The case for mixed-ability classes: reading answers and analysis
A teacher tests the common case for streaming students by ability, including the analogy that mixed classes are like a hike paced for the slowest. Research by John Hattie shows streaming barely helps the top sets, harms the bottom ones and lowers teachers' expectations. Mixed classes let students learn from 'more-knowledgeable' peers, and on his own class hike everyone makes it together.
Questions 27-40 · 14 marks · 3 question blocks
Where the answers sit
The multiple choice (27-30) runs from the opening scene to the Vygotsky paragraph. The summary (31-35) covers the two Hattie paragraphs. YES / NO / NOT GIVEN (36-40) runs from the Vygotsky paragraph to the end.
Questions 27-30
The opening lesson shows one teacher juggling very different needs. It isn't a complaint about weak students. Streaming 'appeals to almost every stakeholder'. The Qomolangma line means the brightest never reach their full potential. 'Scaffolding' is the support given in early learning and then removed.
| Question | Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|---|
| 27 | B | — |
| 28 | A | — |
| 29 | C | — |
| 30 | C | — |
Questions 31-35
Hattie finds streaming does little for results (higher achievements), hurts the bottom sets most, and those sets hold many students from disadvantaged backgrounds. The brightest gain only a little, and teachers' expectations of streamed groups are limited. Several options are near-synonyms ('weaker students' vs 'bottom sets'), so check which one the grammar and the text support.
| Question | Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|---|
| 31 | H | — |
| 32 | D | — |
| 33 | F | — |
| 34 | E | — |
| 35 | B | — |
Questions 36-40
The writer says Vygotsky's model, taken alone, would seem to support streaming, so the first statement is NO. He says passing on newly learned skills brings pride and zeal (YES), and that the many matter more than a few bright stars (NO). He never discusses other teachers' doubts about peer tutors, or whether the class hike improves results.
| Question | Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|---|
| 36 | NO | — |
| 37 | NOT GIVEN | — |
| 38 | YES | — |
| 39 | NO | — |
| 40 | NOT GIVEN | — |
The questions most people get wrong
NO. If we accept Vygotsky's model, streaming students with similar needs would seem efficient. So the model appears to support streaming, not mixed ability.
NOT GIVEN. The yearly hike shows cooperation, but the writer never claims it improves classroom outcomes.
D (bottom sets), not G (weaker students). The text is about students 'assigned to the lowest sets', and the summary's 'placed in the' needs a place, not a type of student.
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The full Cambridge 18 Test 3 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 18, Test 3, 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.