Giant tortoises arrived in the Galapagos millions of years ago and grew huge without predators, until pirates, whalers and settlers cut their numbers. A breeding centre on Isabela became so successful that it ran out of room, so in 2010 a team used a private yacht's helicopter to fly hundreds of young tortoises back into the wild.
How to attack this block: This is a story told in order, so the headings follow the timeline: arrival, decline, a breeding centre, a timing problem, a plan, the operation, the release. The spare heading is about looking for a home, which sounds plausible but doesn't sum up any paragraph. Read D carefully: it's about the window between too small and too big.
Question 1
Answer: vParagraph A, middle
Which heading fits Paragraph A?
Some time after the Galapagos's birth, around five million years ago, the islands were colonised by one or more tortoises from mainland South America.
Question says → Passage says
Tortoises populate the islandsthe islands were colonised by one or more tortoises
populategiving rise to at least 14 different subspecies
Why: After describing Isabela, A tells how tortoises arrived from the mainland, spread to the different islands and grew into giant subspecies. 'Colonised' is the passage's word for 'populate': v.
The trap: vii (looking for a home) sounds like tortoises arriving and settling, but nobody in A is looking for anything. That spare heading fits no paragraph.
Question 2
Answer: iiiParagraph B
Which heading fits Paragraph B?
This historical exploitation was then exacerbated when settlers came to the islands. They hunted the tortoises and destroyed their habitat
Question says → Passage says
Developmentsthe arrival of whaling ships in the 1790s / when settlers came to the islands
to the disadvantage of tortoise populationsthis exploitation grow exponentially / exacerbated
Why: B is a list of bad news in date order: pirates, whalers, settlers and introduced species. Each one is a development that harmed the tortoises: iii.
The trap: B starts with the huge original numbers, which can look like a paragraph about tortoises populating the islands. That's just the starting point for the decline.
Question 3
Answer: viiiParagraph C, second sentence
Which heading fits Paragraph C?
In 1989, work began on a tortoise-breeding centre just outside the town of Puerto Villamil on Isabela, dedicated to protecting the island's tortoise populations.
Question says → Passage says
The startwork began on
the conservation projecta tortoise-breeding centre… dedicated to protecting the island's tortoise populations
Why: C dates the beginning of the breeding centre, whose purpose is protecting the tortoises. That's the start of the conservation project: viii.
The trap: C ends with the overpopulation problem, which can make you look for a heading about a problem. The problem is only introduced here; it's explained in D.
Question 4
Answer: iParagraph D
Which heading fits Paragraph D?
Captive-bred tortoises can't be reintroduced into the wild until they're at least five years old… But if people wait too long after that point, the tortoises eventually become too large to transport.
Question says → Passage says
getting the timing rightuntil they're at least five years old… if people wait too long after that point
The importanceThe problem was also a pressing one
Why: Released too young, the tortoises are eaten. Left too long, they're too big to move. D is about that narrow window, so the heading about timing fits: i.
The trap: Because D mentions predators and transport, people sometimes pick vi (carrying out an operation). Nothing is being carried out yet; D only sets the time limit.
Question 5
Answer: ivParagraph E, second and third sentences
Which heading fits Paragraph E?
gathered around a table in a small café in Puerto Ayora on the island of Santa Cruz to work out more ambitious reintroduction
Question says → Passage says
Planninggathered around a table… to work out
a bigger ideamore ambitious reintroduction / to move 300 of the breeding centre's tortoises
Why: Old releases were small, with men carrying tortoises on foot. In E a small group meets to plan something much bigger: flying 300 tortoises by helicopter. Planning a bigger idea: iv.
The trap: vi (carrying out an operation) belongs to F, where the plan actually happens. E is still at the café-table stage.
Question 6
Answer: viParagraph F
Which heading fits Paragraph F?
a custom crate was designed to hold up to 33 tortoises… a group of volunteers from the breeding centre worked around the clock to prepare the young tortoises for transport
Question says → Passage says
carefully prepareda custom crate was designed / worked around the clock to prepare / cleared landing sites
Carrying out… an operationThis unprecedented effort was made possible
Why: F covers the operation itself and all the preparation behind it: the borrowed helicopter, a crate designed for the weight limit, volunteers working round the clock and wardens clearing landing sites. vi.
The trap: iv (planning a bigger idea) is tempting because of all the preparation. But planning the idea happened in E; F is the execution.
Question 7
Answer: iiParagraph G, last two sentences
Which heading fits Paragraph G?
Eventually, one tiny tortoise came across a fully grown giant who had been lumbering around the island for around a hundred years.
Question says → Passage says
Youngone tiny tortoise
olda fully grown giant who had been lumbering around the island for around a hundred years
Why: The passage ends with a released baby tortoise meeting a hundred-year-old giant, side by side. Young meets old: ii.
The trap: vii (looking for a home) can seem to fit the juveniles exploring their new territory. But the paragraph's key image is the meeting, and they already have a home.
Note completion (ONE WORD ONLY)
Questions 8-13
How to attack this block: All six answers are in one paragraph and come in order. The notes paraphrase heavily ('not native' = 'alien'), so match ideas rather than words. Each gap is a noun; watch plurals and copy the spelling from the passage.
Question 8
Answer: piratesParagraph B, second sentence
Who first took a few tortoises onto their ships in the 1600s?
From the 17th century onwards, pirates took a few on board for food
Question says → Passage says
17th centuryFrom the 17th century onwards
small numbers taken onto shipstook a few on board
Why: The date in the note sends you straight to this sentence. 'A few' is 'small numbers', and the people who took them on board were pirates. Plural noun.
The trap: 'Whalers' is the next line of the notes. They came in the 1790s and took far more.
Question 9
Answer: foodParagraph B, third sentence
Why were tortoises kept on the whaling ships?
the tortoises were taken on board these ships to act as food supplies during long ocean passages
Question says → Passage says
kept for ___to act as food supplies
whaling shipsthese ships
Why: Tortoises survive months without food or water, so the whalers kept them alive as food. One word only: 'food'.
The trap: 'Food supplies' is two words. 'Oil' is from the next sentence and the next gap.
Question 10
Answer: oilParagraph B, fourth sentence
What else did the whalers make from the tortoises?
Sometimes, their bodies were processed into high-grade oil.
Question says → Passage says
used to producewere processed into
Why: 'Used to produce ___' paraphrases 'processed into ___'. The product is oil.
The trap: Don't add 'high-grade'. It only describes the oil, and the note wants one word.
Question 11
Answer: settlersParagraph B, sixth and seventh sentences
Who hunted the tortoises on the islands?
This historical exploitation was then exacerbated when settlers came to the islands. They hunted the tortoises
Question says → Passage says
Hunted by ___ on the islandssettlers came to the islands. They hunted the tortoises
Why: 'They hunted the tortoises' refers back to the settlers in the sentence before. The note needs a plural noun: 'settlers'.
The trap: Pirates and whalers took tortoises onto ships, not hunting them on land. The 'on the islands' detail points to settlers.
Question 12
Answer: speciesParagraph B, last sentence
What non-native things harmed the tortoises' habitat?
They also introduced alien species - ranging from cattle, pigs, goats, rats and dogs to plants and ants
Question says → Passage says
not native to the islandsalien / introduced
various ___ranging from cattle, pigs, goats, rats and dogs to plants and ants
Why: 'Alien' means not native, and the note gives you that meaning already. What's left is the noun: 'species', which is the same in singular and plural.
The trap: People write one item from the list, like 'goats' or 'rats'. The note says 'various', so it wants the general word covering all of them.
Question 13
Answer: eggsParagraph B, last sentence
Besides baby tortoises, what did the introduced animals eat?
that either prey on the eggs and young tortoises or damage or destroy their habitat
Question says → Passage says
fed onprey on
baby tortoisesyoung tortoises
Why: 'Fed on baby tortoises and tortoises' ___' matches 'prey on the eggs and young tortoises'. The remaining item is 'eggs', plural.
The trap: 'Habitat' is in the same sentence, but that's damaged or destroyed, not eaten.
D says tortoises must be big enough to survive predators but not so big they can't be moved. That's timing, even though the paragraph never uses the word.
The tortoises were kept as food supplies, so 'food'. 'Oil' is the next answer, not this one.
Words from this passage worth keeping
inhospitable(A)
difficult to live in
respite(A)
a short break from something unpleasant
exponentially(B)
faster and faster, very rapidly
exacerbated(B)
made worse
pressing(D)
urgent, needing attention now
repatriation(E)
returning someone or something to where it came from
unprecedented(F)
never done before
lumbering(G)
moving slowly and heavily
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The full Cambridge 12 Test 7 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 12, Test 7, Reading Passage 1. 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.
