Essential strategies and practice techniques for this IELTS Reading question type. Learn how to manage time and improve accuracy.
Originally published March 2025. Last reviewed 3 July 2026.
The Blog post contains the following IELTS Reading Questions:
IELTS Reading Diagram Labelling
IELTS Reading Summary Completion
IELTS Reading Locating Information
Stay informed and prepared for success – Explore our comprehensive Reading Test Info page to get valuable insights, exam format details, and expert tips for mastering the IELTS Reading section.
IELTS Reading Passage – Electroreception
ELECTRORECEPTION
In sea water, it is difficult to discern anything other than a murky, blurry green colour. Even the sounds are muddled and hard to make out. How do fish make it look so simple in environments where people would be lost without specialised equipment? The biological phenomena of electroreception, perception, and response to electrical impulses, are largely responsible for this. As water is an effective conductor of electricity, this capacity is exclusive to aquatic and amphibian animals.
There are two forms of electroreception. Although the neural systems of all animals (including humans) produce electric impulses as they are disgorged by the nervous system, certain animals can detect the presence of other species through a process called passive electroreception.
However, certain species can go far further. Active electroreception is animals with organs that can provide distinct electric signals when needed. These are useful not just for finding things in the water, but also as mating signals and territorial displays. Electroreceptors that are actively processing information may identify the distinction between the varied resistances that an electrical current encounters. This can aid in determining whether or not an unidentified animal is a potential meal, a threat, or something to be avoided. The range of active electroreception is around one body length, which is generally just enough for a host to avoid danger or make a killing strike.
The extraordinary use of active electroreception, known as the Jamming Avoidance Response mechanism, has been discovered amongst individuals of some species of weakly electric fish. When two such electric fish encounter one another in the ocean while communicating on the same frequency, each fish will alter the frequency of its discharge to communicate on a different frequency. Doing so protects their electroreception faculties from getting obstructed. Long before citizens’ band radio listeners were required to shout “Get off my frequency!” At least one of the species had developed a form of method for doing so for a quick and peaceful solution to this sort of conflict with incompetent beginners clogging the airwaves.Electroreception can play a significant part in animal defences. Rays are one example of this. Ray embryos grow in egg casings that are anchored to the seafloor. The embryos maintain continual movement of their tails in order to pump water and allow them to breathe through the egg’s shell.However, if a predatory fish is nearby, the embryo’s electroreceptors cause it to stop moving (and so stop sending electric currents) until the fish has gone on. Because many different kinds of marine animals pass by, the embryo has adapted to respond solely to signals that are typical of the respiratory motions of prospective predators like sharks.
Due to sharks, many people fear swimming in the water. This fear is well-founded in certain ways, as humans lack electroreceptive defence systems. Sharks, on the other hand, hunt with incredible accuracy. Moreover, two thirds of a shark’s brain is fully devoted to its olfactory organs, allowing them to first locate its prey based on its scent. As the shark approaches its victim, it tunes into electrical impulses that enable a perfect strike; this sensitivity is so acute that the shark attacks blindly by closing its eyes for defence.
Typically, human beings are attacked unintentionally. Since sharks cannot tell from electroreception if a food will satisfy their preferences, they typically “try before they buy,” taking one or two bites and then evaluating the results (our sinewy muscle is inferior to that of plumper, softer prey such as seals). Salt in the blood increases the strength of the electric field, creating the ideal conditions for a feeding frenzy, which is extremely likely after a human has begun to bleed. In regions where shark attacks on people are prevalent, scientists are studying techniques to develop electroreceptors that might disorient sharks and deter them from swimming shores.
There is still much we do not understand about how electroreception works. Despite the fact that researchers have seen the effects of electroreception on hunting, defence, and communication systems, the precise cerebral mechanisms that store and interpret this information remain unknown. Additionally, scientists are investigating the significance of electroreception in navigation. Salt water and magnetic fields from the Earth’s core may combine to generate electrical currents that sharks employ for migratory reasons, according to certain theories.
Electroreception Reading Questions
Questions 1-3
Label the diagram. Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
The shark’s __________ inform the juvenile ray of its existence.
To breathe, the embryo moves its __________.
When a predator is nearby, the embryo ceases transmitting ____________.
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Questions 4-7
Complete the following summary.Write NO MORE THAN THREE words per response from the passage.
A shark is a very efficient predator. Firstly, it uses its 4 __________ to smell its prey. When the shark is close enough to attack, it employs 5 _________ to guide it toward a precise attack. Within the final few feet, the shark rolls its eyes and retracts inside its head. Humans are not popular food sources for most sharks due to their 6 __________ Nevertheless, once a shark has bitten a human, a repeat attack is highly possible as salt from the blood intensifies the intensity of the 7 __________.
Questions 8-13
Which paragraph contains the following information?Write the correct letter from A–H, in boxes 8–13 on your answer sheet.
8. A description of how some fish can avoid disrupting each other’s electric signals
9. The term for the capacity which enables an animal to pick up but not send out electrical signals
10. How electroreception might help creatures find their way over long distances
11. A possible use for electroreception that will benefit humans
12. Why only creatures that live in or near water have electroreceptive abilities
13. How electroreception can be used to help fish reproduce
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Essential strategies and practice techniques for this IELTS Reading question type. Learn how to manage time and improve accuracy.
Originally published March 2025. Last reviewed 3 July 2026.
The Blog post contains the following IELTS Reading Questions:
IELTS Reading Matching Headings
IELTS Reading Matching Features
IELTS Reading Summary Completion
Stay informed and prepared for success – Explore our comprehensive Reading Test Info page to get valuable insights, exam format details, and expert tips for mastering the IELTS Reading section.
IELTS Reading Passage – Making Documentary Films
Making Documentary Films
AFor much of the twentieth century, documentary films were overshadowed by their more successful Hollywood counterparts. For a number of reasons, documentaries were frequently ignored by critics and film studies courses at universities. Firstly, the very idea of documentary film made some people suspicious. As the critic Dr Helmut Fischer put it, ‘Documentary makers might have ambitions to tell the “truth” and show only “facts” but there is no such thing as a non-fiction film. That’s because, as soon as you record an incident on camera, you are altering its reality in a fundamental way’. Secondly, even supporters of documentaries could not agree on a precise definition, which did little to improve the reputation of the genre. Lastly, there were also concerns about the ethics of filming subjects without their consent, which is a necessity
in many documentary films.
B None of this prevented documentaries from being produced, though exactly when the process started is open to question. It is often claimed that Nanook of the North was the first documentary. Made by the American filmmaker Robert J. Flaherty in 1922, the film depicts the hard, sometimes heroic lives of native American peoples in the Canadian Arctic. Nanook of the North is said to have set off a trend that continued though the 1920s with the films of Dziga
Vertov in the Soviet Union and works by other filmmakers around the world. However, that 1922 starting point has been disputed by supporters of an earlier date. Among this group is film historian Anthony Berwick, who argues that the genre can be traced back as early as 1895, when similar films started to appear, including newsreels, scientific films and accounts of journeys of exploration.
C In the years following 1922, one particular style of documentary started to appear. These films adopted a serious tone while depicting the lives of actual people. Cameras were mounted on tripods and subjects rehearsed and repeated activities for the purposes of the film. British filmmaker John Grierson was an important member of this group. Grierson’s career lasted nearly 40 years, beginning with Drifters (1929) and culminating with | Remember, | Remember (1968). However, by the 1960s Grierson’s style of film was being rejected by the Direct Cinema movement, which wanted to produce more natural and authentic films: cameras were hand-held; no additional lighting or sound was used; and the subjects did not rehearse. According to film writer Paula Murphy, the principles and methods of Direct Cinema brought
documentaries to the attention of universities and film historians as never before. Documentaries started to be recognized as a distinct genre worthy of serious scholarly analysis.
D Starting in the 1980s, the widespread availability of first video and then digital cameras transformed filmmaking. The flexibility and low cost of these devices meant that anyone could now be a filmmaker. Amateurs working from home could compete with professionals in ways never possible before. The appearance of online film-sharing platforms in the early 2000s only increased the new possibilities for amateur documentaries were being made, perhaps the most popular documentary of 2006 was still the professionally made An Inconvenient Truth. New cameras and digital platforms revolutionised the making of films. But as critic Maria Fiala has pointed out, “The arguments sometimes put forward that these innovations immediately transformed what the public expected to see in a documentary isn’t entirely accurate”.
E However, a new generation of documentary filmmakers then emerged, and with them came a new philosophy of the genre. These filmmakers moved away from highlighting political themes or urgent social issues. Instead the focus moved inwards, exploring personal lives, relationships and emotions. It could be argued that Catfish (2010) was a perfect example of this new trend. The film chronicles the everyday lives and interactions of the social media generation and was both a commercial and critical success. Filmmaker Josh Camberwell maintains that Catfish embodies a new realization that documentaries are inherently subjective and that this should be celebrated. Says Camberwell, it is a requirement for documentary makers to express a particular viewpoint and give personal responses to the material they are recording.
F The popularity and variety of documentaries today is illustrated by the large number of film festivals focusing on the genre around the world. The biggest of all must be the Hot Docs Festival in Canada, which over the years has showcased hundreds of documentaries from more than 50 different countries. Even older is the Hamburg International Short Film Festival. As its name suggests, Hamburg specializes in short films, but one category takes this to its limits – entries may not exceed three minutes in duration. The Short and Sweet Festival is a slightly
smaller event held in Utah, USA. The small size of the festival means that for first timers this is the ideal venue to try to get some recognition for their films. Then there is the Atlanta Shortsfest, which is a great event for a wide variety of filmmakers. Atlanta welcomes all established types of documentaries and recognises the growing popularity of animations, with a category specifically
for films of this type. These are just a few of the scores of film festivals on offer, and there are more being established every year. All in all, it has never been easier for documentary makers to get their films in front of an audience.
Reading Passage 2 has six paragraphs, A-F. Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below.
Select the correct number, i-vill, in boxes 14-19 on your answer sheet.
List of Headings
i A contrast between two historic approaches to documentary filmmaking ii Disagreement between two individual documentary makers iii A wide range of opportunities to promote documentary filmmaking iv A number of criticisms about all documentary filmmaking in the past v One film that represented a fresh approach to documentary filmmaking vi Some probable future trends in documentary filmmaking vii The debate about the origins of documentary filmmaking viii The ability of ordinary people to create documentary films for the first time
14 Paragraph A 15 Paragraph B 16 Paragraph C 17 Paragraph D 18 Paragraph E 19 Paragraph F
Look at the statements (Questions 20-23) and the list of people below. Match each statement with the correct person, A-E.
List of People
A Dr Helmut Fischer B Anthony Berwick C Paula Murphy D Maria Fiala E Josh Camberwell
Select the correct letter, A-E, in boxes 20-23 on your answer sheet.
20 The creation of some new technologies did not change viewers’ attitudes towards documentaries as quickly as is sometimes proposed. 21 One set of beliefs and techniques helped to make documentary films academically respectable. 22 The action of putting material on film essentially changes the nature of the original material. 23 Documentary filmmakers have an obligation to include their own opinions about and analysis of the real events that they show in their films.
Improve your performance in Matching Features questions by clicking here to access our comprehensive guide. Learn how to match specific features or characteristics with the options provided in the IELTS Reading section.
Questions 24-26
Complete the summary below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.
FILM FESTIVALS
There are many festivals for documentary makers. For example, Canada’s Hot Docs festival has screened documentaries from more than 50 countries. Meanwhile, the Hamburg Short Film Festival lives up to its name by accepting films no more than 24 …………………………….. long in one of its categories. The Short and Sweet Film Festival is especially good for documentary makers who are 25 …………………………… . And the Atlanta Shortsfest accepts numerous forms of documentaries including 26 ……………………………, which are becoming more common.
Boost your performance in Summary, Notes, Table, and Flowchart Completion tasks. Click here to explore our detailed guide and learn how to effectively complete summaries, notes, tables, and flowcharts in the IELTS Reading section.
14Answer: iv 15Answer: vii 16Answer: i 17Answer: viii 18Answer: v. 19Answer: iii 20Answer: D 21Answer: C 22Answer: A 23Answer: E 24Answer: 3 minutes/three minutes 25Answer: 1st timers/ first timers 26Answer: animations
We hope you found this post useful in helping you to study for the IELTS Test. If you have any questions please let us know in the comments below or on the Facebook page.
The best way to keep up to date with posts like this is to like us on Facebook, then follow us on Instagram and Pinterest. If you need help preparing for the IELTS Test, join the IELTS Achieve Academy and see how we can assist you to achieve your desired band score. We offer an essay correction service, mock exams and online courses.
Essential strategies and practice techniques for this IELTS Reading question type. Learn how to manage time and improve accuracy.
Originally published March 2025. Last reviewed 3 July 2026.
The Blog post contains the following IELTS Reading Questions:
IELTS Reading Sentence Completion
IELTS Reading Diagram Labelling
IELTS Reading Multiple Choice Questions
Stay informed and prepared for success – Explore our comprehensive Reading Test Info page to get valuable insights, exam format details, and expert tips for mastering the IELTS Reading section.
IELTS Reading PassageIn Praise or Fast Food
In Praise or Fast Food
The media and a multitude of cookbook writers would have us believe that modern, fast, processed food is a disaster and that it is a mark of sophistication to bemoan the steel roller mill and sliced white bread while yearning for stone-ground flour and a brick oven. Perhaps, we should call those who scorn industrialized food, culinary Luddites, after the 19th-century English workers who rebelled against the machines that destroyed their way of life. Instead of technology, what these Luddites abhor is commercial sauces and any synthetic aid to flavoring our food. Culinary Luddism has come to signify more than just taste, however. It presents itself as a moral and political crusade, and it is here that I begin to back off. As a historian, I cannot accept the notion that the sunny, rural days of yesterday are in such contrast to the grey industrial present. I refute the philosophy that so crudely pits fresh and natural against processed and preserved, local against global, slow against fast, and additive-free against contaminated. History shows, I believe, that the Luddites have things back to front. It will come as a shock to many to discover that the notion of food being fresh and natural is a rather modern one. For our ancestors, what was natural frequently tasted bad. Fresh meat was rank and tough, fresh fruit inedibly sour, and fresh vegetables bitter. Natural was unreliable. Fresh milk soured, eggs went rotten, and everywhere seasons of plenty were followed by seasons of hunger. What's more, natural was usually indigestible. Grains, which supplied 50 to 90 percent of the calories in most societies, had to be threshed, ground, and cooked to be fit for consumption. So to make food tasty, safe, digestible, and healthy, our forebears bred, ground, soaked, leached, curdled, fermented, and cooked naturally occurring plants and animals until they were nothing at all like their original form. They created sweet oranges and juicy apples and non-bitter legumes, happily abandoning their more natural but less tasty ancestors. They dried their meat and fruit, salted and smoked their fish, curdled and fermented their dairy products, and cheerfully used additives and preservatives like sugar, salt, oil, and vinegar to make the food edible. Eating fresh, natural food was regarded with suspicion verging on horror; only the uncivilized, the poor, and the starving resorted to it. The ancient Greeks regarded the consumption of greens and root vegetables as a sign of bad times, and many succeeding civilizations believed the same. Happiness was not a verdant garden abounding in fresh fruits, but a securely locked storehouse jammed with preserved, processed foods. What about the idea that the best food is handmade in the country? That food comes from the country goes without saying. However, the idea that country people eat better than city dwellers is preposterous. Very few of our ancestors working the land were independent peasants baking their bread and salting down their pigs. Most were burdened with heavy taxes and rent, often paid directly by the food they produced. Many were ultimately serfs or slaves, who subsisted on what was leftover watery soup and gritty flatbread. The dishes we call ethnic and assume to be of peasant origin were invented for the urban, or at least urbane, aristocrats who collected the surplus. This is as true of the lasagna of northern Italy as it is of the chicken korma of Mughal Delhi, the moo shu pork of imperial China, and the pilafs
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from Reading Passage 3 for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 27-29 on your answer sheet.
27 ………………………………….. = mass, produced bread.
28 ………………………………….. = traditionally produced bread
29 ………………………………….. enhanced by synthetic products
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Questions 30-34
Complete the sentences.
Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 30-34 on your answer sheet.
30The writer does not believe that a ……………………. philosophy of food production is superior to an industrialized philosophy of food production. 31In the past, the majority of fresh, natural food ……………………. and could not be relied on. 32Most people’s intake consisted largely of.. ………………….., which required a great deal of preparation. 33The ……………………. of food was unrecognizable once it had gone through the various processes of making it edible. 34For the ancient Greeks, a ……………………. full of food was preferable to a garden full of fruit.
Enhance your sentence completion skills in the IELTS Reading section. Click here to access our comprehensive guide and learn effective strategies for filling in missing words or phrases in sentences.
Questions 35-40
Choose the correct letter A, B, C, or D.
Write your answers in boxes 35-40 on your answer sheet.
35What does the writer say about peasants?
They had a better diet than most people living in cities.
They were largely self-sufficient.
Much of what they produced went to a landowner.
They created imaginative soup and flatbread dishes.
36Lasagna is an example of a dish
Invented by peasants.
Created for wealthy city-dwellers.
That was only truly popular in northern Italy.
That tastes like dishes from several other countries.
37Which of the following is NOT an important factor mentioned in the eighth and ninth paragraphs?
The development of take-away food as an option
The arduous nature of food preparation before mass-production
The global benefits of industrialized food production
The range of advantages that industrialized food production had
38What is the important point the writer wishes to make in the tenth paragraph?
There are disadvantages to modem food production as well as advantages.
People need to have a balanced diet.
People everywhere now have a huge range of food to choose from.
Demand for food that is traditionally produced exploits the people that produce it.
39The writer mentions chocolate, pasta, and canned tomatoes in the same paragraph because
The industrialized version has advantages over the natural version.
They are all products associated with a sophisticated lifestyle.
They are all products that have suffered from over-commercialization.
They are the most popular examples of industrial foods.
40What is the overall point that the writer makes in the reading passage?
People should learn the history of the food they consume.
Modem industrial food is generally superior to raw and natural food.
Criticism of industrial food production is largely misplaced.
People should be more grateful for the range of foods they can now choose from.
Ready to improve your performance in Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)? Click here to access our comprehensive guide on how to tackle MCQs effectively in the IELTS Reading section.
27Answer: steel roller mill 28Answer: brick oven 29Answer: flavoring 30Answer: rural 31Answer: tasted bad 32Answer: grains 33Answer: original form 34Answer: storehouse 35Answer: C 36Answer: B 37Answer: A 38Answer: D 39Answer: A 40Answer: C
We hope you found this post useful in helping you to study for the IELTS Test. If you have any questions please let us know in the comments below or on the Facebook page.
The best way to keep up to date with posts like this is to like us on Facebook, then follow us on Instagram and Pinterest. If you need help preparing for the IELTS Test, join the IELTS Achieve Academy and see how we can assist you to achieve your desired band score. We offer an essay correction service, mock exams and online courses.
