All answers on this page include the question number, correct answer and a brief explanation of where to find it in the passage or audio. Use these alongside the original Cambridge IELTS books for the best practice experience.
Test 1 answers with clear explanations
These Cambridge IELTS 21 Test 1 Reading answers explain all 40 questions. Review the evidence for The Davies Sisters, Why We Need Silence, and The World of Sugar.
Cambridge IELTS 21 Test 1 Reading answer key
Use this table for quick marking. Open the passage sections below when an answer needs more review.
1. The Davies Sisters
Questions 1 to 132. Why We Need Silence
Questions 14 to 263. The World of Sugar
Questions 27 to 40Passage 1: The Davies Sisters
The Davies Sisters passage follows Gwendoline and Margaret Davies, Welsh art collectors who built an important French Impressionist collection. The questions cover their education, wartime work, purchases, and cultural legacy.
Question types: Note completion and True, False, Not Given.
Where to look: Paragraph 1.
Why: David Davies made his fortune through shipping and mining. The question changes shipping to transportation, so mining fills the other business.
Where to look: Paragraph 2.
Why: Their education was strongly directed towards cultural activities. This idea matches preparation for interests such as art collecting.
Where to look: Paragraph 2.
Why: The sisters made extensive notes about gallery collections. Extensive matches the question's idea of lengthy records.
Where to look: Paragraph 4.
Why: Their journals reveal a preference for Old Master paintings. These records show what they liked.
Where to look: Paragraph 5.
Why: Their first Impressionist purchases were Monet scenes of Venice. The place name completes the note.
Where to look: Paragraph 6.
Why: Both sisters volunteered at a canteen for troops in France. Troops and soldiers carry the same meaning here.
Where to look: Paragraph 8.
Why: Commentators noted that the sisters did not make friends with artists. The plural noun fits after any.
Why: Their religious upbringing created social responsibility. They then used their inheritance for cultural and charitable purposes.
Why: The passage names Corot among their early purchases. It never states where they bought those paintings.
Common trap: A French artist does not prove a purchase happened in France.
Why: Blaker supported contemporary French art and helped shape the decision. This contradicts the claim that he opposed it.
Why: The paintings became the first Cezanne works shown publicly in Britain. The passage gives no public reaction.
Why: Poverty and upheaval after the war made her uncomfortable buying art. She redirected her attention towards social causes.
Why: The final paragraph says people and institutions routinely ignored this art. The sisters collected it during that period.
Passage 2: Why We Need Silence
Why We Need Silence examines noise pollution, health risks, quiet cities, and flotation tank research. It also compares expert views on silence, stress, meditation, and wellbeing.
Question types: Matching information, summary completion, and matching people.
Why: Section C lists quieter buses, road changes, greenery, and controls on noisy equipment and vehicles.
Why: Section B gives city noise levels. It also reports how many Europeans face harmful noise.
Why: Section A describes higher blood pressure, tense muscles, and hormone release after loud sounds.
Why: Section G compares a quiet garden with a silent room. Participants relaxed more and felt less bored outdoors.
Where to look: Section D.
Why: Focusing on the breath helps people enter a relaxed or meditative state.
Where to look: Section E.
Why: The 50 participants answered a questionnaire before and after one flotation session.
Where to look: Section E.
Why: Participants reported greater relaxation and overall wellbeing after the float.
Also accepted: well-being.
Where to look: Section E.
Why: Flotation reduced activity in a brain network commonly associated with depression.
Person: Tal Dotan Ben-Soussan.
Why: She says people must choose the experience. Unwanted silence can feel very distressing.
Person: Nick Antonio.
Why: He expects cities to introduce more quiet-environment measures in the future.
Person: Justin Feinstein.
Why: He explains that the brain creates sensations when external input disappears.
Person: Eric Pfeifer.
Why: He recommends frequent quiet periods lasting only a few minutes.
Person: Tal Dotan Ben-Soussan.
Why: She links outer and inner quiet with better awareness and more suitable reactions.
Passage 3: The World of Sugar
The World of Sugar reviews Ulbe Bosma's global history of cane sugar and beet sugar. It covers labour, trade, government policy, production methods, consumption, and health effects.
Question types: Multiple choice, summary completion, and Yes, No, Not Given.
Why: Subsidies and artificially low prices made beet sugar more competitive worldwide. These policies threatened cane producers.
Common trap: The paragraph names exporting countries, but it does not discuss international relations.
Why: Britain moved from colonial cane sugar to other imports, then developed domestic beet production.
Why: The reviewer challenges the belief that cane sugar only came from large plantations.
Why: The ending presents sugar as unnecessary and harmful, although poor workers still depend on it.
Answer: migrant workers.
Why: German fields used Polish labour. US production relied on Mexicans, Sicilians, and other incoming workers.
Answer: small-scale cultivation.
Why: Traditional production on small farms remained dominant in South Asia and Latin America.
Answer: powerful individuals and businesses.
Why: Sugar dynasties and corporations kept strong influence over long periods.
Answer: national governments.
Why: Powerful sugar interests shaped state policies in Cuba and other countries.
Answer: financial controls.
Why: Trade barriers and subsidies protected the interests of major sugar producers.
Answer: less wealthy nations.
Why: The reviewer says poor countries lost the struggle for control of the industry.
Why: New techniques, varieties, fertilisers, and irrigation made sugar available in huge quantities.
Why: Sugar was once considered a luxury. The passage does not say advertisers created that early image.
Common trap: A product's reputation does not prove who promoted it.
Why: The reviewer calls mass sweetening worrying and links corn syrup with obesity.
Why: The passage states that manufacturers use it in soft drinks and many processed foods.
What to do after marking
Group each mistake by cause. Use 1 label: location error, meaning error, question-rule error, or time pressure. Then repeat the weakest question type.
Related Cambridge IELTS 21 practice
Source note: This answer guide supports Cambridge IELTS 21 Academic Test 1. IELTSBeacon wrote each explanation independently from the passage evidence. IELTS is a registered trademark of its owners. IELTSBeacon is not affiliated with Cambridge University Press & Assessment.