The Dead Sea Scrolls: reading answers and analysis
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.
Questions 1-13 · 13 marks · 2 question blocks
Where the answers sit
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.
Questions 1-5
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 | Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | rock | — |
| 2 | cave | — |
| 3 | clay | — |
| 4 | Essenes | — |
| 5 | Hebrew | — |
Questions 6-13
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 | Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | NOT GIVEN | — |
| 7 | FALSE | — |
| 8 | TRUE | — |
| 9 | TRUE | — |
| 10 | FALSE | — |
| 11 | FALSE | — |
| 12 | TRUE | — |
| 13 | NOT GIVEN | — |
The questions most people get wrong
TRUE. Isaiah is the only complete book among the manuscripts, so most of the biblical books are incomplete.
NOT GIVEN. One scroll remains untranslated, but nothing says who, if anyone, is working on it.
NOT GIVEN. The scrolls sold 'for a small sum', but the teenagers' feelings about it are never mentioned.
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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 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.