IELTS Academic Reading Multiple Choice Questions

Table of Contents

1. IELTS Academic Reading Multiple Choice Questions 
2. IELTS Academic Reading Multiple Choice Questions - Tips & Strategies to Solve
3. Challenges faced while answering Multiple choice Questions 
4. Skills required for clearing Multiple Choice Questions
5. Multiple Choice Questions Skill Building Exercise 1 
6. Multiple Choice Questions Skill Building Exercise 2 
7. Multiple Choice Questions Skill Building Exercise 3 
8. Answers for Skill Building Exercises 
9. Conclusion 
   

IELTS Academic Reading Multiple Choice Questions is one of the vital question types in the reading section. In this question type you are required to choose “one” correct answer from the options given. The questions are formed based on the passages provided. Knowing several tips and practising sample exercises can help you to avoid the traps in solving this question type.

In multiple choice questions, you need to read the question comprehensively and scan the text to find out the portion of the passage which fits your understanding of the question. Then, read that portion to choose the suitable option for the question. Multiple choice questions assess your skill of scanning for specific information and comprehension skills. 

According to experts, this is one of the essential IELTS academic reading question types. Here, you’ll find tips and exercises, which will guide you to crack the IELTS academic reading multiple choice questions. It will definitely help you to do well in this question type and to get a high score in IELTS academic reading section. 

IELTS Academic Reading Multiple Choice Questions - Tips & strategies to Solve

In this blog, we offer you 12 IELTS academic reading multiple choice questions tips and strategies to prevent the complications that you could face in this question type. Experts crafted these tips for students who want to perform well in IELTS academic reading multiple choice questions and they are as follows:

• In this task, you are required to choose one correct answer.
  
  
• Read the first question (the incomplete statement) and identify the keywords. If the question statement does not have enough information, it is advisable to read the options also at the same time and pick up keywords from them.
  
  
• Now, go to the passage and with the help of keywords, locate the relevant place.
  
  
• Read this portion carefully and relate with each option one by one.
  
  
• Often, the Process of Elimination is helpful in identifying the correct answer. You will find that incorrect options only contain the keywords, but do not convey the same meaning as in the passage or may be partially true or contradictory. Eliminate such options.
• Get the correct answer by matching the meaning rather than matching the words.
  
  
• Repeat the procedure with the next question. The questions are in progressive order, but the options under a question are not necessarily in order.
  
  
• Sometimes, the last Multiple Choice question will be based on the overall understanding of the text or the key idea of the text. 
  
  
• Read with utmost attention. Read the passage in a detailed fashion. Compared to others, Details are important in this question type.
  
  
• Underlining keywords is also a good technique. Locate the area of the text that relates to the keywords and understand it in its context. It helps you to choose the correct answer.
  
  
• Answer all the questions. Even if you don’t know the correct answer, guess it. There will be a possibility that the guessed answer could be right. If you didn’t answer the question and leave it blank, then the examiner will mark it wrong. 
  
  
• Make sure you have chosen the required number of answers. Sometimes, the question asks to choose more than one answer.

Hope these IELTS Academic Reading Multiple Choice Questions tips and strategies will help you to achieve a 7+ band score.

Also read: IELTS academic reading tips

Challenges faced while answering Multiple choice Questions

• Sometimes, options in the list carry a similar kind of meaning. It could trick the students to pick up the wrong answer.
• For this question type, skimming is not sufficient. Text needs to be read in a detailed manner.
• Students could choose the option with a superficial understanding of the text.
   

Skills required for clearing Multiple Choice Questions 

• Ability to comprehend the text
• Ability to scanning for specific information
• Ability to being attentive while answering questions

Multiple Choice Questions Skill Building Exercise 1

Answer questions 1-5 which are based on the reading passage below.

Travel is the best form of education

One learns a lot while serving in the United States Army. Foreing places, stressful conditions, and absence from home can foster an out-of-the-classroom education that crosses the boundary of the odd and unusual. Today, tales of strange sea creatures and haunted islands seem like a bad Sci-Fi marathon. But these were realities for one U.S. Army soldier stationed overseas at the thrun of the 20th century.

The art of journal keeping, letter writing and daily diary entries are becoming extinct as methods of memory management are changing in today's technology driven world. What once was detailed on paper with memory fresh at hand is now posted on YouTube Today, blogs replace diary entries. Hand-written letters to loved ones are far slower than a quick Facebook 'poke' or a cell phone text message.

Historians enjoy a deep appreciation for the written word. They savour the ability to see the world through the eyes of someone who never had satellite TV, the Internet or cell phone. Where explanation was not readily at hand in the strange lands of the Philippine Islands, the environment was ripe for adventure and the unknown. Placing one's self in such situations fosters an education that cannot be duplicated in any classroom, book or blockbuster movie. A survivor of deadly and savage situations, Colonel Horace P. Hoobs recorded these well-documented experiences that lend a degree of depth to the retelling and re-imagining of Army history.

The odd education of Colonel Horace P. Hobbs is revealed in his voluminous personal papers held at the U.S. Army Military History Institute. A letter of August 16, 1918, soothes his wife while he is stationed in France during World War I. "You see it is the women who suffer most during a war. Now I know you and mother are worrying about me and I am living in the most luxurious comfort and perfect safety just now." He goes to great lengths to explain his lush surroundings and the comfort he is experiencing, from bathing in a nearby brook to the size of his room and the servants who provide for him, as he attempts to console a worry-sick wife. It would seem, however, that Mrs Hobbs had been through worse as a military spouse.

Her husband was stationed in the Philippines during the insurrection from 1899 to 1901. Colonel Hobbs wrote a book from his collected journals and memoirs entitled, "Kris and Krag: Adventures among the Moros of the Southern Philippine Islands”. Among his many tales, the Colonel tells about a strange native custom on one of the small islands of taking their boats across a narrow strait to another island and returning before dark. They explained to him that the island was the home of the 'wok-wok', a powerful ghost who must be appeased with gifts of rice so they will not harm the people. Upon further inspection, the Army discovered the 'wok-wok’ to be large apes.

Another bizarre chapter in the Colonel's education came when he was asked by some villagers to kill a sea creature which wreaked havoc among the people whenever they Slaughtered an animal for food. The blood would run into the water, and out would come the creature. The Colonel waited for the apparition to appear after a slaughter, and he was not disappointed. Upon further inspection he described the animal as being some kind of mix between an alligator and a crocodile, but one he had never seen before.

Experience in foreign places, blended with curiosity and a desire to learn, enabled Colon to obtain a far greater grasp of the world. These traits provided him with an education that the average person today cannot obtain from watching television or searching the web.

Questions 1-5

Choose the correct letter, a, b, c or d.

1. What offers a non-traditional form of education?

1. 1. Being away from home
      
   2. Being in foreign countries
      
   3. Situations that cause stress
      
   4. All of the above
      
      
2. Historians enjoy the chance to see
   
   
   1. Satellite TV.
      
   2. The world through other's eyes.
      
   3. The world.
      
   4. Popular documented experiences.
      
      
3. While in France, the Colonel
   
   
   1. Looked after his sick wife.
      
   2. Lived with his wife.
      
   3. Wrote letters to the U.S. Army Military History Institute,
      
   4. Comforted his wife with his letters.
      
      
4. A sea creature would appear
   
   
   1. Whenever the Colonel was in the village.
      
   2. And make the Colonel disappointed.
      
   3. When blood from a dead animal ran into the water.
      
   4. And slaughter an animal.
      
      
5. What traits helped a Colonel to get a good education?
   
   
   1. A desire to travel to foreign places
      
   2. Curiosity and a good grasp of the world
      
   3. Watching TV and using the Internet 
      
   4. Curiosity and a desire to learn

Check answer for this exercise

Check more IELTS academic reading multiple choice questions exercise with answers 

Multiple Choice Questions Skill Building Exercise 2 

Answer questions 1-5 which are based on the reading passage below.

Tropical Rainforests

Deforestation in the tropical areas of the world is following a course similar to the earlier clearing of the forests in Europe and North America, only advancing more rapidly. Today, more than 3 billion people live in the tropics alone; less than that lived in the entire world in 1950. To provide food, wood, fuel and resources for the world's rapidly growing population and to make room for the exploding tropical population, the world's tropical rainforests are literally disappearing.

Tropical hardwood prices continue to climb as world demand for tropical hardwoods continues to grow. A single teak log, for example, can now bring as much as $20,000. Annual world consumption of tropical hardwoods is now more than 250 million cubic meters, over 100 billion board feet, per year. Southeast Asia until recently has been the largest source of tropical hardwoods, but that area will largely be depleted within the next five years.

All of the primary forests in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are gone, and Ivory Coast's forests are essentially non-existent. Nigeria's forests have been decimated as well. As Asia's and Africa's tropical forests are depleted, consuming countries are turning increasing attention to Latin America and the Amazon, whose own rapidly growing population is also a source of pressure on the rainforests.

Also, trillions of dollars worth of oil, gas, uranium, gold, iron, bauxite and other minerals, and millions of acres of potential farmland lie under the Amazon, the largest area of rainforest remaining on Earth. Amazon rainforests are being cleared on a vast scale for settlements, logging, gold mining, petroleum, cattle ranching, sugar cane, large hydroelectric dams, and charcoal for smelting ore. Peasant farmers also clear the rainforest to have land for planting, and then in the dry season, burning what they have cut.

During one month in 1995 for example, NASA satellite surveys of Brazil recorded 39,889 individual fires, up 370 percent from the same month of the prior year. In neighbouring Bolivia, the smoke is sometimes so thick that schools have to close and flights have to be delayed or cancelled. Scientists estimate that until as recently as 10,000 years ago, the world had 6 billion acres of tropical rainforests. By 1950, we had a little less than 2.8 billion acres of rainforest. It was then being cut down at the rate of about 10 to 15 million acres per year.

Today we have less than 1.5 billion acres left, and we are clearing this remaining rainforest at the rate of 30 to 50 million acres per year, two to three times as rapidly as just a few decades ago. If the present rate of tropical deforestation continues, in only three decades from now, scientists anticipate that tropical rainforests will no longer exist.

One important way to help is to plant tropical hardwood trees for harvests to produce hardwoods so that they are not taken from the natural rainforest. It is also vitally important to get the message out to others about the importance, and the wisdom, of planting tropical Hardwood trees for profit, not just because of the profit but also because of the benefit to the world.

Some countries are beginning to listen. Thailand, for example, banned logging in 1988, and Costa Rica has now protected nearly 26% of its country in national parks or reserves. The trend is unmistakable, and the facts are compelling. The world's rainforests will be either protected or destroyed. 

Questions 1-5

Choose the correct letter a, b, c or d.

1. One reason people are cutting down the tropical rainforests is 

1. 1. To be like Europe and North America.
   2. To progress rapidly.
   3. To live alone in tropical areas.
   4. To accommodate the growing population.
      
      
2. The Amazon rainforests are being decimated to
   
   
   1. Improve tourism.
   2. Raise cattle, dig mines and build dams.
   3. Clear the settlements.
   4. Build millions of farms.
      
      
3. Scientists claim that within 10,000 years, the rainforests have
   
   
   1. Reduced to 6 billion acres.
   2. Diminished by 2.8 billion acres.
   3. Diminished to a quarter.
   4. Been  cut at a yearly rate of 30 to 40 million acres.
      
      
4. Some positive changes can be made by
   
   
   1. Admitting the mistakes we have made.
   2. Growing trees for commercial purposes.
   3. Making more profit.
   4. Each country decides what to do.
      
      
5. What is the purpose of the passage?

1. 1. To suggest different places for holiday destinations.
   2. To explain why people are so greedy.
   3. To offer possible solutions to an environmental problem.
   4. To detail the destruction of the rainforests.

Check answer for this exercise

Attempt this free IELTS academic reading multiple choice questions mock test 

Multiple Choice Questions Skill Building Exercise 3 

Answer questions 1-5 which are based on the reading passage below.

A COMPLEX RELATIONSHIP

Ants and aphids are known to have a complex relationship. Aphids provide ants with a food source the - sugar-rich honeydew they excrete when eating plants - and, in return, the ants protect the aphids from ladybirds and other insects that prey on them.

To ensure a constant supply of honeydew, some ant species cultivate large numbers of aphids and prevent them from straying too far from the colony by biting and damaging, or even completely removing, their wings. The ants also secrete a chemical from their mandibles which inhibits wing development in juvenile aphids.

Ants communicate with each other using a large repertoire of chemical signals, which are actively secreted onto surfaces from exocrine glands on the legs. These signals can recruit nestmates to food sources and are also used to mark a colony's territory. Ants secrete chemicals passively too. As an ant moves, hydrocarbons are shed from the cuticle (the waterproof outer lining of the exoskeleton), leaving a chemical trail.

Ants use behavioural signals called semiochemicals to manipulate aphids' nervous systems. Ant's own behaviour can be manipulated too, by parasitic fungi. Earlier work has shown that the presence of ants can somehow tranquilize aphids and limit their motor functions, but
whether or not this required direct contact between the ants and aphids is unclear.

Using digital video cameras to measure the walking speeds of aphids, Tom Oliver of Imperial College London and colleagues from Royal Holloway and the University of Reading have shown that aphids move much more slowly on paper that has previously been walked on by
ants. They believe that the chemicals laid down in the ants' footprints are used to maintain an aphid farm near the ant colony.

Maintaining a populous aphid farm in a small area is obviously beneficial to the ants, as it would provide them with large quantities of honeydew. However, the relationship between the two species is complex, and it seems that the ants' manipulation of the aphids behaviour is exploitative.

Normally, aphids wander off to new locations when conditions become crowded, to establish new populations nearby. And although ant-attended aphid populations are bigger and live longer than those not attended by ants, the ants prevent the aphid dispersal that is necessary to maintain a stable meta-population and makes the aphids more vulnerable to parasites.

Questions 1-5

Choose the correct letter, a, b, c or d.

1.  Honeydew is naturally produced by
   
   
   1. Ants.
   2. Plants.
   3. Aphids.
   4. Ladybirds.
      
      
2. How do ants ensure they have regular supplies of honeydew?
   
   
   1. They provide food to aphids.
   2. They maintain a large population of aphids.
   3. They force aphids to secrete a chemical.
   4. They find more juvenile aphids.
      
      
3. Studies have shown that the nervous system of aphids is affected by
   
   
   1. The behaviour of ants.
   2. Using parasitic fungi.
   3. Direct contact with ants.
   4. Chemicals secreted by ants.
      
      
4. According to the writer, the relationship between ant and aphids
   
   
   1. Beneficial for both.
   2. Easy to explain.
   3. Natural.
   4. Not beneficial to aphids.
      
      
5. What do aphids do if the area becomes overpopulated?

1. 1. Start a new colony
   2. Start a stable meta-population
   3. They grow bigger
   4. They live longer than ants

Check answer for this exercise

Check more IELTS academic reading multiple choice questions practice questions

Answers for Skill Building exercises 

• Answer for Skill Building Exercise 1 - (Travel is the best form of education) 

(Note: The text in italics is from the reading passage and shows the location from where the answer is taken or inferred. The text in the regular font explains the answer in detail.)

1. d. All the above 

   Explanation: Paragraph 1 - One learns olor while serving in the United States Army. Foreign places, stressful conditions, and absence from home can foster an out-of-the-classroom education (non-traditional education) that crosses the boundary of the odd and unusual.

2. b. The world through other’s eyes 

   Explanation: Paragraph 3 - Historians enjoy a deep appreciation for the written word. They savour the ability to see the world through the eyes of someone who never had satellite TV, the Internet or a cell phone.
   
   A and C are the wrong options as they only contain the words from the passage and do not convey the main idea. In fact, the passage states that historians study the time when there was no satellite TV. Also, C is less informative as compared to B. It does not mention how they like to see the world. D may confuse you because the passage mentions 'the written word' but not that these documents are popular.

3. d. Comforted his wife with his letters. 

   Explanation: Paragraph 4 - A letter of August 16, 1918, soothes his wife while he is stationed in France during World War I. ...bathing in a nearby brook, to the size of his room and the servants who provide for him, as he attempts to console a worry-sick wife.
   
   A and B are wrong answers as the Colonel was away from his wife. C is wrong as Colonel did not write letters to the U.S. Army Military History Institute, but his letters are preserved in this institute

4. c. When blood from a dead animal ran into the water. 

   Explanation: Paragraph 6- The blood would run into the water, and out would come the creature.

5. d. Curiosity and a desire to learn 

   Explanation: Paragraph 7 - Experience in foreign places, blended with curiosity and a desire to learn, enabled Colonel Hobbs to obtain a far greater grasp of the world. These  traits provided him with an education that the average person today cannot obtain from watching television  or searching the web.
   
   A is wrong as the passage mentions his experience in foreign places and not the desire to travel to foreign places. B is wrong as the grasp of the world was the consequence and not the cause. C is wrong because the passage mentions that such education cannot be obtained by watching TV or through the internet.

• Answers For Skill Building Exercise 2 - (Tropical Rainforests) 

(Note: The text in italics is from the reading passage and shows the location from where the answer is taken or inferred. The text in the regular font explains the answer in detail.)

1. d. To accommodate the growing population. 

   
   Explanation: Paragraph 1 - To provide food, wood, fuel and resources for the growing population, and to make room for the exploding tropical population, the world's rainforests are literally disappearing.
   
   A is incorrect as paragraph 1 states that the trend of deforestation in tropical areas is similar to that of Europe and North America and not that people want to be like them. B is incorrect as according to the paragraph the rapid progress is in the context of deforestation and not for people. C is also not the answer because there is no such information in the passage.

2. b. Raise cattle, dig mines and build dams. 

   Explanation: Paragraph 4 - Amazon rainforests are being cleared on a vast scale for settlements, logging, gold mining, petroleum, cattle ranching, sugar cane, large hydroelectric dams, and charcoal for smelting ore.
   
   A is incorrect as it is not mentioned in the passage. C states that the  settlements are cleared whereas the information in the passage says that Amazon rainforests are cleared to establish settlements. So wrong. D is also wrong as the passage does not mention it as one of the reasons for clearing forests. It says there is a potential for farmlands in the Amazon.

3. c. Diminished to a quarter. 

   Explanation: Paragraph 5 - Scientists estimate that until as recently as 10,000 years the world had 6 billion acres of tropical rainforests.
   
   Paragraph 6 - Today we have less than 1.5 billion acres left, ...
   
   6 billion acres of rainforest has reduced to 1.5 billion acres during 10,000 years. So it is a reduction to one-fourth of the total area.
   
   A, B and D are wrong interpretations of numbers quoted in the passage

4. b. Growing trees for commercial purposes. 

   Explanation: Paragraph 7 - One important way to help is to plant tropical hardwood tree for harvests to produce hardwoods so that they are not taken from the natural rainforest… the importance, and the wisdom, of planting tropical hardwood trees for profit, not just because of the profit but also because of the benefit to the world.
   
   It can be inferred from Paragraph 7 that if tropical hardwood trees are grown specifically for harvesting, that is, for commercial purposes, there will be no need to cut the forests.
   
   A and D are not mentioned C, i.e. making a profit is mentioned as a consequence of growing hardwood trees and not referred to as a way of bringing about positive changes.
   
   

5. d. To detail the destruction of the rainforests. 

   Explanation: The answer can be obtained from the gist of the whole passage.
   
   A is not mentioned in the passage. B - Paragraph 4 refers to the various resources for which rainforests are being cut, but there is no mention of the reason for this greed. C - Paragraph 7 suggests one way to protect tropical rainforests, but that cannot be inferred as the gist of the passage or the writer's purpose. So A, B and C are not the answers. 

• Answers For Skill Building Exercise 3 - (A Complex Relationship) 

(Note: The text in italics is from the reading passage and shows the location from where the answer is taken or inferred. The text in the regular font explains the answer in detail.)

1. c. Aphids 

   Explanation: Paragraph 1 - Aphids provide ants with a food source the sugar-rich honeydew they excrete when eating plants…

2. b. They maintain a large population of aphids. 

   Explanation: Paragraph 2 - To ensure a constant supply of honeydew, some ant species cultivate large numbers of aphids and prevent them from straying too far from the colony..

3. d. Chemicals secreted by ants. 

   Explanation: Paragraph 4 - Ants use behavioural signals called semiochemicals to manipulate aphids' nervous systems..Earlier work has shown that the presence of ants can somehow tranquilize aphids and limit their motor functions,...
   
   Paragraph 5 - Using digital video cameras to measure the walking speeds of aphids, Tom Oliver ... have shown that aphids move much more slowly on paper that has previously been walked on by ants.

4. d. Not beneficial to aphids. 

   Explanation: Paragraph 6 - Maintaining a populous aphid farm in a small area is obviously beneficial to the ants, .. the relationship between the two species is complex, and it seems that the ants' manipulation of the aphids' behaviour is exploitative.

5. a. Start a new colony 

   Explanation: Paragraph 7 - Normally, aphids wander off to new locations when conditions become crowded, to establish new populations nearby.

Also check IELTS academic reading Summary Completion

Click the following link to practice multiple choice questions with other question types to upgrade and refine your reading skills and check the answers:

• William Henry Perkin Reading Answers
• The Story Of Silk Reading Answers
• Tidal power reading answers
• The Story Of Silk Reading Answers
• Venus in Transit Reading Answers
• Making Every Drop Count Reading Answers
• Flying tortoises reading answers
• Nature or nurture reading answers
• Disappearing delta reading answers
• Biological Control of Pests Reading Answers
• The Psychology Of Innovation Reading Answers 
• Collecting as a hobby IELTS reading answers
• Educating psyche IELTS reading answers
• Henry Moore IELTS reading answers
• The History of the Tortoise Reading Answers 
• Alternative Medicine in Australia Reading Answers 
• Population viability analysis Reading Answers 
• Bring back the big cats reading answers
• Adam’s Wine Reading Answers
• The Scientific Method Reading Answers
• Alternative Energy Sources Reading Answers
• A Silent Force Reading Answers
• A workaholic economy reading answers
• Ants could teach ants Reading Answers
• How much higher How much faster reading answers
• Airports On Water Reading Answers
• Roman tunnels reading answers
• Music and the Emotions Reading Answers
• Is Photography Art Reading Answers
• Australia’s Lost Giants Reading answers
• The meaning and power of smell reading answers
• Daydreaming Reading answer
• Koalas IELTS Reading Answers
• The truth about the environment Reading answers 
• Artificial artists Reading answers
• Why zoos are good Reading Answers
• How to spot a liar reading answers
• In or Out  Reading Answers
• Making The Most Of Trends Reading Answers
• Candle Making in Colonial America Reading Answers 
• Grey Workers reading answer
• The Great Australian Fence Reading Answers
• When Evolution Runs Backwards Reading Answers
• The Nature And Aims of Archaeology Reading Answers
• A Song On The Brain Reading Answers
• An Introduction To Film Sound Reading Answers
• Coastal archaeology of Britain Reading Answers
• A new perspective on bacteria Reading Answers
• The Beautiful Game Reading Answers
• Personality and Appearance Reading Answers
• The creation of lasting memories Reading Answers 
• Endangered Chocolate Reading Answers
• The Art of Healing Reading Answers
• Visual symbols and the blind Reading Answers
• A library at your fingertips reading answers
• Hydrogen Cars reading answers
• Visual symbols and the blind Reading Answers
• Biology of bitterness IELTS reading answer
• Please hold the line reading answers
• Hydrogen cars reading answers
• Beneath the canopy reading answers
• Flight of the Honey Reading Answers

Conclusion

Tips, strategies and exercises that you’ve found here have helped many students in answering IELTS academic reading multiple choice questions with minimal difficulties. And, we think that this will be true for you also. You can also try our mock tests and the practice test questions available to make yourself comfortable with the topic.