The Concept of Role Theory: reading answers and analysis
Everyone plays a role within a 'role set' of people with expectations of them, and those expectations can shape personality. Role signs (uniforms, dress, place, office furniture, rituals) show which role is active. When a role is unclear, 'role ambiguity' can mean freedom or stress, and job descriptions reduce it only at lower levels.
Questions 29-40 · 12 marks · 3 question blocks
Where the answers sit
YES / NO / NOT GIVEN (29-35) covers role definition, role signs and role ambiguity in order. The short answers (36-39) apply the terms to new examples. Question 40 asks about the whole text.
Questions 29-35
The writer thinks role expectations make people alike, so accountants resemble each other (YES). Losing dress signs makes people insecure (YES), and office furniture works like a uniform (YES). Ambiguity isn't necessarily bad, so removing it is NO, and job descriptions seldom fully define managers' roles (NO). Soldiers and marriage rituals come without recommendations.
| Question | Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|---|
| 29 | NOT GIVEN | — |
| 30 | YES | — |
| 31 | YES | — |
| 32 | NOT GIVEN | — |
| 33 | YES | — |
| 34 | NO | — |
| 35 | NO | — |
Questions 36-39
Apply the vocabulary. A bigger office with carpeting is a role sign, and a graduation ceremony is a ritual marking a change of role. A judge's wig is a role sign. The pupils' parents are part of the headmaster's role set.
| Question | Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|---|
| 36 | role sign | — |
| 37 | ritual | — |
| 38 | role sign | — |
| 39 | role set | — |
Question 40
The official key gives C, a critical study of the importance of role signs in modern society. Many candidates choose B because of the headings and figure. Treat it as a known trap and note that the key rewards the passage's evaluative comments on role signs.
| Question | Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|---|
| 40 | C | — |
The questions most people get wrong
NO. The writer asks if ambiguity is bad and answers 'not necessarily', because shaping your own role is a freedom many people want.
NO. For middle and senior managers, job descriptions leave things unsaid and can increase the sense of ambiguity.
C in the official key. The textbook option (B) is the most common wrong answer, so remember this one.
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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 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.