Reading 2026-09 Test 7 — 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: Sleep Study on Modern-Day Hunter-Gatherers Dispels Popular Notions

The sleep troubles common in modern life have long been blamed on our industrial society, from the city lights, long work hours and commutes, to caffeine and the Internet. Sleep researchers often look back on a time when humans were able to get more rest by sleeping and waking to the rhythms of the sun. It turns out that this may not be quite right. In fact, our ancestors may not have been getting the recommended eight hours of sleep, either. In a recent study, researchers traveled all over the world to examine sleep in some of the world’s last remaining hunter-gatherer societies – the Hadza of Tanzania, the San of Namibia, and the Tsimane of Bolivia. Cut off from media, electricity and other distractions, these pre-industrial societies are thought to sleep the way humans did more than 10,000 years ago. Traveling to where they lived, often in humid, remote locations, researchers used medical devices to record the sleeping habits of 94 of these tribespeople and ended up collecting data representing 1,165 days.

They found very similar sleep patterns despite their geographic isolation. On average, all three groups sleep a little less than 6.5 hours a night, do not take naps, and don’t go to sleep when it gets dark. Like many of us, the Hadza, San, and Tsimane spend more time in bed – from 6.9 to 8.5 hours – than they do actually sleeping. This adds up to a sleep efficiency that is very similar to today’s industrial populations.

According to Jerome Siegel, director of the University of California’s Center for Sleep Research, evidence suggests sleep habits may not be environmental or cultural, but central to the physical makeup of humans. These findings question the millions of dollars that have been spent on research that tries to explain why some sleepers get only about six hours of sleep a night. Also, such findings question whether lack of sleep is a cause of obesity, mood disorders, and other physical and mental illnesses which have become so common in recent decades. Scientists have documented that people’s energy often falls in the mid afternoon. Some have suggested that it’s because we’ve managed to suppress a natural desire for a nap. However, the new study provides evidence that this is unlikely, and that napping was actually rare in hunter-gatherer societies. The researchers estimated that naps may have occurred on up to 7 percent of winter days and 22 percent of summer days. They noted that their devices were only good at detecting longer naps, so it is possible that some of the study subjects took naps that were short, perhaps 15 minutes or less.

Another fascinating finding from the study had to do with the circadian rhythms, our daily activity cycles related to sunlight. Instead of going to sleep right at dusk, tribespeople were staying awake an average of between 2.5 and 4.4 hours after sunset. All three tribes had fires going, but the light itself was much lower than you might get from a light bulb. They did, however, have a tendency to wake up anywhere between an hour before and an hour after sunrise. Siegel and his co-authors investigated this further by looking into the significance of temperature. They found that it also played a big role, though it was somewhat less important than light in influencing sleep patterns. They wrote that “sleep in both the winter and summer usually occurred during the period of cooling and that waking times usually occurred near the height of the daily warming trend.”

The tribespeople that were studied are different from people living in modern conditions in a number of respects. Importantly, almost none of them were troubled by sleeplessness. In interviews with the researchers conducted through interpreters, only 1.5 to 2.5 percent of the study subjects said they had severe difficulties sleeping more than once a year. This figure is far lower than the 10 to 30 percent recorded in many industrialized countries today. Siegel suggested that “mimicking aspects of the natural environment” may therefore help treat some sleep disorders. The tribespeople are also much healthier. Not a single one is overweight, indicating their overall higher levels of physical fitness. They also tended to have healthier hearts. Thus comes a critical question. If we can’t blame our health problems on our lack of sleep, could it be that the reason we feel so unrested is because of poor health?

1
Scientists studied hunter-gatherer societies because their sleep patterns are assumed to be similar to those of humans more than 10,000 years ago.
- A. TRUE
- B. FALSE
- C. NOT GIVEN
2
The medical devices used in the research were specially designed for humid conditions.
3
Researchers found that tribespeople stayed longer in bed than inhabitants of industrialised regions.
4
Jerome Siegel believes that environment and culture have little effect on sleep patterns.
5
Scientists have recorded an afternoon drop in _____.
6
Studies of hunter-gatherer societies show that napping was rare and occurred more often during the _____.
7
The devices may not have detected _____ naps.
8
Even with _____ there was little light.
9
Tribespeople usually woke up around _____.
10
Scientists found that _____ had almost as much influence on sleep patterns as light.
11
_____ is something that very few of the tribespeople suffered from.
12
Tribespeople had better fitness than industrialised populations and were not _____.
13
Tribespeople also had stronger _____.

Reading Passage 2: How to be Happy

Some recent developments in the science of happiness

A psychiatrist Tony Fernando was walking down the street when he saw a group of young homeless men sitting on the footpath. As Fernando handed out gifts of food, he tried to video the men's reactions in his mind, recording how their gratitude lifted him in return. 'I felt warm, content, meaningful,' he says. Fernando believes the brain can be trained to make us happy and that his 'video method' is one way to achieve this. In fact, a growing body of scientific research internationally is showing how we can learn happiness in the same way we can learn to play the piano. In the soft tissue that forms the brain, there are approximately ten trillion synapses connecting roughly a hundred billion neurons. Active synapses become more sensitive; less active synapses die, but new ones grow quickly. This is relatively new thinking – just 30 years ago, neuroscientists believed that adult brain cells couldn't regenerate. One of the pioneers in this field is University of Wisconsin professor Richard Davidson. He studied Buddhist monks using brain scans in his research facility, and found that those trained in meditation had higher levels of activity in the left prefrontal cortex – the area associated with happiness. Davidson believes that the trained brain is physically different from the untrained one.

The idea that we can train our brains to find more happiness has been called 'mindfulness' by neuropsychologist Rick Hanson, author of Hardwiring Happiness. It was in college that Hanson, quite unintentionally, first recognised the importance of something that would become his life's work. As an unconfident teenager, he discovered he could turn a small event, 'a young woman smiling at me', into a good feeling he could hold on to. To do this, Hanson employs exactly the same imaginary 'video method' as psychiatrist Tony Fernando. 'The brain takes its shape from what the mind rests upon,' says Hanson. If you keep resting your mind on self-criticism and worries, he argues, your brain will be shaped by that. Hanson explains that resting it on pleasant feelings and the things you have accomplished means that over time your brain will take on a different shape, with strength and optimism hard-wired into it.

In New Zealand, the Mental Health Foundation runs mindfulness programmes in 14 schools. Foundation CEO Judi Clements says, 'It's a valuable approach because children are told to pay attention, but aren't told how to pay attention.' Preliminary results on the outcomes found that children had sustained increases in well-being. The Foundation recognises five pathways to happiness – being active, connecting with others, taking notice, learning and giving. And, says Clements, 'We're detecting a hunger for it from different organisations and professions as well, so the Foundation is soon going to pilot an online “well-being game” in several workplaces.' The project leader is psychologist Carsten Grimm, who is interested in whether some pathways to happiness are more effective than others. In a study, Grimm recorded the activities and corresponding happiness scores of 173 people. What he found was that people who used several pathways to happiness achieved the best results, suggesting it's better to have a balance than concentrate on the single pathway you most identify with.

However, Associate Professor of Psychological Medicine Nathan Consedine greets our relentless search for the secrets to happiness with a tired sigh. 'The more you chase it, the less you get it,' he says, quoting studies showing those who value contentment and well-being are, in fact, less happy. The big question, he says, is whether there's any benefit in actively seeking happiness. He cites a study, for example, which showed that people who were happier were less inclined to show sympathy. Consedine says that's probably because happy people are strongly motivated to stay happy, but engaging sympathetically with others typically involves engaging with their distress, and that's going to reduce their own happiness. Consedine's not disagreeing with the theory of mindfulness, but believes there's more work to be done.

Some of that work is being conducted at Auckland University's Centre for Brain Research. Associate Professor Johanna Montgomery has been studying Hanson's theory – that altering our brain activity at a synaptic level affects our behaviour. She accepts that it's a logical explanation based on studies from animals, but we haven't yet got the technology to prove it scientifically in humans. It's true that MRI scans certainly do indicate an increased flow of blood to different areas of the brain which are experiencing positive stimuli. However, she warns that this is a long way from confirming that the brain itself is developing or strengthening.

Nonetheless, Montgomery believes she is making progress. In the laboratory, when scientists want to experiment with synaptic connections, they stimulate the brain with electricity, as this copies the high-frequency firings that happen normally in the brain every second. Using this technique, Montgomery has made a number of findings. For example, the hormones that are released routinely in response to good or bad situations – such as adrenaline – act to regulate the brain, in the same way that weather has a regulating effect on human activity more generally. But scientists understand some of these stimuli better than others. More is known about the impact on brain activity of prolonged periods of fear than the effects of 'happiness' hormones that are released by positive events in life. This is one potentially important area that she hopes to investigate further in future.

14
Which paragraph contains a reference to a fact that two scientists use the same technique to promote their own happiness?
15
Which paragraph contains the suggestion that scientific opinion about an aspect of brain function has changed over a given time period?
16
Which paragraph contains an estimate of how numerous some brain components are?
17
Which paragraph contains the reason why some educational courses were set up?
18
It's better to look for a variety of ways to increase happiness than focus on just one.
- A. Tony Fernando
- B. Richard Davidson
- C. Rick Hanson
- D. Judi Clements
- E. Carsten Grimm
- F. Nathan Consedine
19
Focusing on personal achievements rather than negative experiences will make people happier.
20
Happy people might have a reason not to display one favourable characteristic.
21
A range of groups are becoming more interested in learning techniques to improve happiness.
22
Auckland University's Centre for Brain Research: Associate Professor Johanna Montgomery says that current research into brain activity and behaviour only relates to ____ , so Hanson's theories have not been proved correct.
23
While scans do show that positive stimuli result in more ____ reaching parts of the brain, this isn't proof that the brain is getting stronger.
24
In laboratory experiments, scientists use ____ to initiate brain activity, because it's similar to natural processes.
25
One finding is that hormones can be compared to the ____ , because both can change human behaviour.
26
But scientists understand some stimuli, such as ____ , better than they understand more positive stimuli.

Reading Passage 3: Some views on the use of headphones

Whether wearing headphones at work, or in other areas of everyday life, is a good thing or a bad thing has generated a lot of research and opinion.

(A) To visit a typical modern office today is to walk into a room with possibly a dozen songs playing simultaneously but to hear none of them. Up to half of younger workers listen to music on their headphones, and nearly all of them think it makes them better at their jobs. In survey after survey, people report with confidence that music makes them happier, better at concentrating, and more productive. Scientists do not share this belief; they maintain that listening to music hurts people's ability to recall other things they should be doing, and any pop song, loud or soft, reduces overall performance for both extroverts and introverts. A Taiwanese study linked music that has lyrics to lower marks on concentration tests for college students, and other research has shown music with lyrics scrambles our brains' verbal-processing skills. “As silence has the best overall performance, it would still be advisable that people work in silence,” another reporter dryly concluded. The question is therefore: if headphones are so bad for productivity, why do so many people at work have them? One factor to consider is that countries like the USA have moved from a farming and manufacturing economy to a service economy, with an emphasis on jobs in offices that require higher levels of concentration, reflection and creativity. As an estimated 70 percent of office workers work in open-plan office spaces, it is more important to create one's own enclosing bubble of sound. Lending strength to the argument for headphones at work is evidence that music relaxes our muscles, improves our mood, and may even moderately reduce blood pressure, heart rate and anxiety.

(B) The story of headphones began in 1910, when the US Navy received an odd letter written in purple ink on blue-and-pink paper. The letter writer, an eccentric inventor and repairman named Nathaniel Baldwin, from the US state of Utah, made what at the time was an astonishing claim: he had built, in his kitchen, a new kind of headset that could amplify sound. This was an opportune invention for the Navy, which asked for a sound test and then enthusiastically adopted the headsets, later called headphones, and used them in World War I for naval radio communication.

(C) The purpose of headphones is to concentrate a quiet and private sound in the ear of the listener, which is a radical departure from music's social purpose in history. “Music, together with dance, co-evolved biologically and culturally to serve as a technology of social bonding,” Nils L. Wallin and Björn Merker wrote in The Origins of Music. Songs don't leave behind bones, but evidence of musical notation dates back to Sumeria, 3,500 years ago, and in 1995 archaeologists discovered a bone flute in southern Europe estimated to be 44,000 years old. If music evolved as a social glue for the species, as a way to make groups and keep them together, headphones have done what writing and literacy did for language – they made music private.

(D) Author and columnist Stephen Marche wrote that separation from other people is one of the first things ordinary Americans spend their money achieving. It is “a by-product of a long-standing national appetite for independence,” he said. Americans are not alone in their desire for personal independence and privacy. Marche is right; wealth can buy – and modern technology can deliver – personal independence, and it is this that people have always sought. Dr Michael Bull, an expert on personal music devices from the University of Sussex in the UK, has repeatedly made the larger point that personal music devices change how we relate to public spaces. Controlling our public spaces is more important now that more people are moving from the edges of cities to live in urban centres. “With the urban space, the more it's inhabited, the safer you feel,” Bull says. “You feel safe if you can feel people there, but you don't want to interact with them.” Headphones create shields for wearers, separating them from other people and their surroundings. Headphones have their own rules of good manners; they are like wearing a “Do not disturb” sign. We assume that people wearing them are busy and we should respect their privacy, so now people wear them to appear busy. In fact, it is now becoming quite common for people not to listen to anything at all, but just to wear headphones.

(E) However, as pointed out at the beginning of this piece, although scientists have stated that headphones are bad for productivity, people still wear them at work. It is not just that headphones create privacy out of public areas, but also that music causes people to relax and reflect and pause. The outcome of relaxation, reflection and pausing at work won't be captured in minute-to-minute productivity metrics. What must be considered is that in moments of extreme focus, our attention radiates outward, toward the problem, rather than inward, on how to solve the problem. However, with music “When our minds are at ease, we're more likely to direct the spotlight of attention inward,” Jonah Lehrer wrote in his book Imagine: How Creativity Works. “The answers have been there all along. We just weren't listening.” In a crowded world, real estate is the ultimate scarce resource, and a headphone is a small invisible fence around our minds – making space, creating separation, and helping us listen to ourselves.

27
Young people are easily persuaded by surveys that listening to music is beneficial.
- A. YES
- B. NO
- C. NOT GIVEN
28
Different studies share the same conclusions about the desirability of working in silence.
29
Some doctors recommend wearing headphones to lower blood pressure.
30
Nathaniel Baldwin was a respected government researcher.
31
The effect of the invention of headphones is comparable to the effect of the invention of writing.
32
What does the writer suggest about a service economy?
- A. The work is mentally demanding.
- B. It provides employment for younger workers.
- C. It is a small part of a country's economy.
- D. Workers have to live in urban centres.
33
When the writer mentions the historical evidence for early music, he is
- A. emphasizing the diversity of musical forms.
- B. expressing his frustration with the limited archaeological evidence uncovered.
- C. lending support to the view that music has been important in human history.
- D. creating a geographical map of the evolution of music.
34
What does the writer say about the social effects of listening to music through headphones?
- A. It has caused a reduction in the number of people who listen to music.
- B. It has increased people's participation in music events.
- C. It has reduced the global variation of music styles.
- D. It has changed the traditional role of music in society.
35
What does the writer say about personal independence?
- A. Americans are unique in their desire for personal independence.
- B. Personal independence is something that can be purchased.
- C. Striving for personal independence is a recent phenomenon.
- D. Personal independence destroys social connections.
36
Why does the writer quote Jonah Lehrer in the last paragraph?
- A. To support the writer's own view.
- B. To draw attention to an authoritative book about music.
- C. To raise awareness of people's loss of listening skills.
- D. To illustrate how music brings people closer to each other.
37
Dr Michael Bull believes that listening to music through headphones has changed the ____ the wearers of headphones have with public spaces.
- A. courtesy
- B. relationship
- C. difficulty
- D. countryside
- E. suburbs
- F. language
- G. barriers
- H. obstacles
- I. disapproval
38
Living in the centre of cities is becoming popular, as people become less keen on living in the ____.
39
In densely populated city centres, headphones form ____ that isolate people from fellow citizens and from their environment.
40
Wearers of headphones are treated with ____ that other people do not receive.

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1. A
The answer is TRUE because scientists studied hunter-gatherer societies since their sleep patterns are thought to be similar to humans from over 10,000 years ago, as stated in the passage.
2. C
The answer is NOT GIVEN because there is no information in the passage about whether the medical devices were specially designed for humid conditions.
3. C
The answer is NOT GIVEN because the passage does not compare the time tribespeople spent in bed with people in industrialised regions.
4. A
The answer is TRUE because Jerome Siegel believes that environment and culture have little effect on sleep patterns, as mentioned in the passage.
5. energy
The answer is 'energy' because the passage says scientists have recorded an afternoon drop in energy.
6. summer
The answer is 'summer' because studies show that napping was rare and happened more often during the summer.
7. short
The answer is 'short' because the passage says the devices may not have detected short naps.
8. fires
The answer is 'fires' because even with fires, there was little light, as stated in the passage.
9. sunrise
The answer is 'sunrise' because tribespeople usually woke up around sunrise.
10. temperature
The answer is 'temperature' because scientists found that temperature had almost as much influence on sleep patterns as light.
11. sleeplessness
The answer is 'sleeplessness' because sleeplessness is something very few of the tribespeople suffered from.
12. overweight
The answer is 'overweight' because tribespeople had better fitness than industrialised populations and were not overweight.
13. hearts
The answer is 'hearts' because tribespeople also had stronger hearts.
14. B
The answer is paragraph B because it mentions two scientists using the same technique to promote their own happiness.
15. A
The answer is paragraph A because it suggests that scientific opinion about brain function has changed over time.
16. A
The answer is paragraph A because it contains an estimate of how numerous some brain components are.
17. C
The answer is paragraph C because it gives the reason why some educational courses were set up.
18. E
The answer is E (Carsten Grimm) because he says it's better to look for a variety of ways to increase happiness than focus on just one.
19. C
The answer is C (Rick Hanson) because he believes focusing on personal achievements rather than negative experiences will make people happier.
20. F
The answer is F (Nathan Consedine) because he says happy people might have a reason not to display one favourable characteristic.
21. D
The answer is D (Judi Clements) because she says a range of groups are becoming more interested in learning techniques to improve happiness.
22. animals
The answer is 'animals' because Johanna Montgomery says current research only relates to animals, so Hanson's theories are not yet proven for humans.
23. blood
The answer is 'blood' because scans show that positive stimuli result in more blood reaching parts of the brain, but this does not prove the brain is getting stronger.
24. electricity
The answer is 'electricity' because scientists use electricity in laboratory experiments to start brain activity, as it is similar to natural processes.
25. weather
The answer is 'weather' because hormones can be compared to the weather since both can change human behaviour.
26. fear
The answer is 'fear' because scientists understand some stimuli, such as fear, better than more positive stimuli.
27. C
The answer is NOT GIVEN because the passage does not say if young people are easily persuaded by surveys about music's benefits.
28. A
The answer is YES because different studies share the same conclusions about the desirability of working in silence, as stated in the passage.
29. C
The answer is NOT GIVEN because there is no information about doctors recommending headphones to lower blood pressure.
30. B
The answer is NO because Nathaniel Baldwin was not described as a respected government researcher.
31. A
The answer is YES because the effect of headphones is compared to the effect of writing in the passage.
32. A
The answer is A because the writer suggests that work in a service economy is mentally demanding.
33. C
The answer is C because the writer mentions historical evidence for early music to support the view that music has been important in human history.
34. D
The answer is D because the writer says listening to music through headphones has changed the traditional role of music in society.
35. B
The answer is B because the writer says personal independence is something that can be purchased.
36. A
The answer is A because the writer quotes Jonah Lehrer to support his own view.
37. B
The answer is B (relationship) because Dr Michael Bull believes headphones have changed the relationship wearers have with public spaces.
38. E
The answer is E (suburbs) because living in city centres is becoming popular as people are less keen on living in the suburbs.
39. G
The answer is G (barriers) because in city centres, headphones form barriers that isolate people from others and their environment.
40. A
The answer is A (courtesy) because wearers of headphones are treated with courtesy that others do not receive.

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Reading Passage 1: Sleep Study on Modern-Day Hunter-Gatherers Dispels Popular Notions

Reading Passage 2: How to be Happy

Reading Passage 3: Some views on the use of headphones

Answer sheet

Answer key