Why being bored is stimulating – and useful, too: reading answers and analysis
Psychologists disagree about boredom. Some find it hard even to define; Goetz sorts it into five types; Mann says it makes us more creative; Eastwood calls it a failure of attention that can turn toxic. Research links boredom to personality, and Wemelsfelder suggests our over-connected lives may be causing it.
The headings (14-19) cover A to F, one per paragraph. The people matching (20-23) jumps around: Toohey in A, Goetz in B, Eastwood in D, Wemelsfelder in F. The summary (24-26) is in D and E, in order.
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: Each paragraph has a clear job: a problem with defining boredom, a classification, its good side, its dangers, who suffers most, and a new cause with a fix. Two headings (teachers and age groups) are bait from a single mention of teenagers, so don't use them.
Question 14
Answer: ivParagraph A, second and third sentences
Which heading sums up Paragraph A?
But defining boredom so that it can be studied in the lab has proved difficult. For a start, it can include a lot of other mental states
Question says → Passage says
Problemshas proved difficult / There isn't even agreement
a scientific approachso that it can be studied in the lab
Why: The heading is iv. The paragraph is about why boredom is hard to pin down for research: it overlaps with other states, and nobody agrees whether it's low-energy or restless. 'Studied in the lab' is the scientific approach.
The trap: Heading iii tempts because Toohey offers a new way of seeing boredom (like disgust). That's one idea at the end, and there's no cure anywhere in A.
Question 15
Answer: viParagraph B, first two sentences
Which heading sums up Paragraph B?
have recently identified five distinct types: indifferent, calibrating, searching, reactant and apathetic. These can be plotted on two axes
Question says → Passage says
Creating a system of classificationidentified five distinct types / plotted on two axes
Why: The heading is vi. Goetz sorts boredom into five types and maps them on two axes (arousal and positive or negative feeling). That is a classification system.
The trap: Heading viii looks right because B ends on character traits, but it says it 'remains to be seen' which traits predict boredom. Nobody is identified yet. That comes in E.
Question 16
Answer: iParagraph C, third and fourth sentences
Which heading sums up Paragraph C?
Mann has found that being bored makes us more creative. 'We're all afraid of being bored but in actual fact it can lead to all kinds of amazing things,'
Question says → Passage says
productive outcomesmore creative / all kinds of amazing things / more creative ideas
may result from boredombeing bored makes us
Why: The heading is i. Mann's whole paragraph is about the good results of boredom: more creativity, shown by the polystyrene cup experiment. Creative ideas are productive outcomes.
The trap: Heading iii can catch you because Mann suggests we 'seek out more boredom', which sounds like a cure. But she isn't curing boredom, she's recommending it.
Question 17
Answer: vParagraph D, last sentence
Which heading sums up Paragraph D?
Perhaps most worryingly, says Eastwood, repeatedly failing to engage attention can lead to a state where we don't know what to do any more, and no longer care.
Question says → Passage says
A potential dangermost worryingly / it can still be toxic if allowed to fester
Why: The heading is v. Eastwood calls boredom 'toxic' if it festers, and ends with the most worrying result: a state where we no longer care. The paragraph builds towards that danger.
The trap: Heading iv tempts because Eastwood disagrees with Mann about what boredom is. That's a dispute over one definition, not a paragraph about problems with studying it.
Question 18
Answer: viiiParagraph E, first half
Which heading sums up Paragraph E?
they think that at least some of it comes down to personality. Boredom proneness has been linked with a variety of traits.
Question says → Passage says
Identifying thosecomes down to personality / linked with a variety of traits
most affected by boredomPeople who are motivated by pleasure seem to suffer particularly badly / those who bore easily
Why: The heading is viii. E sorts people by how badly boredom hits them: pleasure-seekers suffer most, curious people cope, and people who bore easily do worse in life.
The trap: Heading vii (age groups) and ii (teachers) are bait from Goetz's study with teenagers at the end. Only one age group is mentioned, nothing is compared, and no teachers appear.
Question 19
Answer: iiiParagraph F
Which heading sums up Paragraph F?
our over-connected lifestyles might even be a new source of boredom
Question says → Passage says
A new explanationa new source of boredom
a new cureperhaps we should leave our phones alone, and use boredom to motivate us
Why: The heading is iii. Wemelsfelder gives a new cause (being over-connected and overstimulated) and a new remedy (put the phone down and engage with the world). The heading needs both halves, and F has both.
The trap: Heading i fits the last line, where boredom motivates us, but that's only the remedy. It misses the new explanation that opens the paragraph.
Matching features (ideas A-E)
Questions 20-23
How to attack this block: Four people, five ideas, so one idea is left over: the one about boredom falling in future belongs to nobody. Toohey's disgust comparison is about avoiding something, Goetz ranks his types, Eastwood warns that trying to fix boredom can backfire, and Wemelsfelder blames modern life.
Question 20
Answer: EParagraph A, last two sentences
Which person thinks boredom may steer us away from something unpleasant?
compares it to disgust -- an emotion that motivates us to stay away from certain situations
Question says → Passage says
encourage us to avoidmotivates us to stay away from / may protect them from
an unpleasant experience"infectious" social situations
Why: E for Toohey. He compares boredom with disgust: disgust keeps us away from infection, so boredom may keep us away from 'infectious' social situations. Staying away is avoiding.
The trap: Goetz's teenagers in E 'try to avoid' boredom with snacks and TV. That's avoiding boredom itself, not boredom helping us avoid something else.
Question 21
Answer: BParagraph B, fourth sentence
Which person names one kind of boredom as the worst?
Of the five types, the most damaging is 'reactant' boredom with its explosive combination of high arousal and negative emotion.
Question says → Passage says
One sort of boredomOf the five types
worse than all the othersthe most damaging
Why: B for Goetz. He ranks his five types, and 'reactant' boredom is the most damaging. 'Worse than all the others' is a superlative, like 'most damaging'.
The trap: Eastwood says boredom is undesirable and can be toxic, but he talks about boredom in general, not one type versus the others.
Question 22
Answer: DParagraph D, middle
Which person says trying to deal with boredom can make it worse?
What's more, your efforts to improve the situation can end up making you feel worse.
Question says → Passage says
Trying to cope with boredomyour efforts to improve the situation / People try to connect with the world
can increase its negative effectscan end up making you feel worse / that frustration and irritability
Why: D for Eastwood. He says your efforts to fix boredom can make you feel worse, because failing to connect brings frustration and irritability.
The trap: Goetz's finding in E is close: teenagers who used distractions reported more boredom. But it's comparing two coping styles, and the general claim that coping makes things worse is Eastwood's, in his own words.
Question 23
Answer: AParagraph F, first sentence
Which person blames modern life for boredom?
speculates that our over-connected lifestyles might even be a new source of boredom
Question says → Passage says
The way we live todayour over-connected lifestyles / In modern human society
may encourage boredommight even be a new source of boredom
Why: A for Wemelsfelder. 'Lifestyles' and 'modern human society' are the way we live today, and being 'a source of' boredom means encouraging it.
The trap: Option C (boredom levels may fall) belongs to nobody. Don't use it just because Wemelsfelder suggests a fix.
Summary completion (ONE WORD ONLY)
Questions 24-26
How to attack this block: The summary copies 'central feature' and 'attention system' from D, so you know where to start. The first gap needs a verb after 'cannot'. The last two come from E's list of personality traits: what one group is motivated by and the trait that helps the other group cope.
Question 24
Answer: focusParagraph D, middle
What can't bored people do, according to Eastwood?
For Eastwood, the central feature of boredom is a failure to put our 'attention system' into gear. This causes an inability to focus on anything
Question says → Passage says
the central feature of boredomthe central feature of boredom
people cannotan inability to
Why: The gap follows 'cannot', so it needs a verb. 'An inability to focus' turns into 'cannot focus'. The summary copies 'central feature' and 'attention system', so you're in the right place.
The trap: 'Connect' and 'engage' are both nearby verbs. 'Connect' is what people try afterwards, and 'engage attention' comes at the end of the paragraph. The direct result of the attention failure is not being able to 'focus'.
Question 25
Answer: pleasureParagraph E, fourth sentence
Which aim in life makes boredom hard to cope with?
People who are motivated by pleasure seem to suffer particularly badly.
Question says → Passage says
for whom… is an important aim in lifewho are motivated by
may have problems in coping with boredomseem to suffer particularly badly
Why: Being motivated by something means it's an important aim for you. People driven by 'pleasure' suffer badly from boredom, so the noun is 'pleasure'.
The trap: 'Personality' appears just before, but it's the general cause, not an aim. The gap wants the specific thing these people chase.
Question 26
Answer: curiosityParagraph E, fifth sentence
Which characteristic helps people cope with boredom?
Other personality traits, such as curiosity, are associated with a high boredom threshold.
Question says → Passage says
the characteristic ofpersonality traits, such as
can generally cope with ita high boredom threshold
Why: A 'high boredom threshold' means it takes a lot to bore you, which is coping well. The trait given as the example is 'curiosity'. Watch the spelling: no 'o' after the 'i'.
The trap: 'Threshold' is the word next to it, but you can't 'have the characteristic of threshold'. The gap wants the trait.
D, Eastwood. Your efforts to improve things can make you feel worse. Goetz's finding about distractions is close, but the general claim is Eastwood's.
Words from this passage worth keeping
apathy(A)
a lack of interest or energy
arousal(B)
a state of being alert and energised
prone to(B)
likely to suffer from something
adaptive(D)
helping a living thing survive
fester(D)
get gradually worse when left alone
threshold(E)
the point at which something starts to happen
alleviate(E)
make something bad less severe
speculates(F)
suggests an idea without firm evidence
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The full Cambridge 13 Test 1 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 13, Test 1, 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.
