Reading 2026-07 Test 28 — 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: Dolls Through the Ages

What is today a simple children's toy has a surprisingly rich history. Dolls have been a part of humankind for thousands of years. Often depicting religious figures, or used as playthings, early dolls were probably made from primitive materials such as clay, fur, or wood.

Dolls constructed of flat pieces of wood, painted with various designs, and with hair made of clay, have often been found in Egyptian graves dating back to 2000 BC. Egyptian tombs of wealthy families have included pottery dolls. Dolls being placed in these graves leads some to believe that they were cherished possessions.

Girls from ancient Greece and Rome offered their wooden dolls to goddesses after they were too 'grown-up' to play with dolls. Most ancient dolls that were found in tombs were very simple creations, often made from such materials as clay, rags, wood, or bone. Some of the more unique dolls were made with ivory or wax. The main goal was to make the doll as lifelike as possible. That ideal led to the creation of dolls with movable limbs and removable garments, dating back to 600 BC.

Following the era of the ancient dolls, Europe became a major hub for doll production. These dolls were primarily made of wood. Fewer than 30 examples of primitive wooden stump dolls from England survive today. The Grodnertal area of Germany produced many peg wooden dolls, a type of doll that has very simple peg joints and resembles a clothespin (a device for hanging washing on a clothesline). An alternative to wood was developed in the 1800s.

'Composition' is a collective term for mixtures of pulped wood or paper that were used to make doll heads and bodies. These mixtures were moulded under pressure, creating a durable doll that could be mass produced. Manufacturers closely guarded the recipes for their mixtures, sometimes using strange ingredients like ash or eggshells. Papier-mâché, a type of composition, was one of the most popular mixtures.

In addition to wooden dolls, wax dolls grew in popularity in the 17th and 18th centuries. Much in Germany was a major manufacturing center for wax dolls. Wax dollmakers would model a doll's head in wax or clay, and then cover it with plaster to create a mould. Then they would pour melted wax into the cast. The wax for the head would be very thin, no more than 3 mm. Some of the most distinctive wax dolls were created in England between 1850 and 1930. One of the first dolls that portrayed a baby was made in England from wax at the basinsion of the 10th century.

Around the same time porcelain became popular. It is made by firing special clays in a kiln at more than 2372 degrees Fahrenheit (1300°C), and only a few clays can withstand firing at such high temperatures. Porcelain is used generically to refer to both china and bisque dolls; china is glazed, whereas bisque is unglazed. Germany, France, and Denmark started creating china heads for dolls in the 1840s. These china heads were replaced in the 1860s by ones made of bisque. Bisque, which is porcelain fired twice with colour added to it after the first firing, looked more like skin than china did.

In France, the bébé was popular in the 1880s, and it has become a highly sought after doll today. The bébé, first made in the 1850s, was different from its predecessors because it depicted a younger girl. Until then, most French dolls were representations of adults. Although the French dolls were unrivalled in their artistry, German bisque dolls became quite popular because they were not as expensive. Kammer & Reinhardt introduced a bisque character doll in the 1900s, starting a trend of creating realistic dolls.

For many centuries, rag dolls were made by mothers for their children. The term 'rag doll' refers generically to dolls made of any fabric. 'Cloth doll' refers to a subset of rag dolls made of linen or cotton. Commercially produced rag dolls were first introduced in the 1850s by English and American manufacturers. Although not as sophisticated as dolls made from other materials, rag dolls were well loved, often as a child's first toy.

Dollmaking did not become an industry in the United States until after the Civil War in the 1860s. Doll production was concentrated in the New England region of the United States, with dolls made from a variety of materials such as leather, rubber, papier-mâché, and cloth. Celluloid was developed in the state of New Jersey in the late 1860s and was used to manufacture dolls until the mid-1950s. German, French, American, and Japanese factories churned out cheaply produced celluloid dolls in mass quantities. However, celluloid fell out of favour because of its extreme flammability and propensity to fade in bright light.

After World War I, doll makers experimented with plastics. Hard plastic dolls were manufactured in the 1940s. They resembled composition dolls, but they were much more durable. Other materials used in doll manufacturing included rubber, foam rubber, and vinyl in the 1950s and 1960s. Vinyl changed doll making, allowing doll makers to root hair into the head, rather than using wigs or painting the hair. Although most dolls are now mass-manufactured using these modern materials, many modern doll makers are still using the...

1
Egypt 2000 BC: bodies were made of ________
2
Egypt 2000 BC: ________ was used for the hair
3
Ancient Greece and Rome: dolls were given to ________ by older girls
4
Ancient Greece and Rome 600 BC: realistic dolls had separate clothes and ________ that could be put in different positions
5
17th and 18th centuries: dolls made of ________
6
17th and 18th centuries: moulds made of ________
7
Bisque dolls appear less realistic than dolls made of china.
- TRUE. TRUE
- FALSE. FALSE
- NOT GIVEN. NOT GIVEN
8
French dolls tended to cost more than German bisque dolls.
9
The first rag dolls were made in the 1850s.
10
Only dolls made of cotton or linen are classified as cloth dolls.
11
Dolls made of celluloid tended to lose their colour.
12
Composition dolls lasted longer than the plastic dolls that were made in the 1940s.
13
Doll collectors prefer a doll to be dressed in its original clothing.

Reading Passage 2: The Longest Conservation Fence in the World

When a wooden post was hammered into a path of Kenyan soil on 28 August 2009, it marked the completion of the longest conservation fence in the world. The 400-kilometre-long, two-metre-high electrified barrier, which protects more than 2,000 square kilometres of lush, green rainforest, took more than 20 years to construct. It was originally built by an animal conservation charity to conserve the black rhino – an endangered species of rhino whose numbers in the region had fallen from hundreds to dozens. However, its effects and beneficiaries have proved to be considerably more wide-ranging.

The fence encircles part of the Aberdare mountains, a 160-kilometre-long range that forms the eastern rim of the Great Rift Valley just north of the capital Nairobi. Well loved by safari-goers, it's a water-rich region that contains a mixture of habitats, including rainforest, bamboo forest and moorland. But its wildlife had been suffering as Nairobi's growing population crept up into the highlands to farm its volcanic soils. Kenya's population has grown from about three million at the start of the 20th century to around 40 million today, and although many have migrated into the country's cities, about three quarters of Kenyans still live off the land. But unfortunately, Kenya doesn't have much fertile land. Vast areas of the country are little more than desert, and only around 17 per cent is suitable for farming. As people moved up into the Aberdares' forests the region became degraded, as trees were felled for firewood or to make way for farming and cattle grazing, and local wildlife was hunted.

Various government and conservation organisations had tried to halt the destruction, but it was difficult to stop illegal uses of the forest, including poaching – the unlawful hunting of animals – when there was no barrier to prevent entry. 'One of the problems was that people couldn't really tell where the state-owned, out-of-bounds area began,' explains Colin Church, the chairman of the animal conservation charity. 'We needed to communicate to local people which land was theirs and which was for the benefit of all Kenyans.'

Initially, there were concerns that the fence would be rejected by the people living in the nearby area, who had become accustomed to supplementing their income with the forest's resources. However, that doesn't seem to have been the case. 'When we were carrying out the assessments, we held five meetings with fence-adjacent communities and most of them were very happy with the fence,' says Professor David Mungai of the University of Nairobi, who led the team that prepared a report on the fence's impact.

It soon became clear that the fence has been welcomed because it doesn't just protect animals from people, it also protects people from animals. Before it was built, farmers near the forests would regularly lose a substantial proportion of their harvest to marauding wild animals, and children were often attacked on their way to school by predators. 'In this situation, it was difficult for those living near the fence to care too much about conserving the area and its wildlife,' says Church. But the fence has changed that relationship. Since its construction, the 40,000 farmers whose lands border the fence have gained considerably. 'Most are now able to harvest 100 per cent of their crops,' says Church. The improved security has seen land values increase by up to 300 per cent, and poaching is down by 99 per cent, according to Dr Julius Kipng'etich, Director of the Kenya Wildlife Service.

Further local support has been secured by hiring local people to build the fence and act as its guardians – living in specially created cabins beside the fence and patrolling sections up to 20 kilometres in length on a daily basis. 'The fence isn't possible without the support of the local community,' says Mungai. He believes that the increased support of local people – many of whom are under-educated and unemployed – will be secured through government investment in schools and job creation, including the setting up of more ecotourism businesses. The area currently receives around 50,000 visitors a year, but there is a widespread view that its tourism potential remains relatively untapped.

As the region's forests start to recover – reports show that indigenous forest cover within the enclosure has increased by 20 per cent – its rivers have also started to stabilize. 'If you remove an area's vegetation, the troughs and peaks of water flow are increased – so the base flow becomes lower, and flooding and erosion become an issue,' says Mungai. 'What's important is that a river is stable, so the local people can trust in what that river will be able to deliver.' Colin Church also sees the Aberdare fence as a true success story. 'The conservation struggle is so often presented as man versus nature. But with the right management, that doesn't need to be the case,' he says. 'The two can benefit each other and live sustainably side by side. We've proved it.'

The success of the Aberdare fence has attracted international attention. Conservationists from other African countries, as well as from Asia and South America, have visited the site to learn from the experience. The key lesson, according to Church, is that conservation must work with local communities, not against them. 'Too many conservation projects fail because they try to exclude people,' he says. 'But people are part of the ecosystem. If they don't benefit from protecting nature, they will have no reason to protect it.' The fence model is now being considered for other sensitive habitats, including national parks in Tanzania and wildlife corridors in India.

Looking ahead, the challenge will be to maintain the fence and the goodwill it has generated. The electrified barrier requires regular maintenance, and the guardians need ongoing support and training. Climate change poses a new threat, with more erratic rainfall potentially affecting both the forest and the farms that depend on it. Yet the project's founders remain optimistic. 'We've shown that it's possible to balance human needs with conservation,' says Mungai. 'The fence is just a tool. The real achievement is the change in people's attitudes.'

14
The fence took more than two decades to complete.
15
Less than 10 per cent of Kenya's land is suitable for farming.
16
Local communities were initially opposed to the construction of the fence.
17
Children were sometimes attacked by wild animals before the fence was built.
18
The fence has eliminated all conflict between humans and wildlife in the region.
19
The fence was constructed as protection for a rare type of __________.
20
A large number of trees from the Aberdares' forests had been cut down to be used for __________.
21
According to the director of the Kenya Wildlife Service, there has been a great reduction in __________ since the fence was constructed.
22
According to Professor Mungai, the continued success of the fence depends on the __________ spending money on education and jobs.
23
According to the text, which TWO benefits of the fence have been observed?
- A. an improvement in soil quality
- B. a more reliable water supply
- C. growth in tourism
- D. larger harvests
- E. increased opportunities for research
24
25. What does Colin Church identify as the main reason for the failure of many conservation projects?
- A. lack of funding from international donors
- B. opposition from local communities
- C. trying to exclude people from conservation areas
- D. poor design of conservation barriers
25
26. What new challenge does the passage mention for the future of the Aberdare region?
- A. declining interest from tourists
- B. climate change affecting rainfall patterns
- C. increasing poaching despite the fence
- D. government cuts to conservation funding

Reading Passage 3: What makes a musical expert?

How does someone become expert in music? And is it really possible to have a talent for music? Does that class of people acknowledged to be musical experts just have more of the same basic skills we are all endowed with, or do they have a set of abilities — or neural structures — that are totally different from those of the rest of us? Are high levels of musical achievement simply the result of training and practice, or are they based on innate brain structure — what we refer to as talent? Talent can be defined as something that originates in genetic structures and that is identifiable by trained people who can recognize its existence before a person has achieved exceptional levels of performance. The emphasis on early identification means that to investigate it, we study the development of skills in children.

It is evident that some children acquire skills more rapidly than others: the age of onset for walking and talking varies widely, even between children in the same household. There may be genetic factors at work, but these are closely linked with other factors — with a presumably environmental component — such as motivation and family dynamics. Similar factors can influence musical development and can mask the contribution of genetics to musical ability.

Brain studies, so far, haven’t been of much use in sorting out the issues. Gottfried Schlaug at Harvard collected brain scans of individuals with absolute pitch* (AP) and showed that a region in the brain called the planum temporale is larger in these people than in others. This suggests that the planum is involved in AP, but it’s not clear if it starts out larger in people who eventually acquire AP, or if the acquisition of AP makes the planum increase in size. Results of research into the areas of the brain involved in skilled motor movement are more conclusive. Studies of violin players have shown that the region of the brain responsible for controlling the movement of the left hand (the hand that requires greater precision in violin playing) increases in size as a result of practice. We do not know yet if the propensity for increase pre-exists in some people and not others.

The evidence against talent comes from research on how much training the experts do. Like experts in mathematics, chess, or sports, experts in music require lengthy periods of instruction and practice. In several studies, the very best music students were found to have practised more than twice as much as the others. In another study, students were secretly divided into two groups based on teachers’ perceptions of their talent. Several years later, it was found that the students who achieved the highest performance ratings had practised the most, irrespective of which talent group they had been assigned to, suggesting that practice does not merely correlate with achievement, but causes it.

Anders Ericsson, at Florida State University, approaches the topic of musical expertise as a general problem in cognitive psychology. He takes as a starting point the assumption that there are certain issues involved in becoming an expert at anything; that we can learn about musical expertise by studying expert chess players, athletes, artists, mathematicians, as well as the musicians themselves. The emerging picture from such studies is that ten thousand hours of practice is required to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world-class expert — in anything. In study after study, of composers, ice-skaters, concert pianists, chess players and master criminals, this number comes up again and again. Someone would do this amount of practice if they practised, for example, roughly 20 hours a week for ten years. Of course, this does not address why some people do not seem to get anywhere when they practise, and why some people get more out of their practice sessions than others. But no-one has yet found a case in which true world-class expertise was accomplished in less time. It seems that it takes the brain this long to assimilate all that it needs to know to achieve true mastery.

The ten-thousand-hour theory is consistent with what we know about how the brain learns. Learning requires the assimilation and consolidation of information in neural tissue. The more experiences we have with something, the stronger the memory/learning trace for that experience becomes. Although people differ in how long it takes them to consolidate information neurally, it remains true that increased practice leads to a greater number of neural traces, which create stronger memory representation.

The classic rebuttal to this theory goes something like this: What about Mozart? I hear that he composed his first symphony at the age of four! First, there is a factual error here: Mozart did not write it until he was eight. Still, this is unusual, to say the least. However, this early work received little acclaim and was not performed very often. In fact, the only reason we know about it is because the child who wrote it grew up to become Mozart. And Mozart had an expert teacher in his father, who was renowned as a teacher of musicians all over Europe. We do not know how much Mozart practised, but if he started at age two and worked thirty-two hours a week (quite possible, given that his father was a stern taskmaster) he would have made his ten thousand hours by the time he composed his first symphony. This does not mean that there are no genetic factors involved in Mozart’s greatness, but that inborn traits may not be the only cause.

individuals with absolute pitch: people who can identify or sing any musical note correctly without help

26
27 In the first paragraph, the writer suggests that a talented musician is someone
- A. who is aware of being set apart from other people.
- B. whose brain structure is unlike that of other people.
- C. who can perform extremely well in early childhood.
- D. whose essential skills are more varied than those of ordinary people.
27
28 According to the writer, what is unclear about the findings of Gottfried Schlaug?
- A. which part of the brain is linked to a particular musical skill.
- B. which type of musical skill leads to the greatest change in the brain.
- C. whether a feature of the brain is a cause or an effect of a musical skill.
- D. whether the acquisition of a musical skill is easier for some people than others.
28
29 According to the writer, what has been established by studies of violin players?
- A. Changes may occur in the brain following violin practice.
- B. Left-handed violinists have a different brain structure from other people.
- C. A violinist’s hand size is not due to practice but to genetic factors.
- D. Violinists are born with brains that have a particular structure.
29
30 According to the writer, findings on the amount of practice done by expert musicians suggest that
- A. talent may have little to do with expertise.
- B. practice may actually prevent the development of talent.
- C. talent may not be recognised by teachers.
- D. expertise may be related to quality of instruction.
30
31 Anders Ericsson’s work with cognitive psychology has influenced other researchers.
31
32 Different areas of expertise seem to have one specific thing in common.
32
33 In order to be useful, practice must be carried out regularly every day.
33
34 Anyone who practises for long enough can reach the level of a world-class expert.
34
35 Occasionally, someone can become an expert at a global level with fewer than 10,000 hours’ practice.
35
36 Existing knowledge of learning and cognitive skills supports the importance of practice.
36
Complete the summary using the list of words, A-J, below. Mozart The case of Mozart could be quoted as evidence against the 10,000-hour practice theory. However, the writer points out that the young Mozart received a lot of _______ from his father, and that the symphony he wrote at the age of _______ was not _______ and may be of only academic interest. The case therefore supports the view that expertise is not solely the result of _______ characteristics. A popular B artistic C completed D eight E tuition F encouragement G inherited H four I practice J two
- A. popular
- B. artistic
- C. completed
- D. eight
- E. tuition
- F. encouragement
- G. inherited
- H. four
- I. practice
- J. two

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1. clay
The answer is 'clay' because it says bodies were made of clay in Egypt 2000 BC.
2. clay
The answer is 'clay' because it says clay was also used for the hair in Egypt 2000 BC.
3. goddesses
The answer is 'goddesses' because older girls gave their dolls to goddesses in Ancient Greece and Rome.
4. limbs
The answer is 'limbs' because realistic dolls had separate clothes and limbs that could be moved.
5. wax
The answer is 'wax' because dolls in the 17th and 18th centuries were made of wax.
6. plaster
The answer is 'plaster' because moulds for dolls were made of plaster in that period.
7. FALSE
The answer is FALSE because bisque dolls are actually more realistic than china dolls, not less.
8. TRUE
The answer is TRUE because French dolls cost more than German bisque dolls.
9. FALSE
The answer is FALSE because rag dolls existed before the 1850s.
10. TRUE
The answer is TRUE because only dolls made of cotton or linen are called cloth dolls.
11. TRUE
The answer is TRUE because celluloid dolls tended to lose their colour.
12. FALSE
The answer is FALSE because composition dolls did not last longer than plastic dolls from the 1940s; plastic was more durable.
13. NOT GIVEN
The answer is NOT GIVEN because there is no information about collectors preferring original clothing.
14. TRUE
The answer is TRUE because the fence took more than twenty years to finish.
15. FALSE
The answer is FALSE because more than 10 percent of Kenya's land is suitable for farming.
16. FALSE
The answer is FALSE because local communities were not against building the fence at first.
17. TRUE
The answer is TRUE because children were sometimes attacked by wild animals before the fence.
18. FALSE
The answer is FALSE because the fence has not stopped all conflict between people and wildlife.
19. rhino
The answer is 'rhino' because the fence was built to protect a rare type of rhino.
20. firewood
The answer is 'firewood' because many trees were cut down for firewood.
21. poaching
The answer is 'poaching' because there was a big drop in poaching after the fence was built.
22. government
The answer is 'government' because Professor Mungai says the fence's success depends on the government spending money on education and jobs.
23. B / D
The answers are B and D because the passage mentions a more reliable water supply and larger harvests as benefits. Options A, C, and E are not mentioned as observed benefits.
24. C
The answer is C because Colin Church says many projects fail because they try to keep people out of conservation areas. Option B is tempting but the main reason given is exclusion, not opposition.
25. B
The answer is B because the passage says climate change affecting rainfall patterns is a new challenge for the Aberdare region.
26. B
The answer is B because the writer suggests that talented musicians have a brain structure unlike other people.
27. C
The answer is C because it is unclear if a brain feature is a cause or effect of musical skill.
28. A
The answer is A because studies show changes in the brain can happen after violin practice.
29. A
The answer is A because the findings suggest talent may not matter much for expertise; practice is more important. Option D is tempting but the focus is on talent, not instruction.
30. NOT GIVEN
The answer is NOT GIVEN because there is no information about Ericsson's influence on other researchers.
31. YES
The answer is YES because different areas of expertise share one thing in common.
32. NOT GIVEN
The answer is NOT GIVEN because there is no information about practice needing to be daily.
33. NO
The answer is NO because not everyone can become a world-class expert just by practising long enough.
34. NO
The answer is NO because it says no one becomes an expert with fewer than 10,000 hours of practice.
35. YES
The answer is YES because existing knowledge supports the importance of practice.
36. E / D / A / G
The answers are E (tuition), D (eight), A (popular), and G (inherited) because Mozart got tuition from his father, wrote a symphony at eight, it was not popular, and the case supports the idea that expertise is not only from inherited characteristics.

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Reading Passage 1: Dolls Through the Ages

Reading Passage 2: The Longest Conservation Fence in the World

Reading Passage 3: What makes a musical expert?

Answer sheet

Answer key