Reading 2026-05 Test 69 — IELTS Academic Reading Practice Test with Answers

About this set: compiled and lightly cleaned up from real test material that test-takers recalled. IELTS draws from a global question pool, so this material circulates worldwide. To give you a complete, sittable test, material reported around the same period is assembled together — so a set may combine content from several exam dates, not one single sitting. Any audio is a recreation for practice. Organized for study convenience. Based on test-taker recalls — not official IELTS material.

Reading Passage 1: The Extraordinary Watkin Tench

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1? In boxes 1-6 on your answer sheet, write TRUE if the statement agrees with the information FALSE if the statement contradicts with the information NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this Answer the questions below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 7-13 on your answer sheet.

At the end of 18th century, life for the average British citizen was changing. The population grew as health and industrialisation took hold of the country. However, land and resources were limited. Families could not guarantee jobs for all of their children. People who were poor or destitute had little option. To make things worse, the rate of people who turn to crime to make a living increased. In Britain, the prisons were no longer large enough to hold the convicted people of this growing criminal class. Many towns and governments were at a loss as to what to do. However, another phenomenon that was happening in 18th century was the exploration of other continents. There were many ships looking for crew members who would risk a month-long voyage to across a vast ocean. This job was risky and dangerous, so few would willingly choose it. However, with so many citizens without jobs or with criminal convictions, they had little choice. One such member of this new lower class of British citizens was named Watkin Tench. Between 1788 and 1868, approximately 161,700 convicts were transported to the Australian colonies of New South Wales, Van Diemen’s land and Western Australia. Tench was one of these unlucky convicts to sign onto a dangerous journey. When his ship set out in 1788, he signed a three years’ service to the First Fleet.

Apart from his years in Australia, people knew little about his life back in Britain. It was said he was born on 6 October 1758 at Chester in the county of Cheshire in England. He came from a decent background. Tench was a son of Fisher Tench, a dancing master who ran a boarding school in the town and Margaritta Tarleton of the Liverpool Tarleton. He grew up around a finer class of British citizens, and his family helped instruct the children of the wealthy in formal dance lessons. Though we don’t know for sure how Tench was educated in this small British town, we do know that he is well educated. His diaries from his travels to Australia are written in excellent English, a skill that not everyone was lucky to possess in the 18th century. Aside from this, we know little about Tench’s beginnings. We don’t know how he ended up convicted of a crime. But after he started his voyage, his life changed dramatically.

During the voyage, which was hash and took many months, Tench described landscape of different places. While sailing to Australia, Tench saw landscapes that were unfamiliar and new to him. Arriving in Australia, the entire crew was uncertain of what was to come in their new life. When they arrived in Australia, they established a British colony. Governor Philip was vested with complete authority over the inhabitants of the colony. Though still a young man, Philip was enlightened for his age. From stories of other British colonies, Philip learnt that conflict with original peoples of the land was often a source of strife and difficulties. To avoid this, Philip’s personal intent was to establish harmonious relations with local Aboriginal people. But Philip’s job was even more difficult considering his crew. Other colonies were established with middle-class merchants and craftsmen. His crew were convicts, who had few other skills outside of their criminal histories. Along with making peace with the Aboriginal people, Philip also had to try to reform as well as discipline the convicts of the colony.

From the beginning, Tench stood out from the other convicts. During his initial time in Australia, he quickly rose in his rank, and was given extra power and responsibilities over the convicted crew members. However, he was also still very different from the upper-class rulers who came to rule over the crew. He showed humanity towards the convicted workers. He didn’t want to treat them as common criminals, but as trained military men. Under Tench’s authority, he released the convicts’ chains which were used to control them during the voyage. Tench also showed mercy towards the Aboriginal people. Governor Philip often pursued violent solutions to conflicts with the Aboriginal peoples. Tench disagreed strongly with this method. At one point, he was unable to follow the order given by the Governor Philip to punish the ten Aboriginals.

When they first arrived, Tench was fearful and contemptuous towards the Aboriginals, because the two cultures did not understand each other. However, gradually he got to know them individually and became close friends with them. Tench knew that the Aboriginal people would not cause them conflict if they looked for a peaceful solution. Though there continue to be conflicts and violence, Tench’s efforts helped establish a more peaceful negotiation between two groups when they settled territory and land-use issues.

Meanwhile, many changes were made to the new colony. The Hawkesbury River was named by Governor Philip in June 1789. Many native bird species to the river were hunted by travelling colonists. The colonists were having a great impact on the land and natural resources. Though the colonists had made a lot of progress in the untamed lands of Australia, there were still limits. The convicts were notoriously ill-informed about Australian geography, as was evident in the attempt by twenty absconders to walk from Sydney to China in 1791, believing: “China might be easily reached, being not more than a hundred miles distant, and separated only by a river.” In reality, miles of ocean separated the two.

Much of Australia was unexplored by the convicts. Even Tench had little understanding of what existed beyond the established lines of their colony. Slowly, but surely, the colonists expanded into the surrounding area. A few days after arrival at Botany Bay, their original location, the fleet moved to the more suitable Port Jackson where a settlement was established at Sydney Cove on 26 January 1788. This second location was strange and unfamiliar, and the fleet was on alert for any kind of suspicious behaviors. Though Tench had made friends in Botany Bay with Aboriginal peoples, he could not be sure this new land would be uninhabited. He recalled the first time he stepped into this unfamiliar ground with a boy who helped Tench navigate. In these new lands, he met an old Aboriginal.

1
There was a great deal of information available about the life of Tench before he arrived in Australia.
2
Tench drew pictures to illustrate different places during the voyage.
3
Military personnel in New South Wales treated convicts kindly.
4
Tench’s view towards the Aboriginals remain unchanged during his time in Australia.
5
An Aboriginal gave him gifts of food at the first time they met.
6
The convicts had a good knowledge of Australian geography.
7
What could be a concrete proof of Tench’s good education?
8
How many years did Tench sign the contract to the First Fleet?
9
What was used to control convicts during the voyage?
10
Who gave the order to punish the Aboriginals?
11
When did the name of Hawkesbury River come into being?
12
Where did the escaped convicts plan to go?
13
Where did Tench first meet an old Aboriginal?

Reading Passage 2: BIRD MIGRATION

Reading Passage 2 has seven paragraphs, A-G. Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below. Write the correct number, i-x, in boxes 14-20 on your answer sheet. Choose TWO letters, A-E. Write the correct letters in boxes 21 and 22 on your answer sheet. Which TWO of the following statements are true of bird migration? Complete the sentences below using NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage. Write your answers in boxes 23-26 on your answer sheet.

A Birds have many unique design features that enable them to perform such amazing feats of endurance. They are equipped with lightweight, hollow bones, intricately designed feathers providing both lift and thrust for rapid flight, navigation systems superior to any that man has developed, and an ingenious heat conserving design that, among other things, concentrates all blood circulation beneath layers of warm, waterproof plumage, leaving them fit to face life in the harshest of climates. Their respiratory systems have to perform efficiently during sustained flights at altitude, so they have a system of extracting oxygen from their lungs that far exceeds that of any other animal. During the later stages of the summer breeding season, when food is plentiful, their bodies are able to accumulate considerable layers of fat, in order to provide sufficient energy for their long migratory flights.

B The fundamental reason that birds migrate is to find adequate food during the winter months when it is in short supply. This particularly applies to birds that breed in the temperate and Arctic regions of Northern Hemisphere, where food is abundant during the short growing season. Many species can tolerate cold temperature when food is plentiful, but when food is not available they must migrate. However, intriguing questions remain.

C One puzzling fact is that many birds journey much further than would be necessary just to find food and good weather. Nobody knows, for instance, British swallows, which could presumably survive equally well if they spent the winter in equatorial Africa, instead fly several thousands of miles further to their preferred winter home in South Africa’s Cape Province. Another mystery involves the huge migration performed by arctic terns and mudflat-feeding shorebirds that breed close to Polar Regions. In general, a further north a migrant species breeds, the further south it spends the winter. For arctic terns this necessitates an annual round trip of 25,000 miles. Yet, en route to their final destination in far-flung southern latitudes, all these individuals overfly other areas of seemingly suitable habitat spanning two hemispheres. While we may not fully understand birds’ reasons for going to particular places, we can marvel at their feats.

D One of the greatest mysteries is how young birds know how to find the traditional wintering areas without parental guidance. Very few adults migrate with juveniles in tow, and youngsters may even have little or no inkling of their parents’ appearance. A familiar example is that of the cuckoo, which lays its eggs in another species’ nest and never encounters its young again. It is mind boggling to consider that, once raised by its host species, the young cuckoo makes its own way to ancestral wintering grounds in the tropics before returning single-handedly to northern Europe the next season to seek out a mate among its own kind. The obvious implication is that it inherits from its parents an inbuilt route map and direction-finding capability, as well as a mental image of what another cuckoo looks like. Yet nobody has the slightest idea as to how this is possible.

E Mounting evidence has confirmed that birds use the positions of the sun and stars to obtain compass directions. They seem also to be able to detect the earth’s magnetic field, probably due to having minute crystals of magnetite in the region of their brains. However, true navigation also requires an awareness of position and time, especially when lost. Experiments have shown that after being taken thousands of miles over an unfamiliar landmass, birds are still capable of returning rapidly to nest sites. Such phenomenal powers are the product of computing a number of sophisticated cues, including an inborn map of a night sky and the pull of the earth’s magnetic field. How the birds used their ‘instruments’ remain unknown, but one thing is clear: they see the world with a superior sensory perception to ours. Most small birds migrate at night and take their direction from the position of the setting sun. However, as well as seeing the sun go down, they also seem to see the plane of polarized light caused by it, which calibrates their compass. Travelling at night provides other benefits. Daytime predators are avoided and the danger of dehydration due to flying for long periods in warm, sunlit skies is reduced. Furthermore, at night the air is generally cool and less turbulent and so conducive to sustained, stable flight.

F Nevertheless, all journeys involve considerable risk, and part of the skill in arriving safely is setting off at the right time. This means accurate weather forecasting, and utilizing favorable winds. Birds are adept at both, and, in laboratory tests, some have been shown to detect the minute difference in barometric pressure between the floor and ceiling of a room. Often birds react to weather changes before there is any visible sign of them. Lapwings, which feed on grassland, flee west from the Netherlands to the British Isles, France and Spain at the onset of a cold snap. When the ground surface freezes, the birds could starve. Yet they return to Holland ahead of a thaw, their arrival linked to a pressure change presaging an improvement in the weather.

G In one instance a Welsh Manx shearwater carried to America and released was back in its burrow on Skokholm Island, off the Pembrokeshire coast, one day before a letter announcing its release! Conversely, each autumn a small number of North American birds are blown across the Atlantic by fast-moving westerly tail winds. Not only do they arrive safely in Europe, but, based on ringing evidence, some make it back to North America the following spring, after probably spending the winter with European migrants in sunny African climates.

14
Paragraph A
- i. The best moment to migrate
- ii. The unexplained rejection of closer feeding ground
- iii. The influence of weather on the migration route
- iv. Physical characteristics that allow birds to migrate
- v. The main reason why birds migrate
- vi. The best wintering grounds for birds
- vii. Research findings on how birds migrate
- viii. Successful migration despite trouble of wind
- ix. Contrast between long-distance migration and short-distance migration
- x. Mysterious migration despite lack of teaching
15
Paragraph B
16
Paragraph C
17
Paragraph D
18
Paragraph E
19
Paragraph F
20
Paragraph G
21
Which TWO of the following statements are true of bird migration?
- A. Birds often fly further than they need to.
- B. Birds traveling in family groups are safe.
- C. Birds flying at night need less water.
- D. Birds have much sharper eye-sight than humans.
- E. Only shorebirds are resistant to strong winds.
22
Which TWO of the following statements are true of bird migration?
23
It is a great mystery that young birds like cuckoo can find their wintering grounds without ……………… .
24
Evidence shows birds can tell directions like a ……………… by observing the sun and the stars.
25
One advantage for birds flying at night is that they can avoid contact with ……………… .
26
Laboratory tests show that birds can detect weather without ……………… signs.

Reading Passage 3: Talc Power

Classify the following uses of talc powder as referring to A Chewing gum manufacture B Olive oil extraction C Fruit crop protection Write the correct letter A, B or C in boxes 27-32 on your answer sheet. Complete the summary below using NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage. Write your answers in boxes 33-38 on your answer sheet. Answer the questions below using NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage. Write your answers in boxes 39-40 on your answer sheet.

High in the French Pyrenees, some 1,700m above sea level, lies Trimouns, a huge deposit of hydrated magnesium – talc to you and me. Talc from Trimouns, and from ten other Luzenac mines across the globe, is used in the manufacture of a vast array of everyday products extending from paper, paint and plaster to cosmetics, plastics and car tyres. And of course, there is always talc’s best known end use: talcum powder for babies’ bottoms. But the true versatility of this remarkable mineral is nowhere better displayed than in its sometimes surprising use in certain niche markets in the food and agriculture industries.

Take, for example, the chewing gum business. Every year, Talc de Luzenac France – which owns and operates the Trimouns mine and is a member of the international Luzenac Group (part of Rio Tinto Minerals) – supplies about 6,000 tonnes of talc to chewing gum manufacturers in Europe. “We’ve been selling to this sector of the market since the 1960s,” says Laurent Fournier, sales manager in Luzenac’s Specialties business unit in Toulouse. “Admittedly, in terms of our total annual sales of talc, the amount we supply to chewing gum manufacturers is relatively small, but we see it as a valuable niche market: one where customers place a premium on securing supplies from a reliable, high quality source. Because of this, long term allegiance to a proven supplier is very much a feature of this sector of the talc market. “Switching sources – in the way that you might choose to buy, say, paperclips from Supplier A rather than from Supplier B – is not an easy option for chewing gum manufacturers,” Fournier says. “The cost of reformulating is high, so when customers are using a talc grade that works, even if it’s expensive, they are understandably reluctant to switch.”

But how is talc actually used in the manufacture of chewing gum? Patrick Delord, an engineer with a degree in agronomics, who has been with Luzenac for 22 years and is now senior market development manager, Agriculture and Food, in Europe, explains that chewing gum has four main components. “The most important of them is the gum base,” he says. “It’s the gum base that puts the chew into chewing gum. It binds all the ingredients together, creating a soft, smooth texture. To this the manufacturer then adds sweeteners, softeners and flavourings. Our talc is used as a filler in the gum base. The amount varies between, say, ten and 35 per cent, depending on the type of gum. Fruit flavoured chewing gum, for example, is slightly acidic and would react with the calcium carbonate that the manufacturer might otherwise use as a filler. Talc, on the other hand, makes an ideal filler because it’s non-reactive chemically. In the factory, talc is also used to dust the gum base pellets and to stop the chewing gum sticking during the lamination and packing processes,” Delord adds.

The chewing gum business is, however, just one example of talc’s use in the food sector. For the past 20 years or so, olive oil processors in Spain have been taking advantage of talc’s unique characteristics to help them boost the amount of oil they extract from crushed olives. According to Patrick Delord, talc is especially useful for treating what he calls “difficult” olives.

After the olives are harvested – preferably early in the morning because their taste is better if they are gathered in the cool of the day – they are taken to the processing plant. There they are crushed and stirred for 30-45 minutes. In the old days, the resulting paste was passed through an olive press but nowadays it’s more common to add water and centrifuge the mixture to separate the water and oil from the solid matter. The oil and water are then allowed to settle so that the olive oil layer can be decanted off and bottled. “Difficult” olives are those that are more reluctant than the norm to yield up their full oil content. This may be attributable to the particular species of olive, or to its water content and the time of year the olives are collected – at the beginning and the end of the season their water content is often either too high or too low. These olives are easy to recognise because they produce a lot of extra foam during the stirring process, a consequence of an excess of a fine solid that acts as a natural emulsifier. The oil in this emulsion is lost when the water is disposed of. Not only that, if the waste water is disposed of directly into the local field – often the case in many small processing operation – the emulsified oil may take some time to biodegrade and so be harmful to the environment.

“If you add between a half and two per cent of talc by weight during the stirring process, it absorbs the natural emulsifier in the olives and so boosts the amount of oil you can extract,” says Delord. “In addition, talc’s flat, ‘platey’ structure helps increase the size of the oil droplets liberated stirring, which again improves the yield. However, because talc is chemically inert, it doesn’t affect the colour, taste, appearance or composition of the resulting olive oil.”

If the use of talc in olive oil processing and in chewing gum is long established, new applications in the food and agriculture industries are also constantly being sought by Luzenac. One such promising new market is fruit crop protection, being pioneered in the US. Just like people, fruit can get sunburned. In fact, in very sunny regions up to 45 per cent of a typical crop can be affected by heat stress and sunburn. However, in the case of fruit, it’s not so much the ultra violet rays which harm the crop as the high surface temperature that the sun’s rays create.

To combat this, farmers normally use either chemicals or spray a continuous fine canopy of mist above the fruit trees or bushes. The trouble is, this uses a lot of water – normally a precious commodity in hot, sunny areas – and it is therefore expensive. What’s more, the ground can quickly become waterlogged. “So our idea was to coat the fruit with talc to protect it from the sun,” says Greg Hunter, a marketing specialist who has been with Luzenac for ten years. “But to do this, several technical challenges had first to be overcome. Talc is very hydrophobic: it doesn’t like water. So in order to have a viable product we needed a wettable powder – something that would go readily into suspension so that it could be sprayed onto the fruit. It also had to break the surface tension of the cutin (the natural waxy, waterproof layer on the fruit) and of course it had to wash off easily when the fruit was harvested. No-one’s going to want an apple that’s covered in talc!”

Initial trials in the State of Washington in 2003 showed that when the product was sprayed onto Granny Smith apples, it reduced their surface temperature and lowered the incidence of sunburn by up to 60 per cent. Today the new product, known as Invelop Maximum SPF, is in its second commercial year on the US market. Apple growers are the primary target although Hunter believes grape growers represent another sector with long term potential. He is also hopeful of extending sales to overseas markets such as Australia, South Africa and southern Europe.

27
Talc is used to prevent foaming.
- A. Chewing gum manufacture
- B. Olive oil extraction
- C. Fruit crop protection
28
Talc is used to prevent stickiness.
29
Talc is used to boost production.
30
Talc is used as a filler to provide a base.
31
Talc is used to prevent sunburn.
32
Talc is used to help increase the size of the product.
33
The use of talc powder in olive oil industry in Spain has been around for 33 ……………… years.
34
It is extremely useful in dealing with difficult olives which often produce a lot of 34 ……………… due to the high content of solid matters.
35
The traditional method of oil extraction used in some smaller plants often produces 35 ……………… , which contains emulsified oil, and if it is directly disposed of it may be 36 ……………… to the environment, because it cannot 37 ……………… .
36
The traditional method of oil extraction used in some smaller plants often produces 35 ……………… , which contains emulsified oil, and if it is directly disposed of it may be 36 ……………… to the environment, because it cannot 37 ……………… .
37
The traditional method of oil extraction used in some smaller plants often produces 35 ……………… , which contains emulsified oil, and if it is directly disposed of it may be 36 ……………… to the environment, because it cannot 37 ……………… .
38
But adding talc powder can absorb the emulsifier and increase the production, because the size of oil 38 ……………… grows.
39
What are the last two stages of chewing gum manufacturing process?
40
Which group of farmers does Invelop intend to target next?

Answer sheet

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1. FALSE
The answer is FALSE because the passage says there was little information about Tench's life before he came to Australia.
2. NOT GIVEN
The answer is NOT GIVEN because there is no information in the passage about Tench drawing pictures during the voyage.
3. TRUE
The answer is TRUE because the passage says military personnel treated convicts with kindness in New South Wales.
4. FALSE
The answer is FALSE because the passage explains that Tench's view towards the Aboriginals changed during his time in Australia.
5. NOT GIVEN
The answer is NOT GIVEN because the passage does not mention if an Aboriginal gave Tench food the first time they met.
6. FALSE
The answer is FALSE because the passage says convicts did not know much about Australian geography.
7. His diaries
His diaries are proof of Tench’s good education because they show his ability to write well and record events carefully.
8. 3 / Three years
Tench signed a contract for three years, as stated in the passage.
9. Chains
Chains were used to control convicts during the voyage, as mentioned in the passage.
10. Governor Philip
Governor Philip gave the order to punish the Aboriginals, according to the passage.
11. June 1789
The name Hawkesbury River was first used in June 1789, as stated in the passage.
12. China
The escaped convicts planned to go to China, as the passage says.
13. Botany Bay
Tench first met an old Aboriginal at Botany Bay, as mentioned in the passage.
14. iv
The answer is iv because Paragraph A discusses the physical characteristics that help birds migrate, such as strong wings and endurance.
15. v
The answer is v because Paragraph B explains the main reason birds migrate is to find food and better living conditions.
16. ii
The answer is ii because Paragraph C talks about birds ignoring closer feeding grounds, which is unexplained.
17. x
The answer is x because Paragraph D describes how young birds migrate without being taught, which is mysterious.
18. vii
The answer is vii because Paragraph E gives research findings on how birds migrate, such as using the sun and stars.
19. i
The answer is i because Paragraph F discusses the best moment for birds to start migrating.
20. viii
The answer is viii because Paragraph G shows birds can migrate successfully even with strong winds, while option v (main reason for migration) is not the focus here.
21. A / C
A is correct because the passage says birds sometimes fly further than needed; C is correct because birds flying at night need less water. B is wrong because traveling in family groups does not guarantee safety.
22. C / A
C is correct because birds flying at night need less water; A is correct because birds often fly further than necessary. D is wrong because the passage does not say birds have sharper eyesight than humans.
23. parental guidance
The answer is 'parental guidance' because the passage says young birds like cuckoos find their wintering grounds without help from parents.
24. compass
The answer is 'compass' because the passage says birds can tell directions like a compass by watching the sun and stars.
25. predators
The answer is 'predators' because the passage says flying at night helps birds avoid predators.
26. visible
The answer is 'visible' because laboratory tests show birds can detect weather without visible signs.
27. B
B is correct because talc is used to prevent foaming in olive oil extraction, not in chewing gum or fruit crop protection.
28. A
A is correct because talc is used to prevent stickiness in chewing gum manufacture, not in olive oil extraction or fruit crop protection.
29. B
B is correct because talc is used to boost production in olive oil extraction, not in chewing gum or fruit crop protection.
30. A
A is correct because talc is used as a filler to provide a base in chewing gum manufacture.
31. C
C is correct because talc is used to prevent sunburn in fruit crop protection.
32. B
B is correct because talc is used to help increase the size of the product in olive oil extraction.
33. 20
The answer is '20' because the passage says talc powder has been used in the Spanish olive oil industry for 20 years.
34. foam
The answer is 'foam' because difficult olives produce a lot of foam due to high solid content.
35. waste water
The answer is 'waste water' because the traditional method produces waste water with emulsified oil.
36. harmful
The answer is 'harmful' because the waste water may be harmful to the environment.
37. biodegrade
The answer is 'biodegrade' because the waste water cannot biodegrade.
38. droplets
The answer is 'droplets' because adding talc powder increases the size of oil droplets.
39. lamination, packing
The last two stages of chewing gum manufacturing are lamination and packing, as stated in the passage.
40. grape growers
Invelop intends to target grape growers next, according to the passage.

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Reading Passage 1: The Extraordinary Watkin Tench

Reading Passage 2: BIRD MIGRATION

Reading Passage 3: Talc Power

Answer sheet

Answer key