Reading 2026-08 Test 10 — 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: Wood: a valuable resource in New Zealand's economy

During the settlement of New Zealand by European immigrants, natural timbers played a major role. Wood was easily accessible and relatively cheap. A tradition of wooden houses arose, supported by the recognition that they were less likely to collapse suddenly during earthquakes, a not infrequent event in this part of the world. But in addition to demand from the domestic market, there was also a demand for forest products from overseas.

Early explorers recognised the suitability of the tall, straight trunks of the kauri for constructing sailing vessels. The kauri is a species of coniferous tree found only in small areas of the southern hemisphere. So from the early 1800s, huge amounts of this type of wood were sold to Australia and the UK for that purpose. For a period, the forestry industry was the country’s major export earner, but the rate of harvest was unsustainable and, by the beginning of the 20th century, indigenous timber exports were rapidly declining.

From the 1940s, newly established plantations of an imported species of tree called radiata pine supplied timber and other wood products in increasing quantities. By the 1960s, plantation-grown timber was providing most of the country’s sawn timber needs, especially for construction. Today, less than two percent of timber is cut from indigenous forests, and almost all of that is used for higher-value end uses, such as furniture and fittings. As the pine industry developed, it became apparent that this type of wood was also well suited for many uses. It makes excellent pulp, and is frequently used for posts, poles, furnishings and mouldings, particleboard, fibreboard, and for plywood and 'engineered' wood products. Pine by-products are used in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries and residues are consumed for fuel. This amazing versatility has encouraged the development of an integrated forest-products industry which is almost unique in the world.

Exporters of wood products have largely targeted the rapidly growing markets of South and East Asia and Australia. 80 percent of exports by value go to only five markets: Japan, Korea, China, the United States and Australia. The product mix remains heavily based on raw materials, with logs, sawn wood, pulp and paper comprising 75 percent of export value. However, finished wood products such as panels and furniture components are exported to more than 50 countries.

In New Zealand itself, the construction industry is the principal user of solid wood products, servicing around 20,000 new house starts annually. However, the small size of New Zealand’s population (just over four million), plus its small manufacturing and remanufacturing base, limit the forestry industry’s domestic opportunities. For the last few years local wood consumption has been around only four million cubic metres. Accordingly, the development of the export market is the key to the industry’s growth and contribution to the national economy in decades to come.

In 2004, forestry export receipts were about 11 percent of the country’s total export income, their value having increased steadily for ten years, until affected by the exchange fluctuations and shipping costs of recent years. The forestry industry is New Zealand’s third largest export sector, generating around $3.3 billion annually from logs and processed wood products. But it is generally agreed that it is operating well below its capacity and, with the domestic market already at its peak, almost all of the extra wood produced in future will have to be marketed overseas. That presents a major marketing challenge for the industry.

Although the export of logs will continue to provide valuable earnings for forest owners, there is broad acceptance that the industry must be based on value-added products in future. So the industry is investigating various processing, infrastructure and investment strategies with a view to increasing the level of local manufacturing before export. The keys to future success will depend on a variety of factors: better international marketing, product innovation, internationally competitive processing, better infrastructure and a suitable political, regulatory and investment environment. The industry claims that, given the right conditions, by 2025 the forestry sector could be the country’s biggest export earner, generating $20 billion a year and employing 60,000 people.

One competitive advantage that New Zealand has is its ability to source large quantities of softwood from renewable forests. Consumers in several key wood markets are becoming more worried about sustainability, and the industry is supporting the development of national standards as well as the recognition of these internationally. However, New Zealand is not the only country with a plantation-style forestry industry. Chile, Brazil, Argentina, South Africa and Australia all have extensive plantings of fast-growing species (hardwood and softwood), and in the northern hemisphere, Scandinavian countries have all expanded their forests or controlled their use in the interests of future production.

Finally, in addition to competition from other wood producers, New Zealand faces competition from goods such as wood substitutes. These include steel framing for houses. This further underlines the necessity for globally competitive production and marketing strategies.

pulp*: wood which is crushed until soft enough to form the basis of paper.

1
Settlers realised that wooden houses were more dangerous than other types of structure.
2
During the 1800s, New Zealand exported wood for use in boat-building.
3
Plantation-grown wood is generally better for construction than native forest wood.
4
Compared to other types of wood, pine has a narrow range of uses.
5
Demand for housing in New Zealand is predicted to fall in the next few years.
6
In future, the expansion of New Zealand's wood industry will depend on its exports.
7
Apart from exchange rates, which factor has had a negative impact on New Zealand's forestry exports?
8
Which part of New Zealand's economy does the forestry industry rank third in?
9
According to the New Zealand forestry industry, what could be the size of its workforce by 2025?
10
What kind of timber product is available in large amounts from renewable forests in New Zealand?
11
Which aspect of timber production are New Zealand's main customers increasingly concerned about?
12
Outside the southern hemisphere, who are New Zealand forestry's main competitors?
13
Which group of products is New Zealand's forestry industry now having to compete with?

Reading Passage 2: Herbal Medicines

There is an age-old practice of harvesting plants and herbs in their natural environment for use as medicines. And today there is huge potential for New Zealand to develop a herb industry based on the excellent growing conditions and expertise there, according to Phil Rasmussen, a pharmacist and medical herbalist. Take arnica, for example, a popular pharmaceutical herb used to treat bruises and joint problems. Traditionally collected by Romany communities in Europe, it is now in high demand worldwide as interest develops in the capabilities of the small alpine plant. A 2008 report for the Plant and Food Research organisation concluded that New Zealand has a good opportunity to cultivate arnica flowers and roots for the international markets. However, the initiative was stopped in its tracks when the government abruptly halted funding for the research programme. It was an unjustified move, according to agronomist Malcolm Douglas, based on a number of inaccurate views about weed invasion.

The history of herbal medicines in New Zealand has long featured disagreements of this sort. For the early Maori people – the original inhabitants of New Zealand – the forest was well stocked with edible plants that were an obvious source of nutrition, but that were taken for the relief of pain as well. While the earliest European doctors in New Zealand relied on imported dried herbs, many were keen to include native plants in their practices: in his book published in 1891, herbalist James Neil described manuka and koromiko as among New Zealand’s most valuable herbs. Despite its popularity among some, however, herbalism continued to have its detractors. In 1907 Neil, president of the then very young New Zealand Association of Medical Herbalists (NZAMH), petitioned parliament for legal status for herbalists, but he was unsuccessful. The Evening Post newspaper perhaps summed up the opposing position by claiming that herbalism ‘is obsolete’.

In fact, traditional Maori medicine faced a more determined challenge. In 1908 the government passed a controversial law that had the effect of restricting traditional herbal practice, or pushing it underground. Then for a brief period in the mid-20th century, herbal medicine was largely ignored, shunned by the majority of the medical profession, and absent from medical school curricula. But a centuries-old tradition was not going to disappear so easily, and in the 1980s the NZAMH was revived, and it became possible to complete a course in herbal medicine at several polytechnics around the country. However, the problem remained of how to connect the culture of plant-based medicine with conventional scientific thinking in order to promote herbal use within the general population. For many years, the limited evidence there was that herbal medicines worked was undermined by lack of interest among general practitioners and within the scientific community.

Today, the ideas of herbalists in the 1980s – eat a varied diet, include lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, recognise stress – are completely accepted by the medical establishment and widely practised in society as a whole. Natural health products are big sellers in pharmacies, and global pharmaceutical companies are buying up natural supplement brands or developing their own. What’s more, according to Rasmussen, robust clinical trials show that herbal medicine is generally safe – safer than most drugs. ‘It doesn’t do everything,’ he says, ‘but there’s a lot it does do, particularly in terms of preventative health care.’ One significant issue for today’s export-oriented herbal medicine producers is the question of how to guarantee standards for consumers in different countries. In other words, there is the need for some form of globally recognised system of documentation. Rasmussen’s range of extracts are produced under the Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) scheme, which is respected around the world. So too is the range produced by Sandra Clair, who says that such assurance is expensive but necessary if you want to export herbal remedies to the rest of the world. Moves to launch a joint Australia–New Zealand agency to regulate herbal remedies under a single, streamlined licensing process have recently been revived, after being abandoned in 2007 through lack of support in parliament.

There are those in the industry who support further regulation still. According to Rasmussen, some herbs should require a prescription from a suitably qualified medical herbalist or doctor. For example, consumers shouldn’t be able to go to their local supermarket and buy St John’s Wort, according to Rasmussen, because it can interact in harmful ways with at least ten pharmaceutical drugs. Isla Burgess, who is part of the International Research Group for the Conservation of Medicinal Plants, agrees that tighter regulation is necessary, but for a different reason. ‘More than 400,000 tonnes of medicinal and aromatic plants are traded in the world each year,’ says Burgess. ‘The great majority of these are harvested from the wild, so they each have an impact on their local ecosystem.’ She gives the example of elm trees in the USA, ringbarked and stripped for the growing market for a product called ‘slippery elm’: this endangered tree should be protected. But others argue that more regulation would be prohibitively expensive for all but the largest manufacturers – a change, cautions Clair, that would probably put some local companies out of business. So, for the time being at least, it seems that the topic of herbal medicines will continue to provoke debate.

14
a reference to the interest shown by large corporations in herbal remedies
15
examples of the uses of one particular herbal medicine
16
a warning that small companies cannot afford stricter controls of the herbal medicine industry
17
a statement by one expert about the effectiveness and limitations of herbal medicines
18
Originally, the Maori people consumed plants to help deal with ________, and also as food.
19
When Europeans settled in the country, a ________ by James Neil showed that some of them also recognised the medicinal value of native plants.
20
However, criticism of herbal medicine appeared in one newspaper in 1907. The following year, the use of herbal medicines was made more difficult because of a new ________, and for a time in the mid-20th century, they were largely ignored.
21
Then in the 1980s a number of institutions started offering a ________ in the subject, although for many years there was still little evidence to support their use, because doctors and academics were not interested.
22
There ought to be restrictions on where you can buy some herbal medicines.
- A. Phil Rasmussen
- B. Malcolm Douglas
- C. Sandra Clair
- D. Isla Burgess
23
The authorities stopped supporting one project without a good reason.
24
The herbal medicine industry has an effect on the environment where some plant-based medicines are found.
25
New Zealand has the human resources and natural environment to grow herbs commercially.
26
It is essential for herbal medicines to have international certification, despite the cost.

Reading Passage 3: Pottery production in ancient Akrotiri

Excavations at the site of prehistoric Akrotiri, on the coast of the Aegean Sea, have revealed much about the technical aspects of pottery manufacture, indisputably one of the basic industries of this Greek city. However, considerably less is known about the socio-economic context and the way production was organised.

The bulk of pottery found at Akrotiri is locally made, and dates from the late fifteenth century BC. It clearly fulfilled a vast range of the settlement’s requirements: more than fifty different types of pots can be distinguished. The pottery found includes a wide variety of functional types like storage jars, smaller containers, pouring vessels, cooking pots, drinking vessels and so on, which all relate to specific activities and which would have been made and distributed with those activities in mind. Given the large number of shapes produced and the relatively high degree of standardisation, it has generally been assumed that most, if not all, of Akrotiri pottery was produced by specialised craftsmen in a non-domestic context. Unfortunately neither the potters’ workshops nor kilns have been found within the excavated area. The reason may be that the ceramic workshops were located on the periphery of the site, which has not yet been excavated. In any event, the ubiquity of the pottery, and the consistent repetition of the same types in different sizes, suggests production on an industrial scale.

The Akrotirian potters seem to have responded to pressures beyond their households, namely to the increasing complexity of regional distribution and exchange systems. We can imagine them as full-time craftsmen working permanently in a high production-rate craft such as pottery manufacture, and supporting themselves entirely from the proceeds of their craft. In view of the above, one can begin to speak in terms of mass-produced pottery and the existence of organised workshops of craftsmen during the period 1550-1500 BC. Yet, how pottery production was organised at Akrotiri remains an open question, as there is no real documentary evidence. Our entire knowledge comes from the ceramic material itself, and the tentative conclusions which can be drawn from it.

The invention of units of quantity and of a numerical system to count them was of capital importance for an exchange-geared society such as that of Akrotiri. In spite of the absence of any written records, the archaeological evidence reveals that concepts of measurements, both of weight and number, had been formulated. Standard measures may already have been in operation, such as those evidenced by a graduated series of lead weights - made in disc form - found at the site. The existence of units of capacity in Late Bronze Age times is also evidenced by the notation of units of a liquid measure for wine on excavated containers.

It must be recognised that the function of pottery vessels plays a very important role in determining their characteristics. The intended function affects the choice of clay, the production technique, and the shape and the size of the pots. For example, large storage jars (pithoi) would be needed to store commodities, whereas smaller containers would be used for transport. In fact, the length of a man’s arm limits the size of a smaller pot to a capacity of about twenty litres; that is also the maximum a man can comfortably carry.

The various sizes of container would thus represent standard quantities of a commodity, which is a fundamental element in the function of exchange. Akrotirian merchants handling a commodity such as wine would have been able to determine easily the amount of wine they were transporting from the number of containers they carried in their ships, since the capacity of each container was known to be 14-18 litres. (We could draw a parallel here with the current practice in Greece of selling oil in 17 kilogram tins)

We may therefore assume that the shape, capacity, and, sometimes decoration of vessels are indicative of the commodity contained by them. Since individual transactions would normally involve different quantities of a given commodity, a range of ‘standardised’ types of vessel would be needed to meet traders’ requirements.

In trying to reconstruct systems of capacity by measuring the volume of excavated pottery, a rather generous range of tolerances must be allowed. It seems possible that the potters of that time had specific sizes of vessel in mind, and tried to reproduce them using a specific type and amount of clay. However, it would be quite difficult for them to achieve the exact size required every time, without any mechanical means of regulating symmetry and wall thickness, and some potters would be more skilled than others. In addition, variations in the repetition of types and size may also occur because of unforeseen circumstances during the throwing process. For instance, instead of destroying the entire pot if the clay in the rim contained a piece of grit, a potter might produce a smaller pot by simply cutting off the rim. Even where there is no noticeable external difference between pots meant to contain the same quantity of a commodity, differences in their capacity can actually reach one or two litres. In one case the deviation from the required size appears to be as much as 10-20 percent.

The establishment of regular trade routes within the Aegean led to increased movement of goods; consequently a regular exchange of local, luxury and surplus goods, including metals, would have become feasible as a result of the advances in transport technology. The increased demand for standardised exchanges, inextricably linked to commercial transactions, might have been one of the main factors which led to the standardisation of pottery production. Thus, the whole network of ceramic production and exchange would have depended on specific regional economic conditions, and would reflect the socio-economic structure of prehistoric Akrotiri.

27
26. What does the writer say about items of pottery excavated at Akrotiri?
- A. There was very little duplication.
- B. They would have met a big variety of needs.
- C. Most of them had been imported from other places.
- D. The intended purpose of each piece was unclear.
28
27. The assumption that pottery from Akrotiri was produced by specialists is partly based on
- A. the discovery of kilns.
- B. the central location of workshops.
- C. the sophistication of decorative patterns.
- D. the wide range of shapes represented.
29
What does the writer say about the standardisation of container sizes?
- A. Containers which looked the same from the outside often varied in capacity.
- B. The instruments used to control container size were unreliable.
- C. The unsystematic use of different types of clay resulted in size variations.
- D. Potters usually discarded containers which were of a non-standard size.
30
What is probably the main purpose of Reading Passage 3?
- A. To evaluate the quality of pottery containers found in prehistoric Akrotiri.
- B. To suggest how features of pottery production at Akrotiri reflected other developments in the region.
- C. To outline the development of pottery-making skills in ancient Greece.
- D. To describe methods for storing and transporting household goods in prehistoric societies.
31
The assumption that standard units of weight were in use could be based on
- A. the discovery of a collection of metal discs.
- B. the size and type of the sailing ships in use.
- C. variations in the exact shape and thickness of similar containers.
- D. the physical characteristics of workmen.
- E. marks found on wine containers.
- F. the variety of commodities for which they would have been used.
32
Evidence of the use of standard units of volume is provided by
33
The size of certain types of containers would have been restricted by
34
Attempts to identify the intended capacity of containers are complicated by
35
There are plans to excavate new areas of the archaeological site in the near future.
36
Some of the evidence concerning pottery production in ancient Akrotiri comes from written records.
37
Pots for transporting liquids would have held no more than about 20 litres.
38
It would have been hard for merchants to calculate how much wine was on their ships.
39
The capacity of containers intended to hold the same amounts differed by up to 20 percent.
40
Regular trading of goods around the Aegean would have led to the general standardisation of quantities.

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1. FALSE
The passage says settlers saw wooden houses as safer, not more dangerous, than other types, so the answer is FALSE.
2. TRUE
It is stated that in the 1800s, New Zealand exported wood for boat-building, so the answer is TRUE.
3. NOT GIVEN
There is no information comparing plantation-grown wood and native forest wood for construction, so the answer is NOT GIVEN.
4. FALSE
The passage explains that pine is used for many things, not just a few, so the answer is FALSE.
5. NOT GIVEN
There is no prediction about a fall in housing demand, so the answer is NOT GIVEN.
6. TRUE
It is mentioned that future growth in the wood industry will rely on exports, so the answer is TRUE.
7. Shipping costs
The passage says shipping costs have negatively affected forestry exports, so the answer is 'shipping costs.'
8. export sector
Forestry is described as the third largest in the export sector, so the answer is 'export sector.'
9. 60,000 / 60000
The industry predicts the workforce could reach 60,000 by 2025, so the answer is '60,000.'
10. Softwood
Softwood is available in large amounts from renewable forests, so the answer is 'softwood.'
11. Sustainability
Customers are increasingly concerned about sustainability, so the answer is 'sustainability.'
12. Scandinavian countries
Scandinavian countries are named as the main competitors outside the southern hemisphere, so the answer is 'Scandinavian countries.'
13. Wood substitutes
The industry is now competing with wood substitutes, so the answer is 'wood substitutes.'
14. D
Section D mentions large companies showing interest in herbal remedies, so the answer is D.
15. A
Section A gives examples of how one herbal medicine is used, so the answer is A.
16. E
Section E warns that small companies cannot afford stricter controls, so the answer is E.
17. D
Section D includes an expert's statement about what herbal medicines can and cannot do, so the answer is D.
18. pain
The passage says Maori used plants to help with pain and as food, so the answer is 'pain.'
19. book
A book by James Neil showed settlers recognised the value of native plants, so the answer is 'book.'
20. law
A new law in 1908 made using herbal medicines harder, so the answer is 'law.'
21. course
In the 1980s, institutions started offering a course in the subject, so the answer is 'course.'
22. A
Phil Rasmussen says there should be restrictions on where some herbal medicines are sold, so the answer is A.
23. B
Malcolm Douglas says the authorities stopped supporting a project for no good reason, so the answer is B.
24. D
Isla Burgess mentions the industry's effect on the environment where plants are found, so the answer is D.
25. A
Phil Rasmussen says New Zealand has the people and environment to grow herbs commercially, so the answer is A.
26. C
Sandra Clair says international certification is essential even if it is expensive, so the answer is C.
27. B
The passage says the pottery would have met a big variety of needs, so the answer is B. Option A is tempting but the passage focuses on variety, not duplication.
28. D
The wide range of shapes suggests specialists made the pottery, so the answer is D. Option C is tempting but the passage links variety of shapes to specialization.
29. A
Containers that looked the same often had different capacities, so the answer is A. Option B is tempting but the passage does not mention unreliable instruments.
30. B
The passage suggests pottery production at Akrotiri reflected other regional developments, so the answer is B. Option D is tempting but the main focus is on production, not storage methods.
31. A
The discovery of a collection of metal discs suggests standard units of weight, so the answer is A.
32. E
Marks found on wine containers show evidence of standard units of volume, so the answer is E.
33. D
The physical characteristics of workmen would have limited the size of some containers, so the answer is D.
34. C
Variations in the shape and thickness of similar containers make it hard to know their intended capacity, so the answer is C.
35. NOT GIVEN
There is no information about future excavation plans, so the answer is NOT GIVEN.
36. NO
The passage says there are no written records about pottery production, so the answer is NO.
37. YES
It is stated that pots for transporting liquids held no more than about 20 litres, so the answer is YES.
38. NO
The passage says merchants could easily calculate how much wine was on their ships, so the answer is NO.
39. YES
The capacity of containers meant to hold the same amount could differ by up to 20 percent, so the answer is YES.
40. YES
Regular trading around the Aegean led to general standardisation of quantities, so the answer is YES.

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Reading Passage 1: Wood: a valuable resource in New Zealand's economy

Reading Passage 2: Herbal Medicines

Reading Passage 3: Pottery production in ancient Akrotiri

Answer sheet

Answer key