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Academic Reading Practice Test 2

A full 60-minute IELTS Academic Reading mock test on the history of the pencil, vertical farming and the psychology of boredom. 40 questions: note completion, True/False/Not Given, matching information, multiple choice and Yes/No/Not Given.

  • • 60 minutes, 40 questions, 3 parts
  • • The timer starts when you press Start and the test submits itself when time runs out
  • • Your answers are saved on this device as you go
  • • Select words in the passage and press Highlight to mark them, just like the computer test

Short on time? Practise one part

About 20 minutes. Check your answers as you go, see why each one is right, and get an estimated band for that part.

What is in this test

  1. Passage 1: The Humble Pencil

    Question types: Completion and short answer (1–7), True / False / Not Given (8–13)

    Few objects are as familiar, or as overlooked, as the pencil. Billions are made every year, and most of us have used one since early childhood. Yet the modern pencil is the product of several centuries of experiment, accident and international rivalry.

  2. Passage 2: Farming Upwards

    Question types: Matching (14–19), Multiple choice (20–22), Completion and short answer (23–26)

    In a former warehouse on the edge of Newark, New Jersey, rows of kale and lettuce grow in stacked trays twelve levels high. There is no soil and no sunlight. Instead, the plants' roots hang in the air and are sprayed with a nutrient-rich mist, while purple-pink LED lights shine from above. The company that runs the farm says it…

  3. Passage 3: Why Boredom Matters

    Question types: Multiple choice (27–31), Yes / No / Not Given (32–37), Completion and short answer (38–40)

    For most of history, boredom has had a poor reputation. Philosophers have described it as a kind of suffering, parents warn children against it, and an entire entertainment industry exists to help us avoid it. Yet in recent years psychologists have begun to take boredom seriously as a subject of study, and some of their findings suggest that we may…