Before you read: identify the kind of evidence
This lesson contains three kinds of information: task results, preferences and evidence still needed. Assign each paragraph a brief function before attempting the matching questions. In the completion questions, pay attention to whether the missing word names a procedure, an object or a record. Do not use general knowledge about cork to answer a question about this fictional committee.
This is original IELTS-style practice with a short, fictional learning scenario. It is not a Cambridge passage or an answer key to any named published test. Paragraph A supplies a brief factual introduction; paragraphs B–E describe invented people, materials and events. Answer from this passage alone. You do not need to research the topic or agree with a character to identify what the text says.
Read once for the overall sequence, then answer the ten questions without opening the explanations. Beside any uncertain answer, note the paragraph and the missing or contradictory detail. The response fields are for practice only: there is no submit button, automatic marking or saved result. Keep any notes you want to retain. This short lesson does not estimate an IELTS band.
Choosing a surface for a shared room
A. Cork comes from the bark of the cork oak, Quercus suber, a tree native to parts of the Mediterranean region. The bark can regrow after careful harvesting. Cork is used for bottle stoppers, insulation and several other products, including noticeboards. Its presence in familiar objects can make the material seem unremarkable. Yet choosing a product made from it still involves practical questions about design, use and maintenance. Knowing where a material comes from does not answer every question about a finished object.
B. In a fictional community centre, a committee planned to replace the noticeboard in a busy meeting room. Rather than order a full board immediately, it borrowed three sample panels: cork, fabric-covered board and a painted magnetic panel. The committee wanted a surface that volunteers could update easily. It therefore asked the same six volunteers to attach and remove a set of identical notices on each sample. The order of the samples changed between volunteers so that one material was not always encountered first.
C. Each volunteer recorded the time needed for the task and noted any difficulty. The cork sample was quickest for four volunteers, while two completed the magnetic task faster. These results interested the committee, but one member pointed out a missing condition: the centre’s larger notices had not been included. The team repeated the task using both sizes. It kept the results separate because combining them into a single average would hide whether a panel worked differently with small and large notices.
D. Appearance was considered in a separate discussion. Volunteers preferred different colours, and several wanted a border matching the room’s furniture. The committee recorded these comments but did not treat them as measurements of durability. None of the borrowed samples had been tested over months of use. The caretaker offered to keep a maintenance diary during a longer trial, recording loose fittings, damaged surfaces and time spent on repairs. The diary would document the finished board’s performance, not just the qualities associated with its main material.
E. At the next meeting, the committee recommended a longer trial of the cork panel, provided that a suitable mounting system could be arranged. This was a provisional choice, not a claim that cork was always superior to alternatives. The report listed the task results, the preferences and the unanswered durability question under separate headings. Members also agreed to review the choice if the larger notices repeatedly became difficult to secure. By specifying what might change their decision, they made the trial more useful than a simple vote for the most attractive sample.
Factual background for paragraph A: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew: Quercus suber, checked 15 October 2026. The workshop or project in paragraphs B–E is fictional and was written for this exercise.
Ten questions: record an answer and locate its support
Questions 1–3: TRUE, FALSE or NOT GIVEN
Choose TRUE when the statement agrees with the passage, FALSE when the passage contradicts it, and NOT GIVEN when the passage does not provide enough information to decide. A statement that sounds likely is not automatically TRUE.
Questions 4–6: sentence completion
Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer. Copy the wording accurately and check that the completed sentence is grammatical. Do not add an explanation in the answer field.
Questions 7–8: matching information
Choose the paragraph, A–E, that contains the specified information. A paragraph may be used more than once. Match the whole idea, not just a repeated topic word.
Questions 9–10: multiple choice
Choose one answer, A, B, C or D. Check the scope of each option: an explanation for one action is not necessarily a claim about every situation.
- To reward the fastest volunteers
- To decide which border colour was most popular
- To include a condition missing from the first comparison
- To guarantee that every volunteer would prefer cork
- Cork is the best material for every noticeboard
- The choice remains open to revision after more evidence
- No further observations are necessary
- The durability of all samples has been established
Questions 4–6: maximum two words from the passage. Answers are checked manually using the reveals below.
Answers with paragraph evidence
Open one explanation at a time. Before changing an answer, identify whether the mistake concerned vocabulary, a missing fact, the wrong participant or an exaggerated conclusion. A correct guess still needs an evidence check.
1. Reveal answer and explanation
TRUE. Paragraph B says the same six volunteers attached and removed identical notices on each sample. This directly supports the statement. The sample order changed, but changing order does not mean a different group tested each material.
2. Reveal answer and explanation
FALSE. Paragraph C states that the team kept the results separate because a single average could conceal differences by notice size. The statement describes the approach the committee deliberately avoided. This is explicit contradiction, not missing information.
3. Reveal answer and explanation
NOT GIVEN. No purchase prices or borrowing charges are listed. Ease of use, appearance and durability are discussed, but none establishes cost. Recommending a sample for further testing does not prove that it was cheaper than the alternatives.
4. Reveal answer and explanation
order. Paragraph B says the order changed between volunteers, ensuring one material was not always first. The question asks what varied during the comparison. “Notices” would be incorrect because the initial set was identical across samples.
5. Reveal answer and explanation
maintenance diary. Paragraph D names a maintenance diary for recording problems and repairs. This two-word phrase describes the proposed record. “Report” is used for the committee’s later summary, not the caretaker’s continuing record during the trial.
6. Reveal answer and explanation
mounting system. Paragraph E makes the recommendation conditional on a suitable mounting system. Copy both words to identify the practical requirement. The furniture border is a preference mentioned earlier, not the condition attached to the recommendation.
7. Reveal answer and explanation
D. Paragraph D separates the colour and border discussion from measurements of durability and notes that months of use had not been tested. Match this distinction rather than the general mention of choosing a product in paragraph A.
8. Reveal answer and explanation
E. Paragraph E says repeated difficulty securing larger notices would trigger a review. This provides an explicit reason for changing the decision. Paragraph C identifies a missing test condition but does not yet state the committee’s future review trigger.
9. Reveal answer and explanation
C. Paragraph C identifies larger notices as an omitted condition in the first test. The repeat expands what the task examines. It is not described as a way to reward particular volunteers, test colour preferences or guarantee a unanimous result.
10. Reveal answer and explanation
B. Paragraph E calls the choice provisional, attaches a practical condition and states a possible review trigger. The recommendation is therefore limited and revisable. It does not establish superiority for every application or settle the missing long-term durability evidence.
Review the reasoning behind your choices
For Question 10, connect three pieces of evidence rather than relying on a single word: “provisional”, the mounting condition and the review trigger. Together they show how the recommendation can change. For Question 3, identify the missing comparison precisely: the relative prices of the samples. A low-cost material in another setting would not supply the missing information about this particular trial.
“Durability” concerns performance over time, whereas “appearance” concerns how something looks. A “provisional” choice can be revised. A “condition” can mean a feature of a test or a requirement attached to a decision. Locate the surrounding sentence before deciding which meaning is being used.
Choose one answer you initially doubted and complete this evidence note: “I selected this answer because paragraph ___ says ___; the alternative would require ___.” If you cannot complete the final part, reread the competing answer rather than simply memorising the key. Your next practice goal should name a process you can repeat, such as checking the speaker or preserving a qualification.
Paraphrase without changing the certainty
Sentence from the passage: This was a provisional choice, not a claim that cork was always superior to alternatives.
Rewrite the sentence beginning “The committee selected cork for further testing…” Include a phrase that limits the decision to this situation. Avoid changing a trial recommendation into a completed purchase or a universal judgement.
Reveal one possible rewrite and the meaning check
Possible rewrite: The committee selected cork for further testing in this setting, while leaving open whether another material might prove more suitable.
This version preserves both the limited setting and the possibility of revision. It does not imply that the full noticeboard was already bought. The original concerns a trial choice, so “purchased cork because it was best” would change the action and overstate the evidence.
This is an open-ended language exercise, so other accurate rewrites are possible. Check the actor, action, time and level of certainty before judging style. Replacing words with synonyms is useful only when the new sentence still makes the same claim.
Choose the next Reading skill to practise
Continue with short-answer and exact-word practice if your completion answers exceeded the limit. Use matching features to work on attaching details to the correct people or groups. For a change of text type, try two original Academic-style texts. Keep the answer explanations closed until you have made an evidence-based attempt.