Sheilagh Ogilvie's team built a database of 300 years of court records, guild ledgers and household inventories from two German communities. History doesn't show high literacy making countries industrialise sooner. Early findings suggest education's benefits can be blocked by guilds that restricted trades, migration and innovation.
Section matching (14-18) uses A, C, D, E and F. The summary (19-22) is the life stories in D. The two choose-TWO blocks say where to look: B for 23-24 and F for 25-26.
Matching information (sections A-F)
Questions 14-18
How to attack this block: A lists the record types the database draws on, and C lists what went into the inventories (from badger skins to Bibles). D has the individual who defied a rule. E explains comparing people with the same level of wealth over time. F calls German-speaking central Europe an excellent laboratory.
Question 14
Answer: ESection E, second to fourth sentences
Which section explains why the research follows people with steady levels of wealth?
This involves following the lives of different people with the same level of wealth over a period of time. If wealth is constant, it is possible to discover whether education was
Question says → Passage says
individuals with a fairly consistent incomedifferent people with the same level of wealth / If wealth is constant
an explanation of the needit is possible to discover whether
Why: E explains the 'hold wealth constant' method: follow people who all have the same level of wealth, and any difference in what they did can be linked to education rather than money. 'Same level of wealth' matches 'fairly consistent income', and 'it is possible to discover' gives the reason the method is needed.
The trap: D also follows people over time (the same people and their descendants across 300 years), but it says nothing about keeping their wealth level the same.
Question 15
Answer: ASection A, second sentence
Which section lists the kinds of records the database was built from?
It includes court records, guild ledgers, parish registers, village censuses, tax lists and
Question says → Passage says
the sources the database has been compiled fromIt includes court records, guild ledgers, parish registers, village censuses, tax lists
Why: 'It' is the database, and 'includes' introduces a list of record types: court records, guild ledgers, registers, censuses, tax lists and the handwritten inventories. Those are the sources it was compiled from.
The trap: C mentions tax lists and court records too, but it explains what each one reveals (wealth, obstacles to industry), not where the database came from. C also lists possessions, which is question 18.
Question 16
Answer: DSection D, second half
Which section tells of one person who disobeyed a rule?
When Juliana continued taking jobs reserved for male guild members, she was summoned before the guild court
Question says → Passage says
one individual'sJuliana Schweickherdt, a 50-year-old spinster
refusal to obey an orderWhen Juliana continued taking jobs reserved for male guild members / a small act of defiance
Why: Juliana was told off by the weavers' guild for doing guild work, and she carried on anyway. Carrying on after being reprimanded is refusing to obey, and the passage itself calls it 'a small act of defiance'.
The trap: The two women reading in church, also in D, broke a rule too, but nobody ordered them to stop and saw them carry on. F talks about guilds blocking people, but only in general, with no individual.
Question 17
Answer: FSection F, third sentence
Which section says one region is especially good for studying education and growth?
German-speaking central Europe is an excellent laboratory for testing theories of economic growth
Question says → Passage says
a regionGerman-speaking central Europe
particularly suited to researchan excellent laboratory for testing theories
Why: A 'laboratory' is a place for testing, and 'excellent' makes it particularly suitable. The theories being tested are about economic growth and education.
The trap: A mentions 'two German communities', but only as where the inventories were found. It doesn't say why the region suits the research.
Question 18
Answer: CSection C, first two sentences
Which section gives examples of what was in a list of someone's belongings?
From badger skins to Bibles, sewing machines to scarlet bodices… the villagers' entire worldly goods are included.
Question says → Passage says
a list of personal possessionsthe handwritten inventories… the belongings of women and men / the villagers' entire worldly goods
examples of the itemsFrom badger skins to Bibles, sewing machines to scarlet bodices
Why: An inventory is a list, and badger skins, Bibles, sewing machines and bodices are items in it. C even says 'entire worldly goods', which means personal possessions.
The trap: A mentions 'inventories' and 'possessions' too, but gives no actual items. C is where the examples are.
Summary completion (ONE WORD ONLY)
Questions 19-22
How to attack this block: D follows people and their descendants over 300 years, and tells of women told off for reading during a church service and a weaver punished by her guild. The last gap is what guilds could block besides skilled work.
Question 19
Answer: descendantsSection D, second sentence
Besides individuals, whose lives does the database show over 300 years?
We can follow the same people… and their descendants… across 300 years of educational and economic change
Question says → Passage says
as well as those of theirthe same people… and their
over a 300-year periodacross 300 years
Why: Following people and their descendants over 300 years is exactly the summary's 'individuals, as well as their ___, over a 300-year period'. Plural noun: descendants.
The trap: 'People' is in the same sentence, but the summary already has 'individuals'. The gap is who comes after them, and it must be plural: 'descendants', not 'descendant'.
Question 20
Answer: sermonSection D, fourth sentence
What should the two women have been listening to instead of reading?
who were chastised in 1707 for reading books in church instead of listening to the sermon
Question says → Passage says
were reprimandedwere chastised
for readingfor reading books in church
should have been paying attention to ainstead of listening to
Why: 'Chastised' = 'reprimanded', and 'instead of listening to' is what they should have been doing. The gap follows 'a', so it needs a singular noun: sermon.
The trap: 'Church' sits in the same phrase, but it's the place, and you don't pay attention to a church. 'Books' is what they were reading, the thing they shouldn't have been doing.
Question 21
Answer: fineSection D, sixth and seventh sentences
What punishment did the weaver get?
she was summoned before the guild court and told to pay a fine equivalent to one third of a servant's annual wage
Question says → Passage says
came to the notice of the weavers' guildwas reprimanded in 1752 by the local weavers' guild
As a punishment, she was later given atold to pay a
Why: First the guild reprimanded her. When she carried on, the guild court 'told her to pay a fine'. The gap follows 'a' and needs a singular noun: fine.
The trap: 'Reprimanded' comes first, but the summary has already used that step ('came to the notice of'). 'Later' points to what happened after she carried on. 'Wage' is nearby too, but that's only how the fine was measured.
Question 22
Answer: innovationSection D, last sentence
Besides stopping skilled people working, what could guilds prevent?
The dominance of guilds not only prevented people from using their skills, but also held back even the simplest industrial innovation.
Question says → Passage says
the guilds could preventThe dominance of guilds… held back
stop skilled people from workingprevented people from using their skills
Why: The summary's last sentence follows D's last sentence: guilds stopped people using their skills and 'held back' innovation. 'Prevent' paraphrases 'held back'. The gap needs one noun: innovation.
The trap: 'Migration' tempts because F says guilds 'blocked labour migration', but the summary is about D. Check the spelling: double 'n'.
Multiple choice (choose TWO)
Questions 23-24
How to attack this block: B says Germany had excellent literacy between 1600 and 1900, and that there's plenty of evidence growth increases education (not the reverse). England had only mediocre literacy yet industrialised first, so D contradicts the text.
Question 23-24
Answer: B and E (in either order)Section B, fourth and fifth sentences
Which two things does Section B say about literacy rates?
Germany and Scandinavia had excellent literacy rates… even though there is plenty of evidence that growth increases education
Question says → Passage says
Literacy rates in Germany… were very goodGermany and Scandinavia had excellent literacy rates
Economic growth can help to improve literacy ratesplenty of evidence that growth increases education
Why: B: between 1600 and 1900, Germany and Scandinavia 'had excellent literacy rates', even though their economies grew slowly. E: Ogilvie adds that there's 'plenty of evidence that growth increases education', so growth helps literacy, not the other way round.
The trap: C reverses the passage: modern analyses 'have also struggled to find evidence that education causes economic growth'. D is wrong too: England had 'only mediocre literacy rates' and still industrialised first.
Multiple choice (choose TWO)
Questions 25-26
How to attack this block: F says guilds legislated against anything that undermined their monopolies and blocked labour migration. Nothing is said about training young people, record-keeping compared with other guilds, or who their members were.
Question 25-26
Answer: B and D (in either order)Section F, fifth and sixth sentences
Which two things does Section F say about the guilds?
legislated against anything that undermined their monopolies. In villages throughout the region, guilds blocked labour migration
Question says → Passage says
opposed to people moving to an area for workguilds blocked labour migration
opposed practices that threatened their control over a tradelegislated against anything that undermined their monopolies / resisted changes that might reduce their influence
Why: B: 'blocked labour migration' means they stopped people moving to an area for work. D: a monopoly is control over a trade, and the guilds 'legislated against anything that undermined' it.
The trap: E is the strongest distractor: 'merchant associations' appear in the same sentence as the guilds, but they're a separate group, and nothing says guilds were made up of wealthy merchants. A sounds like what guilds did (training apprentices), but F never says so.
C tempts, but B says modern analyses struggle to find clear evidence, so 'strong evidence' contradicts it. The link B does mention runs from growth to education (E).
D ends by saying the guilds held back even the simplest industrial innovation, and the summary's 'prevent ___' needs that noun.
Words from this passage worth keeping
ledgers(A)
books where accounts or records are kept
conundrum(A)
a confusing problem that is hard to solve
industrialise(B)
develop industries on a large scale
stifled(C)
held back or suppressed
numeracy(C)
the ability to work with numbers
descendants(D)
children, grandchildren and later generations
chastised(D)
told off severely
monopolies(F)
complete control over a trade, with no competition
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The full Cambridge 17 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 17, 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.
