Do not confuse collection with recovery
A process passage may describe several amounts that sound similar: everything collected, the portion accepted by a processor, and the material eventually made into a new product. Your first job is to attach each quantity or description to the correct stage. A bigger collection is not automatically a better final result.
In this lesson, underline words that show sequence and rejection. Then mark the reason for each change in the fictional trial. The questions test whether you can separate an action from its purpose and a measured outcome from a future possibility. Read the sentence around a keyword before deciding that it is your evidence.
This is ORIGINAL IELTS-style practice written for this site. It is not an answer key to a Cambridge passage or another named published test. The short lesson develops evidence-finding skills; it is not a complete IELTS test and cannot estimate your band. Read the passage before opening any answer reveal.
- Skim once and give each paragraph a short purpose label in your own words.
- Read each task instruction, then mark the exact evidence for your answer. Keep uncertainty visible instead of guessing silently.
- Check the explanation after answering. If your answer was correct for the wrong reason, record the reasoning error too.
Original passage: What the collection totals concealed
Paragraph A gives sourced background. The town, collection trial, staff decisions and outcomes in paragraphs B–E are fictional teaching material.
A. Used paper can become a raw material for new paper products. The United States Environmental Protection Agency explains that recovered paper is used in this way, while also telling households to check what their local recycling programme accepts. A recycling symbol is therefore not a substitute for collection instructions. In the fictional town of Bellmere, this distinction became important when a college tried to judge its paper scheme using only the weight of material placed in collection bins.
B. At first, the college celebrated every increase in its weekly collection total. Staff weighed the contents before the local processor inspected them, so the figure included material that the processor later rejected. The sustainability coordinator asked for a second measure: accepted material. She did not remove the original measure because it still showed how much the college was collecting. Instead, the two figures appeared beside each other, making the difference between collection and acceptance visible to anyone reading the report.
C. A small audit suggested that confusing signs were part of the problem. The same green label appeared on bins intended for different materials. Some students assumed that a label showing a notebook meant that any object containing paper belonged there. The team replaced the pictures with photographs of items accepted by this particular collection service and added brief instructions. It left the bin locations unchanged, allowing the trial to focus on the effect of clearer information rather than easier access.
D. During the next trial, the team weighed the paper and recorded rejected items in separate categories. The total collected fell slightly, while accepted material rose. This did not show that students had stopped supporting recycling. The coordinator argued that fewer unsuitable objects in the bins could explain the smaller total. However, she also noted that the college had fewer events during the trial, so changing activity levels remained a possible influence. The report did not claim that new signs alone caused every change.
E. Before expanding the scheme, the college planned another audit during a busier month. It also asked the processor which rejected items were most troublesome, rather than treating every mistake as equally important. The next report would include contamination categories as well as weights. For the coordinator, a useful measurement was one that helped people make a better decision. A large number that concealed the destination of the material could attract attention without showing whether the collection scheme was improving.
Questions 1–9
Answer only from the passage. Outside knowledge may help you understand a topic, but it cannot fill a gap in the writer’s account.
Choose TRUE if the statement agrees with the passage, FALSE if it contradicts the passage, or NOT GIVEN if the passage does not decide it.
Complete each sentence with NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS copied exactly from the passage.
Choose the paragraph, A–E, that contains the specified information. You may use a letter more than once.
Choose the one best answer, A, B, C or D.
- A. It proved that every collected item had been recycled.
- B. It still described collection when shown beside acceptance.
- C. It automatically reduced the processor’s charges.
- D. A law required the college to publish only that figure.
- A. The largest total should always receive the most publicity.
- B. All sorting mistakes have the same practical effect.
- C. Measures should reveal what happened and guide improvement.
- D. Weights should be removed from every recycling report.
Answers with passage evidence
Open these after attempting all nine questions. The paragraph references let you check each judgement against the original wording rather than trusting a bare key.
1. Reveal answer and explanation
TRUE. Paragraph B puts weighing before the processor’s inspection. That means the initial total included both accepted material and material later rejected; the statement concerns when weighing happened, not the quality of the collected paper.
2. Reveal answer and explanation
FALSE. Paragraph C explicitly says bin locations remained unchanged. Easier access is a tempting explanation for participation, but the trial deliberately held location steady while changing the information on the signs.
3. Reveal answer and explanation
NOT GIVEN. No paragraph reports a processing fee, a discount or a change in charges. Better acceptance does not establish a financial saving. A cost comparison would be needed to decide this statement.
4. Reveal answer and explanation
accepted material. Paragraph B names the second measure as “accepted material”. Both words are needed to distinguish this measure from the total collected. The expression fits the two-word limit and should not be replaced with a synonym.
5. Reveal answer and explanation
busier month. Paragraph E specifies “a busier month”. Copy “busier month” into the gap; adding “a” would exceed the two-word limit and repeat the article already supplied in the question.
6. Reveal answer and explanation
D. Paragraph D mentions fewer college events as another possible influence. The paragraph therefore limits the claim that clearer signs produced the whole change. A description of the intervention alone would not answer this question.
7. Reveal answer and explanation
C. Paragraph C explains the shared green label and the notebook image. Students interpreted the image too broadly. Paragraph B concerns measurement, whereas C identifies the particular communication problem behind some sorting mistakes.
8. Reveal answer and explanation
B. Paragraph B says the original figure still showed the amount collected. Keeping both measures made their difference visible. The text does not say the original measure proved recovery, reduced fees or was legally required.
9. Reveal answer and explanation
C. Paragraph E values information that supports a decision and identifies the destination of material. The writer rejects a large headline total as sufficient evidence of improvement; the problem is interpretation, not a ban on numerical measures.
Rewrite without changing the claim
Practise preserving an important contrast: one amount fell while another rose. Your rewrite must not turn a change in accepted material into proof of a single cause.
Rewrite: “The total collected fell slightly, while accepted material rose.” Then add one sentence explaining why the signs cannot be credited with the entire change.
Compare a possible rewrite
The college collected a little less material overall, but a larger amount was accepted. Fewer events during the trial may also have influenced the results.
This keeps the opposing directions and the cautious alternative explanation from paragraph D. “Recycling became less popular” would introduce an unsupported conclusion about students’ attitudes. “The signs caused the improvement” would remove the passage’s uncertainty.
There is more than one good rewrite. Check meaning before vocabulary: keep the same people, time, comparison, and degree of certainty. A sophisticated synonym is a poor choice if it changes what the passage claims. This writing extension is for learning; the sentence-completion questions above still require exact words from the passage.
Make the next attempt more accurate
Check whether you used “collected”, “accepted” and “recycled” as if they meant the same stage. Draw three separate boxes and place only the information actually given into each one. Leave the final manufacturing box empty if the passage gives no figure for it. A blank is more accurate than an invented connection.
Keep a three-part error note: the answer you chose, the words you overlooked, and one action for next time. For a NOT GIVEN error, name the missing information. For a completion error, check the word limit and grammar. For a multiple-choice error, explain why the strongest distractor fails, rather than only repeating the correct option.
Continue with exact-word answers, flow-chart completion, Academic Reading practice.
Sources and scope
The EPA source supports the general background about recovered paper and checking local collection rules. It does not describe Bellmere or validate any fictional trial result. This lesson is not a universal guide to what belongs in a household bin.
- US EPA: How Do I Recycle Common Recyclables: Recovered paper as an input to new products and the need to check local recycling acceptance.
Public factual sources checked on 15 October 2026. The passage wording, teaching scenario, questions and explanations are original. Fictional people, decisions and results are not evidence about real organisations or populations.