IELTS Academic Reading Matching Headings

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17-09-2025

ielts academic reading matching headings tips and exercises

Matching Headings is one of fourteen (14) question types in the IELTS reading test that requires you to match the list of headings (i, ii, iii,…) to the appropriate paragraphs (A, B, C,…). Chosen heading must convey the main idea of the paragraph. Skim the passage to understand the 'gist' of each paragraph, to identify the correct heading.

In the matching headings, you will be given 5-7 paragraphs with clearly identified ideas and a list of headings. You can approach this question type in two different ways: Read the passage, understand it and match it with the suitable heading (or) Read the headings, underline the important words and identify the suitable paragraph with the help of those words. This task type is only used with texts that have paragraphs with clearly defined themes or main ideas.

In this article, we are going to discuss the Matching Headings question type. As this is one of the important IELTS academic reading question types, having a clear knowledge of the question is necessary. There are tips and exercises given to help you perform well in this question type and to attain a high score in the IELTS Academic Reading section.

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Objective:

The objective is to measure your ability to recognise the main idea in the paragraphs and to distinguish main ideas from supporting ones.

Skills Required:

  • Time-Management
  • Comprehension Skill
  • Knowledge of Synonyms and the Paraphrasing skill
  • Attentiveness and Patience

Table of Contents:

IELTS Academic Reading Matching Headings - How to answer?

To answer IELTS academic reading matching headings, here’s the step-by-step guide.

1. First, read the headings

Read the headings first to completely understand their meaning. To do that, read each heading quickly and focus on the keywords.

What are keywords?

Keywords are important terms containing specific information, usually referred to as nouns (names, places, dates, things).

2. Understand the headings and paraphrase

Each heading is unique, yet, some may be similar. Just focus on the keywords to understand the subtle differences in the headings. Then, paraphrase the headings!

What is paraphrasing?

Paraphrasing is rendering the same text in different words without losing the meaning of the text itself. Since words in the passage are different from the words in the headings, it is important to paraphrase the headings. Use synonyms of the keywords in your headings to find answers more easily in the passage!

3. Skim read each paragraph

After you read the headings and paraphrasing it, skim read each paragraph.

What is skim reading?

Skim reading (also called speed reading) is the process of skimming or quickly reading the text to grasp the main idea. Avoid reading each and every word, and spend no more than a minute on each paragraph.

4. Read the first and last sentence of the paragraph

After skimming the paragraphs, read the first and last sentences of each paragraph, as they often contain the main idea.

What is main idea?

The main idea of a paragraph is the author’s message regarding the topic. It is often expressed explicitly.

5. Match the headings

After reading the first and last sentences, match up the main idea with the correct heading!

IELTS Academic Reading Matching Headings - Tips, Tricks and Strategies

Matching headings is tricky compared to other question types. You can practice the following tips, tricks, and strategies to tackle it with confidence.

ielts academic reading matching headings how to solve and 11 proven tips

  • Do not reuse any headings, as each heading can be used only once.
  • When you have headings that aren’t used, don’t try the Process of Elimination technique with this question type.
  • Do not write words or phrases from the title as your answer. The answer will be a letter (A, B, C, …) or a Roman numeral (i, ii, iii, …) representing the heading.
  • Do not read the entire passage. Ensure you skim read for the main idea of each paragraph. Doing so will save time.
  • Paraphrase headings and recognise synonyms and similar words.
  • Make sure your headings chosen reflect the main idea of the paragraph, not specific details.
  • Pay attention to the first two and the last sentence of the paragraph as each paragraph presents the main idea either at the beginning or at the end.
  • Distinguish between main ideas and supporting information in the paragraph. It’s the best strategy.
  • Remember that the exact words may not be used, so look for synonyms.

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Matching Headings Practice Exercise 1

Questions 1 - 6

The reading passage has six paragraphs, A-F.

Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below.

Write the correct number, i-x, as your answer to each question.

List of Headings

  • Lamaism (i)
  • First account of almases (ii)
  • Missing link (iii )
  • Lost evidence (iv)
  • Borrowed tales from Tibet? (v)
  • Living in Mongolia (vi)
  • Possible ancestors of humans (vii)
  • Funding expeditions (viii)
  • New discoveries support a theory (ix)
  • Mysterious mountain men (x)
  1. Paragraph A
  2. Paragraph B
  3. Paragraph C
  4. Paragraph D
  5. Paragraph E
  6. Paragraph F

Almas: The Mongolian Man-Beast Reading Passage

A. Mongolia usually evokes images of nomadic herdsmen riding across vast grasslands, but along the western border with Russia, the Altai Mountains stretch for over a thousand kilometres, their permanently ice-capped peaks rising above 4000 mE=s From these mountains have long come reports of a mysterious human-like creature called an almas. Sightings have become increasingly rare over the past hundred years but according to old accounts, almas are described as being similar in height to that of modern Mongolians, hairy, having massive jaws, receding chins and prominent eyebrow ridges. They are thought to be mainly nocturnal, are unaggressive and usually avoid contact with humans.

B. The earliest description of an almas appears in the memoirs of a Bavarian noblema Hans Schiltberger, who was taken prisoner by the Turks in the early 1400s SAT general training in Bardoli and sent eastward to serve a Mongol prince. "In the mountains live wild people who have nothing in common with other human beings. A pelit covers the entire body of these creatures. Only the hands and face are free of hair" Giving his seemingly incredible account some credibility is the fact that he also mentions the Przewais horse (Equus ferus przewalskii), the last remaining wild species of horse which was unknown in Europe until centuries later.

C. A few scientists such as Myra Shackley, however, have suggested that the almas is (or at least was) a real creature, and that it could be a remnant population of hominids either homo erectus or Neanderthals. Neanderthals - mankind's closest cousins - lived in Central Asia, the Middle East and Europe, and are thought to have died out 25000- 30000 years ago. Over the decades there has been the occasional "find" (hair, skull droppings) but tests have shown them to be either of human origin or from known Animals.

D. Many accounts of almases seem to be tied up with Mongolia's pre-communist
Buddhism. In 1837 a pilgrim called Luvsandonoi (Mongolians typically use just a single name) found the body of a dead male almas in the Gobi Desert. He reportedly gave the skin, head, and limbs to the Galbyn Ulaan Sahius monastery. Lamas stuffed the skin. The stuffed almas was said to be hairy but with some human-like features. There are various other descriptions of monasteries with almas artefacts, even one with a complete stuffed almas. Unfortunately, communist purges in the 1930s led to the destruction of all but one of the country's more than 500 monasteries, and these artefacts were destroyed or disappeared. An interesting re-occurring element of almas stories is the use of bile (a digestive juice produced by the liver) from the gallbladder as a medicine. It was highly prized and used by lama doctors to treat a variety of disorders. Interestingly, bile from the gall bladder of black bears has long has long been used in traditional Chinese medicine.

E. One possible explanation for the almas is that it is folklore imported alongside Tibetan Buddhism from the Himalayas. From medieval times until the early twentieth century, Buddhism dominated religious, cultural and educational lite in Mongolia. There were important ties with Tibet, and it was not uncommon for the religious leaders and devout followers to make the pilgrimage to the holy city of Lhasa where they would have heard the tales of the yetis, and seen various supposed yeti artefacts in monasteries. Currently, the weight of scientific opinion is that the Yeti is a mythical creature born of a combination of bear sightings and folklore.

F. Two recent scientific bombshells give the remnant hominid theory a boost, First, the discovery of a new human species Homo floresiensis (nicknamed the Hobbit) and the startling fact that it occupied the Indonesian island of Flores until perhaps as recently as 12,000 years ago. Even more relevant to the almas mystery is the 2008 discovery of a female finger bone in a cave in the Siberian section of the Altai Mountains. An international team of scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany have worked on the mitochondrial DNA from the finger bone. They announced in 2010 that it was from a previously unknown hominid species that lived in the Altai Mountains about 35,000 years ago.

(Hope you have correctly matched the headings with correct paragraphs in this given list of headings IELTS reading practice. )

Matching Headings Practice Exercise 2

Questions 1 - 6

The reading passage has six paragraphs, A-F.

Choose the correct heading for paragraphs, A-F, from the list below.

Write the correct number, i-ix, as your answer to each question.

List of Headings

  • i Bills of exchange precede paper money
  • ii The English Civil War
  • iii Advent of the Gold standard
  • iv The Knights Templar
  • v Recurrence of paper currency
  • vi Goldsmiths in the role of bankers
  • vii Scarcity of copper coins
  • viii Virginian money
  • ix ‘Intangible’ money
  1. Paragraph A
  2. Paragraph B
  3. Paragraph C
  4. Paragraph D
  5. Paragraph E
  6. Paragraph F

Money Reading Passage

A. In China, the issue of paper money became common from about 960 but there had been occasional issues long before that. A motive for one such early issue, in the reign of Emperor Hien Tsung 806-821, was a shortage of copper for making coins. A drain of currency from China, partly to buy off potential invaders from the north greater reliance on paper money with the result that by 1020 the quantity issued was excessive, causing inflation. In subsequent centuries there were several episodes of hyperinflation, and after about 1455, after well over 500 years of using paper money, China abandoned it.

B. With the revival of banking in western Europe, stimulated by the Crusades, written instructions in the form of bills of exchange came to be used as a means of transferring large sums of money, and the Knights Templar and Hospitallers functioned as bankers. It is possible that the Arabs may have used bills of exchange at a much earlier date, perhaps as early as the eighth century. The use of paper as currency came much later.

C. During the English Civil War, 1642-1651, goldsmiths' safes were secure places for the deposit of jewels, bullion and coins. Instructions to goldsmiths to pay money to another customer subsequently developed into the cheque. Similarly, goldsmiths’ receipts were used not only for withdrawing deposits but also as evidence of ability to pay and by about 1660 these had developed into banknotes.

D. In England's American colonies a chronic shortage of official coins led to various substitutes being used as money, including, in Virginia, tobacco, leading to the development of paper money by a different route. Tobacco leaves have drawback as currency, and consequently, certificates attesting to the quality and quantity of tobacco deposited in public warehouses came to be used as money and in 1727 were made legal tender.

E. Although paper money obviously had no intrinsic value, its acceptability originally depended on its being backed by some commodity, normally precious metals. During the Napoleonic Wars convertibility of Bank of England notes was suspended and there was some inflation which, although quite mild compared to that which had occurred in other wars, was worrying to contemporary observers who were used to stable prices and, in accordance with the recommendations of an official enquiry, Britain adopted the gold standard for the pound in 1816.

F. The break with precious metals helped to make money a more elusive entity. Another trend in the same direction was the growing interest in forms of electronic money from the 1990s onwards. In some ways, e-money is a logical evolution from the wire transfers that came about with the widespread adoption of the telegraph in the 19th century, but such transfers had relatively little impact on the everyday shopper.

Matching Headings Practice Exercise 3

Questions 1-6

The reading passage has six paragraphs, A-F.

Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below.

Write the correct number, i-ix, as your answer to each question

List of Headings

  • i Difference in social status discourages helpful behaviour
  • ii A gruesome act
  • iii An impact of presence of others
  • iv Becoming emotionless is a convenience
  • v An inhuman response
  • vi Beautiful and affluent are valued more
  • vii Shouldering off accountability
  • viii One inaction leads to another
  • ix Hesitating to help
  1. Paragraph A
  2. Paragraph B
  3. Paragraph C
  4. Paragraph D
  5. Paragraph E
  6. Paragraph F

Are We Becoming More Indifferent? Reading Passage

A. A noticeably shameful attribute of society in recent times is the Bystander effect, where the general public blatantly ignores a person who may be a victim of a road accident or in some kind of need. Bystanders do not only remain indifferent to the condition of the victim, but in a grotesque example of apathy, they also go to the extent of capturing the event in a video to share on social media or even click a selfie with the victim in the background.

B. Why are people so unemotional? Simply put, this happens when a person feels discouraged to get involved in an emergency, especially in the presence of others. It is called the Bystander Effect. The concept of the Bystander Effect was popularized by social psychologists John Darley and Bibb Latane after the murder of Kitty Genovese in New York City in 1964. Bystanders outside Genovese’s apartment watched while she was stabbed to death, neither trying to stop the crime nor calling the police for assistance. According to Darley and Latane, there is a perceived diffusion of accountability and social influence that leads to the Bystander effect. Onlookers, they believe, are more likely to help if there are fewer witnesses present.

C. Another example of increasing apathy is the video of an unkempt man in a dirty coat walking with the aid of crutches and struggling. Ignored by onlookers as he tried to get up, he was eventually brought back to his feet by a homeless man. Helping the downtrodden is perceived as damaging to our social standing in society. Conclusions drawn by a research published by the International Ombudsman Association, an individual's hesitation in coming to the aid of the less fortunate is the fear of social consequences or the stigma of being associated with a person in distress.

D. The larger question about the culture of indifference has a lot to do with the bystander behaviour, says Wesley Perkins, a sociology professor at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, NY. The Bystander phenomenon is generated by the perception that other people are not doing anything about it. Therefore I shouldn't either. However, when these events come to the knowledge of the public, 'people think everybody is mean and cruel-hearted and doesn't care" Perkins says. 'But much of the Bystander phenomenon happens because people are looking on and thinking, if they don't see someone else coming to the person's aid, then the person must not be in trouble. Also, people are more likely to do the right thing when they notice the same behaviour being elicited by other individuals. It is only the real heroes who step out of a group to help.

E. Transferring responsibility is the most common response. Paul Rogat Loeb, lecturer on ethics and the author of Soul of a Citizen', speaks about his conversation with the factory workers who processed plutonium for nuclear weapons. Loeb asked, 'Do you think it is a good thing?' Promptly denying their responsibility, the factory workers disassociated themselves from the potentially horrific consequences of their actions. The prevalent attitude is that someone else will do what is needed. 'We hope people do the right thing. We hope someone takes care of the poor, says Loeb.

F. According to legendary Greek philosopher Aristotle, man is an inherently social animal. It would not be possible for us to survive without one another, not only because of the lack of sustenance but because we would probably go insane living alone. But looking at the society we live in today, it appears that humans have become apathetic not only towards the community and the environment but also towards fellow human beings. The Bystander effect is evident even on the internet, where users watch others get bullied or threatened. Unless the feelings of irrelevance that breed this apathy are addressed, people are going to find comfort in being apathetic as a tool of self-preservation.

Matching Headings Practice Exercise 4

Questions 28-33

The following text has six sections, A-F.

Choose the correct heading for each section from the list of headings below.

Write the correct number, i-ix, in boxes 28-33 on your answer sheet.

List of headings

i The need for population reduction
ii The problem with being a fussy eater
iii Reproductive patterns
iv The need for further research
v A possible solution to falling numbers
vi The fastest runners
vii A rather lonely beginning
viii A comparison between past and present survival rates
ix Useful physical features

28. Paragraph A
29. Paragraph B
30. Paragraph C
31. Paragraph D
32. Paragraph E
33. Paragraph F

Understanding Hares Reading Answers

With its wild stare, swift speed and secretive nature, the UK’s brown hare is the rabbit’s mysterious cousin. Even in these days of agricultural intensification, the hare is still to be seen in open countryside, but its numbers are falling.

A. Like many herbivores, brown hares spend a relatively large amount of their time feeding. They prefer to do this in the dark, but when nights are short, their activities do spill into daylight hours. Wherever they live, hares appear to have a fondness for fields with a variety of vegetation, for example, short as well as longer clumps of grasses. Studies have demonstrated that they benefit from uncultivated land and other unploughed areas on farms, such as field margins. Therefore, if farmers provided patches of woodland in areas of pasture as well as assorted crops in arable areas, there would be year-round shelter and food, and this could be the key to turning round the current decline in hare populations.

B. Brown hares have a number of physical adaptations that enable them to survive in open countryside. They have exceptionally large ears that move independently, so that a range of sounds can be pinpointed accurately. Positioned high up on their heads, the hares’ large golden eyes give them 360° vision, making it hard to take a hare by surprise. Compared to mammals of a similar size, hares have a greatly enlarged heart and a higher volume of blood in their bodies, and this allows for superior speed and stamina. In addition, their legs are longer than those of a rabbit, enabling hares to run more like a dog and reach speeds of up to 70 kph.

C. Brown hares have unusual lifestyles for their large size, breeding from a young age and producing many leverets (babies). There are about three litters of up to four leverets every year. Both males and females are able to breed at about seven months old, but they have to be quick because they seldom live for more than two years. The breeding season runs from January to October, and by late February most females are pregnant or giving birth to their first litter of the year. So it seems strange, therefore, that it is in March, when the breeding season is already underway, that hares seemingly go mad: boxing, dancing, running and fighting. This has given rise to the age-old reference to ‘mad March hares’. In fact, boxing occurs throughout the breeding season, but people tend to see this behaviour more often in March. This is because in the succeeding months, dusk – the time when hares are most active – is later, when fewer people are about. Crops and vegetation are also taller, hiding the hares from view. Though it is often thought that they are males fighting over females, boxing hares are usually females fighting off males. Hares are mostly solitary, but a female fights off a series of males until she is ready to mate. This occurs several times through the breeding season because, as soon as the female has given birth, she will be ready to mate again.

D. But how can females manage to do this while simultaneously feeding themselves and rearing their young? The reason is that hares have evolved such self-sufficient young. Unlike baby rabbits, leverets are born furry and mobile. They weigh about 100 g at birth and are immediately left to their own devices by their mothers. A few days later, the members of the litter creep away to create their own individual resting places, known as ‘forms’. Incredibly, their mother visits them only once every 24 hours and, even then, she only suckles them for a maximum of five minutes each. This lack of family contact may seem harsh to us, but it is a strategy that draws less attention from predators. At the tender age of two weeks, leverets start to feed themselves, while still drinking their mother’s milk. They grow swiftly and are fully weaned at four weeks, reaching adult weight at about six months.

E. Research has shown that hares’ milk is extremely rich and fatty, so a little goes a long way. In order to produce such nutritious milk, females need a high-quality, high-calorie diet. Hares are selective feeders at the best of times: unlike many herbivores, they can’t sit around waiting to digest low-quality food – they need high- energy herbs and other leaves in order to sprint. This causes them problems when faced with the smallest alterations in food availability and abundance. So, as well as reductions in the diversity of farmland habitat, the decline in the range of food plants is injurious to hares.

F. The rapid turnaround in the breeding cycle suggests that hares should, in principle, be able to increase their populations quickly to exploit new habitats. They certainly used to: studies show that hares evolved on the open plains and spread rapidly westward from the Black Sea after the last ice age (though they were probably introduced to Britain as a species to be hunted for the pot by the Romans). But today’s hares are thwarted by the lack of rich farmland habitat. When the delicate herbs and other plants they rely on are ploughed up or poisoned by herbicides, these wonderful, agile runners disappear too, taking with them some of the wildness from our lives.

Matching Headings Practice Exercise 5

Question 1-5

The text below has five sections, A-E.
Choose the correct heading for each section from the list of headings below.
Write the correct number i-viii in boxes 28-32 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings

i Solving the puzzle of a papyrus document
ii The importance of written records and different ways of recording them
iii The use of papyrus for a range of purposes
iv Suggestions for future possibilities for papyrus
v How papyrus was cultivated and different manufacturing methods
vi The decline of papyrus use
vii The preservation and destruction of papyrus documents
viii The process of papyrus production

1. Section A
2. Section B
3. Section C
4. Section D
5. Section E

Papyrus Reading Answers

  1. Libraries and archives are cultural crossroads of knowledge exchange, where the past transmits information to the present, and where the present has the opportunity to inform the future. Bureaucracies have become the backbone of civilizations, as governments try to keep track of populations, business transactions and taxes. At a personal level, our lives are governed by the documents we possess; we are certified on paper literally from birth to death. And written documentation carries enormous cultural importance: consider the consequences of signing the Foundation Document of the United Nations or the Convention on Biological Diversity.

    Documentation requires a writing tool and a surface upon which to record the information permanently. About 5,000 years ago, the Sumerians started to use reeds or sticks to make marks on mud blocks which were then baked, but despite being fireproof, these were difficult to store. Other cultures used more flexible but less permanent surfaces, including animal skins and wood strips. In western culture, the adoption of papyrus was to have a great impact. Sheets of papyrus not only provide an invaluable record of people’s daily lives, they can also be dated using carbon-dating techniques, giving precise information about the age of the text written on them.

  2. Papyrus is strongly associated with Egyptian culture, although all the ancient civilizations around the Mediterranean used it. The papyrus sedge is a tall grass-like plant. It was harvested from shallow water and swamplands on the banks of the River Nile. Manufacturing sheets of papyrus from papyrus sedge was a complex, messy process. Pith from inside the plant’s stem was cut into long strips that were laid side by side. These were then covered with a second layer of strips which were laid at right angles to the first, then soaked in water and hammered together. The sheet was then crushed to extract the water, dried and then polished to produce a high-quality writing surface, individual sheets could be glued together and rolled up to make scrolls or folded and bound to form books.

  3. In moist climates, the cellulose-rich sheets of papyrus would readily decay, becoming covered by mould or full of holes from attacks by insects. But in dry climates, such as the Middle East, papyrus is a stable, rot-resistant writing surface. The earliest known roll of papyrus scroll was found in the tomb of an official called Hemeka near Memphis, which was then the capital city of Egypt, and is around five thousand years old. In 79 CE, nearly 2,000 papyrus scrolls in the library of Julius Caesar’s father-in-law were protected at Herculaneum by ash from the catastrophic eruption of administrative capital and for a thousand years generated vast amounts of administrative documentation, including accounts, tax returns and correspondence, which was periodically discarded to make room for more. Over time, a thick layer of sand covered these dumps, and they were forgotten. But the documents were protected by the sand, creating a time capsule that allowed astonishing glimpses into the lives of the town’s inhabitants over hundreds of years.

    Collections of documents that record information and ideas have frequently been viewed as potentially dangerous. For thousands of years, governments, despots and conquerors have resorted to burning libraries and books to rid themselves of inconvenient evidence or obliterate cultures and ideas that they found politically, morally or religiously unacceptable. One such calamity, the burning of the Great Library of Alexandria, and the papyrus scrolls and books it contained, has been mythologized and has come to symbolize the global loss of cultural knowledge.

  4. Besides their use in record-keeping, papyrus stems were used in many other aspects of Mediterranean life, such as for boat construction and making ropes, sails and baskets, as well as being a source of food. In 1969 the adventurer Thor Heyerdahl attempted to cross the Atlantic from Morocco in the boat Ra, to show that it was possible for mariners in ancient times to cross the Atlantic Ocean. Ra was made from bundles of papyrus stems and modeled on ancient Egyptian craft. As a marshland plant, papyrus sedge stabilizes soils and reduces erosion, while some investigations show that it has potential for water purification and sewage treatment.

  5. True paper was probably invented in China in the first century CE. Like papyrus, it was constructed from a meshwork of plant fibers, but the Chinese used fibers from the white mulberry tree, which yielded a tough, flexible material that could be folded, stretched, and compressed. The adoption of this paper by western cultures soon rendered papyrus obsolete.

    Despite dreams of paper-free societies, western cultures still use enormous quantities of paper, often in ways that it would be inconceivable to use papyrus for. As a paper substitute, the role of the papyrus sedge in western cultures has been superseded; papyrus is little more than a niche product for the tourist market. What makes papyrus noteworthy for western societies nowadays is its use as the surface upon which our ancient ancestors recorded their lives, their art and their science. In the words of the ancient Roman philosopher Pliny the Elder, it is ‘the material on which the immortality of human beings depends’.

Matching Headings Practice Exercise 6

Questions 1-7

The reading passage has seven paragraphs, A-G
Choose the correct heading for paragraphs A-G from the list below.
Write the correct number, i-xi, in boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings

i Why better food helps students’ learning
ii A song for getting porridge
iii Surprising use of school premises
iv Global perspective
v rains can be starved
vi Surprising academics outcome
vii Girls are specially treated in the program
viii How food program is operated
ix How food program affects school attendance
x None of the usual reasons
xi How to maintain an academic standard

1 Paragraph A
2 Paragraph B
3 Paragraph C
4 Paragraph D
5 Paragraph E
6 Paragraph F
7 Paragraph G

Foods for thoughts Reading Answers

A There are not enough classrooms at the Msekeni primary school, so half the lessons take place in the shade of yellow-blossomed acacia trees. Given this shortage, it might seem odd that one of the school’s purpose-built classrooms has been emptied of pupils and turned into a storeroom for sacks of grain. But it makes sense. Food matters more than shelter.

B Msekeni is in one of the poorer parts of Malawi, a landlocked southern African country of exceptional beauty and great poverty. No war lays waste Malawi, nor is the land unusually crowed or infertile, but Malawians still have trouble finding enough to eat. Half of the children under five are underfed to the point of stunting. Hunger blights most aspects of Malawian life, so the country is as good a place as any to investigate how nutrition affects development, and vice versa.

C The headmaster at Msekeni, Bernard Kumanda, has strong views on the subject. He thinks food is a priceless teaching aid. Since 1999, his pupils have received free school lunches. Donors such as the World Food Programme (WFP) provide the food: those sacks of grain (mostly mixed maize and soya bean flour, enriched with vitamin A) in that converted classroom. Local volunteers do the cooking – turning the dry ingredients into a bland but nutritious slop and spooning it out on to plastic plates. The children line up in large crowds, cheerfully singing a song called “We are getting porridge”.

D When the school’s feeding programme was introduced, enrolment at Msekeni doubled. Some of the new pupils had switched from nearby schools that did not give out free porridge, but most were children whose families had previously kept them at home to work. These families were so poor that the long-term benefits of education seemed unattractive when setting against the short-term gain of sending children out to gather firewood or help in the fields. One plate of porridge a day completely altered the calculation. A child fed at school will not howl so plaintively for food at home. Girls, who are more likely than boys to be kept out of school, are given extra snacks to take home.

E When a school takes in a horde of extra students from the poorest homes, you would expect standards to drop. Anywhere in the world, poor kids tend to perform worse than their better-off classmates. When the influx of new pupils is not accompanied by an increase in the number of teachers, as was the case at Msekeni, you would expect standards to fall even further. But they have not. Pass rates at Msekeni improved dramatically, from 30% to 85%. Although this was an exceptional example, the nationwide results of school feeding programmes were still pretty good. On average, after a Malawian school started handing out free food it attracted 38% more girls and 24% more boys. The pass rate for boys stayed about the same, while for girls it improved by 9.5%.

F Better nutrition makes for brighter children. Most immediately, well-fed children find it easier to concentrate. It is hard to focus the mind on long division when your stomach is screaming for food. Mr Kumanda says that it used to be easy to spot the kids who were really undernourished. “They were the ones who stared into space and didn’t respond when you asked the question,” he says. More crucially, though, more and better food helps brains grow and develop. Like any other organ in the body, the brain needs nutrition and exercise. But if it is starved of the necessary calories, proteins and micronutrients, it is stunted, perhaps not as severely as a muscle would be, but stunted nonetheless. That is why feeding children at schools work so well. And the fact that the effect of feeding was more pronounced in girls than in boys gives a clue to who eats first in rural Malawian households. It isn’t the girls.

G On a global scale, the good news is that people are eating better than ever before. Homo sapiens has grown 50% bigger since the industrial revolution. Three centuries ago, chronic malnutrition was more or less universal. Now, it is extremely rare in rich countries. In developing countries, where most people live, plates and rice bowls are also fuller than ever before. The proportion of children under five in the developing world who are malnourished to the point of stunting fell from 39% in 1990 to 30% in 2000, says the World Health Organisation (WHO). In other places, the battle against hunger is steadily being won. Better nutrition is making people cleverer and more energetic, which will help them grow more prosperous. And when they eventually join the ranks of the well off, they can start fretting about growing too fast.

Matching Headings Practice Exercise 7

Questions 1-6

Reading Passage 2 has SIX paragraphs, A-F.

Choose the correct heading for paragraphs A-F from the list of headings below.

Write the correct number, i-ix

List of Headings

i A suggested modification to a theory about learning.
ii The problem of superficial understanding.
iii The relationship between scientific understanding and age.
iv The rejection of a widely held theory.
v The need to develop new concepts in daily life.
vi The claim that a perceived contradiction can assist mental development.
vii Implications for the training of science teachers.
viii An experiment to assess the benefits of exchanging views with a partner.
ix Evidence for the delayed benefits of disagreement between pupils.

Paragraph A
Paragraph B
Paragraph C
Paragraph D
Paragraph E
Paragraph F

Acquiring the Principle of Mathematics and Science

A - The need to develop new concepts in daily life.

It has been pointed out that learning mathematics and science is not so much learning facts as learning ways of thinking. It has also been emphasised that in order to learn science, people often have to change the way they think in ordinary situations. For example, in order to understand even simple concepts such as heat and temperature, ways of thinking of temperature as a measure of heat must be abandoned and a distinction between ‘temperature’ and ‘heat’ must be learned. These changes in ways of thinking are often referred to as conceptual changes. But how do conceptual changes happen? How do young people change their ways of thinking as they develop and as they learn in school?

B - The problem of superficial understanding.

Traditional instruction based on telling students how modern scientists think does not seem to be very successful. Students may learn the definitions, the formulae, the terminology, and yet still maintain their previous conceptions. This difficulty has been illustrated many times, for example, when instructed students are interviewed about heat and temperature. It is often identified by teachers as a difficulty in applying the concepts learned in the classroom; students may be able to repeat a formula but fail to use the concept represented by the formula when they explain observed events.

C - The claim that a perceived contradiction can assist mental development.

The psychologist Piaget suggested an interesting hypothesis relating to the process of cognitive change in children. Cognitive change was expected to result from the pupils’ own intellectual activity. When confronted with a result that challenges their thinking - that is, when faced with conflict - pupils realise that they need to think again about their own ways of solving problems, regardless of whether the problem is one in mathematics or in science. He hypothesised that conflict brings about disequilibrium, and then triggers equilibration processes that ultimately produce cognitive change. For this reason, according to Piaget and his colleagues, in order for pupils to progress in their thinking they need to be actively engaged in solving problems that will challenge their current mode of reasoning. However, Piaget also pointed out that young children do not always discard their ideas in the face of contradictory evidence. They may actually discard the evidence and keep their theory.

D - A suggested modification to a theory about learning.

Piaget’s hypothesis about how cognitive change occurs was later translated into an educational approach which is now termed ‘discovery learning’. Discovery learning initially took what is now considered the Tone learner’ route. The role of the teacher was to select situations that challenged the pupils’ reasoning; and the pupils’ peers had no real role in this process. However, it was subsequently proposed that interpersonal conflict, especially with peers, might play an important role in promoting cognitive change. This hypothesis, originally advanced by Perret-Clermont (1980) and Doise and Mugny (1984), has been investigated in many recent studies of science teaching and learning.

E - The rejection of a widely held theory.

Christine Howe and her colleagues, for example, have compared children’s progress in understanding several types of science concepts when they are given the opportunity to observe relevant events. In one study, Howe compared the progress of 8 to 12-year-old children in understanding what influences motion down a slope. In order to ascertain the role of conflict in group work, they created two kinds of groups according to a pre-test: one in which the children had dissimilar views, and a second in which the children had similar views.

They found support for the idea that children in the groups with dissimilar views progressed more after their training sessions than those who had been placed in groups with similar views. However, they found no evidence to support the idea that the children worked out their new conceptions during their group discussions, because progress was not actually observed in a post-test immediately after the sessions of group work, but rather in a second test given around four weeks after the group work.

F - An experiment to assess the benefits of exchanging views with a partner.

In another study, Howe set out to investigate whether the progress obtained through pair work could be a function of the exchange of ideas. They investigated the progress made by 12-15-year-old pupils in understanding the path of falling objects, a topic that usually involves conceptual difficulties. In order to create pairs of pupils with varying levels of dissimilarity in their initial conceptions, the pupils’ predictions and explanations of the path of falling objects were assessed before they were engaged in pair work. The work sessions involved solving computer-presented problems, again about predicting and explaining the paths of falling objects. A post-test, given to individuals, assessed the progress made by pupils in their conceptions of what influenced the path of falling objects.

Matching Headings Practice Exercise 8

Questions 1-6

  • Reading Passage has nine paragraphs A-I.
  • Choose the correct heading for paragraphs B, C and E-H from the list of headings below.
  • Write the correct number i-x in boxes 26-31 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings

  1. Return to previous form.
  2. Substantiating a Hypothesis.
  3. Historic theories.
  4. General rule of gravity and an exception.
  5. The initial explanation.
  6. How proximity to the poles affected Hudson Bay.
  7. Scientific definition and contemporary views.
  8. Relevance to our future.
  9. An alternative view point.
  10. Consolidating theories.
Example Answer
Paragraph D v
Paragraph I vii

1   Paragraph B
2   Paragraph C 
3   Paragraph E
4   Paragraph F
5   Paragraph G
6   Paragraph H

Gravity Reading Answers

A. Without forces of gravitation, Earth and other planets would be unable to stay in their orbits around the Sun. the Moon would be unable to orbit the Earth, tidal waves would not occur and the rising of hot air or water convection would be impossible. Gravitation is a phenomenon winch allows objects to attract other matter; the physics behind it have been explained in The Theory of Relativity and Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation; though attempts to explain gravity hail back to ancient times. In 4th Century B.C. the Greek philosopher Aristotle developed the hypothesis that all objects were drawn into their correct position by crystalline spheres and that a physical mass would fall towards the earth in direct proportion to its weight.

B. In the late 16th century Galileo deduced that while gravitation propels all objects to the ground at the same rate, air resistance resulted in heavier objects appearing to fall more quickly; his theories contradicting earlier belief systems put in place by Aristotle and others; so paving the way for formulation of the modern theories of today. Though the two terms are now used interchangeably in layman use, strictly by scientific definition, there are distinct differences between ‘gravitation’ and ‘gravity’. The first relates to the influence exerted by different objects which allow them to attract other objects, whereas ‘gravity’ refers specifically to the force possessed by such objects which facilitates gravitation. Certain scientific theories hold that gravitation may be initiated by a combination of factors and not simply the existence of gravity alone; though doubts have been raised regarding some of these theories.

C. Gravity is directly proportional to mass; a smaller object possessing less gravity. To illustrate, the Moon is a quarter of the Earth’s size and possesses only 1/6 of its gravity. The mass of the Earth itself is not spread out proportionally, being flatter at the poles than the equator as a result of its rotation; gravity and gravitational pull in different locations throughout the world also vary. In the 1960s, as a result of research into the worldwide gravity fields, it was discovered that inexplicably areas around and including the Hudson Bay area of Canada appeared to possess significantly lower levels of gravity than other parts of the globe; the reasons for this dissimilarity have since been extensively investigated resulting in two explanations.

D. The original theory presented attributed this anomaly to activity which occurs 100-200 kilometres below the Earth’s surface within the layer known as the ‘mantle’. The mantle is comprised of hot molten rock known as magma which flows under the earth’s surface causing convection currents. These convection currents can result in the lowering of the continental plates which make up the Earth’s surface, as a result when this occurs, the mass in that area and its gravity is also reduced. Research findings indicated that such activity had occurred in the Hudson Bay region.

E. More recently a second conjecture suggested that, in fact, lower levels of gravity in the area are a result of occurrences during the Ice Age. The Laurentidelcesheet, which covered most of Canada and the northern tip of the USA until it melted 10,000 years ago, is thought to have been 3.2 kms thick in most parts and 3.7 kms thick over two areas of Hudson Bay. The sheer weight of the ice layer weighed down the surface of the earth below, leaving a deep indentation once it had melted, having caused the area around Hudson Bay to become thinner as the earth’s surface was pushed to the edges of the icesheet.

F. Extensive investigation has since been carried out by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics using data collected by satellites during the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) between 2002 and 2006. The satellites are placed 220kms apart and orbit 500kms above Earth. Being extremely sensitive to even minor differences in gravitational pull of the areas of earth they pass over, as the first satellite enters an area with decreased gravity it moves slightly away from the earth as the gravitational pull is reduced and also moves slightly further away from the sister satellite that follows, such activity allowing scientists to create maps of gravitational fields. The GRACE findings also allowed scientists to estimate the appearance of Hudson Bay over 10,000 years ago, prior to the great thaw. The areas possessing the lowest gravity today correlate with the areas covered in the thickest layers of ice at that time.

G. Researchers now believe that both theories regarding reduced gravity levels in the Hudson Bay region are accurate and that the area’s characteristics are a result of both magma activity and the impact of the Laurentidelcesheet. It has been estimated that the former has resulted in 55-75% of gravity reduction and that pressure resulting from the latter accounts for 25-45%.

H. The effects of the Laurentidelcesheet are reversible due to the earth layer’s capability to ‘rebound’ in response to removal of the weight which once restricted it. Return to the original position, however, is an extremely slow process; it is estimated that the area around Hudson Bay will take a further 5,000 years to recover the altitude it once possessed prior to the Laurentidelcesheet. The rebound activity in the area is also measurable through observation of sea levels; unlike the rest of the world, sea levels are not rising in the area as a result of melting icecaps, but are dropping as the land recovers its previous form

I.  Research conducted into the Laurentide lce sheet has significant implications on a global scale. The increased knowledge of how that particular area has changed over time and the long-term implications activity in the Ice Age had, pave the way to a better understanding of how current changes elsewhere will manifest themselves over the long term.

Answers For Practice Exercises

Here you will find the the answers for practice exercise 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 and 8.

(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.)

Paragraph A = x

Explanation: From these mountains have long come reports of a mysterious human-like creature called an almas. Though Paragraph A mentions old accounts of almases, ii is not an answer because it does not specifically mention the first account.

Paragraph B = ii

Explanation: The earliest description of an almas appears in the memoirs of a Bavarian nobleman, Hans Schiltberger, who was taken prisoner by the Turks in the early 1400s and sent eastward to serve a Mongol Prince.

Paragraph C= vii

Explanation: A few scientists such as Myra Shackley, however, have suggested that the almas is (or at least “was”) a real creature, and that it could be a remnant population of hominids, either homo erectus or Neanderthals. Neanderthals - mankind’s closest cousins…

Paragraph D = iv

Explanation: There are various other descriptions of monasteries with almas artefacts - even one with a complete stuffed almas. Unfortunately, communist purges in the 1930s led to the destruction of all but one of the countries more than 500 monasteries, and these artefacts were destroyed or disappeared.
Paragraph D contains two details- one about alms artefacts in monasteries and the other about the use of bile juice as medicine. The first one is the dominating detail. So this forms the Heading.

Paragraph E = v

Explanation: One possible explanation for the almas is that it is folklore imported alongside Tibetan Buddhism from the Himalayas.

Paragraph F = ix

Explanation: Two recent scientific bombshells give the remnant hominid theory a boost.

Money Reading Answers

(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.)

Paragraph A = v

Explanation: Paragraph A mentions A motive for one such early issue, in the reign of Emperor Hien Tsung 806-821, was a shortage of copper for making coins. A drain of currency from China, partly to buy off potential invaders from the north greater reliance on paper money with the result that by 1020 the quantity issued was excessive, causing inflation.

Paragraph B= i

Explanation: Paragraph B: …written instructions in the form of bills of exchange, came to be used as a means of transferring large sums of money… It is possible that the Arabs may have used bills of exchange at a much earlier date, perhaps as early as the eighth century. The use of paper as currency came much later.

Paragraph C = vi

Explanation: Paragraph C states that goldsmiths provided services that are usually given by banks, i.e. depositing valuables in safe vaults and issuing cheques and banknotes. So they played the role of bankers.

Paragraph D = viii

Explanation: Paragraph D mentions substitutes for money and quotes an example of Virginia where tobacco was once used as a form of money.

Paragraph E = iii

Explanation: Paragraph E states how Gold, a precious metal, became a standard for evaluating the pound, the British currency.

Paragraph F = ix

Explanation: Paragraph F states about the rise of electronic money in the 1990s. As no physical money is being exchanged during e-money transfers, it can be called intangible.

Are We Becoming More Indifferent Reading Answers

(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.)

Paragraph A = v

Explanation: Paragraph A - A noticeably shameful attribute of society... ignores a person who may be a victim of a road accident or in some kind of need. Bystanders do not only remain indifferent to the condition of the victim, but in a grotesque example of apathy, they also go to the extent of capturing the event in a video to share on social media or even click a selfie with the victim in the background.

Paragraph B = iii

Explanation: Paragraph B - Simply put, this happens when a person feels discouraged to get involved in an emergency, in the presence of others. It is called the Bystander Effect.. Onlookers, they believe, are more likely to help if there are fewer witnesses present.

Paragraph C = i

Explanation: Paragraph C - Helping the downtrodden is perceived as damaging to our social standing in society.. An individual's hesitation in coming to the aid of the less fortunate is the fear of social consequences or the stigma of being associated with a person in distress.

Paragraph D = viii

Explanation: Paragraph D - The bystander phenomenon is generated by the perception that other people are not doing anything about it, therefore shouldn't either'.. much of the a bystander phenomenon happens because people are looking on and thinking, if they don't see someone else coming to the person's aid, then the person must not be in trouble.'

Paragraph E = vii

Explanation: Paragraph E - Transferring responsibility is the most common response.. The prevalent attitude is that someone else will do what is needed.

Paragraph F = iv

Explanation: Paragraph F - But looking at the society we live in today, it appears that humans have become apathetic not only towards the community and the environment but also fellow human beings. Unless the feelings of irrelevance that breed this apathy are addressed, people are going to find comfort in being apathetic as a tool of self-preservation.

Understanding Hares Reading Answers

(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.)

28. Answer: v

Explanation: In the last three lines of paragraph A, “Therefore, if farmers provided patches of woodland in areas of pasture as well as assorted crops in arable areas, there would be year-round shelter and food, and this could be the key to turning round the current decline in hare populations”.

29. Answer: ix

Explanation: In the first two lines of paragraph B, “Brown hares have a number of physical adaptations that enable them to survive in open countryside”.

30. Answer: iii

Explanation: In the first two lines of paragraph C, “Brown hares have unusual lifestyles for their large size, breeding from a young age and producing many leverets (babies)”.

31. Answer: vii

Explanation: In the first two lines of paragraph D, “But how can females manage to do this while simultaneously feeding themselves and rearing their young? The reason is that hares have evolved to be self-sufficient young”.

32. Answer: ii

Explanation: In the first two lines of paragraph E, “ Research has shown that hares’ milk is extremely rich and fatty, so a little goes a long way. In order to produce such nutritious milk, females need a high-quality, high-calorie diet”.

33. Answer: viii

Explanation: In the entire paragraph E, “ Research has shown that hares’ milk is extremely rich and fatty, so a little goes a long way. In order to produce such nutritious milk, females need a high-quality, high-calorie diet. Hares are selective feeders at the best of times: unlike many herbivores, they can’t sit around waiting to digest low-quality food – they need high- energy herbs and other leaves in order to sprint. This causes them problems when faced with the smallest alterations in food availability and abundance. So, as well as reductions in the diversity of farmland habitat, the decline in the range of food plants is injurious to hares”.

Papyrus Reading Answers

(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. Answer: ii

Explanation: Libraries and archives are cultural crossroads of knowledge exchange, where the past transmits information to the present, and where the present has the opportunity to inform the future. Bureaucracies have become the backbone of civilizations, as governments try to keep track of populations, business transactions and taxes. The given answer is located in the first 5  lines of paragraph A.

2. Answer: viii

Explanation: Manufacturing sheets of papyrus from papyrus sedge was a complex, messy process. Pith from inside the plant’s stem was cut into long strips that were laid side by side. The given answer is located in the 4-6 lines of paragraph B. 

3. Answer: vii

Explanation: Over time, a thick layer of sand covered these dumps, and they were forgotten. But the documents were protected by the sand, creating a time capsule that allowed astonishing glimpses into the lives of the town’s inhabitants over hundreds of years. Collections of documents that record information and ideas have frequently been viewed as potentially dangerous. For thousands of years, governments, despots and conquerors have resorted to burning libraries and books to rid themselves of inconvenient evidence. The given answer is located in the 11-17 lines of paragraph C.

4. Answer: iii

Explanation: Besides their use in record-keeping, papyrus stems were used in many other aspects of Mediterranean life, such as for boat construction and making ropes, sails and baskets, as well as being a source of food. The given answer is located in the first 4 lines of paragraph D.

5. Answer: vi

Explanation :Despite dreams of paper-free societies, western cultures still use enormous quantities of paper, often in ways that it would be inconceivable to use papyrus for. As a paper substitute, the role of the papyrus sedge in western cultures have been superseded; papyrus is little more than a niche product for the tourist market. The given answer is located in the 5-9 lines of paragraph E.

Food for Thoughts Reading Answers

(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. Answer: iii

Explanation:There are not enough classrooms at the Msekeni primary school, so half the lessons take place in the shade of yellow-blossomed acacia trees. Given this shortage, it might seem odd that one of the school’s purpose-built classrooms has been emptied of pupils and turned into a storeroom for sacks of grain. But it makes sense. Food matters more than shelter. ” In paragraph A since there are no enough classrooms, they use the shade of trees to teach. Hence this heading suits paragraph A.

2. Answer: X

Explanation: Since paragraph B describes about the poverty and the trouble to find food in the Msekeni,  A song for getting porridge title suits paragraph B.

3. Answer: viii

Explanation: Paragraph C explains how the world food programme operates. And there was description about kids singing poems. Hence the answer.

4. Answer: ix

Explanation: Paragraph D, states that school feeding programme has doubled the enrolment. Hence "How food program affects school attendance"  statement.

5. Answer: vi

Explanation:But they have not. Pass rates at Msekeni improved dramatically, from 30% to 85%. Although this was an exceptional example, the nationwide results of school feeding programmes were still pretty good. On average, after a Malawian school started handing out free food it attracted 38% more girls and 24% more boys. The pass rate for boys stayed about the same, while for girls it improved by 9.5%.." These lines in paragraph E supports the statement "Surprising academics outcome".

6. Answer: i

Explanation:Better nutrition makes for brighter children. Most immediately, well-fed children find it easier to concentrate. It is hard to focus the mind on long division when your stomach is screaming for food. .”These lines of paragraph F supports the statement "Why better food helps students’ learning".

7. Answer: iv

Explanation:On a global scale, the good news is that people are eating better than ever before. Homo sapiens has grown 50% bigger since the industrial revolution. Three centuries ago, chronic malnutrition was more or less universal. Now, it is extremely rare in rich countries. In developing countries, where most people live, plates and rice bowls are also fuller than ever before. ". Paragraph G indicates the statement Global perspective.

Acquiring the Principle of Mathematics and Science Reading Answers

(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. Answer: V

Explanation: The paragraph highlights both the demand and the process of acquiring new scientific notions. As a result, this title is appropriate for this paragraph.

2. Answer: II

Explanation: This paragraph discusses the growing problem of children remembering concerts and formulas without understanding the underlying facts behind them. Furthermore, students struggle to connect academic knowledge to actual application. As a result, it may be referred to as shallow knowledge.

3. Answer: VI

Explanation: This section covers a very typical human nature phenomenon: introspecting oneself when you get an idea, notion, or information wrong. When someone is challenged, he or she is driven to reconsider his or her own beliefs and conduct study, even if it is outside of their field.

4. Answer: I

Explanation: This title is appropriate since the paragraph offered a novel teaching approach in which the instructor induces reasoning abilities in pupils by encouraging them, providing an inquisitive as well as difficult environment, and so on.

5. Answer: IV

Explanation: When placed in a group with opposing viewpoints, advanced faster than when placed in a group with comparable ideologies. However, due to a paucity of testimonial evidence, this theory was also rejected.

6. Answer: VIII

Explanation: The author investigates what occurs when two candidates in a group are permitted to share ideas before submitting the solution in this paragraph. Following that, students were given some computer-based questions on the same theme, but this time as a group project. Their progress was evaluated when they submitted their replies.

Gravity Reading Answers

(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. Answer: vii

Explanation: his theories contradicting earlier belief systems put in place by Aristotle. The given answer is located in the 3rd line of the paragraph B and scientific definition, there are distinct differences between ‘gravitation’ and ‘gravity’. The given answer is located in the 5-6 lines of the paragraph B

2. Answer: iv

Explanation: Gravity is directly proportional to mass; a smaller object possessing less gravity. The given answer is located in the 1st line of paragraph C and The Hudson Bay area of Canada appeared to possess significantly lower levels of gravity than other parts of the globe. The given answer is located in the 7-8 lines of paragraph C.

3. Answer: ix

Explanation: second conjecture suggested that, in fact, lower levels of gravity in the area are a result of occurrences during the Ice Age. The given answer is located in the 1-2 lines of paragraph E.

4. Answer: ii

Explanation: Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics using data collected by satellites during the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) between 2002 and 2006. The given answer is located in the 1-3 lines of paragraph F.

5. Answer:x

Explanation: The former has resulted in 55-75% of gravity reduction and that pressure resulting from the latter accounts for 25-45%. The given answer is located in the last 2 lines of paragraph G.

6. Answer: i

Explanation: Hudson Bay will take a further 5,000 years to recover the altitude it once possessed prior to the Laurentidelcesheet. The given answer is located in the 4-5 lines of paragraph H.

Also check IELTS academic reading Locating Information

Conclusion

We hope these tips, and strategies could help in skill building and increase your capability of answering "IELTS academic reading matching headings" even if you face complex questions. You can save this article for future use like mock tests and share it with your friends if you find it useful to practice.

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About Author Dinesh Pandiyan

Dinesh is a highly experienced content writer who specializes in language proficiency tests like IELTS, GRE, PTE, TOEFL, and study abroad. He provides valuable insights and tips to students on various modules of these tests, including reading, writing, speaking, and listening. His articles are well-researched, informative, and engaging, offering practical guidance to students looking to succeed in their academic pursuits. Additionally, Dinesh has coordinated with IELTS trainers to prepare test preparation materials, guides, practice tests, and mock tests, and worked closely with counsellors for study abroad consultancy, providing guidance on choosing the right institution, preparing for interviews, and writing effective statements of purpose (SOP) and letters of recommendation (LOR). Students can benefit from Dinesh's comprehensive knowledge and experience by checking out his articles.

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