Do animals dream?: reading answers and analysis
What sleep research can and can't tell us about animal dreams. Rats seem to replay a maze, pigeons may dream about flying, dolphins sleep with half a brain, and two octopuses behave as if they're dreaming. The catch is that we can never actually see inside another creature's dream.
Questions 1-13 · 13 marks · 2 question blocks
Where the answers sit
The table (1-5) comes from paragraphs B to D in order. The TRUE / FALSE / NOT GIVEN block (6-13) carries on from E to the end, one or two statements per paragraph.
Questions 1-5
The table works animal by animal, so find each animal's paragraph and take one word from it. Question 3 is a fraction written as a word, and question 5 is a describing word, not a noun. Check the word class the table cell needs before you copy anything.
| Question | Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | rats | — |
| 2 | visual | — |
| 3 | half | — |
| 4 | temperature | — |
| 5 | vivid | — |
Questions 6-13
Eight statements and three NOT GIVENs. The FALSE answers all hinge on swapping details: which octopus did what, 'never' against 'soon', 'we know' against 'we don't know'. Read each statement's subject carefully before hunting for evidence.
| Question | Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | TRUE | — |
| 7 | FALSE | — |
| 8 | NOT GIVEN | — |
| 9 | FALSE | — |
| 10 | TRUE | — |
| 11 | FALSE | — |
| 12 | NOT GIVEN | — |
| 13 | NOT GIVEN | — |
The questions most people get wrong
There are two octopuses. Heidi (G) looked as if she was chasing a crab. Costello (H) acted as if he was being attacked. The statement gives Costello the hunter's role, so FALSE.
Paragraph I says we will never experience another animal's dreams, and that the same goes for other humans. 'Soon' contradicts 'never', so FALSE, not NOT GIVEN.
The passage names vision for humans, smell for dogs and vibrations for spiders. Hearing is never mentioned, so NOT GIVEN.
Sit this test on Langujet, then come back
The full Cambridge 21 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 21, 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.