In 1946-47 three Bedouin teenagers found clay jars of ancient scrolls in a cave near Qumran, and 800-900 manuscripts eventually came out of eleven caves. They date from 150 BCE to 70 CE, probably written by the Essenes, mostly in Hebrew. Highlights include the Copper Scroll's list of hidden treasure, a Wall Street Journal advert selling four scrolls, and a coded calendar scroll decoded in 2017.
The notes (1-5) come from the first three paragraphs. TRUE / FALSE / NOT GIVEN (6-13) starts again in the first paragraph and runs to the last, in order.
Note completion (ONE WORD ONLY)
Questions 1-5
How to attack this block: The discovery notes follow the story step by step: what was thrown, where the boys went, what the jars were made of. The last two come from the origin and language paragraphs. Question 4 needs a capital letter because it's a group's name.
Question 1
Answer: rockParagraph 1, second sentence
What did one of the teenagers throw?
One of these young shepherds tossed a rock into an opening on the side of a cliff and was surprised to hear a shattering sound.
Question says → Passage says
threw atossed a
a noise of breakinga shattering sound
Why: 'Threw' = 'tossed', and 'a noise of breaking' = 'a shattering sound'. The gap follows 'a', so you need a singular noun: rock.
The trap: 'Opening' sits right after it, but that's where the rock went, and the notes have already used it.
Question 2
Answer: caveParagraph 1, third sentence
Where did the teenagers go in?
He and his companions later entered the cave and stumbled across a collection of large clay jars
Question says → Passage says
went into theentered the
found a number of containersstumbled across a collection of large… jars
Why: 'Went into' is 'entered', and the place they entered is the cave. One word, no plural.
The trap: 'Cliff' appears just before, but they didn't go into the cliff face itself. They went into the cave in it.
Question 3
Answer: clayParagraph 1, third sentence
What were the containers made of?
stumbled across a collection of large clay jars, seven of which contained scrolls
Question says → Passage says
containersjars
made ofclay
Why: The containers are the jars, and the word describing their material is 'clay'. 'Made of ___' needs a material.
The trap: Later the passage talks about parchment, papyrus and copper, but those are what the scrolls are made of, not the jars.
Question 4
Answer: EssenesParagraph 2, last sentence
Which group are the writers of the scrolls thought to belong to?
the people are thought to have belonged to a group called the Essenes, a devout Jewish sect
Question says → Passage says
thought to have been written byare thought to have belonged to
group of people known as thea group called the
Why: 'Known as' = 'called', so the name after 'a group called the' fills the gap. It's a proper noun, so give it a capital E and the final 's'.
The trap: 'Judea' is in the same sentence, but it's the name of the area, not the group.
Question 5
Answer: HebrewParagraph 3, first sentence
Which language were most of the scrolls written in?
The majority of the texts on the Dead Sea Scrolls are in Hebrew
Question says → Passage says
written mainly inThe majority of the texts… are in
Why: 'Mainly' = 'the majority of'. The language named straight after is Hebrew.
The trap: Aramaic and Greek are in the same paragraph, but only 'some scrolls' and 'several texts' use them. The question wants the main language.
TRUE / FALSE / NOT GIVEN
Questions 6-13
How to attack this block: The scrolls' origin is 'still the subject of scholarly debate', so 'agreement' is FALSE. Mar Samuel paid for his scrolls (FALSE, not a gift), and US universities turned them down (FALSE, not keen). The NOT GIVENs ask how the boys felt about the money and who is working on the last scroll.
Question 6
Answer: NOT GIVENParagraph 1, fourth sentence
Were the teenagers disappointed with the money they got?
The teenagers took the seven scrolls to a nearby town where they were sold for a small sum to a local antiquities dealer.
Question says → Passage says
how little money they receivedsold for a small sum
Why: You learn they sold the scrolls for a small sum, but nothing about how they felt about it. Disappointment is never mentioned, so NOT GIVEN.
The trap: 'A small sum' makes disappointment feel obvious, but that's your guess, not the writer's. Feelings need words in the text.
Question 7
Answer: FALSEParagraph 2, first sentence
Do academics agree about where the scrolls came from?
The origin of the Dead Sea Scrolls… is still the subject of scholarly debate even today.
Question says → Passage says
academicsscholarly
agreementthe subject of… debate
Why: If something is still being debated by scholars, they don't agree on it. Debate contradicts agreement, so FALSE.
The trap: The next sentence gives 'the prevailing theory', which can sound like a consensus. A prevailing theory is just the most popular one, and the debate is still going on.
Question 8
Answer: TRUEParagraph 4, first two sentences
Are most of the biblical books on the scrolls incomplete?
The only entire book of the Hebrew Bible preserved among the manuscripts from Qumran is Isaiah
Question says → Passage says
Most… are incompleteThe only entire book… is Isaiah
the books of the Bible written on the scrollsfragments from every book of the Old Testament of the Bible except for the Book of Esther
Why: Every book except Esther is there in fragments, and only Isaiah survives whole. So all the others are incomplete, which means most of them are. TRUE.
The trap: Esther can distract you, because it's missing completely. That doesn't change the count: one complete book out of many.
Question 9
Answer: TRUEParagraph 5, middle
Is the Copper Scroll written in an unusual way?
Using an unconventional vocabulary and odd spelling, it describes 64 underground hiding places
Question says → Passage says
written in an unusual wayan unconventional vocabulary and odd spelling
Why: 'Unconventional' and 'odd' both mean unusual, and vocabulary and spelling are about how it's written. TRUE.
The trap: Its letters were chiselled onto metal, which is unusual too, so you might think the statement is about the material. Either way the text supports it.
Question 10
Answer: FALSEParagraph 6, second sentence
Did Mar Samuel get his scrolls as a gift?
Mar Samuel acquired four of the original seven scrolls from a Jerusalem shoemaker and part-time antiquity dealer, paying less than $100 for them
Question says → Passage says
was given some of the scrollsacquired four of the original seven scrolls
as a giftpaying less than $100 for them
Why: He paid for them, even if it was under $100. Something you pay for isn't a gift, so FALSE.
The trap: The word 'gift' does appear later, in his advert: the scrolls would be 'an ideal gift' for an institution. That's about selling them on, not how he got them.
Question 11
Answer: FALSEParagraph 6, third sentence
Were US universities keen to buy scrolls from Mar Samuel?
He then travelled to the United States and unsuccessfully offered them to a number of universities, including Yale.
Question says → Passage says
educational establishments in the USa number of universities, including Yale
were keen to buyunsuccessfully offered them
Why: He offered the scrolls and failed to sell them, so the universities weren't keen. That contradicts the statement: FALSE.
The trap: The 1954 advert mentions 'an educational or religious institution', which might make you think there was interest. He had to advertise precisely because the universities said no.
Question 12
Answer: TRUEParagraph 7, middle
Does the 2017 scroll give information about yearly occasions?
The scroll names celebrations that indicate shifts in seasons and details two yearly religious events known from another Dead Sea Scroll.
Question says → Passage says
pieced together in 2017In 2017… restored and deciphered / reassembling the 60 fragments
annual occasionscelebrations / two yearly religious events
Why: 'Annual' = 'yearly', and the scroll 'details two yearly religious events'. It was written by the Qumran community roughly 2,000 years ago, so TRUE.
Question 13
Answer: NOT GIVENParagraph 7, last sentence
Is Haifa currently working on decoding the last scroll?
Only one more known scroll remains untranslated.
Question says → Passage says
the final scrollOnly one more known scroll
Why: You're told one scroll is still untranslated, but nobody is said to be working on it now, from Haifa or anywhere else. NOT GIVEN.
The trap: The Haifa team decoded the previous scroll, so it feels natural that they'd do the last one. The passage never says so.
NOT GIVEN. The scrolls sold 'for a small sum', but the teenagers' feelings about it are never mentioned.
Words from this passage worth keeping
stumbled across(Paragraph 1)
found by chance
unearthed(Paragraph 1)
dug up or discovered
prevailing(Paragraph 2)
most widely accepted at present
devout(Paragraph 2)
deeply religious
caches(Paragraph 5)
hidden stores of valuable things
pillaged(Paragraph 5)
robbed a place violently, often in war
deciphered(Paragraph 7)
worked out the meaning of something hard to read
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The full Cambridge 17 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 17, 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.
