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IELTS Reading Practice Test 5 (Academic, free, with answer key)

Last updated September 17, 2026

Short answer: Reading Test 5 is a full IELTS Academic Reading test: three passages (the pencil, rewilding, language loss), 40 questions in 60 minutes, and your raw score, estimated band on the Academic scale and per-passage breakdown the moment you submit. Free, no sign-up. Take the test first, then check the answer key below; reading it before the test makes the band meaningless.

Start Reading Test 5
3
Academic passages, each with its own page and full text
40
questions in 60 minutes, scored automatically and converted to an estimated band
0
sign-up, email or card to take the test and see your band

This page describes what is in Reading Test 5 and gives the answer key for its 40 questions. The test itself runs on the ParrotTalk Reading page: the button above opens it with Test 5 already selected. The three passages are Academic texts written for ParrotTalk, in the shape of the IELTS Academic Reading test, and each has its own page where you can read it in full before or after the test. This is not an official IELTS test.

What is in this test

PassageTitleQuestionsQuestion types
Passage 1 The Long Life of the Pencil 1 to 13 True/False/Not Given (Q1 to 7), Sentence completion (Q8 to 13)
Passage 2 The Case for Rewilding 14 to 26 Matching headings (Q14 to 19), Multiple choice (Q20 to 26)
Passage 3 Why Languages Fall Silent 27 to 40 Summary completion (Q27 to 33), Multiple choice (Q34 to 40)

Allow 60 minutes for the three passages, as in the exam, which leaves about 20 minutes per passage; there is no extra time to transfer answers. The timer starts only when you click Start, the passages are read on tabs, and your progress is saved in your browser, so a reload does not lose your answers. If you finish early, a review panel lets you check your answers until the clock runs out or you submit.

Answer key

Take the test first. The answer key is here so that you can check your work afterwards; if you read it before you start, the band you get at the end tells you nothing about your level.

The answers below are the ones accepted by the automatic scoring, one per question, with the paragraph of the passage that supports each answer. The questions themselves stay on the test page; each passage page lists the question groups without their wording.

Show the answers for Passage 1: The Long Life of the Pencil

Questions 1-7, True / False / Not Given

Do the following statements agree with the information given in the passage? Write TRUE, FALSE or NOT GIVEN.

  1. FALSE (Paragraph 1: 'The core of a pencil has never contained lead')
  2. TRUE (Paragraph 2: 'began using it to mark their sheep')
  3. FALSE (Paragraph 2: 'the only large body of solid graphite of that quality ever discovered')
  4. FALSE (Paragraph 2: 'opened for only a few weeks each year')
  5. NOT GIVEN (Not stated in the passage)
  6. TRUE (Paragraph 3: 'gave a scratchy, uneven line')
  7. NOT GIVEN (Not stated in the passage)

Questions 8-13, Sentence Completion

Complete the sentences below. Use ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.

  1. CLAY (Paragraph 4: 'by varying the proportion of clay')
  2. EUROPEAN (Paragraph 5: 'until it matched the best European imports')
  3. INVENTION (Paragraph 5: 'was not an invention')
  4. LUXURY (Paragraph 6: 'associated at the time with China and with luxury')
  5. CEDAR (Paragraph 6: 'moved to incense cedar from California')
  6. INKS (Paragraph 7: 'more durable than most inks')
Show the answers for Passage 2: The Case for Rewilding

Questions 14-19, Matching Headings

Match each paragraph (A-F) with the correct heading from the list below. Choose from: A. The animals that reshape their surroundings  ·  B. What the evidence can and cannot yet show  ·  C. What the word means, and what it does not  ·  D. Why not everyone welcomes the idea  ·  E. Two pioneering sites and what came back  ·  F. A method for parks and cities  ·  G. Finding a place for it in land policy  ·  H. The cost of feeding wild herds

  1. Paragraph A: C, What the word means, and what it does not (Paragraph A: 'It is not the same as neglect')
  2. Paragraph B: E, Two pioneering sites and what came back (Paragraph B: 'none of which had been planted, released or planned')
  3. Paragraph C: A, The animals that reshape their surroundings (Paragraph C: 'a few of them alter everything around them')
  4. Paragraph D: D, Why not everyone welcomes the idea (Paragraph D: 'Not everyone is persuaded')
  5. Paragraph E: B, What the evidence can and cannot yet show (Paragraph E: 'the long-term studies that would settle the question have barely begun')
  6. Paragraph F: G, Finding a place for it in land policy (Paragraph F: 'is not whether rewilding works but where it belongs')

Questions 20-26, Multiple Choice

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

  1. B, Connecting large areas and returning the animals that shape them (Paragraph A: 'large areas should be connected, and the animals that shape them')
  2. C, Was reclaimed from the sea and never developed (Paragraph B: 'reclaimed from the sea in 1968 and never built on')
  3. B, Something that happened without being planned (Paragraph B: 'none of which had been planted, released or planned')
  4. C, Do work that engineers find expensive to imitate (Paragraph C: 'engineers spend millions trying to reproduce')
  5. B, Survives only if people continue to manage it (Paragraph D: 'only survive if people keep making them')
  6. C, Large numbers of animals died of hunger (Paragraph D: 'thousands of animals at Oostvaardersplassen starved')
  7. B, Both large and agreed with local people (Paragraph F: 'agreed with the people living nearby rather than announced to them')
Show the answers for Passage 3: Why Languages Fall Silent

Questions 27-33, Complete the Summary

Complete the summary using words from the passage. Write ONE WORD ONLY for each answer.

  1. HALF (Paragraph 1: 'as many as half of the languages now spoken')
  2. GENERATIONS (Paragraph 2: 'a shift across three generations')
  3. CONQUEST (Paragraph 3: 'less often conquest than pressure')
  4. WELLBEING (Paragraph 4: 'better health and wellbeing')
  5. LEGAL (Paragraph 5: 'a legal right to use Welsh in public life')
  6. GRANDPARENTS (Paragraph 5: 'run entirely in Māori by grandparents')
  7. VAULT (Paragraph 6: 'a seed in a vault')

Questions 34-40, Multiple Choice

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

  1. C, The word points to a real possibility that the passage explains later (Paragraph 1: 'is more than sentimental')
  2. B, Reply to their parents in the new language (Paragraph 2: 'answer their parents in the new language')
  3. A, A direct ban on a home language (Paragraph 3: 'Welsh children who used Welsh in class were made to wear a wooden token')
  4. B, Shape how its speakers find their way around (Paragraph 4: 'they maintain a sense of direction that other people find astonishing')
  5. B, It became the mother tongue of a nation within two generations (Paragraph 5: 'within two generations it was the mother tongue of a nation')
  6. B, How a language can be rebuilt from written records (Paragraph 6: 'reconstructing it from seventeenth-century documents')
  7. C, Everyday decisions made by ordinary people (Paragraph 7: 'the sum of a great many ordinary choices')

Quick answers

Is this Reading test free?

Yes. Reading Test 5 is completely free, with no sign-up, no email and no card, and you can take it as many times as you like. The three passages, the 40 questions, the automatic scoring and the estimated band are all included.

Is this test Academic or General Training?

Academic. The passages are Academic Reading texts and the band uses the Academic conversion table; there is no General Training passage on ParrotTalk. The Reading page lets you tick General Training before you start, and then adds a note that on the real General Training scale the same raw score gives a band about one step lower. The General Training conversion table is on the band score calculator.

How is the Reading band calculated?

From your raw score out of 40, converted to a band with the official-style Academic table. The band and a per-passage breakdown appear the moment you submit, and each wrong answer shows where in the passage the answer was. The full conversion table, Academic and General Training, is on the band score calculator.

Is this an official IELTS test?

No. It is practice material in the format of the IELTS Academic Reading test, with passages written for ParrotTalk, and the band is an estimate to track your progress, not an official result. ParrotTalk is independent and not affiliated with IELTS, the British Council, IDP, or Cambridge English.

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ParrotTalk is free, with no sign-up. Bands are estimates, not official IELTS results. See the band score calculator for the full raw score to band tables, Academic and General Training, and read how to practise IELTS Reading for free for the mistakes that cost the most marks.