IELTS General Reading Practice Test 1 with Answers

This IELTS General Reading Practice Test consists of multiple reading passages in 3 sections. Section 1 consists of 2 passages, such as "World Doughnut Day" and “Treatments”; Section 2 covers "When It's Time To Go Back To School" along with “Employee Benefits And Professional Growth At BD Company”; and finally, Section 3 focuses on "Nelson Mandela". The test includes a variety of question types such as True/False/Not Given, Matching Headings, Summary Completion, and Sentence Completion. You have 60 minutes to complete the entire test.

Section 1 {Q1–Q14}

World Doughnut Day
IELTS Sentence Completion (Q1-Q8)

Treatments
IELTS True/False/Not Given (Q9-Q14)

Section 2 {Q15–Q28}

When It’s Time to Go Back to School
IELTS Match the Following (Q15-Q21)

Employee Benefits and Professional Growth at BD Company
IELTS Sentence Completion (Q22-Q23)
IELTS Matching Features (Q24-Q28)

Section 3 {Q29-Q40}

Nelson Mandela
IELTS Match the Information (Q29-Q35)
Summary Completion (Q36-Q40)

READING GENERAL: TEST PAPER 1

SECTION 1 

Questions 1-14

World Doughnut Day

World Doughnut Day inspired me to go out into the streets and get my carbohydrate fix from these delicious hot sugary snacks, but I had no idea there were so many around the world. There are many variations of the doughnut, from sophisticated foie gras savouries to gold flake-topped ultra-luxe varieties. Some of my favourites include: 

Beignet 

Fried choux pastry dough is usually square-shaped without a hole. Eaten throughout France and also in New Orleans, Louisiana, in the United States, where the beignet is also hugely popular thanks to the French colonists in the 18th century. The place to have them in this American city is at the Cafe du Monde, where you can dig into freshly-fried beignets served with large heaps of powdered sugar. 

Churros 

Usually choux pastry-based, these are piped through a star-shaped nozzle and fried in oil into long tubes. They are eaten throughout Spain and Latin America and are traditionally served fresh and hot for breakfast, dipped in bowls of thick hot chocolate. You can often find them served by street vendors at markets or on breakfast menus in cafes. 

Krapfen 

These treats are prepared with sweetened yeast dough. They are circular, holeless cakes, fried in oil and then stuffed with custard or fruity filling. They are quite popular in Germany. 

Baursaki 

This is a sweet, eggy pastry fried in oil and served as a ball or triangle with no holes. The treat is eaten throughout Kazakhstan and in many parts of Russia outside Europe. Although it tastes sweet, the Baursaki is often served with tasty soups and broths. 

Malasada 

This small, egg-sized ball of fried dough is traditionally shaped into a ball. Sometimes it may be slightly flattened and twisted to create a small hole, served usually in sugar. The pastry comes from Madeira and the Azores islands, but migrant workers took the recipe with them to Hawaii, in the United States, where people came to love the sweet fried treat and have made it their own. 

Questions 1-8 

Complete the sentences below.

1. The _______________ is a European version of the treat popular in a southern city of the United States. 

2. This form of the pastry is ________________ as a side with warm soups in some areas in Asia. 

3. Consumed in the morning with warm chocolate, ________________ are a breakfast dish for many in the Spanish-speaking population. 

4. This treat is filled with ________________ and is most popular in a European nation other than France. 

5. The ________________ was brought to an island in the USA where it took on its own form. 

6. The famous cafe in America that makes the food serves them with lots of ________________. 

7. In Mexico and other Latin American countries, ________________ sell this form of the doughnut on neighborhood corners and in local coffee shops. 

8. They are not the healthiest of foods since doughnuts are a ________________ source for those looking to count calories. 

Treatments 

The Arizona desert offers some of the world's best spa therapies. In the heart of the state, you'll find the city of Scottsdale, which is considered the ‘spa capital’ of the world, thanks to its plethora of destination spa resorts; it has more per capita than any other location in the world.

The Golf Ball Massage 

Where: The Four Seasons Hotel 

What: Excellent before or after a day of golf. This unique therapeutic massage uses warmed golf balls and stretching techniques to knead tight muscles and ease golf-related stiffness. 

Turquoise Wrap 

Where: Boulders Resort 

What: This treatment is based on the Native American belief that turquoise is a colour of protection, confidence, and positive energy. During this wrap, the therapist performs a rainstick ritual and uses essential oils to harmonise the spirit. 

Magnet Scrub 

Where: Hyatt Regency 

What: This treatment begins with inhalations, body alignment, and chakra balancing, then exfoliation with a special scrub, followed by removal with neodymium magnets. Finally, an application of Diamond Body Cream. 

Peaceful Healing Treatment 

Where: Talking Stick Resort 

What: This method is typically used to rehabilitate farmers, hunters, and exhausted travellers. Raw Pima cotton poultices are filled with steaming desert herbs to produce luxurious aromas that bring your mind to a state of rest. Rhythmic pressure is applied along the body's energy pathways, offering renewed feelings of vitality and balance. 

Questions 9-14 

Do the following statements agree with the information given in the text? 

In boxes 9-14 on your answer sheet, write: 

9.The Peaceful Healing Treatment uses local ingredients in a massage used to treat agricultural workers. 

10. At the Hyatt Regency, customers do not receive an exfoliation with a scrub. 

11. The New Mexico desert offers better spa options than Arizona. 

12. A special cream is used with the Magnet Scrub treatment. 

13. The Four Seasons Hotel offers a free lunch with their massage. 

14. The Talking Stick Resort uses golf balls in its treatment options. 

SECTION 2 

Questions 15-28

Read the text below and answer questions 15-21. 

When It's Time to Go Back to School 

Over two million adults go to school every year, according to some estimates. People start or return to school for many reasons. The following list is a sampling. 

A. Do you long to play tennis? Have you always wanted to learn to write poetry or play the piano? Then maybe adult education classes are for you. These courses are usually offered through a university or college extension program, a church or community centre, or at an institution of higher education for credit. 

B. Have you always wanted to go to France, India, or China, but are worried about not speaking the language? Enrol in a foreign language class so you have the basics to make your travels easier. Classes are usually categorised as 'conversational', 'for travel', or by level (ie, French 1, Spanish 3, etc.). Any class will teach you the basics: how to say yes or no, ask for directions, ask where the bathroom is, order food, etc. 

C. Maybe you didn't get as much education as you wanted. Maybe you want your child to stay in school and learn as much as possible. Sometimes the best way to lead a child is by example. If you do your homework every night, so will your child. And you can sit at the table together and use it as bonding time. 

D. Did you not have time to go to school as you wanted? Perhaps the opportunity wasn't there at the time, and now you are thinking of what you'd like to do with your life. Going to school, whether at a trade school, a community college, or a university, can get you on track to create a career in your current occupation. 

E. Were you in a job that was recently phased out? Sometimes it isn't your choice to go back to school, but the skills you have learned and the life you have been leading are now obsolete. New job opportunities are created every year for people willing to be trained or retrained. 

F. You may have a dream. Maybe it isn't so specific, maybe you just aspire to finish your degree. Or maybe you already have a degree and a career, but you've always dreamed of an 38 advanced degree. It's not too late to explore other subjects, to take courses in something you'd really love to delve into more deeply. 

G. Will your firm compensate you financially for more education? Then you could study something that interests you or something that your boss would be interested in having you study. Many corporations will pay for their employees to work on MBAs in the evening or on weekends. 

Questions 15-21 

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

i) To set a good precedent for your children 

ii) To find a new career 

iii) Work is paying for it, so why not? 

iv) To please your parents 

v) To follow a dream 

vi) Your boss is a bully 

vii) To learn more about a hobby or an interest 

viii) Your commute to your job is too long 

ix) To get a career 

x) To learn a foreign language for travel or fun 

15. Section A ____ 

16. Section B ____ 

17. Section C ____ 

18. Section D ____ 

19. Section E ____ 

20. Section F ____

21. Section G ____ 

BD company leads the way with its outstanding employment conditions and benefits. At BD, we consider it essential that our employees have access to all the resources that enable them to perform their job at the highest level and that they can continually work on their own personal development. 

Salary and Pension 

At the heart of that is our employee benefit and compensation program. This program distinguishes us from competing firms. As part of our commitment to our team members, you will receive an excellent salary. Pension plans at BD enable you to start building your retirement savings from the day you join the company. Payment of this basic contribution is shared between the employer and the employee. 

Job Performance Programme 

Within BD, we work with an evolving system of planning, coaching, and assessment that enables you to enhance your skills and performance while bolstering the firm's overall growth and productivity. This system revolves around results-oriented and development-oriented targets. We regularly check whether we are still on track along the way. You receive the freedom to put your talents to good use and devise your own solutions to attain your goals. 

Personal Development Initiative 

At BD, we value proactive employees who have sufficient self-awareness to know where their talents lie and who work in roles they enjoy. To help our team members realise their own potential, we offer a wide range of personal development programs. In addition, various job-related training courses and programs are available within the firm. 

Company Perks 

As a BD employee, you are eligible to receive a free travel card permitting you unlimited use of public transport all year round, including non-business-related travel. In certain cases, you may be eligible for a company car. As a BD employee, you can also take advantage of special rates and packages at hotels and holiday parks, as well as discounts through a variety of travel firms. 

Flexible Work 

At BD, you can largely decide for yourself when and where you work. You choose which task you want to work on at any given time and decide where best you can do it - at home, somewhere in one of our office buildings, or externally. You are also given the latest technology to enable you to connect to our network, wherever you are. 

Questions 22 and 23 

Complete the sentences below.

22. The firm wants every employee to perform at ________________, thus providing all the necessary resources to make this a reality. 

23. Employees get a ____________ that gives them access to all of the trains, trams, and buses in the city. 

Questions 24-28 

Look at the following descriptions and the list of terms in the box below. 

List of Descriptions 

24. An employee has the opportunity to work from home and access the company servers. 

25. Employees and their managers evaluate progress in meeting their employment expectations and broader career objectives. 

26. Workers can enjoy access to tourism and recreational activities. 

27. Mentoring and classes that help an employee develop the skills to meet their career objectives. 

28. A company helps an employee prepare financially for the time when they are no longer working. 

SECTION 3 

Questions 29-40

Read the text below and answer questions 29-40. 

Nelson Mandela

A. Nelson Mandela always carried himself as one who was born to lead. His former cellmate, Ahmed Kathrada, described him as being born into a royal house, and there was always that sense about him of someone who understands the meaning of leadership. Mandela, who led the African National Congress into government, displayed a strong sense of his own dignity and confidence that nothing in nearly thirty years of imprisonment was capable of destroying. 

B. Mandela often described himself as simply part of the ANC's leadership, though there was never any doubt that he was the most powerful political figure of his generation in South Africa. To the wider world, he represented many things; not least an icon of freedom but also the most vivid example in modern times of the power of forgiveness and reconciliation. The former President of South Africa, FW De Klerk, spoke about Mandela's astonishing lack of bitterness. 

C. His fundamental creed was best expressed in his address to the sabotage trial in 1964. "I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination," he said. "I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal that I hope to live for and to achieve. But, if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die. 

D. Born in 1918, Rolihlahla Dalibhunga Mandela was raised in the village of Qunu in the Transkei in the Eastern Cape. He was one of 13 children from a family with close links to the royal house of the Thembu people. He often recalled his boyhood in the green hills of the Transkei with fondness. Mandela was only nine years old when his father died of tuberculosis. Always closer emotionally to his mother, he described his father as a stern disciplinarian, but he credited him with instilling the instincts that would help carry him to greatness. 

E. The late 1950s and early 1960s were a period of growing tumult in South Africa, as African nationalists allied with the South African Communist Party challenged the apartheid 

state. When the protest was met with brute force, the ANC launched an armed struggle with Mandela at its head. He was arrested and charged with treason in 1956. After a trial lasting five years, Mandela was acquitted. But by then, the ANC had been banned, and his comrade Oliver Tambo had gone into exile. 

F. Mandela went underground and embarked on a secret mission to seek help from other

African nations emerging from colonial rule. But soon after his return, he was arrested and sentenced to five years in jail. Further charges of sabotage led to a life sentence that would see him spend 27 years behind bars. He revisited his cell several times after his release. During his imprisonment, he worked in the lime quarry on Robben Island, the prison in Cape Town harbour, where the glaring sun on the white stone caused permanent damage to his eyes; he contracted tuberculosis in Pollsmoor Prison outside Cape Town, and he held the first talks with government ministers while he was incarcerated at the Victor Verster prison farm. In conversation, he would often say prison had given him time to think. 

G. Prison had taken away the prime of his life. It had taken away his family life. Relations with some of his children were strained. His marriage to his wife Winnie Mandela would end in divorce. But prison had never robbed his humanity. Fighting between ANC supporters and the predominantly Zulu Inkatha movement had claimed thousands of lives, mainly in the townships around Johannesburg and in the hills of Natal. Huge crowds greeted Mandela's release. In those circumstances, another leader might have been tempted to blame the enemy alone. But when Mandela spoke, he surprised everyone who was listening by saying: "There are members of the ANC who are killing our people... We must face the truth. Our people are just as involved as other organisations that are committing violence... We cannot climb to freedom on the corpses of innocent people. 

H. He knew the crowd would not like his message, but he also knew they would listen. As an interviewee, he deflected personal questions with references to the suffering of all South Africans. One learned to read the expressions on his face for a truer guide to what Mandela felt. On the night of 2 May 1994, a function room was packed with officials, activists, diplomats, and journalists, struggling to hear each other as the music pulsed and the cheers rang out. The ANC had won a comprehensive victory. On the stage, surrounded by his closest advisors, Nelson Mandela danced and waved to the crowd. He smiled the open, generous smile of a man who had lived to see his dream. 

Questions 29-35 

Which paragraph contains the following information?

29. ____ References Mandela's belief that he worked against both white and black subjugation. 

30. ____ Explores the toll Mandela's life took on his family. 

31. ____ Discusses how one of his parents influenced his life. 

32. ____ Mentions how Mandela put South Africa's suffering above his own. 

33. ____ Illustrates Mandela's character in the words of someone with whom he shared a prison cell. 

34. ____ Reveals how another South African leader saw Mandela as a symbol of forgiveness. 

35. ____ Shows how his time in prison ironically gave him the space to envision a different future. 

Questions 36-40 

Complete the summary below. 

The life and leadership of Nelson Mandela serve as a profound example of how 36._______________ and 37. ________________ can empower not only a person but an entire nation to change. These attributes freed Mandela from any bitterness and scorn to enable him to lead South Africa to a new future after apartheid was vanquished. Mandela credited his 38. ____________ providing him with the discipline and instincts to become a great leader, while his mother provided strong emotional support. Mandela's life was not perfect, as he became estranged from his wife, and his children suffered at times. During his time in prison, Mandela, despite the hardship he endured, used the abundance 39._______________ he had there to conceptualise a new future for himself and South Africa. Once Mandela was freed, he took a leadership role in the country and used his wisdom and intelligence to reunite his nation. Despite the difficulties he encountered in his life, he refused to 40.__________his enemies for everything that had happened.

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