IELTS Academic Reading Practice TEST – 3
IELTS Academic Reading Practice Test 2022
There are 03 long reading passages of between 750 – 900 words each. All candidates are required to find information and mark their responses on the answer sheet (download link given below).
You can Practice our full range of free Academic Reading Practice Test with answers, explanation and PDF prepared by experts to help you quickly reach band 8+ scores.
Total no. of questions : 40
Time allowed : 1 hour
IELTS Academic Reading Practice Test 2022 pdf – Passage 1
You should spend about 18-20 mins on questions 1-14.
| WHAT ARE SHARES FOR ? A. A company which is registered on the stock exchange offers shares under its ownership to anyone who wants to buy them. A large company may issue tens of millions of shares. Among different types of shares, the most common are called ‘ordinary shares’. when you buy one, you become partner, or shareholder in the company, and share profits, attend board meetings and vote on key issues and appointments. You can sell your shares anytime you want. B. The price of a share gets regularly updated; it may have not much relation to the cash value of the company if all its assets gets sold. In cases where the company owned buildings were grossly undervalued than it should have been. In contrast, when the stock markets is climbing, many companies are valued at sky high prices in the stock market than their real value. As such, there are new challenges to valuation like how do you value a high-tech company whose products keep on changing every two months, and whose bread earners are its talented employees? The constantly changing difference between the market capitalisation (the total value of all a company’s shares at the current market price) and the ‘real’ value is one of the great topics of stock market evaluation. C. Shares are a volatile property- their prices do not remain steady as people buy and sell them continuously. A lot of factors influence the share price, including company analysis, change in politics, natural disasters, cold wars and economic up-downs. One of the main factors is the behaviour share holders. If huge chunk of investors think the price of a share is going to rise and buy it, the price of the share will rise until they stop buying. This kind of volatility is a temporary phase. In the long term, shares in reputed companies are thought to be good investments than those in bad companies. D. The capitalist financial system’s big business is central to the world’s present economic system. Since the 1990s, there has been no other system competing with it. Thus, people who want to increase their assets must learn how it works, and will decide to participate in the system at some point in their lives. The strongest, best-established companies are known as ‘Blue chips’. The world of the casino gave it the name Blue chips, where they are those with the highest value. The other term – ‘secondary issues’ are shares in solid companies. These have slightly low confidence than the blue chips. “Growth stocks” are shares in newer companies that are supposed to do quite well in the time to come, but which may not do so. Finally, there are the “penny shares”, which belong to companies with a low value, but which may increase for some reason or the other. E. Companies normally start out by being privately owned. Later when they expand, the owners may opt to go ‘public’ and sell some shares on the stock market. There are strict rules of going public, the company must be worth buying. The advantage to the original owners is that they can realise very large sums of cash if the offering is successful. However, some owners prefer to keep control in their hands by staying private, while others may buy back all company shares and return the company to private ownership. Taking a stock market listed company back into private ownership is though rare, but when it is done the aim is usually to strengthen control over decision-making process. For instance, business tycoons may decide they can do a better job of building the business by making a company private because the red tape and other shareholders interference is much less. |
Questions 1-5
Which paragraph contains the following information ?
Write the correct letter, A-E. Also, you may use any letter more than once.
1. a lack of connection between company viability and price of shares – ……………………..
2. the rights of shareholders in a company – ……………………..
3. reasons given by companies for seeking shareholders investment – ……………………..
4. reasons for changes in what people pay for shares – ……………………..
5. the basic structure of business dealings worldwide – ……………………..
Questions 6-10
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage.
6. What type of organisation may be difficult to value ? – ……………………..
7. What we call to the combined value of shares at a particular point in time ? – ……………………..
8. From where does the term used to describe the most secure shares derived ? – ……………………..
9. What we call to untested but risky shares with rising value potential ? – ……………………..
10. Who has the power to delist company from stock exchange, in order to regain control ? – ……………………..
Question 11-14
Do the following statements agree with the information given in passage 1 ?
TRUE – if the statement agrees
FALSE – if the statement contradicts
NOT GIVEN – if there is no information available
11. Share holders can decide who hold vital positions in a company – ……………………..
12. A company can restrict the total number of shares held by any shareholder – ……………………..
13. Buyer activity is an important factor to determine the cost of shares. – ……………………..
14. A company can easily plan to go public as there is lack of organized process – ……………………..
IELTS Academic Reading Practice Test 2022 pdf – Passage 2
| AUSTRALIAN ROYAL FLYING DOCTOR SERVICE Although, Australia has roughly the same land area as the US, it has a population that is less than 10% of the total US population. It’s because one-third of the country is mainly desert land, another third is classified as arid and the rest contains nutrient deficient soil. As a result, the inland is very sparsely populated, and those who live and work there do not have possess facilities that urban Australians have. The Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) has over the past century provided medical health services to those in the less-known outback. The service has played a huge role in the settlement of outback Australia. The first person to identify the need for an airborne medical service in the outback was John Flynn in 1900’s. Flynn(a church minister) followed up on an idea first thought in 1918 by a Lieutenant J. Clifford Peel of the Australian Flying Corps. Flynn took up the case for a service after supporting to establish nursing homes in different outback towns. According to him, the patient should receive a doctor’s visit rather than face the risk of illness while travelling over inappropriate roads to hospitals. Flynn’s proposal got the support of his church and other government officials, and public donations started coming in. On 15 May 1928, the Australian Inland Mission Aerial Medical Service started business in Cloncurry, Queensland, and the first flight took off two days later. It was later called the Royal Flying Doctor Service. In its first operational year, the service attended to 255 patients. The goldfields of Western Australia had air carrier support for serious emergencies from 1931, although it was 1937 before the place officially had a section for flying doctor. In 1935, Port Hedland and Kimberley region got their service with the aid of Victorian philanthropists. When the Flying Doctor commenced, aviation equipment and facilities were still in their nascent stage. With no navigation equipments, pilots had to identify their way using landmarks. Night flying was only an exception. Special emphasis were made on sufficient fuel to be carried for the return trip. Only Pilot decides if a landing is safe or not. The Flying doctor contracted aircraft owners in its initial days and pilots to fly its medical staff where they were urgently required. The first agreement was with Qantas, which leased out a 4-passenger DH.50A along with equipment and staff at a price of two shillings (A$0.40) per mile (1.6 km). That plane (named Victory) went on to fly 1,10,000 miles for the Flying Doctor until 1934. In 1949, the contract was then transferred to Trans-Australia Airlines. It was in1960s that The Royal Flying Doctor Service had begun buying its own aircraft, and was employing pilots and engineers directly from the market. They were predominantly British aircrafts earlier, later models were American in design and manufacturing. From single-piston to turbo prop engines, fitted out as flying intensive care units (ICUs), the machines of the Flying Doctor have steadily move forwards along with the aviation industry. In 1942, the Australian Inland Mission Aerial Medical Service became the Flying Doctor Service, and in 1954 it was bestowed with a Royal Charter. The RFDS currently has more than 50 modern aircraft operating from 21 bases throughout Australia (flying almost 25 round trips to the moon per year). The RFDS is a non-profit organisation, its operations are sponsored by State governments, public donations and corporate fundings. The Flying Doctor has been a massive boon for the settlers of the outback region. It has given endless comfort to far-flung civilization despite the distances involved, help in a medical emergency is not too far away after all. |
Questions 15-19
Do the following statements agree with the information given in passage 2 ?
TRUE – if the statement agrees
FALSE – if the statement contradicts
NOT GIVEN – if there is no information available
15. The RFDS caters for all Australians – ………………….
16. The 1st flying doctor was Lt. Peel – ………………….
17. The RFDS started in May, 1928 – ………………….
18. Pilot is the only authority to decide on longer flights – ………………….
19. The RFDS didn’t have any air carriers when it was founded – ………………….
Question 20-25
Write correct letter, A-I
A. equipped B. enlisting C. flies D. serves E. buying F. caters G. acquired H. building I. hired
The RFDS in the 1960’s began (20) …………………. their own planes and were (21) ………………….crew and maintenance staff. To begin with, they purchased UK aircrafts , but later planes were (22) …………………. from the US. In its first aircrafts, pilots sat in the open air, but were later (23)…………………. with closed cabins, and full medical emergency support services. Today, RFDS (24)…………………from 21 depots and (25) ………………….for over 250000 patients in a year.
Question 26-28
Write the correct letter, A-F
A. with sophisticated facilities B. largely from taxes by government C. because of its extensive spread D. specially heated surgeries E. from its competent staffing structure F. from a variety of resources
26. The Royal Flying Doctor Service mainly – ………………….
27. Later air carriers were fitted out – ………………….
28. Financial aid for the RFDS comes – ………………….
IELTS Academic Reading Practice Test 2022 pdf – Passage 3
| WHY DO WHALES BLEACH THEMSELVES ? A. hundred corpses litter a beach in Tasmania(Australia), it’s the first pod of whales to strand this particular season. A group of researchers, Vets and other experts take skin samples, collect tissue and teeth samples, recording anything that could answer the crucial biggest question: why did these whales bleach? There are tonnes of theories, some more convincing than others. For many years, the reason why whales wash up has been a mystery. But slowly and gradually, their corpses are unfolding their secrets. B. When 70 small dolphins were stranded on the British coast in the year 2007, locals immediately blamed the army. Fishermen had sensed unusual activity beneath the waves of the sea. In recent years, navy SONAR technology has been assumed culprit of causing certain whales to strand. It’s well known that noise pollution from industry, shipping etc. can interfere with underwater communication – but can it really drive whales from ocean towards beach? C. There are two evolving concepts about the effects of sonar. Firstly, the noise can be surprising to the animal, causing it to swim fast to the surface, resulting in compression sickness (known to human divers as ‘the bends’), which can restrict the supply of blood to the brain and ultimately kill it. Secondly, sound waves can also make bubbles with a similar effect like compression sickness. But these are still our theories, and based on our comprehension of land-based animals rather than deep-diving sea bodies. One researcher said, ‘whales have been stranding for a very long time -pre-sonar. So it can’t be just like that.’ D. When animals beach adjacent to each other at the same time, the humans have no role in it. Some whale species, are just too friendly for their own wellness. If one of a group strands and sounds the cry, others will try and come for its help, and hence become stuck themselves. In a social group of animals one animal’s navigational mistake becomes dangerous and fatally affects the whole group of animals. E. Data has disclosed that all mass stranding regions around Australia were gently sloping sandy beaches, some with inclines of less than 0.5 degrees. Shallow sandy beaches disrupt their echolocation system of the whales. On a gentle sandy beach the echo disappears, the whales believe there is no stoppage ahead of them. When the whale doesn’t hear any echo, it continues to swim at rapid speed until it strikes onto the beach. F. Ralph James, a physicist, suggests that physics can be of help with the ‘when’ and ‘Where’. Rising bubbles can block some of the whales echoes, and the ocean is full of bubbles. Larger ones quickly rise to the surface and disappear, while the microbubbles – can last for days. It’s the smaller ones that can absorb the whales’ echolocation clicks. Harsh weather generates more bubbles than usual and during and after a storm whales may essentially be swimming blind. There seems to be some anecdotal evidence in support of James’ storm theory, Strandings in Tasmania often take place in quite wild weather. Rain droplets on the sea surface and large water waves pounding the coast both add bubbles to water near the shore. G. Mass strandings have also been connected with sunspot cycles and some scientists believe that fluctuations in the Earth’s magnetic field may be part of the story. Others are more sceptical about the sunspot link. There is also proof that the strandings are linked to major climatic cycles, like strong westerly and southerly winds that bring cool, nutrient-rich water closer to the southern coast of Australia. This water contains plankton and fish, and the whales follow their food. H. Some wonder why so many whales, once rescued from the beach, turn around and beach themselves again. One possible explanation can be the harm of first bleaching. Sperm whales, for instance, due to their large size and weight, can die rapidly before rescuers can help them. While lying on the beach, they can topple over due to their weight unsupported by water and fall onto a flipper. This prevents blood flow to the flipper, which then becomes ineffective for its main purpose of steering. As a result, when the whale is back at sea, it can no longer control its direction and often comes back unintentionally to the beach to become stranded again. |
Questions 29-36
Choose the correct heading for each paragraph. Write i-xi on your answer sheet.
i. ways that sound may cause damage ii. failure to detect coastal water depth iii. the necessity to escape from predators iv. weather drives whales to food v. possible cause of dual bleaching vi. threats of helping a fellow whale vii. collecting the proof for study viii.principally Tasmanian problem ix. a conclusive study/theory x. a possible military intervention ? xi. air globules in the water
29. Paragraph A – ……………………..
30. Paragraph B – ……………………..
31. Paragraph C – ……………………..
32. Paragraph D – ……………………..
33. Paragraph E – ……………………..
34. Paragraph F – ……………………..
35. Paragraph G – ……………………..
36. Paragraph H – ……………………..
Questions 37-40
Choose the correct answer – A,B,C or D
37. Why might an abnormal noise harm a sea body like whale ?
A. it can push the animal away from others
B. it may cause a startled whale to swim up too fast
C. it can interfere with communication between animals
D. it can lead to whale and boat collision
38. Why do some researchers discount the threats of SONAR to whales ?
A. it has never caused any whale deaths
B. the animals aren’t surprised by such sounds
C. whales were bleaching even before SONAR invention
D. SONAR only affect terrestrial animals
39. Why do whales fail to see problems near shallow, sandy beaches ?
A. rough waters have too much sand
B. the depth of water decreases too quickly for them to understand and detect
C. they focus more on their food
D. the sloping beach suppresses the communication between them
40. James theory is supported by ?
A. local weather cycles
B. magnetic field studies
C. whale injuries
D. sun observation
Conclusion
IELTS Academic Reading Practice Test 2022 pdf -Test 3 comes under “Easy to Moderate” category. So, if you are scoring 30+/40 in this test; you are guaranteed to hit at least band 7 in the real exam.
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