Greying Population Stays in the Pink: reading answers and analysis
A 14-year American survey shows that people over 65 are healthier, more independent and getting age-related diseases later. Medical advances, better childhood nutrition and education help, pollution works against it, and home aids, exercise and a sense of control all seem to keep older people well.
How to attack this block: The box has opposites side by side: falling and increasing, earlier and later, disabled and independent. Decide the direction first, then the word. Keep the subject of each gap clear: the first gap is about how many people are ill, the second about how fast that figure changes. Check grammar too: one gap needs a noun, not an adjective.
Question 14
Answer: BParagraph 2, second sentence
What is happening to the share of over-65s with the common age-related problems?
arthritis, high blood pressure and circulation problems - the major medical complaints in this age group - are troubling a smaller proportion every year
Question says → Passage says
the most common age-related medical problemsthe major medical complaints in this age group
the proportion… is fallinga smaller proportion every year
Why: A smaller proportion every year means the proportion is going down. The gap follows 'is', so you need a word like 'falling', option B.
The trap: 'Constant' (L) doesn't fit 'smaller every year', and 'increasing' (I) is the next gap's answer, not this one.
Question 15
Answer: IParagraph 2, third sentence
What is happening to the speed of that change?
And the data confirms that the rate at which these diseases are declining continues to accelerate.
Question says → Passage says
the speed of this changethe rate at which these diseases are declining
is increasingcontinues to accelerate
Why: The diseases are falling, and they're falling faster each year. 'Accelerate' means the speed goes up, so 'increasing', option I.
The trap: 'Falling' (B) is the classic mix-up. The diseases fall, but the gap is about the speed of the fall, and that rises.
Question 16
Answer: FParagraph 3, last sentence
When in life do these diseases now hit people, compared with the past?
the problems doctors accepted as normal in a 65-year-old in 1982 are often not appearing until people are 70 or 75
Question says → Passage says
affecting people ___ in lifenot appearing until people are 70 or 75 / it is much later in life
Why: Problems once normal at 65 now wait until 70 or 75. The first paragraph says the same: 'much later in life'. Option F.
The trap: 'Earlier' (E) is the opposite. Read 'not appearing until' carefully: it means they arrive later.
Question 17
Answer: MParagraph 4, first sentence
What developments are mainly behind the change?
Clearly, certain diseases are beating a retreat in the face of medical advances.
Question says → Passage says
largely due to developments inin the face of medical advances
Why: 'Advances' are developments, and 'medical' points to medicine, option M. 'Clearly' marks this as the main cause, and the next sentence brings in 'other contributing factors', just like the summary's 'but other factors'.
The trap: 'Technology' (C) is tempting because home medical aids come up later. Those aids explain independence, not why the diseases are retreating.
Question 18
Answer: JParagraph 4, last sentence
What other factor improved and may be helping?
Improvements in childhood nutrition in the first quarter of the twentieth century, for example, gave today's elderly people a better start in life
Question says → Passage says
other factorsthere may be other contributing factors
improved ___Improvements in childhood nutrition
Why: The 'other contributing factor' the passage gives is better childhood nutrition. 'Improved nutrition' is option J.
The trap: 'Health' (P) is too general to fill 'improved ___' here, and 'education' (K) affects life expectancy in a different paragraph, not disease rates.
Question 19
Answer: NParagraph 5
Besides personal habits, what may explain the rise in some other illnesses?
An increase in some cancers and bronchitis may reflect changing smoking habits and poorer air quality
Question says → Passage says
Increases in some other illnessesAn increase in some cancers and bronchitis
changes in personal habitschanging smoking habits
pollutionpoorer air quality / worse and worse pollution
Why: Smoking is the personal habit, and poorer air quality is the other cause. Manton then calls it 'pollution' directly. The gap follows 'to', so it needs a noun: 'pollution', option N.
The trap: 'Environmental' (O) fits the meaning, but it's an adjective. 'Due to environmental' isn't a complete phrase, so grammar rules it out.
Question 20
Answer: KParagraph 6, first sentence
Levels of what are linked to how long people live?
One interesting correlation Manton uncovered is that better-educated people are likely to live longer.
Question says → Passage says
establishes a linkOne interesting correlation
life expectancylive longer / expected, on average, to live to 82
levels offewer than eight years of schooling
Why: Correlation means link, and the link is between education and living longer. Women with more schooling live seven years more. 'Levels of education', option K.
The trap: Income is mentioned too, but it isn't in the word list, and Manton thinks it's the smaller factor. 'Cost' (A) belongs to the last gap.
Question 21
Answer: GParagraph 7, third sentence
What kind of elderly people have fallen sharply in number?
That represents a significant drop in the number of disabled old people in the population.
Question says → Passage says
a considerable reductiona significant drop
the number of elderly people who arethe number of disabled old people
Why: 'Considerable reduction' is 'significant drop', and the people who dropped in number are the disabled. Option G.
The trap: 'Independent' (Q) is the big trap. The paragraph is about independence, but the number of independent people went up. What went down was the number of disabled people.
Question 22
Answer: AParagraph 7, last sentence
What, in supporting older people, may be lower than predicted?
suggesting that the greying of America's population may prove less of a financial burden than expected
Question says → Passage says
may be less than previously predictedmay prove less… than expected
the ___ involved in supportinga financial burden / saved the United States government's Medicare system more than $200 billion
Why: Fewer disabled people saved Medicare over $200 billion, so the financial burden is smaller than expected. A financial burden is a cost, option A.
The trap: 'Health' (P) might look possible, but the sentence is about money: billions saved and a 'financial' burden.
Sentence endings (A-H)
Questions 23-26
How to attack this block: Each beginning has one paragraph. The distractors reuse words from those paragraphs: hormone, heart disease, night, $200 billion. Match the full idea: what the thing does, not just which words appear near it.
Question 23
Answer: GParagraph 8, first sentence
What do home medical aids do?
The increasing self-reliance of many elderly people is probably linked to a massive increase in the use of simple home medical aids.
Question says → Passage says
Home medical aidssimple home medical aids / raised toilet seats / bath seats
allow old people to be more independentThe increasing self-reliance of many elderly people
Why: Self-reliance is independence, and the passage links it to the rise in home aids like toilet and bath seats. So the aids help people be more independent, G.
The trap: D mentions $200 billion, which is in the paragraph just before. That money was saved by the government, not spent, and it's linked to falling disability, not to the aids.
Question 24
Answer: EParagraph 9
What can regular exercise do?
Maintaining a level of daily physical activity may help mental functioning
Question says → Passage says
Regular amounts of exerciseMaintaining a level of daily physical activity
may help prevent mental declinemay help mental functioning / may prevent the brains of active humans from deteriorating
Why: Cotman's rats on a treadmill had more of a hormone that keeps neurons working, which may stop active people's brains 'deteriorating'. Deteriorating brains are mental decline, so E.
The trap: B (hormone treatment) borrows the word 'hormone', but the hormone comes naturally from exercise. Nobody is given it as a treatment.
Question 25
Answer: HParagraph 10, second sentence
What can feeling in control of your life do?
In laboratory simulations of challenging activities such as driving, those who felt in control of their lives pumped out lower levels of stress hormones such as cortisol.
Question says → Passage says
Feelings of control over lifethose who felt in control of their lives
reduce stresslower levels of stress hormones
in difficult situationschallenging activities such as driving
Why: Every part lines up: feeling in control, lower stress hormones, and challenging activities as the difficult situations. H.
The trap: A (heart disease) is in the next sentence, but it's linked to chronically high stress hormones, the opposite of what people in control produce.
Question 26
Answer: CParagraph 11, second sentence
What can feelings of loneliness do?
Seeman found that elderly people who felt emotionally isolated maintained higher levels of stress hormones even when asleep.
Question says → Passage says
Feelings of lonelinessfelt emotionally isolated
rises in levels of stress hormoneshigher levels of stress hormones
Why: Feeling emotionally isolated is feeling lonely, and those people had higher stress hormones. C.
The trap: F (may get stronger at night) picks up 'even when asleep'. The passage says the levels stay high during sleep, not that loneliness or the hormones get stronger at night.
C. Stress hormones stayed high 'even when asleep'. Nothing says they got stronger at night.
Words from this passage worth keeping
afflicting(Paragraph 1)
causing suffering to
accelerate(Paragraph 2)
happen faster and faster
beating a retreat(Paragraph 4)
being pushed back, declining
surges(Paragraph 5)
sudden large increases
attributed to(Paragraph 6)
explained as caused by
self-reliance(Paragraph 8)
ability to do things without help
deteriorating(Paragraph 9)
getting worse
fare best(Paragraph 11)
do best, get the best results
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The full Cambridge 6 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 6, Test 2, Reading Passage 2. The passage and questions belong to Cambridge University Press and are not reproduced here. We quote short extracts only as evidence for our own commentary, and the answers are published for self-marking. Get the book for the full text, or sit the test on Langujet.
