A neuroscientist argues that the brain's reading circuit adapts to its medium, and digital reading favours speed over the slow 'deep reading' behind critical analysis and empathy. Students avoid difficult classics, read screens with weaker comprehension, and skim by word-spotting. The effects reach all ages, but 'use it or lose it' means the damage can still be reversed.
The multiple choice (14-17) covers the first five paragraphs. The summary (18-22) is the Mangen and Liu studies. YES / NO / NOT GIVEN (23-26) covers the last two paragraphs.
Multiple choice
Questions 14-17
How to attack this block: The plane scene introduces an 'invisible' change in our brains. Turkle says we go wrong when we ignore what innovation diminishes. The fourth paragraph says the reading circuit adapts to its environment. Edmundson's students choose simpler texts over classics.
Question 14
Answer: AParagraph 1, last sentence
What is the main point of the opening paragraph?
Unbeknown to most of us, an invisible, game-changing transformation links everyone in this picture: the neuronal circuit that underlies the brain's ability to read is subtly, rapidly changing
Question says → Passage says
hiddenUnbeknown to most of us / invisible / subtly
having an effect on usgame-changing transformation… the brain's ability to read is… changing
Why: The plane scene is just set-up. The point comes in the last sentence: our reading brains are changing and most of us don't know it. 'Unbeknown' and 'invisible' = hidden. A.
The trap: D is built from one detail ('older kids don't read at all, but hunch over video games'), but the writer never compares how popular gaming and reading are. B misreads the iPad as a 'pacifier', which is about keeping toddlers quiet, not teaching them to read.
Question 15
Answer: BParagraph 3, second sentence
What is Turkle's main point about innovation?
we do not err as a society when we innovate but when we ignore what we disrupt or diminish while innovating
Question says → Passage says
We should pay attention towhen we ignore
what might be lostwhat we disrupt or diminish
when innovation occurswhile innovating
Why: Turkle says innovating isn't the mistake; ignoring what it damages is. Flip 'we err when we ignore' and you get 'we should pay attention'. 'Diminish' = something lost. B.
The trap: A sounds like the passage's topic, but the paragraph opens by saying this is 'not a simple, binary issue of print versus digital reading'. Turkle makes no claim about print reading declining.
Question 16
Answer: DParagraph 4, first two sentences
What is the point of the fourth paragraph?
it needs an environment to develop. Further, it will adapt to that environment's requirements - from different writing systems to the characteristics of whatever medium is used
Question says → Passage says
Some brain circuitsthe reading circuit
adjust towill adapt to
whatever is required of themthat environment's requirements
Why: The paragraph says the reading circuit adapts to whatever its environment demands. If the medium favours speed, 'so will the reading circuit'. 'Adapt to requirements' = 'adjust to whatever is required'. D.
The trap: A says the opposite of the first sentence: reading is 'not given to human beings through a genetic blueprint', so it isn't inborn. B uses 'medium', but the point isn't that you can read on many mediums; it's that the brain changes to suit them.
Question 17
Answer: BParagraph 5, second sentence
According to Edmundson, what has students' attitude affected?
many college students actively avoid the classic literature of the 19th and 20th centuries in favour of something simpler as they no longer have the patience to read longer, denser, more difficult texts
Question says → Passage says
the attitude of college studentsthey no longer have the patience
influenced what they select to readactively avoid the classic literature… in favour of something simpler
Why: Their impatience (the attitude) makes them choose simpler texts over classics (what they select). B.
The trap: C is the trap. Someone does say 'We should be less concerned with students' cognitive impatience', but that's the writer, not Edmundson, and it's about what lies underneath the impatience. A and D are never mentioned.
Summary completion (word list A-H)
Questions 18-22
How to attack this block: The studies show 'troubling' (worrying) trends, and the questions tested how thorough each group's understanding was. Screen readers found sequencing hard. Liu's skimmers spot isolated words and miss the emotional content, the other characters' feelings. Decide adjective or adverb first, because several options are grammatically close.
Question 18
Answer: DParagraph 6, first sentence
What kind of trends do the screen-use studies show?
Multiple studies show that digital screen use may be causing a variety of troubling downstream effects on reading comprehension
Question says → Passage says
many studiesMultiple studies
worrying (D) trendstroubling downstream effects
Why: The gap needs an adjective before 'trends'. 'Troubling' means worrying, so D.
The trap: Many (E) also fits grammatically, and 'a variety of' suggests quantity. But the summary has 'many studies' already; the passage's adjective for the effects is 'troubling'.
Question 19
Answer: HParagraph 6, third and fourth sentences
What did Mangen's questions measure about each group's understanding?
Mangen's group asked subjects questions about a short story… students who read on print were superior in their comprehension to screen-reading peers
Question says → Passage says
used a question-and-answer techniqueasked subjects questions about a short story
how thorough (H) each group's understandingsuperior in their comprehension
Why: The questions tested how good each group's comprehension was, and the print readers were 'superior'. 'How ___ their understanding was' needs an adjective of quality, and thorough (H) fits.
The trap: Fast (A) fits after 'how' too, but the study measured how well students understood, not how quickly. Emotional (C) has nothing to do with Mangen's study.
Question 20
Answer: FParagraph 6, last sentence
How did screen readers find recalling the order of events?
students who read on print were superior in their comprehension to screen-reading peers, particularly in their ability to sequence detail and reconstruct the plot in chronological order
Question says → Passage says
the order of informationsequence detail / chronological order
to recallreconstruct the plot
Why: If print readers were better at putting events in order, screen readers found it harder. 'Finding something ___ to recall' needs an adjective like easy or hard, so hard (F).
The trap: Worrying (D) could follow 'finding the order', but you don't find information 'worrying to recall'. Read the whole phrase, including 'to recall', before choosing.
Question 21
Answer: BParagraph 7, first two sentences
What kind of words do students pick out when skimming?
the 'new norm' in reading is skimming, involving word-spotting and browsing through the text. Many readers now use a pattern when reading in which they sample the first line and then word-spot
Question says → Passage says
read ___ words and phrasesword-spotting / word-spot through the rest of the text
to save timeit reduces time allocated to deep reading processes
Why: Word-spotting means picking out single words here and there instead of reading every sentence. Words taken out of their context are isolated (B).
The trap: Fast (A) describes skimming, but 'read fast words' is wrong grammatically: you'd need the adverb 'fast' after the verb. Many (E) fits the grammar but misses the idea that the words are cut off from the text around them.
Question 22
Answer: CParagraph 7, last sentence
What content does skimming leave readers with only a superficial grasp of?
we don't have time to grasp complexity, to understand another's feelings, to perceive beauty, and to create thoughts of the reader's own
Question says → Passage says
a superficial understandingwe don't have time to grasp complexity
emotional (C) contentanother's feelings
leaving no time for thoughtto create thoughts of the reader's own
Why: The passage lists what skimmers miss. 'Thought' is already in the summary, so the gap covers the feelings part: understanding 'another's feelings' is the emotional (C) content of a text.
The trap: Combined (G) is tempting because skimmers miss how the parts fit together, but the passage never talks about combined content. Its list is complexity, feelings, beauty and thought, and only 'feelings' has a match in the box.
YES / NO / NOT GIVEN
Questions 23-26
How to attack this block: The medium changes 'what we read' (YES). The loss 'affects us all equally', so the age-group statement is NO. The writer warns we're more susceptible to false information but never says it has spread. 'Use it or lose it' means we can still fix things (YES).
Question 23
Answer: YESParagraph 8, second sentence
Does the medium affect what we choose to read?
It is about how we all have begun to read on various mediums and how that changes not only what we read, but also the purposes for which we read.
Question says → Passage says
The medium we use to readwe all have begun to read on various mediums
can affect our choice of reading contentchanges not only what we read
Why: 'Changes… what we read' means the medium shapes our reading content. YES.
The trap: Edmundson's students choosing simpler books (paragraph 5) also fits, but that's put down to impatience, not the medium. The clear evidence is in paragraph 8.
Question 24
Answer: NOParagraph 8, third and fourth sentences
Are some age groups more at risk of losing deep reading skills?
Nor is it only about the young. The subtle atrophy of critical analysis and empathy affects us all equally.
Question says → Passage says
Some age groups… than othersNor is it only about the young / affects us all equally
lose their complex reading skillsThe subtle atrophy of critical analysis and empathy
Why: 'Affects us all equally' directly contradicts the idea that some ages are more likely to be affected. NO.
The trap: The passage keeps mentioning children and students, so it's easy to assume the young are most at risk. The writer explicitly rejects that: 'Nor is it only about the young'.
Question 25
Answer: NOT GIVENParagraph 8, last sentence
Has false information become more common in the digital age?
It incentivizes a retreat to the most familiar stores of unchecked information, which require and receive no analysis, leaving us susceptible to false information and irrational ideas.
Question says → Passage says
False informationfalse information
Why: The writer says we're more 'susceptible' to false information, meaning easier to fool. Whether there's more false information around than before is never discussed. NOT GIVEN.
The trap: Same words, different claim. Being more vulnerable to false information is about us; 'more widespread' is about the amount of it in the world.
Question 26
Answer: YESParagraph 9, fourth sentence
Can we still fix the problems technology is causing?
We possess both the science and the technology to identify and redress the changes in how we read before they become entrenched.
Question says → Passage says
We still have opportunitiesWe possess both the science and the technology / before they become entrenched
to rectify the problemsredress the changes
Why: 'Redress' means put right, which is 'rectify'. 'Before they become entrenched' tells you there's still time. 'Use it or lose it' implying 'choice' supports the same hopeful view. YES.
The trap: 'Lose it' and 'caution' can make the ending sound gloomy. The writer calls the principle 'very hopeful', which settles it.
B (isolated). Word-spotting means picking out isolated words and phrases. 'Fast' describes skimming, but it doesn't fit 'read ___ words'.
Words from this passage worth keeping
unbeknown to(Paragraph 1)
without someone knowing
necessitated(Paragraph 2)
made necessary
inference(Paragraph 2)
working something out from evidence rather than being told it
err(Paragraph 3)
make a mistake
bear this out(Paragraph 5)
show that something is true
atrophy(Paragraph 8)
gradual weakening through lack of use
susceptible to(Paragraph 8)
easily affected or influenced by
entrenched(Paragraph 9)
so firmly established that it's hard to change
Sit this test on Langujet, then come back
The full Cambridge 16 Test 4 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 16, Test 4, 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.
