The IELTS reading section consists of many different types of questions for which you must practice and strategize well. One such type is ‘Multiple Choice IELTS Reading’ questions. Answering this kind of question might be quite challenging. However, with proper practice, tips, and strategies, you can approach them with confidence. Besides, acing the multiple-choice questions could help you achieve 8+ bands. Read the blog to effectively understand the multiple-choice questions and maximize your scores. So, let’s begin!
Table of Contents
Multiple Choice questions are quite commonly asked in both IELTS Academic and IELTS General reading tests. In this type, a question or an incomplete sentence based on the passage will be provided. Further, there will be a list of options from which the test taker must select the correct one.
The IELTS reading multiple choice questions evaluate candidates’ ability to understand detailed information and main ideas in the text. In general, each question typically has three or four answer choices labeled as A, B, C, and D. However, the number of options isn’t defined and may vary depending on the type of question.
There are two different types of IELTS reading multiple choice questions that may appear in the exam. These may be single-answer multiple-choice or multiple-answer multiple-choice. Thus, before solving the problem, you must carefully read the instructions provided in the question.
1. Single Answer Multiple Choice
In single-answer multiple-choice questions, candidates must select one correct answer from the list of options provided.
2. Multiple Answer Multiple Choice
In multiple answer multiple choice questions, candidates may be asked to choose more than one correct answer from a larger list of options.
These were the types of multiple-choice IELTS reading questions. For better understanding, you must practice sample questions.
This section covers IELTS reading MCQ practice questions along with the passage.
Here is an IELTS reading multiple choice question sample for your reference. Practicing with this type of sample can help you achieve 8+ bands on the IELTS exam.
Here are the answers along with their explanation for the above-mentioned reading MCQ practice passage.
A
One of the most famous works of art in the world is Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. Nearly everyone who goes to see the original will already be familiar with it from reproductions, but they accept that fine art is more rewarding when viewed in its original form.
B
However, if Mona Lisa were a famous novel, few people would bother to go to a museum to read the writer’s actual manuscript rather than a printed reproduction. This might be explained by the fact that the novel has evolved precisely because of technological developments that made it possible to print out huge numbers of texts, whereas oil paintings have always been produced as unique objects. In addition, it could be argued that the practice of interpreting or ‘reading’ each medium follows different conventions. With novels, the reader attends mainly to the meaning of words rather than the way they are printed on the page, whereas the ‘reader’ of a painting must attend just as closely to the material form of marks and shapes in the picture as to any ideas they may signify.
C
Yet it has always been possible to make very accurate facsimiles of pretty well any fine artwork. The seven surviving versions of the Mona Lisa bear witness to the fact that in the 16th century, artists seemed perfectly content to assign the reproduction of their creations to their workshop apprentices as regular ‘bread and butter’ work. Today the task of reproducing pictures is incomparably more simple and reliable, with reprographic techniques that allow the production of high-quality prints made exactly to the original scale, with faithful colour values, and even with duplication of the surface relief of the painting.
D
However, despite an implicit recognition that the spread of good reproductions can be culturally valuable, museums continue to promote the special status of original work. Unfortunately, this seems to place severe limitations on the kind of experience offered to visitors.
E
One limitation is related to the way the museum presents its exhibits. As repositories of unique historical objects, art museums are often called ‘treasure houses’. We are reminded of this even before we view a collection by the presence of security guards, attendants, ropes, and display cases to keep us away from the exhibits. In many cases, the architectural style of the building further reinforces that notion. In addition, a major collection like that of London’s National Gallery is housed in numerous rooms, each with dozens of works, any one of which is likely to be worth more than all the average visitor possesses. In a society that judges the personal status of the individual so much by their material worth, it is therefore difficult not to be impressed by one’s own relative ‘worthlessness’ in such an environment.
F
Furthermore, consideration of the ‘value’ of the original work in its treasure house setting impresses upon the viewer that, since these works were originally produced, they have been assigned a huge monetary value by some person or institution more powerful than themselves. Evidently, nothing the viewer thinks about the work is going to alter that value, and so today’s viewer is deterred from trying to extend that spontaneous, immediate, self-reliant kind of reading that would originally have met the work.
G
The visitor may then be struck by the strangeness of seeing such diverse paintings, drawings, and sculptures brought together in an environment for which they were not originally created. This ‘displacement effect’ is further heightened by the sheer volume of exhibits. In the case of a major collection, there are probably more works on display than we could realistically view in weeks or even months.
H
This is particularly distressing because time seems to be a vital factor in the appreciation of all art forms. A fundamental difference between paintings and other art forms is that there is no prescribed time over which a painting is viewed. By contrast, the audience encourages an opera or a play over a specific time, which is the duration of the performance. Similarly, novels and poems are read in a prescribed temporal sequence, whereas a picture has no clear place at which to start viewing or at which to finish. Thus, artworks themselves encourage us to view them superficially, without appreciating the richness of detail and labour that is involved.
I
Consequently, the dominant critical approach becomes that of the art historian, a specialised academic approach devoted to ‘discovering the meaning’ of art within the cultural context of its time. This is in perfect harmony with the museum's function, since the approach is dedicated to seeking out and conserving ‘authentic’, original readings of the exhibits. Again, this seems to put paid to that spontaneous, participator criticism that can be found in abundance in the criticism of classic works of literature but is absent from most art history.
J
The displays of art museums serve as a warning of what critical practices can emerge when spontaneous criticism is suppressed. The museum public, like any other audience, experience art more rewardingly when given the confidence to express their views. If appropriate works of fine art could be rendered permanently accessible to the public by means of high-fidelity reproductions, as literature and music already are, the public may feel somewhat less in awe of them. Unfortunately, that may be too much to ask from those who seek to maintain and control the art establishment.
Questions 1-4
Choose the correct letter: A, B, C, or D.
Write the correct letter in boxes 1-4 on your answer sheet
1. The writer mentions London’s National Gallery to illustrate
A. The undesirable cost to a nation of maintaining a huge collection of art.
B. The conflict that may arise in society between financial and artistic values.
C. The negative effect a museum can have on visitors’ opinions of themselves.
D. the need to put individual well-being above large-scale artistic schemes.
2. The writer says that today, viewers may be unwilling to criticize a because
A. They lack the knowledge needed to support an opinion.
B. They fear it may have financial implications.
C. They have no real concept of the work’s value.
D. They feel their personal reaction is of no significance.
3. According to the writer, the ‘displacement effect’ on the visitor is caused by
A. The variety of works on display and the way they are arranged.
B. The impossibility of viewing particular works of art over a long period.
C. The similar nature of the paintings and the lack of great works.
D. The inappropriate nature of the individual works selected for exhibition.
4. The writer says that unlike other forms of art, a painting does not
A. Involve direct contact with an audience.
B. Require a specific location for a performance.
C. Need the involvement of other professionals.
D. Have a specific beginning or end.
Answer 1: C
Explanation: Paragraph E, last line, states that it is difficult not to be impressed by one’s own relative ‘worthlessness’ in such an environment. Here, the word worthlessness means negative opinions of themselves. Thus, option C is correct.
Answer 2: D
Explanation: Paragraph F, last line means that people thought that their reaction was of no use and this is the reason that they criticized unwillingly. Thus, Option D is correct.
Answer 3: A
Explanation: Paragraph G, line 1 states that there was diverse art, which means it had variety, and also mentions that their arrangement was also a reason for the displacement effect. Thus, option A is correct.
Answer 4: D
Explanation: Paragraph H, line 2 states that, unlike other art forms, there is no time tracing of the paintings. Thus, there is no end or start of the same. Therefore, Option D is correct.
Here is another sample of multiple-choice questions that will help you get a higher IELTS band score in the reading section.
Paragraph - A
The ants are tiny and usually nest between rocks in the south coast of England. Transformed into research subjects at the University of Bristol, they raced along a tabletop foraging for food -and then, remarkably, returned to guide others. Time and again, followers trailed behind leaders, darting this way and that along the route, presumably to memorize landmarks. Once a follower got its bearings, it tapped the leader with its antennae, prompting the lesson to literally proceed to the next step. The ants were only looking for food, but the researchers said the careful way the leaders led followers -thereby turning them into leaders in their own right -marked the Temnothorax albipennis ant as the very first example of a non-human animal exhibiting teaching behavior.
Paragraph- B
"Tandem running is an example of teaching, to our knowledge the first in a non-human animal, that involves bidirectional feedback between teacher and pupil," remarks Nigel Franks, professor of animal behavior and ecology, whose paper on the ant educators was published last week in the journal Nature.
Paragraph- C
No sooner was the paper published, of course, than another educator questioned it. Marc Hauser, a psychologist and biologist and one of the scientists who came up with the definition of teaching, said it was unclear whether the ants had learned a new skill or merely acquired new information.
Paragraph- D
Later, Franks did a further study and found that there were even races between leaders. With the guidance of leaders, ants could find food faster. But the help comes at a cost for the leader, who normally would have reached the food about four times faster if not hampered by a follower. This means the hypothesis that the leaders deliberately slowed down in order to pass the skills on to the followers seems potentially valid. His ideas were advocated by the students who carried out the video project with him.
Paragraph- E
Opposing views still arose, however. Hauser noted that mere communication of information is commonplace in the animal world. Consider a species, for example, that uses alarm calls to warn fellow members about the presence of a predator. Sounding the alarm can be costly because the animal may draw the attention of the predator to itself. But it allows others to flee to safety. “Would you call this teaching?” wrote Hauser. “The caller incurs a cost. The naive animals gain a benefit and new knowledge that better enables them to learn about the predator’s location than if the caller had not called. This happens throughout the animal kingdom, but we don’t call it teaching, even though it is clearly a transfer of information.”
Paragraph- F
Tim Caro, a zoologist, presented two cases of animal communication. He found that cheetah mothers that take their cubs along on hunts gradually allow their cubs to do more of the hunting -going, for example, from killing a gazelle and allowing young cubs to eat to merely tripping the gazelle and letting the cubs finish it off. At one level, such behavior might be called teaching -except the mother was not really teaching the cubs to hunt but merely facilitating various stages of learning. In another instance, birds watching other birds using a stick to locate food such as insects and so on, are observed to do the same thing themselves while finding food later.
Paragraph- G
Psychologists study animal behavior in part to understand the evolutionary roots of human behavior, Hauser said. The challenge in understanding whether other animals truly teach one another, he added, is that human teaching involves a “theory of mind” -teachers are aware that students don’t know something. He questioned whether Franks’s leader ants really knew that the follower ants were ignorant. Could they simply have been following an instinctive rule to proceed when the followers tapped them on the legs or abdomen? And did leaders that led the way to food -only to find that it had been removed by the experimenter -incur the wrath of followers? That, Hauser said, would suggest that the follower ant actually knew the leader was more knowledgeable and not merely following an instinctive routine itself.
Paragraph- H
The controversy went on, and for a good reason. The occurrence of teaching in ants, if proven to be true, indicates that teaching can evolve in animals with tiny brains. It is probably the value of information in social animals that determines when teaching will evolve rather than the constraints of brain size.
Paragraph- I
Bennett Galef Jr., a psychologist who studies animal behavior and social learning at McMaster University in Canada, maintained that ants were unlikely to have a “theory of mind” -meaning that leader and followers may well have been following instinctive routines that were not based on an understanding of what was happening in another ant’s brain. He warned that scientists may be barking up the wrong tree when they look not only for examples of humanlike behavior among other animals but humanlike thinking that underlies such behavior. Animals may behave in ways similar to humans without a similar cognitive system, he said, so the behavior is not necessarily a good guide to how humans came to think the way they do.
Questions for Reading Passage: Ants Could Teach Ants
Questions 1-4
Choose FOUR letters, A-H
Write your answers in boxes 1-4 on your answer sheet.
Which FOUR of the following behaviors of animals are mentioned in the passage?
A. Touch each other with antenna
B. Alert others when there is danger
C. Escape from predators
D. Protect the young
E. Hunt food for the young
F. Fight with each other
G. Use tools like twigs
H. Feed on a variety of foods
Here are the answers along with their explanation for the above-mentioned reading MCQ practice passage.
Answer 1: A, B, E, G IN ANY ORDER
Explanation: In the fourth line of paragraph A, the answer is located. It mentions that once a follower got its bearings, it tapped the leader with its antennae, prompting the lesson to proceed to the next step. Thus, A, B, E, and G in any order is the correct answer to the question.
Answer 2: A, B, E, G IN ANY ORDER
Explanation: In paragraph E, the answer is located in the third line. It indicates that another behavior of animals uses alarm calls to warn fellow members about their presence. However, the sound of the alarm can be costly because it may draw the attention of the predator to itself. Hence, A, B, E, and G in any order is the correct answer.
Answer 3: A, B, E, G IN ANY ORDER
Explanation: In the second line of paragraph F, the answer is given. It states that Tim Caro found that cheetah mothers take their cubs along on hunts gradually, from killing a gazelle and allowing young cubs to eat gazelle. This means the mother cheetah allows their cubs to distribute hunt food among themselves. Hence, A, B, E, and G in any order is the correct answer.
Answer 4: A, B, E, G IN ANY ORDER
Explanation: The last line of paragraph F locates the answer to this question. It expresses that birds watch other birds using a stick to locate food such as insects, and so on is another behavior of animals. For this, birds use sticks or twigs to locate food. Hence, A, B, E, and G in any order is the correct answer.
You can check out a few more examples of the IELTS reading practice test for your reference. You can check out the following passages and practice MCQ reading IELTS questions.
1. Water Filter Reading Practice Test
2. Learning Lessons from the Past Reading Practice Test
3. The History of the Tortoise Reading Practice Test
4. Spoken Corpus Comes to Life Reading Practice Test
5. Communication in Science Reading Practice Test
6. Food for Thought Reading Practice Test
7. The Innovation of Grocery Stores Reading Practice Test
8. Keep a Watchful Eye on the Bridges Reading Practice Test
9. Painters of Time Reading Practice Test
10. Makete Integrated Rural Transport Project Reading Practice Test
It is vital to strategize well before appearing for the IELTS exam. Thus, here are a few tips and strategies that will help you achieve 8+ bands.
To score well, the IELTS reading MCQ practice questions are important. However, it is also essential to make proper strategies to deal with different question types. Thus, here are a few tips and strategies that you can incorporate to score higher.
1. Your first step must be to read the questions.
2. The location of the answers will be in order.
3. Skim and identify the keywords for the answers.
4. Be aware of distractors. They are only small words, but they can completely change the meaning of a sentence.
5. Don’t leave any blank answers. You may rather make a reasonable prediction.
6. In the multiple-choice IELTS reading questions, elimination and paraphrasing techniques are beneficial.
7. Before the test date, students must thoroughly complete the IELTS syllabus for the exam.
8. Take enough practice tests before appearing for the actual exam.
To wrap up, the blog covered everything about multiple-choice IELTS reading questions. Besides, there are sample passages and a few other examples for your reference as well. Additionally, a few tips and strategies to achieve a great score on the exam are also provided in the write-up. Consistent practice and utilizing the strategies will help you get familiar with the MCQ reading IELTS questions. For this, you may seek professional help from Gradding.com, our experts provide excellent coaching in this domain.
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