A Remarkable Beetle: reading answers and analysis
Australia's native dung beetles ignore cattle dung, where pest flies breed, so from 1968 to 1982 the CSIRO imported about 50 foreign species, and 26 became established. Species from France, Spain and South Africa bury dung at different depths and seasons. Besides controlling flies, they fertilise and aerate soil, feed earthworms and stop run-off from polluting rivers.
Questions 1-13 · 13 marks · 3 question blocks
Where the answers sit
YES / NO / NOT GIVEN (1-5) covers the first four paragraphs. The diagram (6-8) and the table (9-13) both come from the two paragraphs on species and their tunnels.
Questions 1-5
Check the numbers carefully: 4,000 is the number of species worldwide, not the number imported (NO), 1968 to 1982 is fourteen years (YES), and 26 species are known to be established (YES). Benefits take three or four years to show, so they aren't immediate (NO). The two fly species are never compared.
| Question | Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | NOT GIVEN | — |
| 2 | NO | — |
| 3 | YES | — |
| 4 | YES | — |
| 5 | NO | — |
Questions 6-8
Rank the tunnels by depth using the passage: the large French beetles dig deepest (about 30 cm), the South African tunnellers dig narrow tunnels about 20 cm down, and the small Spanish species makes the shallowest ones, with chambers hanging like fruit. The ball roller works on the surface, so it isn't a tunnel label.
| Question | Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | South African | — |
| 7 | French | — |
| 8 | Spanish | — |
Questions 9-13
The French row is given as a model, so fill the Spanish row by contrast: its climate type, when it becomes active, and how many generations it produces. The ball roller's row needs its climate and its working partner. Accepted forms include 2-5 or 'two to five', and both spellings of tunnelling.
| Question | Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|---|
| 9 | temperate | — |
| 10 | early spring | — |
| 11 | 2-5 | two to five / 2 to 5 |
| 12 | sub-tropical | subtropical |
| 13 | South African tunnelling | South African tunneling / South African tunnelling species / South African tunneling species / South African tunneller / South African tunneler |
The questions most people get wrong
NO. More than 4,000 species exist worldwide. The CSIRO imported insects from about 50 species.
NO. Beetles vanish into the pats at once, but the benefits to the pasture only become obvious within three or four years.
The ball roller 'commonly works with the South African tunnelling species'. You need the full phrase, not just 'South African'.
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The full Cambridge 3 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 3, 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.