Transport engineers design cities from models and screens that ignore how movement feels, and the results backfire: Atlanta's Peachtree Center, and British guard rails that were meant to keep pedestrians safe but divide communities and push people into risky crossings. The writer suggests engineers learn from choreographers, who test movement with their bodies and design for emotion as well as function.
Paragraph matching (1-6) uses six different letters from A to F, and G is left over. The summary (7-13) is entirely in E, the guard-rail paragraph, in order.
Matching information (paragraphs A-G)
Questions 1-6
How to attack this block: Each item fits one paragraph. A says transport affects health, social life and access to work. B says the writer isn't suggesting people dance to work. C contrasts medieval builders with modern designers. D has cafés that couldn't work in the hot sun. E explains why guard rails are being removed. F names the aim dance and engineering share.
Question 1
Answer: BParagraph B, second sentence
Which paragraph mentions an attractive use of dance that the writer says he isn't suggesting?
That is not to suggest everyone should dance their way to work, however healthy and happy it might make us
Question says → Passage says
the writer is not proposingThat is not to suggest
an appealing way of using dancedance their way to work, however healthy and happy it might make us
Why: 'That is not to suggest' is the writer ruling an idea out. The idea is dancing to work, and 'however healthy and happy it might make us' is what makes it appealing. What he does propose comes next: borrowing choreographers' techniques.
The trap: Paragraph G also describes using dance, but those are methods the writer recommends for engineers, so it's the opposite of 'not proposing'.
Question 2
Answer: CParagraph C, first sentence
Which paragraph contrasts how buildings were designed in the past with how they're designed now?
Whereas medieval builders improvised and adapted construction through their intimate knowledge of materials… building designs are now conceived and stored in media technologies
Question says → Passage says
pastmedieval builders
presentnow
a contrastWhereas
Why: 'Whereas' is a contrast word, and it sets medieval builders, who worked from hands-on knowledge of the site, against today's designers, who work in media technologies that cut them off from reality.
The trap: Paragraph B mentions the architectural blueprint changing urban design, and D describes a 1970s development. Neither sets an old method side by side with a new one the way C does.
Question 3
Answer: FParagraph F, middle
Which paragraph names a goal that dance and engineering share?
Yet it shares with engineering the aim of designing patterns of movement within limitations of space.
Question says → Passage says
an objectivethe aim
of both dance and engineeringit shares with engineering
Why: 'It' is choreography, and 'shares with engineering the aim' is exactly 'an objective of both'. The aim itself is designing movement inside limited space.
The trap: Paragraph G ends with designing for 'emotional as well as functional effects', but that's something engineers might learn from dance, not an aim the two already share.
Question 4
Answer: DParagraph D, fourth sentence
Which paragraph describes a problem nobody expected because designers ignored the weather?
purpose-built street cafés could not operate in the hot sun without the protective awnings common in older buildings
Question says → Passage says
ignoring the climateThey failed to take into account… the hot sun
unforeseenunexpected results
Why: The Peachtree designers trusted their computer models and 'failed to take into account' the hot sun, so the new cafés needed air conditioning. Hot sun is the climate, and 'failed to take into account' is ignoring it.
The trap: Paragraph A mentions 'the air we breathe', and E describes guard rails with surprising effects. Neither is about a climate problem.
Question 5
Answer: EParagraph E, last two sentences
Which paragraph explains why some safety measures are now being undone?
These barriers don't just make it harder to cross the road: they divide communities and decrease opportunities for healthy transport. As a result, many are now being removed
Question says → Passage says
some measures intended to help peoplean engineering solution to pedestrian safety
are being reversedmany are now being removed
whyAs a result
Why: The guard rails were meant to keep pedestrians safe. E lists what went wrong (longer crossings, dangerous shortcuts, divided communities), and 'As a result' links those problems to their removal. That's the 'why'.
The trap: Paragraph F also talks about the guard rails, saying better tools might have produced 'a better solution'. But it doesn't explain why they're being taken out.
Question 6
Answer: AParagraph A, fourth sentence
Which paragraph says the way we travel affects people's lives?
The ways we travel affect our physical and mental health, our social lives, our access to work and culture, and the air we breathe.
Question says → Passage says
transportThe ways we travel
has an impact on human livesaffect our physical and mental health, our social lives
Why: 'Affect' is 'has an impact on', and the list (health, social lives, work, culture, air) covers human lives broadly. It's a general statement, which matches the general wording of the item.
The trap: Paragraph E shows guard rails dividing communities, which is one specific impact. The item is about transport's effect on lives in general, and that's A.
Summary completion (ONE WORD ONLY)
Questions 7-13
How to attack this block: The summary follows E line by line. Watch the word class: two nouns for what guard rails protect and prioritise, a noun for the half of the road crossed at a time, then adjectives for who is most affected and how people cross, a plural noun for what the rails divide, and an adjective for the transport they discourage.
Question 7
Answer: safetyParagraph E, fourth sentence
What were guard rails supposed to improve for pedestrians?
were an engineering solution to pedestrian safety based on models that prioritise the smooth flow of traffic
Question says → Passage says
introduced… to improve the ___ of pedestriansan engineering solution to pedestrian safety
Why: The summary turns 'pedestrian safety' into 'the ___ of pedestrians'. The gap needs a noun after 'the', and that noun is 'safety'.
The trap: 'Progress' appears later ('slow down their progress'), but that's a side effect, not what the rails were meant to improve.
Question 8
Answer: trafficParagraph E, fourth sentence
Whose movement were the guard rails meant to keep running smoothly?
based on models that prioritise the smooth flow of traffic
Question says → Passage says
ensuring that the movement of ___ is not disruptedprioritise the smooth flow of traffic
Why: 'Movement' replaces 'flow', and 'is not disrupted' replaces 'smooth'. What flows smoothly is 'traffic'.
The trap: 'Flow' is tempting, but the summary has already turned it into 'movement'. 'The movement of flow' makes no sense.
Question 9
Answer: carriagewayParagraph E, fifth sentence
How much of the road do pedestrians cross at a time?
using staggered access points to divide the crossing into two - one for each carriageway
Question says → Passage says
Pedestrians are led to access pointsstaggered access points
cross one ___ at a timedivide the crossing into two - one for each carriageway
Why: The crossing is split in two, 'one for each carriageway', so you cross one carriageway, then the next. The gap follows 'one', so it needs a singular noun. Watch the spelling.
The trap: 'Crossing' or 'road' look natural, but the passage's unit for each half is 'carriageway'. 'Crossing points' is also two words.
Question 10
Answer: mobileParagraph E, sixth sentence
Which people find the psychological barriers hardest?
introducing psychological barriers greatly impacting those that are the least mobile
Question says → Passage says
psychological difficultiespsychological barriers
particularly for less ___ peoplegreatly impacting those that are the least mobile
Why: 'Particularly for' matches 'greatly impacting', and 'less ___ people' matches 'the least mobile'. The gap needs an adjective: 'mobile'.
The trap: Don't copy 'least mobile'. The summary already supplies 'less', and the limit is one word.
Question 11
Answer: dangerousParagraph E, sixth sentence
In what kind of way do some people cross because of the rails?
encouraging others to make dangerous crossings to get around the guard rails
Question says → Passage says
some peopleothers
cross the road in a ___ waymake dangerous crossings
Why: 'In a ___ way' needs an adjective, and the passage describes these crossings as 'dangerous'. The rails push people to cross wherever they can get around them.
The trap: 'Longer' is in the same sentence, but that's how crossings feel to everyone using the proper route, not the risky way some people cross.
Question 12
Answer: communitiesParagraph E, second-to-last sentence
What do the guard rails separate?
they divide communities and decrease opportunities for healthy transport
Question says → Passage says
separatedivide
Why: 'Separate' is a direct synonym of 'divide', and what they divide is 'communities'. The gap needs a plural noun, since the summary has no 'the' or 'a'.
The trap: The rails also 'divide the crossing into two', so 'crossing' might come to mind. But that's how the crossing is designed, not the wider harm the summary is describing.
Question 13
Answer: healthyParagraph E, second-to-last sentence
What kind of transport do the rails make harder to introduce?
they divide communities and decrease opportunities for healthy transport
Question says → Passage says
make it more difficult to introducedecrease opportunities for
forms of transport that are ___healthy transport
Why: 'Decrease opportunities for' is reworded as 'make it more difficult to introduce'. The gap comes after 'that are', so it needs an adjective: 'healthy'.
The trap: Paragraph A uses 'healthier' and 'sustainable' about travel, but the summary is about guard rails, which are only in E. 'Healthier' is also the wrong form after 'are'.
Crossings are split into two, 'one for each carriageway', so pedestrians cross one carriageway at a time.
Words from this passage worth keeping
quantitative(A)
based on numbers and measurement
radical(A)
very great and basic, not small or gradual
intimate knowledge(C)
very detailed knowledge from close experience
drawback(C)
a disadvantage
prevalent(D)
common at a particular time
counter-intuitive(E)
the opposite of what you would naturally expect
staggered(E)
arranged so the parts don't line up
aesthetic(F)
to do with beauty and how things look or feel
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The full Cambridge 15 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 15, Test 2, 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.
