A Chronicle of Timekeeping: reading answers and analysis
Answer key for Cambridge IELTS 8 Test 1 Passage 1, covering the paragraph-matching, nationality-matching and flow-chart blocks with notes on each.
Questions 1-13 · 13 marks · 3 question blocks
Questions 1-4
Only four of the eight paragraphs are used, so scanning every paragraph in order wastes time you need for Passage 3. Read the four statements first, fix one keyword for each, then sweep the passage once and assign as you go.
| Question | Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | D | — |
| 2 | B | — |
| 3 | F | — |
| 4 | E | — |
Questions 5-8
Nationalities are proper nouns, which makes them the fastest thing on the page to scan for. Locate every occurrence of each nationality first and only then read around it, because the events, not the nationalities, are what get paraphrased.
| Question | Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | B | — |
| 6 | F | — |
| 7 | D | — |
| 8 | A | — |
Questions 9-13
The chart follows the mechanism in the order the passage describes it, so the answers appear in sequence. Three of the five accept a shorter form, which tells you the marker wants the mechanical part named rather than the full descriptive phrase.
| Question | Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|---|
| 9 | ship's anchor | anchor / an anchor / the anchor |
| 10 | escape wheel | wheel |
| 11 | tooth | — |
| 12 | long pendulum | pendulum |
| 13 | second | — |
Cambridge IELTS 8, Test 1, 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.