This IELTS Reading post focuses on all the solutions for IELTS Cambridge 7 Test 1 Reading Passage 1, which is entitled ‘Let’s Go Bats’. This is an aimed post for IELTS candidates who have great problems in finding answers for the Academic Reading module. This post can guide you the best to comprehend each Reading answer without facing much difficulty. Tracing IELTS Reading answers is a gradual process and I sincerely hope this post can help you in your IELTS Reading preparation.

IELTS Cambridge 7 Test 1: AC Reading Module

Reading Passage 1:

The headline of the passage: Let’s Go Bats

Questions 1-4: (Identifying information):

[This question asks you to find information from the passage and write the number of the paragraph (A, B, C or D … .. ) in the answer sheet. Now, if the question is given in the very first part of the question set, I’d request you not to answer them. It’s mainly because this question will not follow any sequence, and so it will surely kill your time. Rather, you should answer all the other questions first. And just like List of Headings, only read the first two lines or last two lines of the expected paragraph initially. If you find the answers, you need not read the middle part. If you don’t find answers yet, you can skim the middle part of the paragraph. Keywords will be a useful matter here.]

Question 1: examples of wildlife other than bats which do not rely on vision to navigate by   

Keywords for the question: wildlife other than bats, do not rely on, vision, to navigate

In paragraph B, the author says in lines 3-4, “Obviously, the night-flying insects that they prey on must find their way about somehow. Deep-sea fish and whales have little or no light by day or by night. Fish and dolphins that live in extremely muddy water cannot see because, although there is light, it is obstructed and scattered”

Here, the writer talks about other insects and animals which don’t depend on eyesight, e.g. night flying insects, Deep-sea fish and whales, fish and dolphins who don’t depend on vision to navigate by.

So, the answer is: B

Question 2: how early mammals avoided dying out

Keywords for the question: early mammals, avoided, dying out,

In paragraph A, the author mentions in lines 8-11, “In the time when the dinosaurs dominated the daytime economy, our mammalian ancestors probably only managed to survive at all because they found ways of scraping a living at night.”

Here, our mammalian ancestors = early mammals, managed to survive = avoided dying out,

So, the answer is: A

Question 3:  why bats hunt in the dark

Keywords for the question: why, bats hunt, dark,    

In paragraph A, the author says in lines 5-6, “Given that there is a living to be made at night, and given that alternative daytime trades are thoroughly occupied, natural selection has favored bats that make a go of the night-hunting trade.”

The lines suggest that nature has favoured by selecting bats to go for a hunt at night time. It means bats are naturally night-hunters.

So, the answer is: A   

Question 4:  how a particular discovery has helped our understanding of bats

Keywords for the question: particular discovery, helped, understanding, bats,   

In paragraph E, the writer talks about the discovery of SONAR in lines 6-9, ” the underlying mathematical theories of radar and sonar are very similar; and much of our scientific understanding of the details of what bats are doing has come from applying radar theory to them.” 

So, the answer is: E

Question 5:  early military uses of echolocation

Keywords for the question: early military use, echolocation,    

In Paragraph D, lines 12-14 talk about the use of ‘echolocation’/ sonar/ radar in The Second World War. “.. .. . . Both sides in the Second World War relied heavily on these devices, under such codenames as Asdic (British) and Sonar (American), as well as Radar (American) or RDF (British), which uses radio echoes rather than sound echoes.”

So, the answer is: D

Questions 6-9: (Summary completion)

(In this kind of question candidates are given a summary for one, two or three paragraphs with some fill in the blanks questions. Candidates need to find out the related paragraphs by correctly studying the keywords form the questions. Then, they should follow the steps of finding answers to fill in the gaps.)

The title of the summary: Facial Vision

Blind people report that so-called ‘facial vision’ is comparable to the sensation of touch on the face. In fact, the sensation is more similar to the way in which pain from a 6. ________ arm or leg might be felt. The ability actually comes from perceiving 7. ________ through the ears. However, even before this was understood, the principle had been applied in the design of instruments which calculated the 8. _________ of the seabed. This was followed by a wartime application in devices for finding 9. _________ .

All the answers are found in paragraph D.

Question 6: Blind people report that so-called ‘facial vision’ is comparable to the sensation of touch on the face. In fact, the sensation is more similar to the way in which pain from a ________ arm or leg might be felt.

Keywords for the question: blind people, facial vision, sensation of touch, more similar to, pain, arm or leg, might be felt,     

In paragraph D lines 6-7, the writer says, “Experiments showed that, in fact, facial vision is nothing to do with touch or the front of the face, although the sensation may be referred to the front of the face, like the referred pain in a phantom limb.”

Here, may be referred to = more similar to, limb = arm or leg,

So, the answer is: phantom

Question 7: The ability actually comes from perceiving _________ through the ears.

Keywords for the question: ability, actually, comes from, perceiving, through, ears,  

In paragraph D lines 8-9, the author says, “The sensation of facial vision, it turns out, really goes in through the ears. Blind people, without even being aware of the fact, are actually using echoes of their own footsteps and of other sounds, to sense the presence of obstacles.”

Here, actually using / to sense the presence of = perceiving,  

So, the answer is: echoes/ obstacles

Question 8: However, even before this was understood, the principle had been applied in the design of instruments which calculated the _________ of the seabed.

Keywords for the question: before, this was understood, principle, applied, design of instruments, calculated, of the seabed,

In paragraph D lines 9-11 the writer says, “Before this was discovered, engineers had already built instruments to exploit the principle, for example, to measure the depth of the sea under a ship.”

Here, measure = calculated, sea under a ship = seabed,  

So, the answer is: depth

Question 9: This was followed by a wartime application in devices for finding _________ .

Keywords for the question: followed, by, wartime, application, devices, for finding,

In paragraph D lines 11-12, the writer states, “After this technique had been invented, it was only a matter of time before weapons designers adapted it for the detection of submarines.”

Here, weapon designers adapted = wartime application, detection = finding,  

So, the answer is: submarines

Questions 10-13: (Completing sentences with NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS)

[For this type of question, candidates need to complete the sentences with NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage. Candidates need to look for keywords in the sentence-beginnings and find the relative paragraphs and then sentences in the passage. Skimming and scanning, both reading skills are essential for this question-type.]

Question 10: Long before the invention of radar, ___________ had resulted in a sophisticated radar-like system in bats.

Keywords for the question: long before, invention, radar, resulted, sophisticated, radar-like system, bats,  

In paragraph E lines 1-3, the author mentions, “The Sonar and Radar pioneers didn’t know it then, but all the world now knows that bats, or rather natural selection working on bats, had perfected the system tens of millions of years earlier; and their ‘radar’ achieves feats of detection and navigation that would strike an engineer dumb with admiration.”

Here, millions of years earlier = long before, The Sonar and Radar pioneers didn’t know it then = before the invention of radar, had perfected = had resulted, the system = radar-like system,

So, the answer is: natural selection

Question 11: Radar is an inaccurate term when referring to bats because __________ are not used in their navigation system.

Keywords for the question: Radar, inaccurate term, referring to, bats, because, not used in, navigation system,   

Again, in paragraph E lines 4-5, the writer mentions, “It is technically incorrect to talk about bat ‘radar’, since they do not use radio waves.”

Here, technically incorrect = an inaccurate term, talk about bat = when referring to bats, since = because,

In this passage, radio waves also refer to echoes.

So, the answer is: radio waves/ echoes

Question 12: Radar and sonar are based on similar ___________.

Keywords for the question: Radar and sonar, based on, similar,

In paragraph E lines 5-6, the author says, “.. . . . But the underlying mathematical theories of radar and sonar are very similar; .. . … .”

So, the answer is: mathematical theories

Question 13: The word ‘echolocation’ was first used by someone working as a ___________.

Keywords for the question: ‘echolocation’, first used by, working, as a,

In paragraph E lines 7-9, the writer says, “The American zoologist Donald Griffin, who was largely responsible for the discovery of sonar in bats, coined the term ‘echolocation‘ to cover both sonar and radar; . . . ..  .”

Here, coined the term = first used,  

So, the answer is: zoologist

Click here for solutions to Cambridge 7 Test 1 Reading passage 2

Click here for solutions to Cambridge 7 Test 1 Reading passage 3