Migration is hard to define. Biologist Hugh Dingle lists five features, from straight routes to fattening up and ignoring distractions, as the single-minded arctic tern shows. Joel Berger prefers a simple back-and-forth definition for big mammals. Human development threatens migrations like the pronghorn's narrow route through Wyoming's bottlenecks.
The TRUE / FALSE / NOT GIVEN (14-18) runs in order from paragraph 2 to paragraph 5. The sentence endings (19-22) come almost entirely from Dingle's list in paragraph 1, plus the tern in paragraph 2. The summary (23-26) is all in paragraph 6.
Answer key and self-check
Type what you wrote and hit mark. Hide the key first if you haven't done the passage yet. Every question number jumps to its explanation.
How to attack this block: Two statements are FALSE because they flip the passage's contrast: gulls versus terns, and differences versus shared features. The NOT GIVEN asks how many experts agree about aphids, which the passage never counts.
Question 14
Answer: FALSEParagraph 2, first two sentences
Do gulls and migrating terns react the same way to offered food?
will take no notice of a nice smelly herring offered from a bird-watcher's boat along the way. While local gulls will dive voraciously for such handouts, the tern flies on.
Question says → Passage says
when offered fooda nice smelly herring offered / such handouts
behave in the same wayWhile local gulls will dive voraciously… the tern flies on
Why: The gulls dive for the fish; the tern ignores it and keeps flying. 'While' sets up a contrast, so they behave differently. FALSE.
The trap: Both birds are near the same boat with the same fish, which can make people think the passage is comparing similar behaviour. It's a contrast.
Question 15
Answer: TRUEParagraph 3, first sentence
Do experts define migration differently depending on what they study?
biologists define it differently, depending in part on what sorts of animals they study
Question says → Passage says
Experts' definitions… tend to varybiologists define it differently
according to their area of studydepending in part on what sorts of animals they study
Why: Every part matches: experts = biologists, vary = define differently, area of study = the animals they study. Berger (large mammals) and Dingle (insects) then show it. TRUE.
The trap: 'In part' might make you think the statement is too strong, but 'tend to' in the statement is equally soft.
Question 16
Answer: NOT GIVENParagraph 4
Do only a few experts accept aphid movement as migration?
So can the movement of aphids when, having depleted the young leaves on one food plant, their offspring then fly onward to a different host plant
Question says → Passage says
the movement of aphids can be considered migrationcan also be considered migration. So can the movement of aphids
Why: The passage says aphid movement can be considered migration, but it never says how many experts agree. NOT GIVEN.
The trap: Aphids never return home, which doesn't fit Berger's definition. That shows definitions differ, but nothing counts how many experts accept aphids.
Question 17
Answer: TRUEParagraph 5, third sentence
Does the light aphids detect affect their journeys?
aphids will become sensitive to blue light (from the sky) when it's time for takeoff on their big journey, and sensitive to yellow light (reflected from tender young leaves) when it's appropriate to land
Question says → Passage says
changes in the light that they perceivesensitive to blue light… sensitive to yellow light
Aphids' journeys are affectedtime for takeoff… appropriate to land
Why: Blue light tells aphids when to take off and yellow light when to land. A change in the light they notice shapes the journey. TRUE.
Question 18
Answer: FALSEParagraph 5, last sentence
Is Dingle trying to show how different species migrate differently?
it focuses attention on what the phenomenon of wildebeest migration shares with the phenomenon of the aphids
Question says → Passage says
distinguish between the migratory behaviours of different specieswhat the phenomenon of wildebeest migration shares with the phenomenon of the aphids
Why: Dingle's definition looks for what migrations have in common, like wildebeest and aphids. Finding shared features is the opposite of distinguishing between species. FALSE.
The trap: Earlier in the paragraph his features 'distinguish migration from other forms of movement'. That's migration versus non-migration, not one species versus another.
Sentence endings (A-G)
Questions 19-22
How to attack this block: Dingle's five features in paragraph 1 give three of the four answers, each in plain paraphrase (linear, overfeeding, undeterred). Watch the beginnings that say 'unlikely to': you need the thing migrating animals don't do.
Question 19
Answer: GParagraph 1, Dingle's list
What does Dingle say migration routes tend to be like?
they tend to be linear, not zigzaggy
Question says → Passage says
are likely totend to be
follow a straight linelinear, not zigzaggy
Why: 'Linear' means in a line, and 'not zigzaggy' makes it clear the line is straight. G.
The trap: D (repeated daily) borrows from the zooplankton in paragraph 4, which move every day. That's one example, not one of Dingle's features of routes.
Question 20
Answer: CParagraph 1 and paragraph 5
What do animals usually do to get ready for migration?
they involve special behaviours concerning preparation (such as overfeeding) and arrival
Question says → Passage says
To prepare for migrationpreparation / in advance of a long migrational flight
eat more than they need for immediate purposesoverfeeding / fatten themselves with heavy feeding
Why: Dingle's preparation example is overfeeding, and paragraph 5 adds that birds fatten up before a long flight. Eating more than you need now is overfeeding. C.
The trap: B (travelling on open land) is something pronghorn do during migration to stay safe, not a way of preparing for it.
Question 21
Answer: AParagraph 1, last sentence
What are animals unlikely to do while migrating?
keeps them undistracted by temptations and undeterred by challenges that would turn other animals aside
Question says → Passage says
unlikely to be discouragedundeterred
difficultieschallenges
Why: 'Undeterred by challenges' means not put off by difficulties. Since the sentence beginning says 'unlikely to', you need the thing they don't do: be discouraged. A.
The trap: E (ignore distractions) comes from the same sentence, but it's something migrating animals do, so it doesn't fit 'unlikely to'. It belongs with the terns in 22.
Question 22
Answer: EParagraph 2, third and fourth sentences
What ability do arctic terns show?
The arctic tern resists distraction because it is driven at that moment by an instinctive sense of something we humans find admirable: larger purpose.
Question says → Passage says
ignore distractionsresists distraction / take no notice of a nice smelly herring
Why: The tern ignores the herring and 'resists distraction'. That's E, word for word in meaning.
The trap: A ('be discouraged by difficulties') is also about focus, but the tern faces a temptation, not a difficulty. And the beginning says 'ability to', which needs something positive.
Summary completion (ONE WORD ONLY)
Questions 23-26
How to attack this block: Paragraph 6 tells the pronghorn story in the same order as the summary. Every gap is a noun, and two need the plural. 'Three' before a gap is a strong clue.
Question 23
Answer: speedParagraph 6, near the end
Besides their eyesight, what do pronghorn rely on to escape predators?
Pronghorn, dependent on distance vision and speed to keep safe from predators, traverse high, open shoulders of land
Question says → Passage says
rely ondependent on
their eyesightdistance vision
avoid predatorskeep safe from predators
Why: 'Eyesight' replaces 'distance vision', so the other half of the pair is 'speed'. Paragraph 6 also calls them the fastest land mammal of the New World.
The trap: 'Distance' is right next to it, but it's part of 'distance vision', which the summary has already turned into 'eyesight'.
Question 24
Answer: plainsParagraph 6, third and fourth sentences
Where do pronghorn spend the winter?
across a river, and down onto the plains. Here they wait out the frozen months, feeding mainly on sagebrush blown clear of snow
Question says → Passage says
their winter homeHere they wait out the frozen months
avoid the danger presented by the snowthey are likely to die trying to overwinter in the deep snow
Why: 'Wait out the frozen months' means spend the winter, and 'here' refers to the plains. The gap follows 'the', so a noun: 'plains'.
The trap: 'Mountains' is their summer range, and 'river' is a point on the way. Neither is the winter home.
Question 25
Answer: bottlenecksParagraph 6, middle
What does the pronghorn route contain three of?
These pronghorn are notable for the invariance of their migration route and the severity of its constriction at three bottlenecks.
Question says → Passage says
their route… contains threetheir migration route… at three bottlenecks
Why: 'Three' is your anchor. The route narrows at three bottlenecks. The number tells you the noun must be plural.
The trap: 'Constriction' is in the same sentence, but it's uncountable here and wouldn't follow 'three'.
Question 26
Answer: corridorParagraph 6, last two sentences
Also accepted: passageway
What narrow strip of land is being built on?
leaving a corridor of open ground only about 150 metres wide, filled with private homes
Question says → Passage says
a narrow ___ of landa corridor of open ground only about 150 metres wide
construction of new homesfilled with private homes / Increasing development
Why: 'A narrow ___ of land' mirrors 'a corridor of open ground only 150 metres wide'. 'Corridor' is the answer, and 'passageway' from the next sentence is also accepted.
The trap: 'Bottleneck' also means a narrow point, but you've used it for question 25 and it isn't the word the passage pairs with 'of open ground'.
'Undeterred by challenges' means they are unlikely to be discouraged by difficulties. People pick 'ignore distractions' from the same sentence, but that one belongs to the terns.
NOT GIVEN. Aphid movement 'can be considered' migration, but the passage never says how many experts agree.
Words from this passage worth keeping
prolonged(Paragraph 1)
lasting a long time
undeterred(Paragraph 1)
not put off or discouraged
voraciously(Paragraph 2)
very hungrily and eagerly
converged(Paragraph 2)
come together in one place
depleted(Paragraph 4)
used up
intricate(Paragraph 5)
detailed and complicated
invariance(Paragraph 6)
never changing
resoluteness(Paragraph 7)
firm determination
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The full Cambridge 11 Test 3 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 11, Test 3, Reading Passage 2. The passage and questions belong to Cambridge University Press and are not reproduced here. We quote short extracts only as evidence for our own commentary, and the answers are published for self-marking. Get the book for the full text, or sit the test on Langujet.
