The future of work: reading answers and analysis
Up to 14% of workers may need to change occupation within 15 years. Stella Pachidi warns that algorithms in knowledge work can stop novices learning, make staff dependent, and even tempt them to feed in false data. Hamish Low predicts multi-stage careers and more jobs, not fewer. Ewan McGaughey blames law, not technology, for unemployment and calls for a social revolution.
Questions 27-40 · 14 marks · 3 question blocks
Where the answers sit
The multiple choice (27-30) covers the opening paragraph, Pachidi's first comments, the telecoms study, and McGaughey's research. The summary (31-34) is Pachidi's section. The people matching (35-40) spans the whole passage.
Questions 27-30
The first paragraph is about how much work will change, not which jobs. Pachidi sees the knowledge economy as where the most fundamental changes are happening. At the telecoms firm, staff fed the algorithm false data to hit targets. McGaughey shows how retraining and redeployment can handle job change.
| Question | Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|---|
| 27 | B | — |
| 28 | D | — |
| 29 | C | — |
| 30 | D | — |
Questions 31-34
Map each gap to Pachidi's words: 'dependent on data' becomes information, 'dependent on its instructions' becomes reliance, and 'human instinct' becomes intuition. Researchers want AI to be more trustworthy, which the summary turns into users' confidence.
| Question | Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|---|
| 31 | G | — |
| 32 | E | — |
| 33 | C | — |
| 34 | F | — |
Questions 35-40
Pachidi gets two: why organisations like algorithms, and the need to understand the dilemmas AI raises. Low gets two: more jobs, not fewer, and careers that no longer follow education, work, retirement. McGaughey gets two: the comparison with earlier revolutions, and policies guaranteeing full employment and fair incomes.
| Question | Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|---|
| 35 | B | — |
| 36 | A | — |
| 37 | C | — |
| 38 | A | — |
| 39 | B | — |
| 40 | C | — |
The questions most people get wrong
C. Workers feeding the algorithm false data to reach their targets are making sure AI produces the results they want.
D. Pachidi thinks the most fundamental changes come from the algorithmication of data-based jobs, which makes the knowledge economy a key driver. Nothing links it to the decline of production.
B (Low). If robots do half of 100 jobs, we'd expect 150 jobs, not 50. McGaughey also rejects 'apocalyptic' views, but that specific claim is Low's.
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Cambridge IELTS 16, Test 1, Reading Passage 3. The passage name belongs to Cambridge University Press. No passage text or question wording is reproduced on this page. The answers are published for self-marking, and the analysis is our own.