly proboscis: “His brow saved him.”

B The idea that a person’s character can be glimpsed in their face dates back to the ancient Greeks. It was most famously popularised in the late 18th century by the Swiss poet Johann Lavater, whose ideas became a talking point in intellectual circles. In Darwin’s day, they were more or less taken as given. It was only after the subject became associated with phrenology, which fell into disrepute in the late 19th century, that physiognomy was written off as pseudoscience.

C First impressions are highly influential, despite the well-worn admonition not to judge a book by its cover. Within a tenth of a second of seeing an unfamiliar face we have already made a judgement about its owner’s character - caring, trustworthy, aggressive, extrovert, competent and so on. Once that snap judgement has formed, it is surprisingly hard to budge. People also act on these snap judgements. Politicians with competent-looking faces have a greater chance of being elected, and CEOs who look dominant are more likely to run a profitable company. There is also a well-established “attractiveness halo”. People seen as good-looking not only get the most valentines but are also judged to be more outgoing, socially competent, powerful, intelligent and healthy.

D In 1966, psychologists at the University of Michigan asked 84 undergraduates who had never met before to rate each other on five personality traits, based entirely on appearance, as they sat for 15 minutes in silence. For three traits - extroversion, conscientiousness and openness - the observers’ rapid judgements matched real personality scores significantly more often than chance. More recently, researchers have re-examined the link between appearance and personality, notably Anthony Little of the University of Stirling and David Perrett of the University of St Andrews, both in the UK. They pointed out that the Michigan studies were not tightly controlled for confounding factors. But when Little and Perrett re-ran the experiment using mugshots rather than live subjects, they also found a link between facial appearance and personality - though only for extroversion and conscientiousness. Little and Perrett claimed that they only found a correlation at the extremes of personality.

E Justin Carre and Cheryl McCormick of Brock University in Ontario, Canada studied 90 ice-hockey players. They found that a wider face in which the cheekbone-to-cheekbone distance was unusually large relative to the distance between brow and upper lip was linked in a statistically significant way with the number of penalty minutes a player was given for violent acts including slashing, elbowing, checking from behind and fighting. The kernel of truth idea isn’t the only explanation on offer for our readiness to make facial judgements. Leslie Zebrowitz, a psychologist at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, says that in many cases snap judgements are not accurate. The snap judgement, she says, is often an “overgeneralisation” of a more fundamental response. A classic example of overgeneralisation can be seen in predators’ response to eye spots, the conspicuous circular markings seen on some moths, butterflies and fish. These act as a deterrent to predators because they mimic the eyes of other creatures that the potential predators might see as a threat.

F Another researcher who leans towards overgeneralisation is Alexander Todorov. With Princeton colleague Nikolaas Oosterhof, he recently put forward a theory which he says explains our snap judgements of faces in terms of how threatening they appear. Todorov and Oosterhof asked people for their gut reactions to pictures of emotionally neutral faces, sifted through all the responses, and boiled them down to two underlying factors: how trustworthy the face looks, and how dominant. Todorov and Oosterhof conclude that personality judgements based on people’s faces are an overgeneralisation of our evolved ability to infer emotions from facial expressions, and hence a person’s intention to cause us harm and their ability to carry it out. Todorov, however, stresses that overgeneralisation does not rule out the idea that there is sometimes a kernel of truth in these assessments of personality.

G So if there is a kernel of truth, where does it come from? Perrett has a hunch that the link arises when our prejudices about faces turn into self-fulfilling prophecies - an idea that was investigated by other researchers back in 1977. Our expectations can lead us to influence people to behave in ways that confirm those expectations: consistently treat someone as untrustworthy and they end up behaving that way. This effect sometimes works the other way round, however, especially for those who look cute. The Nobel prize-winning ethologist Konrad Lorenz once suggested that baby-faced features evoke a nurturing response. Support for this has come from work by Zebrowitz, who has found that baby-faced boys and men stimulate an emotional centre of the brain, the amygdala, in a similar way. But there’s a twist. Babyfaced men are, on average, better educated, more assertive and apt to win more military medals than their mature-looking counterparts. They are also more likely to be criminals; think Al Capone. Similarly, Zebrowitz found baby-faced boys to be quarrelsome and hostile, and more likely to be academic highfliers. She calls this the “self-defeating prophecy effect”: a man with a baby face strives to confound expectations and ends up overcompensating.

H There is another theory that recalls the old parental warning not to pull faces because they might freeze that way. According to this theory, our personality moulds the way our faces look. It is supported by a study two decades ago which found that angry old people tend to look cross even when asked to strike a neutral expression. A lifetime of scowling, grumpiness and grimaces seemed to have left its mark.

27
Robert Fitzroy’s first impression of Darwin was accurate.
28
The precise rules of “physiognomy” have remained unchanged since the 18th century.
29
The first impression of a person can be modified later with little effort.
30
People who appear capable are more likely to be chosen to a position of power.
31
It is unfair for good-looking people to be better treated in society.
32
What’s true about Anthony Little and David Perrett’s experiment?
- A. It is based on the belief that none of the conclusions in the Michigan experiment is accurate.
- B. It supports parts of the conclusions in the Michigan experiment.
- C. It replicates the study conditions in the Michigan experiment.
- D. It has a greater range of faces than in the Michigan experiment.
33
What can be concluded from Justin Carre and Cheryl McCormick’s experiment?
- A. A wide-faced man may be more aggressive.
- B. Aggressive men have a wide range of facial features.
- C. There is no relation between facial features and an aggressive character.
- D. It’s necessary for people to be aggressive in competitive games.
34
What’s exemplified by referring to butterfly marks?
- A. Threats to safety are easy to notice.
- B. Instinct does not necessarily lead to accurate judgment.
- C. People should learn to distinguish between accountable and unaccountable judgments.
- D. Different species have various ways to notice danger.
35
What is the aim of Alexander Todorov’s study?
- A. to determine the correlation between facial features and social development
- B. to undermine the belief that appearance is important
- C. to learn the influence of facial features on judgments of a person’s personality
- D. to study the role of judgments in a person’s relationship
36
Which of the following is the conclusion of Alexander Todorov’s study?
- A. People should draw accurate judgments from overgeneralization.
- B. Using appearance to determine a person’s character is undependable.
- C. Overgeneralization can be misleading as a way to determine a person’s character.
- D. The judgment of a person’s character based on appearance may be accurate.
37
Perret believed people behaving dishonestly
- A. judge other people by overgeneralization
- B. may influence the behaviour of other people,
- C. tend to commit criminal acts.
- D. may be influenced by the low expectations of other people.
- E. may show the effect of long-term behaviours.
- F. may be trying to repel the expectations of other people.
38
The writer supports the view that people with babyish features
39
According to Zebrowitz, baby-faced people who behave dominantly
40
The writer believes facial features

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1. TRUE
The passage says that research trawls in the deepest oceans often lead to important discoveries, so the answer is TRUE.
2. NOT GIVEN
There is no information in the passage comparing land biodiversity research to ocean research in New Zealand, so the answer is NOT GIVEN.
3. FALSE
The passage states the takahe bird was first recorded before 1948, so the answer is FALSE.
4. NOT GIVEN
The passage does not mention how many deep ocean specimens museums display, so the answer is NOT GIVEN.
5. FALSE
The passage explains that filming specimens does not always show their normal behaviour, so the answer is FALSE.
6. TRUE
Scientists are described as having different opinions about the swimming speed of giant squid, so the answer is TRUE.
7. TRUE
The passage compares the approach of deep-sea biologists to police investigations, so the answer is TRUE.
8. size
The Bollons Seamount is described as unusual because of its size.
9. mud
Seamounts are home to many species because there is more food and less mud.
10. fishing
The Chatham Rise is considered a good place for fishing by local people.
11. tourism
The presence of whales in Goose Bay has led to the development of tourism.
12. coral
A species of coral has been discovered near Dunedin.
13. earthquake
One canyon near Canada was formed when a big earthquake started a current in 1929.
14. B
Option B refers to the irregular movement of particles, as described in the passage.
15. G
Passage G mentions productive land turning into desert in the 20th century.
16. A
Passage A lists types of deserts.
17. H
Passage H discusses technical methods used to tackle desert problems.
18. F
Passage F talks about the influence of migration on desertification.
19. C
Passage C describes how scientists do not agree about the causes of desertification.
20. D
Passage D describes the harmful effects of farming practices.
21. TRUE
The passage says it is hard to know where deserts end in some places, so the answer is TRUE.
22. FALSE
The passage shows the media is interested in desertification, so the answer is FALSE.
23. FALSE
The passage says lack of rainfall is not the most common cause of desertification, so the answer is FALSE.
24. TRUE
The passage explains that farming animals in semi-arid areas increases soil erosion, so the answer is TRUE.
25. FALSE
The passage states that people in Asian countries still use firewood as their main fuel, so the answer is FALSE.
26. FALSE
The passage says technology for studying people, livestock, and desertification already exists, so the answer is FALSE.
27. NO
Fitzroy’s first impression of Darwin was not accurate, so the answer is NO.
28. NOT GIVEN
The passage does not say if the rules of physiognomy have changed since the 18th century, so the answer is NOT GIVEN.
29. NO
The passage says first impressions are hard to change, so the answer is NO.
30. YES
The passage explains that people who look capable are more likely to be chosen for power, so the answer is YES.
31. NOT GIVEN
The passage does not say if it is unfair for good-looking people to be better treated, so the answer is NOT GIVEN.
32. B
Option B is correct because the experiment supports some conclusions from the Michigan experiment; option D is tempting but the passage does not say it uses a greater range of faces.
33. A
Option A is correct because the experiment found that a wide-faced man may be more aggressive; other options are not supported by the passage.
34. B
Option B is correct because the butterfly marks show that instinct does not always lead to accurate judgment.
35. C
Option C is correct because the aim is to learn how facial features influence judgments of personality.
36. D
Option D is correct because the study concludes that judging character by appearance may sometimes be accurate; option C is tempting but the passage supports D.
37. D
Option D is correct because Perret believed people behaving dishonestly may be influenced by the low expectations of others.
38. C
Option C is correct because the writer supports the view that people with babyish features tend to commit criminal acts.
39. F
Option F is correct because Zebrowitz says baby-faced people who act dominantly may be trying to go against others’ expectations.
40. E
Option E is correct because the writer believes facial features may show the effect of long-term behaviours.

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Reading Passage 1: In Deep Water

Reading Passage 2: How are deserts formed

Reading Passage 3: Personality and Appearance

Answer sheet

Answer key