IELTS General Training Reading Practice Test 3: Answers & Explanations

All 40 answers below, each with the exact line of the passage that proves it and the reason the tempting wrong option was tempting. If you have not sat the test yet, do that first — a key read before the attempt teaches nothing.

Passage 1: Kestrel Valley Holiday Park — Guest Information

13 marks

Answer key and explanations for passage 1
Q	Answer	Evidence in the passage	Why, and the trap
1	Section E	“what guests should do with glass containers”	Section E: glass "must be taken to the bottle bank beside the car park".
2	Section A	“how to get into a lodge after the office has closed”	Section A: guests arriving after 8pm "should use the key safe", with the code texted that morning.
3	Section C	“the one place where a dog need not be on a lead”	Section C: dogs must be on a lead "everywhere except the fenced field beyond the car park".
4	Section F	“how far away the nearest emergency department is”	Section F: the nearest emergency department is at Aldenham, twenty-two miles away.
5	Section D	“when a meal should be reserved in advance”	Section D: restaurant bookings "are advisable at weekends and in school holidays"; breakfast needs none.
6	10am (also accepted: 10 am, by 10am)	“must be vacated by 10am”	The standard departure time, not the 1pm late option.
7	twelve pounds (also accepted: £12)	“at a charge of twelve pounds per dog per stay”	Two words; the figure is per dog, not per lodge.
8	Wednesday (also accepted: Wednesday mornings, on Wednesday)	“should place bins at the end of the path on Wednesday mornings”	One word answers the question fully.
9	Kestrel Bridge	“The nearest pharmacy is in Kestrel Bridge, four miles away”	A place name, two words. Aldenham has the hospital, not the pharmacy.
10	FALSE	“the pool has no lifeguard”	Stated directly, which is why children under eight must be accompanied.Trap: Opposite Meaning
11	TRUE	“pool towels are available at reception for a refundable deposit”	"Refundable" means the deposit is returned.
12	FALSE	“The restaurant is closed on Mondays outside the summer season.”	The Monday closure applies outside the summer season only.Trap: Partial Truth
13	NOT GIVEN	“The indoor pool is open from 7am to 9pm.”	One pool is described. No plan, proposal or future development is mentioned anywhere.Trap: Outside Text

Passage 2: Meadowbrook Charity Shops — Volunteer Handbook

13 marks

Answer key and explanations for passage 2
Q	Answer	Evidence in the passage	Why, and the trap
Paragraph A	i — What we ask of your time	“Most volunteers give one shift a week of three and a half hours.”	Shift length, the three-month commitment, and what to do if you cannot attend.
Paragraph B	ii — Handling what comes through the door	“All donations are sorted in the back room and never on the shop floor.”	Sorting, refusing electricals, textile recycling and opening bags in pairs.
Paragraph C	iii — Deciding what to charge	“Prices are set from the printed guide kept at the till.”	The printed price guide, asking the manager, and the rule on volunteers buying stock.
Paragraph D	iv — Rules for handling money	“Every sale is rung through the till.”	Till procedure, Gift Aid forms and what to do when the cash does not balance.
Paragraph E	v — Working safely in the shop	“Boxes above shoulder height are moved with the step stool.”	Step stools, fire doors, the accident book and restrictions on under-eighteens.
Paragraph F	vi — Discretion and dealing with people	“Do not discuss what a donor has brought in, or who brought it.”	Confidentiality about donors, sensitivity after a bereavement, and aggressive customers.
20	FALSE	“tell the shop manager and not another volunteer”	The handbook specifies the manager and rules out the alternative in the same clause.Trap: Opposite Meaning
21	TRUE	“donors offering them should be directed politely to the council recycling centre”	The instruction is given directly after the refusal of electrical goods.
22	NOT GIVEN	“Prices are set from the printed guide kept at the till and not from your own estimate of value”	The guide exists and must be used. How often it is revised is never mentioned.Trap: Outside Text
23	FALSE	“may not be left alone in the shop at any time”	Explicitly prohibited, alongside the restriction on the steamer and cutting tools.Trap: Opposite Meaning
24	hours	“a shift is three and a half hours”	One word; keep the plural.
25	sack	“is put in the textile recycling sack rather than displayed”	One word; not "bag", which the text uses for donations.
26	book	“Report any injury, however slight, in the accident book on the day it happens”	One word completing the term.

Passage 3: The Return of the Repair Shop

14 marks

Answer key and explanations for passage 3
Q	Answer	Evidence in the passage	Why, and the trap
27	NO	“the reasons were not mysterious”	Three reasons are given immediately afterwards: labour costs, cheaper products and the poor economics of repair.Trap: Opposite Meaning
28	YES	“continued for reasons that had been chosen”	The contrast is explicit: the decline began economically and continued by design.
29	NO	“organisers describe the more durable effect as the visitor learning that the object was repairable at all”	Waste avoided is "only partly" the value; the more durable effect is what the visitor learns.Trap: Partial Truth
30	YES	“Safety concerns about untrained repair are real for a small number of products”	The concern is granted for a few products and then said to be over-applied to many more.
31	NO	“which is a real difficulty and not a reason to stop”	The final clause grants the difficulty and rejects the conclusion drawn from it.Trap: Opposite Meaning
32	manufacturing	“labour became more expensive relative to manufacturing”	One word, lifted unchanged.
33	Amsterdam	“spread from a single Amsterdam experiment in 2009”	A place name, one word.
34	two thirds	“they report success rates around two thirds”	Two words, at the limit.
35	documentation	“supply spare parts, tools and repair documentation for a defined period”	One word, third in a list of three.
36	durability	“A durability figure on the label, comparable across brands and independently tested”	One word from the final paragraph.
37	became impossible to carry out at any price.	“A repair that once needed twenty minutes and a screwdriver”	Paragraph B: such a repair "became impossible at any price" once parts and information were withheld.
38	are narrower than the publicity implies.	“The lists of products covered by the new rules”	Paragraph D: "The lists of covered products are narrower than the publicity suggests."
39	learn more about what actually goes wrong.	“Manufacturers who design their products to be repaired”	Paragraph F: "their own engineers get better information about what actually fails".
40	let repairability compete on the shelf rather than in a regulation.	“An independently tested durability label would”	Paragraph G: it "would let repairability compete on the shelf rather than in a regulation".

Convert your score out of 40

Count your correct answers across all three passages. There is no penalty for a wrong answer, so an unanswered question and a wrong guess score the same.

IELTS General Training Reading raw score to band score
Band	Correct (of 40)
9.0	40
8.5	39
8.0	37–38
7.5	36
7.0	34–35
6.5	32–33
6.0	30–31
5.5	27–29
5.0	23–26
4.5	19–22
4.0	15–18
3.5	0–14

General Training conversion, which is stricter than Academic because the texts are easier — band 7 needs 34 correct here against 30 on the Academic paper. Both tables are on the Reading band calculator.

IELTS General Training Reading Practice Test 3: Answers & Explanations

Passage 1: Kestrel Valley Holiday Park — Guest Information

Passage 2: Meadowbrook Charity Shops — Volunteer Handbook

Passage 3: The Return of the Repair Shop

Convert your score out of 40

Turn the wrong answers into a band