IELTS Recent Actual Test

With Answers Volume 1

Reading Practice Test 2

READING PASSAGE 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on
Reading Passage 1 below.

How to Spot a Liar

However much we may abhor it, deception comes naturally to all living things.
Birds do it by feigning injury to lead hungry predators away from nesting
young. Spider crabs do it by disguise: adorning themselves with strips of kelp
and other debris, they pretend to be something they are not – and so escape
their enemies. Nature amply rewards successful deceivers by allowing them to
survive long enough to mate and reproduce. So it may come as no surprise to
learn that human beings- who, according to psychologist Gerald Johnson of the
University of South California, or lied to about 200 times a day, roughly one
untruth every 5 minutes- often deceive for exactly the same reasons: to save
their own skins or to get something they can’t get by other means.

But knowing how to catch deceit can be just as important a survival skill as
knowing how to tell a lie and get away with it. A person able to spot falsehood
Access https://ieltsonlinetests.com for more practices page 1
quickly is unlikely to be swindled by an unscrupulous business associate or
hoodwinked by a devious spouse. Luckily, nature provides more than enough
clues to trap dissemblers in their own tangled webs- if you know where to look.
By closely observing facial expressions, body language and tone of voice,
practically anyone can recognise the tell-tale signs of lying. Researchers are
even programming computers – like those used on Lie Detector -to get at the
truth by analysing the same physical cues available to the naked eye and ear.
“With the proper training, many people can learn to reliably detect lies,” says
Paul Ekman, professor of psychology at the University of California, San
Francisco, who has spent the past 15 years studying the secret art of
deception.

In order to know what kind of Lies work best, successful liars need to
accurately assess other people’s emotional states. Ackman’s research shows
that this same emotional intelligence is essential for good lie detectors, too.
The emotional state to watch out for is stress, the conflict most liars feel
between the truth and what they actually say and do.

Even high-tech lie detectors don’t detect lies as such; they merely detect the
physical cues of emotions, which may or may not correspond to what the
person being tested is saying. Polygraphs, for instance, measure respiration,
heart rate and skin conductivity, which tend to increase when people are
nervous – as they usually are when lying. Nervous people typically perspire,
and the salts contained in perspiration conducts electricity. That’s why sudden
leap in skin conductivity indicates nervousness -about getting caught, perhaps
-which makes, in turn, suggest that someone is being economical with the
truth. On the other hand, it might also mean that the lights in the television
Studio are too hot- which is one reason polygraph tests are inadmissible in
court. “Good lie detectors don’t rely on a single thing” says Ekma ,but
interpret clusters of verbal and non-verbal clues that suggest someone might
be lying.”

The clues are written all over the face. Because the musculature of the face is
directly connected to the areas of the brain that processes emotion, the
countenance can be a window to the soul. Neurological studies even suggest
that genuine emotions travel different pathways through the brain than
insincere ones. If a patient paralyzed by stroke on one side of the face, for
example, is asked to smile deliberately, only the mobile side of the mouth is
raised. But tell that same person a funny joke, and the patient breaks into a full
and spontaneous smile. Very few people -most notably, actors and politicians-
are able to consciously control all of their facial expressions. Lies can often be
caught when the liars true feelings briefly leak through the mask of deception.
Access https://ieltsonlinetests.com for more practices page 2
We don’t think before we feel, Ekman says. “Expressions tend to show up on
the face before we’re even conscious of experiencing an emotion.”

One of the most difficult facial expressions to fake- or conceal, if it’s genuinely
felt - is sadness. When someone is truly sad, the forehead wrinkles with grief
and the inner corners of the eyebrows are pulled up. Fewer than 15% of the
people Ekman tested were able to produce this eyebrow movement voluntarily.
By contrast, the lowering of the eyebrows associated with an angry scowl can
be replicated at will but almost everybody. “ If someone claims they are sad
and the inner corners of their eyebrows don’t go up, Ekmam says, the sadness
is probably false.”

The smile, on the other hand, is one of the easiest facial expressions to
counterfeit. It takes just two muscles -the zygomaticus major muscles that
extend from the cheekbones to the corners of the lips- to produce a grin. But
there’s a catch. A genuine smile affects not only the corners of the lips but also
the orbicularis oculi, the muscle around the eye that produces the distinctive
“crow’s feet” associated with people who laugh a lot. A counterfeit grin can be
unmasked if the corners of the lips go up, the eyes crinkle, but the inner
corners of the eyebrows are not lowered, a movement controlled by the
orbicularis oculi that is difficult to fake. The absence of lowered eyebrows is
one reason why the smile looks so strained and stiff.

Questions 1-5

if the statement agrees with the

YES
views of the writer

if the statement contradicts the

NO
views of the writer

if it is impossible to say what

NOT GIVEN
the writer thinks about this

1 All living animals can lie.

2 Some people tell lies for self-preservation.

Access https://ieltsonlinetests.com for more practices page 3

3 Scientists have used computers to analyze which part
of the brain is responsible for telling lies.
4 Lying as a survival skill is more important than
detecting a lie.
5 To be a good liar, one has to understand other people's
emotions.

Questions 6-9
Choose the correct letter A, B, C or D.

Write your answers in boxes 6-9.

6 How does the lie detector work?

A It detects whether one's emotional state is stable.

B It detects one’s brain activity level.

C It detects body behavior during one's verbal response.

D It analyses one's verbal response word by word.

7 Lie detectors can't be used as evidence in a court of law because

A Lights often cause lie detectors to malfunction.

B They are based on too many verbal and non-verbal clues.

C Polygraph tests are often inaccurate.

D There may be many causes of certain body behavior.

8 Why does the author mention the paralyzed patients?

A To demonstrate how a paralyzed patient smiles

B To show the relation between true emotions and body behavior

C To examine how they were paralyzed

D To show the importance of happiness from recovery

9 The author uses politicians to exemplify that they can

Access https://ieltsonlinetests.com for more practices page 4

 A Have emotions.

B Imitate actors.

C Detect other people's lives.

D Mask their true feelings.

Questions 10-13
Classify the following facial traits as referring to

A sadness

B anger

C happiness

Write the correct letter A,B or C in boxes 10-13.

10
Inner corners of eyebrows raised

11
The whole eyebrows lowered

12
Lines formed around

13
Lines form above eyebrows

Access https://ieltsonlinetests.com for more practices page 5

READING PASSAGE 2
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26, which are based on
Reading Passage 2 below.

Being Left-handed in a Right-handed World

The world is designed for right-handed people. Why does a tenth of
the population prefer the left?

A The probability that two right-handed people would have a left-handed child
is only about 9.5 percent. The chance rises to 19.5 percent if one parent is a
lefty and 26 percent if both parents are left-handed. The preference, however,
could also stem from an infant’s imitation of his parents. To test genetic
influence, starting in the 1970s British biologist Marian Annett of the University
of Leicester hypothesized that no single gene determines handedness. Rather,
during fetal development, a certain molecular factor helps to strengthen the
brain’s left hemisphere, which increases the probability that the right hand will
be dominant, because the left side of the brain controls the right side of the
body, and vice versa. Among the minority of people who lack this factor,
handedness develops entirely by chance. Research conducted on twins
complicates the theory, however. One in fivesets of identical twins involves one
right-handed and one left-handed person, despite the fact that their genetic
material is the same. Genes, therefore, are not solely responsible for
handedness.

B Genetic theory is also undermined by results from Peter Hepper and his team
Access https://ieltsonlinetests.com for more practices page 6
at Queen’s University in Belfast, Ireland. In 2004 the psychologists used
ultrasound to show that by the 15th week of pregnancy, fetuses already have a
preference as to which thumb they suck. In most cases, the preference
continued after birth. At 15 weeks, though, the brain does not yet have control
over the body’s limbs. Hepper speculates that fetuses tend to prefer whichever
side of the body is developing quicker and that their movements, in turn,
influence the brain’s development. Whether this early preference is temporary
or holds up throughout development and infancy is unknown. Genetic
predetermination is also contradicted by the widespread observation that
children do not settle on either their right or left hand until they are two or
three years old.

C But even if these correlations were true, they did not explain what actually
causes left-handedness. Furthermore, specialization on either side of the body
is common among animals. Cats will favor one paw over another when fishing
toys out from under the couch. Horses stomp more frequently with one hoof
than the other. Certain crabs motion predominantly with the left or right claw.
In evolutionary terms, focusing power and dexterity in one limb is more
efficient than having to train two, four or even eight limbs equally. Yet for most
animals, the preference for one side or the other is seemingly random. The
overwhelming dominance of the right hand is associated only with humans.
That fact directs attention toward the brain’s two hemispheres and perhaps
toward language.

D Interest in hemispheres dates back to at least 1836. That year, at a medical

conference, French physician Marc Dax reported on an unusual commonality
among his patients. During his many years as a country doctor, Dax had
encountered more than 40 men and women for whom speech was difficult, the
result of some kind of brain damage. What was unique was that every
individual suffered damage to the left side of the brain. At the conference, Dax
elaborated on his theory, stating that each half of the brain was responsible for
certain functions and that the left hemisphere controlled speech. Other experts
showed little interest in the Frenchman’s ideas. Over time, however, scientists
found more and more evidence of peopleexperiencing speech difficulties
following injury to the left brain. Patients with damage to the right hemisphere
most often displayed disruptions in perception or concentration. Major
advancements in understanding the brain’s asymmetry were made in the
1960s as a result of so-called split-brain surgery, developed to help patients
with epilepsy. During this operation, doctors severed the corpus callosum—the

Access https://ieltsonlinetests.com for more practices page 7

nerve bundle that connects the two hemispheres. The surgical cut also stopped
almost all normal communication between the two hemispheres, which offered
researchers the opportunity to investigate each side’s activity.

E In 1949 neurosurgeon Juhn Wada devised the first test to provide access to
the brain’s functional organization of language. By injecting an anesthetic into
the right or left carotid artery, Wada temporarily paralyzed one side of a
healthy brain, enabling him to more closely study the other side’s capabilities.
Based on this approach, Brenda Milner and the late Theodore Rasmussen of the
Montreal Neurological Institute published a major study in 1975 that confirmed
the theory that country doctor Dax had formulated nearly 140 years earlier: in
96 percent of right-handed people, language is processed much more intensely
in the left hemisphere. The correlation is not as clear in lefties, however. For
two thirds of them, the left hemisphere is still the most active language
processor. But for the remaining third, either the right side is dominant or both
sides work equally, controlling different language functions. That last statistic
has slowed acceptance of the notion that the predominance of right-
handedness is driven by left-hemisphere dominance in language processing. It
is not at all clear why language control should somehow have dragged the
control of body movement with it. Some experts think one reason the left
hemisphere reigns over language is because the organs of speech processing
—the larynx and tongue—are positioned on the body’s symmetry axis. Because
these structures were centered, it may have been unclear, in evolutionary
terms, which side of the brain should control them, and it seems unlikely that
shared operation would result in smooth motor activity. Language and
handedness could have developed preferentially for very different reasons as
well. For example, some researchers, including evolutionary psychologist
Michael C. Corballis of the University of Auckland in New Zealand, think that the
origin of human speech lies in gestures. Gestures predated words and helped
language emerge. If the left hemisphere began to dominate speech, it would
have dominated gestures, too, and because the left brain controls the right
side of the body, the right hand developed more strongly.

F Perhaps we will know more soon. In the meantime, we can revel in what, if
any, differences handedness brings to our human talents. Popular wisdom says
right-handed, left-brained people excel at logical, analytical thinking.
Lefthanded, right-brained individuals are thought to possess more creative
skills and may be better at combining the functional features emergent in both
sides of the brain. Yet some neuroscientists see such claims as pure

Access https://ieltsonlinetests.com for more practices page 8

speculation. Fewer scientists are ready to claim that left-handedness means
greater creative potential. Yet lefties are prevalent among artists, composers
and the generally acknowledged great political thinkers. Possibly if these
individuals are among the lefties whose language abilities are evenly
distributed between hemispheres, the intense interplay required could lead to
unusual mental capabilities.

G Or perhaps some lefties become highly creative simply because they must
be more clever to get by in our right-handed world. This battle, which begins
during the very early stages of childhood, may lay the groundwork for
exceptional achievements.

Questions 14-18
Reading Passage 2 has seven sections A-G.
Which section contains the following information?
Write the correct letter A-G in boxes 14-18 on your answer sheet.

14
Preference of using one side of the body in animal
species.
15
How likely one-handedness is born.
16
The age when the preference of using one hand is
settled.
17
Occupations usually found in left-handed population.
18
A reference to an early discovery of each hemisphere’s
function.

Questions 19-22
Look at the following researchers (Questions 19-22) and the list of
findings below.
Match each researcher with the correct finding.
Write the correct letter A-G in boxes 19-22 on your answer sheet.

Access https://ieltsonlinetests.com for more practices page 9

 List of Findings

Early language evolution is

correlated to body movement and
A
thus affecting the preference of
use of one hand.

No single biological component

B determines the handedness of a
child.

Each hemisphere of the brain is in

C
charge of different body functions.

Language process is mainly

D centered in the left-hemisphere of
the brain.

Speech difficulties are often

E
caused by brain damage.

The rate of development of one

F side of the body has influence on
hemisphere preference in fetus.

Brain function already matures by

G
the end of the fetal stage.

19
Marian Annett
20
Peter Hepper
21
Brenda Milner & Theodore Rasmussen
22
Michael Corballis

Questions 23-26
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading
Passage 2?
In boxes 23-26 on your answer sheet write

Access https://ieltsonlinetests.com for more practices page 10

 if the statement agrees with the
YES
views of the writer

if the statement contradicts the

NO
views of the writer

if it is impossible to say what the

NOT GIVEN
writer thinks about this

23
The study of twins shows that genetic determinationis
not the only factor for left-handedness.
24
Marc Dax’s report was widely accepted in his time.
25
Juhn Wada based his findings on his research of
people with language problems.
26
There tend to be more men with left-handedness than
women.

Access https://ieltsonlinetests.com for more practices page 11

READING PASSAGE 3
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40, which are based on
Reading Passage 3 below.

What is a dinosaur?
A. Although the name dinosaur is derived from the Greek for "terrible lizard",
dinosaurs were not, in fact, lizards at all. Like lizards, dinosaurs are included in
the class Reptilia, or reptiles, one of the five main classes of Vertebrata,
animals with backbones. However, at the next level of classification, within
reptiles, significant differences in the skeletal anatomy of lizards and dinosaurs
have led scientists to place these groups of animals into two different
superorders: Lepidosauria, or lepidosaurs, and Archosauria, or archosaurs.

B . Classified as lepidosaurs are lizards and snakes and their prehistoric

ancestors. Included among the archosaurs, or "ruling reptiles", are prehistoric
and modern crocodiles, and the now extinct thecodonts, pterosaurs and
dinosaurs. Palaeontologists believe that both dinosaurs and crocodiles evolved,
in the later years of the Triassic Period (c. 248-208 million years ago), from
creatures called pseudosuchian thecodonts. Lizards, snakes and different types
of thecodont are believed to have evolved earlier in the Triassic Period from
reptiles known as eosuchians.

C. The most important skeletal differences between dinosaurs and other

archosaurs are in the bones of the skull, pelvis and limbs. Dinosaur skulls are
found in a great range of shapes and sizes, reflecting the different eating
habits and lifestyles of a large and varied group of animals that dominated life
on Earth for an extraordinary 165 million years. However, unlike the skulls of
any other known animals, the skulls of dinosaurs had two long bones known as
vomers. These bones extended on either side of the head, from the front of the

Access https://ieltsonlinetests.com for more practices page 12

snout to the level of the holes on the skull known as the antorbital fenestra,
situated in front of the dinosaur's orbits or eyesockets.

D. All dinosaurs, whether large or small, quadrupedal or bipedal, fleet-footed

or slow-moving, shared a common body plan. Identification of this plan makes
it possible to differentiate dinosaurs from any other types of animal, even other
archosaurs. Most significantly, in dinosaurs, the pelvis and femur had evolved
so that the hind limbs were held vertically beneath the body, rather than
sprawling out to the sides like the limbs of a lizard. The femur of a dinosaur had
a sharply in-turned neck and a ball-shaped head, which slotted into a fully open
acetabulum or hip socket. A supra-acetabular crest helped prevent dislocation
of the femur. The position of the knee joint, aligned below the acetabulum,
made it possible for the whole hind limb to swing backwards and forwards. This
unique combination of features gave dinosaurs what is known as a "fully
improved gait". Evolution of this highly efficient method of walking also
developed in mammals, but among reptiles it occurred only in dinosaurs.

E. For the purpose of further classification, dinosaurs are divided into two
orders: Saurischia, or saurischian dinosaurs, and Ornithischia, or ornithischian
dinosaurs. This division is made on the basis of their pelvic anatomy. All
dinosaurs had a pelvic girdle with each side comprised of three bones: the
pubis, ilium and ischium. However, the orientation of these bones follows one
of two patterns. In saurischian dinosaurs, also known as lizard-hipped
dinosaurs, the pubis points forwards, as is usual in most types of reptile. By
contrast, in ornithischian, or bird-hipped, dinosaurs, the pubis points backwards
towards the rear of the animal, which is also true of birds.

F. Of the two orders of dinosaurs, the Saurischia was the larger and the first to
evolve. It is divided into two suborders: Therapoda, or therapods, and
Sauropodomorpha, or sauropodomorphs. The therapods, or "beast feet", were
bipedal, predatory carnivores. They ranged in size from the mighty
Tyrannosaurus rex, 12m long, 5.6m tall and weighing an estimated 6.4 tonnes,
to the smallest known dinosaur, Compsognathus, a mere 1.4m long and
estimated 3kg in weight when fully grown. The sauropodomorphs, or "lizard
feet forms", included both bipedal and quadrupedal dinosaurs. Some
sauropodomorphs were carnivorous or omnivorous but later species were
typically herbivorous. They included some of the largest and best-known of all
dinosaurs, such as Diplodocus, a huge quadruped with an elephant-like body, a
long, thin tail and neck that gave it a total length of 27m, and a tiny head.

G. Ornithischian dinosaurs were bipedal or quadrupedal herbivores. They are

now usually divided into three suborders: Ornithipoda, Thyreophora and
Marginocephalia. The ornithopods, or "bird feet", both large and small, could
Access https://ieltsonlinetests.com for more practices page 13
walk or run on their long hind legs, balancing their body by holding their tails
stiffly off the ground behind them. An example is Iguanodon, up to 9m long, 5m
tall and weighing 4.5 tonnes. The thyreophorans, or "shield bearers", also
known as armoured dinosaurs, were quadrupeds with rows of protective bony
spikes, studs, or plates along their backs and tails. They included Stegosaurus,
9m long and weighing 2 tonnes.

H. The marginocephalians, or "margined heads", were bipedal or quadrupedal

ornithschians with a deep bony frill or narrow shelf at the back of the skull. An
example is Triceratops, a rhinoceros-like dinosaur, 9m long, weighing 5.4
tonnes and bearing a prominent neck frill and three large horns.

Questions 27-33
Reading Passage 3 has 8 paragraphs (A-H).
Choose the most suitable heading for each paragraph from the List of
headings below.
Write the appropriate numbers (i-xiii) in Boxes 27-33 on your answer
sheet.

One of the headings has been done for you as an example.

NB. There are more headings than paragraphs, so you will not use all
of them.

27
Paragraph A

28
Paragraph B

29
Paragraph C

30
Paragraph D

31
Paragraph E

32
Paragraph F

33
Paragraph G

Example : Paragraph H Answer: x

Access https://ieltsonlinetests.com for more practices page 14

 List of headings

i 165 million years

ii The body plan of archosaurs

iii Dinosaurs - terrible lizards

Classification according to pelvic

iv
anatomy

v The suborders of Saurischia

Lizards and dinosaurs - two

vi
distinct superorders

Unique body plan helps identify

vii
dinosaurs from other animals

viii Herbivore dinosaurs

ix Lepidosaurs

x Frills and shelves

The origins of dinosaurs and

xi
lizards

xii Bird-hipped dinosaurs

Skull bones distinguish dinosaurs

xiii
from other archosaurs

Questions 34-36
Complete then sentences below.

Use NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each blank
space.

Access https://ieltsonlinetests.com for more practices page 15

Write your answers in boxes 34-36 on your answer sheet.

Lizards and dinosaurs are classified into two different superorders

because of the difference in their 34

In the Triassic Period, 35 evolved into thecodonts, for example,

lizards and snakes.

Dinosaur skulls differed from those of any other known animals because of

the presence of vomers: 36

Questions 37-40
Choose one phrase (A-H) from the List of features to match with the
Dinosaurs listed below.

Write the appropriate letters (A-H) in boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet.

The information in the completed sentences should be an accurate

summary of the points made by the writer.

NB. There are more phrases (A-H) than sentences, so you will not need to
use them all.

You may use each phrase once only.

Dinosaurs
37
Dinosaurs differed from lizards, because

38
Saurischian and ornithischian dinosaurs

39
Unlike therapods, sauropodomorphs

40
Some dinosaurs used their tails to balance and could
walk

List of features

A are both divided into two orders.

Access https://ieltsonlinetests.com for more practices page 16

 the former had a "fully improved
B
gait".

C were not usually very heavy.

could walk or run on their back

D
legs.

their hind limbs sprawled out to

E
the side.

walked or ran on four legs, rather

F
than two.

both had a pelvic girdle

G
comprising six bones.

H did not always eat meat.

Access https://ieltsonlinetests.com for more practices page 17

 Solution:

1 YES 2 YES

3 NOT GIVEN 4 NO

5 YES 6 C

7 D 8 B

9 D 10 A

11 B 12 C

13 A 14 C

15 A 16 B

17 F 18 D

19 B 20 F

21 D 22 A

23 YES 24 NO

25 NOT GIVEN 26 NOT GIVEN

27 vi 28 xi

29 xiii 30 vii

31 iv 32 v

33 viii 34 skeletal anatomy

35 eosuchians 36 two long bones

37 B 38 G

39 H 40 D
Access https://ieltsonlinetests.com for more practices page 18
Access https://ieltsonlinetests.com for more practices page 19