Right and left-handedness in humans: reading answers and analysis
About 90% of people are right-handed, and handedness is partly inherited, but not simply. The passage links it to the brain: language usually sits in the left hemisphere, left-handers have more two-sided speech, monkeys show a trend towards brain asymmetry, and disrupted development before birth may make male brains less lateralised. Language itself, one writer argues, is biased against the left.
Questions 1-12 · 12 marks · 3 question blocks
Where the answers sit
The people matching (1-7) spans the whole passage. The table (8-10) is all in the second paragraph. The multiple choice (11-12) covers the monkey study and the end of the passage.
Questions 1-7
Brinkman answers twice: right-hand preference evolved with speech, and left-handers recover speech better after left-side brain damage. Geschwind and Galaburda also answer twice: more left-handed males, and asymmetry before birth. Broca linked stroke and speech loss, Moore argues language is biased against the left, and Turner says asymmetry is systematic (handedness goes with sidedness).
| Question | Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | B | — |
| 2 | D | — |
| 3 | C | — |
| 4 | B | — |
| 5 | A | — |
| 6 | C | — |
| 7 | E | — |
Questions 8-10
The second paragraph gives three figures. Match each to the parent combination carefully, because the table's order differs from the passage's. The key accepts several ways of writing each percentage.
| Question | Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|---|
| 8 | 15-20% | 15 to 20% / 15-20 per cent / 15 to 20 per cent / 15%-20% |
| 9 | 40% | 40 per cent / forty per cent |
| 10 | 6% | 6 per cent / six per cent |
Questions 11-12
Brinkman found a trend in monkeys towards the brain asymmetry seen in humans. The writer says left-handers have lived for centuries in a world designed for right-handers, which is hardship.
| Question | Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|---|
| 11 | D | — |
| 12 | B | — |
The questions most people get wrong
15-20%. One left-handed and one right-handed parent is the middle figure. 40% is for two left-handed parents, and 6% for two right-handed parents.
B (Brinkman). She observed that left-handers often recover speech better after left-side damage because their speech function is more two-sided.
B. Left-handers 'have for centuries lived in a world designed to suit right-handed people'. The stammer is only for children forced to switch hands.
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The full Cambridge 1 Test 2 reading paper: all three passages, 60 minutes, marked the second you finish with a review of every answer. Already done it? Take it again and see if the same traps still get you.
Cambridge IELTS 1, Test 2, Reading Passage 1. The passage name belongs to Cambridge University Press. No passage text or question wording is reproduced on this page. The answers are published for self-marking, and the analysis is our own.