Reading 2026-07 Test 8 — 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: Ahead of its time

A chance discovery in New Zealand has challenged the country’s recorded history.

One October afternoon, a young New Zealander, Sam Tobin, called his dogs and went for a walk down to the nearby Ruamahanga River. Having been very high for days, the river had at last fallen, and Tobin was eager to see what changes the floods had brought. The family farm borders the river, and a four-metre-high flood bank testifies to its natural tendency to flood.

Tobin stepped out onto a broad shoulder of river sand, where he noticed what he initially took to be a whitish rock, lit by the sun. Then, getting closer, he realised it was a bone. Such a thing was not uncommon in these parts - he had often come home with fragments, or even whole skeletons, of cows and sheep. But as he scraped aside a stone he realised that it was a human bone, something quite new in his experience. As he picked it up, he saw it was a skull, discoloured with age.

Tobin replaced the skull and hurried home to tell his mother what the river had delivered to their doorstep. It would prove to be a spectacular find, setting in motion an investigation by some of the country’s most respected specialists, and ultimately challenging our most firmly held assertions about the human settlement of New Zealand.

The police were immediately called, but despite a thorough search they could find nothing that might shed light on the identity of the Ruamahanga skull, or the circumstances of its sudden appearance. The skull was then taken north to be examined by forensic pathologist Dr Fetvis at Auckland Hospital. Despite being hampered by its damaged and incomplete condition - the jawbone and lower left portion of the cranium were missing - Dr Fetvis determined that the skull was that of a female. He’d then consulted with a colleague, Dr Koelmeyer, who believed that the deterioration of the bone placed the time of dead ‘before living memory’ and, most significantly as it would turn out, the skull appeared to be European in origin.

Wellington-based forensic anthropologist Dr Watt also examined the skull, and suggested it belonged to a 40–45-year-old. He believed that it could be the remains of an old farm burial, but was not certain, and proposed the use of radiocarbon dating to make sure it wasn’t a recent death. As a result, the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences (GNS) in Lower Hutt was contacted, and provided with a sample of bone that had originated in the top of the skull. In a little over three weeks, the seemingly astonishing results from the GNS laboratory came back. Cutting through the bewildering complexity of the scientific analysis was a single line reading: conventional radiocarbon age approximately 296 years. This was staggering, for the skull was about 200 years older than Dr Koelmeyer had believed.

Of course, a skull of this age wasn’t particularly unusual in New Zealand. The Maori people have been living in the country for at least 800 years and scientists frequently come across human remains of considerable age. The fascinating question, however, was how a skull of this race, let alone this gender, had reached these remote islands in the South Pacific at such a time, long before the arrival of the explorer Captain Cook in 1769, and perhaps even before the very first European landfall - the fleeting visit of the Dutch explorer Tasman in 1642 - neither of whom had women among their crews.

The first known European women in the Pacific came with a doomed colonising venture which sailed from Peru in 1595 under the command of Spanish captain Mendana. However, it is unlikely the Ruamahanga skull originated from this expedition because no evidence of Mendana’s ships has ever been found in New Zealand, while a team of archaeologists working in the Solomon Islands in 1979 did discover the remains of European vessels dating from the 16th century.

Two centuries were to pass before the first recorded European females arrived in New Zealand, both having escaped from prison in Australia. Kathleen Hagerty and Charlotte Edgar are known to have reached the country in 1806. How then do we account for the Ruamahanga skull, which appears to be about 100 years older than that? It is impossible to say with certainty, but the most likely explanation is that a Spanish or Portuguese trading ship was washed onto these wild shores as a result of a shipwreck and a woman got ashore. Implausible, perhaps, but the Ruamahanga skull, today resting in the Wellington Museum, could be the kind of concrete evidence that demands such a drastic re-evaluation of history.

1
The Ruamahanga River often floods.
2
When Tobin first found the object in the river, he mistook it for something else.
3
Tobin could not decide what part of the body the bone came from.
4
Tobin’s mother was surprised that the skull caused debate among specialists.
5
The events after the river flooded: Tobin found a human skull. The ____ were initially involved in trying to explain the presence of the skull.
6
Dr Koelmeyer suggested it was a ____ skull.
7
Dr Watt recommended ____ to establish the skull’s age.
8
A bone ____ was sent to the GNS.
9
The age of the skull was about ____ years.
10
Ruamahanga skull surprising because of its – age – ____ – gender
11
Evidence of this expedition found elsewhere by ____.
12
Hagerty and Edgar arrived in 1806 from ____, where they had been imprisoned.
13
Ruamahanga skull may have reached New Zealand in 17th century after a ____.

Reading Passage 2: Implication of False Belief Experiments

A considerable amount of research since the mid 1980s has been concerned with what has been termed children’s theory of mind. This involves children’s ability to understand that people can have different beliefs and representations of the world – a capacity that is shown by four years of age. Furthermore, this ability appears to be absent in children with autism. The ability to work out that another person is thinking is clearly an important aspect of both cognitive and social development. Furthermore, one important explanation for autism is that children suffering from this condition do not have a theory of mind (TOM). Consequently, the development of children’s TOM has attracted considerable attention.

Wimmer and Perner devised a ‘false belief task’ to address this question. They used some toys to act out the following story. Maxi left some chocolate in a blue cupboard before he went out. When he was away his mother moved the chocolate to a green cupboard. Children were asked to predict where Maxi will look for his chocolate when he returns. Most children under four years gave the incorrect answer, that Maxi will look in the green cupboard. Those over four years tended to give the correct answer, that Maxi will look in the blue cupboard. The incorrect answers indicated that the younger children did not understand that Maxi’s beliefs and representations no longer matched the actual state of the world, and they failed to appreciate that Maxi will act on the basis of his beliefs rather than the way that the world is actually organised.

A simpler version of the Maxi task was devised by Baron-Cohen to take account of criticisms that younger children may have been affected by the complexity and too much information of the story in the task described above. For example, the child is shown two dolls, Sally and Anne, who have a basket and a box, respectively. Sally also has a marble, which she places in her basket, and then leaves to take a walk. While she is out of the room, Anne takes the marble from the basket, eventually putting it in the box. Sally returns, and child is then asked where Sally will look for the marble. The child passes the task if she answers that Sally will look in the basket, where she put the marble; the child fails the task if she answers that Sally will look in the box, where the child knows the marble is hidden, even though Sally cannot know, since she did not see it hidden there. In order to pass the task, the child must be able to understand that another’s mental representation of the situation is different from their own, and the child must be able to predict behavior based on that understanding. The results of research using false-belief tasks have been fairly consistent: most normally-developing children are unable to pass the tasks until around age four.

Leslie argues that, before 18 months, children treat the world in a literal way and rarely demonstrate pretence. He also argues that it is necessary for the cognitive system to distinguish between what is pretend and what is real. If children were not able to do this, they would not be able to distinguish between imagination and reality. Leslie suggested that this pretend play becomes possible because of the presence of a de-coupler that copies primary representations to secondary representations. For example, children, when pretending a banana is a telephone, would make a secondary representation of a banana. They would manipulate this representation and they would use their stored knowledge of ‘telephone’ to build on this pretence.

There is also evidence that social processes play a part in the development of TOM. Meins and her colleagues have found that what they term mind mindedness in maternal speech to six-month old infants is related to both security of attachment and to TOM abilities. Mind Mindedness involves speech that discusses infants’ feelings and explains their behaviour in terms of mental stages (e.g. “you’re feeling hungry”).

Lewis investigated older children living in extended families in Crete and Cyprus. They found that children who socially interact with more adults, who have more friends, and who have more older siblings tend to pass TOM tasks at a slightly earlier age than other children. Furthermore, because young children are more likely to talk about their thoughts and feelings with peers than with their mothers, peer interaction may provide a special impetus to the development of a TOM. A similar point has been made by Dunn, who argues that peer interaction is more likely to contain pretend play and that it is likely to be more challenging because other children, unlike adults, do not make large adaptations to the communicative needs of other children.

In addition, there has been concern that some aspects of the TOM approach underestimate children’s understanding of other people. After all, infants will point to objects apparently in an effort to change a person’s direction of gaze and interest; they can interact quite effectively with other people; they will express their ideas in opposition to the wishes of others; and they will show empathy for the feeling of others. Schatz studied the spontaneous speech of three-year-olds and found that these children used mental terms, and used them in circumstances where there was a contrast between, for example, not being sure where an object was located and finding it, or between pretending and reality. Thus the social abilities of children indicate that they are aware of the difference between mental states and external reality at ages younger than four.

A different explanation has been put forward by Harris. He proposed that children use ‘simulation’. This involves putting yourself in the other person’s position, and then trying to predict what the other person would do. Thus success on false belief tasks can be explained by children trying to imagine what they would do if they were a character in the stories, rather than children being able to appreciate the beliefs of other people. Such thinking about situations that do not exist involves what is termed counterfactual reasoning.

14
gave an alternative explanation that children may not be understanding other’s belief
15
found that children under certain age can tell difference between reality and mentality
16
conducted a well-known experiment and drew conclusion that young children were unable to comprehend the real state of the world
17
found that children who get along with adults often comparatively got through the test more easily
18
revised an easier experiment to rule out the possibility that children might be influenced by sophisticated reasoning
19
related social factor such as mother-child communication to capability act in TOM
20
explained children are less likely to tell something interactive to their mother than to their friends
21
First experiments were carried out on this subject on a boy. And questions had been made on where the boy can find the location of the ________.
22
But it was accused that it had excessive ________.
23
So second modified experiment was conducted involving two dolls, and most children passed the test at the age of ________.
24
Then Lewis and Dunn researched ________ children in a certain place, and found children who have more interaction such as more conversation with ________ have better performance in the test, and peer interaction is ________ because of consisting pretending elements.

Reading Passage 3: The Dark Side of The Technological Boom

Changes in the way we work and how our offices are structured come at us faster and faster. Waves of state-of-the-art information technology and instant telecommunications let us reach anyone, anywhere, and speed is the key. Most of us are too busy struggling to keep pace with ongoing innovations to question the implications of our new electronic authority figures. According to a number of psychologists, however, the need to stay on top of the information flow and the extent to which we remain in touch with our offices exact a profound toll on us as individuals.

Mass exposure to technological innovations in the workplace has come too recently for psychologists to reach a consensus on its societal implications. Many agree, however, that one of the first signs of the struggle to adapt to the electronic office is often 'technostress', a cognitive shift that results from an over-identification with information systems. Psychologist Craig Brod says people become accustomed to the patterns set by electronic tools—accelerated time and yes/no logic—and internalize these patterns. When they leave the office or go home, Brod says, they need complete isolation to recover from the effects of the technology.

Brod warns that over-reliance on electronic tools could also have serious repercussions on our ability to think creatively and develop new ideas. Because we don't create in a vacuum, he points out, we need to avoid the temptation to replace informal gatherings for bouncing ideas off colleagues with electronic networking. It's also more difficult to spot errors or even evaluate the shape of a project displayed in a flat, two-dimensional way on a screen.

Electronically networked offices can also make it increasingly difficult to convince ourselves that we're doing an adequate job and accumulating enough information to make informed decisions. Philosopher Daniel Dennett points out that modern technology eliminates the possibility of unavoidable ignorance. As the opportunity to amass information grows larger, the obligation to make accurate predictions—the right decisions—becomes more onerous. Instead of consoling ourselves that we're doing as good a job as we can, we are tormented by the knowledge that the world of information is limitless.

For executives near the top of the office pyramid, the benefits of the electronic revolution—like telecommuting and flexible scheduling—may outweigh the disadvantages of being continuously on call. But in Workplace 2000, authors Joseph Boyett and Henry Conn describe a future in which millions of people now charged with analyzing information and making routine decisions will be replaced by less skilled workers using 'intelligent' software to make decisions for them. They predict that a cult of performance excellence will engulf most businesses.

The millions of people on the bottom levels of electronic hierarchies are increasingly likely to spend their days in an isolated no-man's land, subservient to intelligent information systems that report their progress to unseen supervisors far away. Because computers measure quantity over quality, such systems tend to reward employees who work faster more than those who work better.

Service people on the telephone or at a cash register curtly terminate attempts at idle conversation because their performance is being electronically monitored. Once judged on their ability to troubleshoot unexpected situations, they're now evaluated by the number of transactions they complete in a shift or the number of keystrokes required to draft a document. In these 'electronic sweatshops', the computers are running the people, not the other way around.

"I think people are going to feel an increased fragmentation of self. They won't be able to hold the pieces together," human resources consultant Philip Nicholson says. "How do you keep a coherent space if you’re going in and out of spaces that don't exist?" He likens the psychic numbing of electronic information overload to symptoms of post-traumatic stress syndrome (a mental disorder following a horrific event). In office 'wars', people become overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information available, internalize the diversity of the world outside, and fear losing control of their own lives.

If we are to survive the challenges of information-driven, hardwired offices, says Nicholson, we need to provide psychological support systems. As no one has yet measured the social cost of the workplace revolution, some psychologists are mobilizing efforts to pool information as it is derived. Nicholson started the Technostress International Information Network in Massachusetts to foster an exchange of data and ideas on the effects of computerization and information technology. Meanwhile, Brod wants to examine the parallels between electronic work environments and 'sealed-cabin ecologies' like space capsules or submarines, both totally automated artificial worlds in which people live in highly confined circumstances surrounded by technology that dictates the tenor of their days as well as their survival. He is petitioning other psychologists to convince the American Psychological Association to form a specialized study group.

In addition, Brod suggests that we re-examine our value systems and that we make greater allowances for privacy in order to circumvent potential revolts against technology. We need to coevolve with technology,' he says. "These are wonderful tools, but if we exploit them without imposing appropriate values on their use, they become alienating and dangerous."

25
27. The speed of technological changes
- A. requires more detailed study by psychologists.
- B. means people have no time to challenge the significance of the new technology.
- C. may reduce inventiveness and innovation.
- D. suggests computers will take over the workplace.
- E. results from increased electronic supervision.
26
28. A dependency on technology and computers
27
29. A deterioration in personal service
28
30. Technology has placed greater expectations on workers not to make mistakes.
- A. Craig Brod
- B. Daniel Dennett
- C. Joseph Boyett and Henry Conn
- D. Philip Nicholson
29
31. People will need time away from technology to reduce the frustrations caused by it.
30
32. Interacting with others at work contributes to creative thinking.
31
33. The psychological effect of working with technology is similar to the anxiety felt after surviving a major ordeal.
32
34. Technology will ultimately increase unemployment for more highly qualified personnel.
33
35. More counselling is required to help people cope with the demands of the modern workplace.
34
36. Our knowledge of the effects of technology on workers is still limited.
35
37. An early indicator of technological anxiety is a tendency to adopt machine-like thinking.
36
38. We have now started to doubt our ability to perform well at work.
37
39. Top-level managers may be more negatively affected by changes in the electronic workplace than junior workers.
38
40. Employees who learn to use new technology quickly will get promoted.

Answer sheet

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1. TRUE
The passage says the Ruamahanga River 'often floods,' so the answer is TRUE.
2. TRUE
It says Tobin 'thought it was a stone at first,' showing he mistook the object for something else, so TRUE is correct.
3. FALSE
Tobin 'immediately recognised it as a human skull,' so he knew what part of the body it was from. Therefore, FALSE is correct.
4. NOT GIVEN
There is no information about Tobin’s mother being surprised about the debate, so the answer is NOT GIVEN.
5. police
The passage states 'the police were called,' so the police were the first involved in explaining the skull.
6. European
Dr Koelmeyer said it was 'probably a European skull,' so the answer is European.
7. radiocarbon dating
Dr Watt 'recommended radiocarbon dating' to find the skull’s age, so the answer is radiocarbon dating.
8. sample
A 'bone sample was sent to the GNS,' so the answer is sample.
9. 296
The skull was 'about 296 years old,' so the answer is 296.
10. race
The passage lists 'age, race, and gender' as surprising, so the answer is race.
11. archaeologists
It says 'archaeologists have found evidence elsewhere,' so the answer is archaeologists.
12. Australia
Hagerty and Edgar 'arrived in 1806 from Australia,' so the answer is Australia.
13. shipwreck
The skull may have come after a 'shipwreck,' so the answer is shipwreck.
14. G
Option G says children may not understand others’ beliefs, which matches the explanation given.
15. F
Option F found children can tell the difference between reality and mentality under certain ages, matching the answer.
16. C
Option C conducted a famous experiment and concluded young children could not understand the real state of the world.
17. D
Option D found children who get along with adults did better in the test, matching the answer.
18. A
Option A revised an easier experiment to avoid children being influenced by complex reasoning.
19. B
Option B related social factors like mother-child communication to the ability to act in Theory of Mind (TOM).
20. E
Option E explained children are less likely to tell something interactive to their mother than to friends.
21. chocolate
The first experiments asked the boy where he could find the 'chocolate,' so the answer is chocolate.
22. information
The experiment was accused of having too much 'information,' so the answer is information.
23. four
Most children passed the second test at age 'four,' so the answer is four.
24. older / adults / challenging
Lewis and Dunn researched 'older' children, found those with more conversation with 'adults' did better, and peer interaction is 'challenging' because it involves pretending.
25. B
Option B is correct because the passage says the speed of technological change means people have no time to question it. Option A is tempting but the passage focuses on time, not study.
26. C
Option C is correct as the passage says dependency on technology 'may reduce inventiveness and innovation.' Option D is tempting but not mentioned.
27. E
Option E is correct because the passage links deterioration in service to 'increased electronic supervision.' Option C is tempting but does not fit the context.
28. B
Option B is correct as Daniel Dennett says technology has placed higher expectations on workers not to make mistakes.
29. A
Option A is correct because Craig Brod says people need time away from technology to reduce frustration.
30. A
Option A is correct as Craig Brod says interacting with others at work helps creative thinking.
31. D
Option D is correct because Philip Nicholson compares the psychological effect of technology to surviving a major ordeal.
32. C
Option C is correct as Joseph Boyett and Henry Conn say technology will increase unemployment for highly qualified people.
33. D
Option D is correct because Philip Nicholson says more counselling is needed to help people cope with modern work demands.
34. TRUE
The passage says our knowledge of technology’s effects on workers is 'still limited,' so the answer is TRUE.
35. TRUE
It says an early sign of technological anxiety is 'machine-like thinking,' so the answer is TRUE.
36. TRUE
The passage says we have started to doubt our ability to do well at work, so TRUE is correct.
37. NOT GIVEN
There is no information about top-level managers being more affected than junior workers, so NOT GIVEN is correct.
38. NOT GIVEN
There is no information that employees who learn new technology quickly will get promoted, so NOT GIVEN is correct.

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Reading Passage 1: Ahead of its time

Reading Passage 2: Implication of False Belief Experiments

Reading Passage 3: The Dark Side of The Technological Boom

Answer sheet

Answer key