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.
Henry Moore (1898-1986) is the opening passage of Cambridge IELTS 15, Test 3, Academic Reading. The passage tracks the life and career of the British sculptor Henry Moore, from his childhood in a Yorkshire mining town through his training, controversies, and the international recognition he eventually achieved. The 13 questions test True/False/Not Given (Q1-7) and note completion using one word only from the passage (Q8-13).
Passage overview at a glance
What the passage is about
The Henry Moore passage is a biographical narrative covering Moore's working-class roots in Castleford near Leeds, his early teacher Alice Gostick who encouraged his interest in art, his service in the First World War, his studies at the Leeds School of Art and the Royal College of Art in London, his visits to the British Museum and the Trocadero in Paris that exposed him to ancient and non-European sculpture, his controversial 1931 exhibition at the Leicester Galleries, his time at the Chelsea School of Art, his 1930s membership of the Unit One group, the 1940s shift to drawing during wartime materials shortages including his Castleford miners series and shelter drawings, his Harlow family-group commission of 1944, and his rise to international stature in the post-war decades.
The Moore passage moves through specific decades quickly (1909-15, 1917, 1925, 1931, 1933, 1942, 1944) and the Q8-13 note completion is anchored to those decades. Candidates who lose the chronological anchor pick a plausible word from the wrong decade. Read each note's date stem first, locate that decade in the passage, then find the answer.
Complete answer key with explanations
Questions 1-7: True / False / Not Given
Mark TRUE if the statement agrees with the writer's claims, FALSE if it contradicts them, and NOT GIVEN if the passage does not address the claim either way.
| Q# | Statement | Answer | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | On leaving school, Moore did what his father wanted him to do. | TRUE | Paragraph 1 says Moore "complied with his father's wish that he train as a schoolteacher" rather than pursuing sculpture as he wanted. Complied = did what his father wanted. |
| 2 | Moore began studying sculpture in his first term at the Leeds School of Art. | FALSE | Paragraph 2 states that in his first year at Leeds, Moore spent most of his time drawing. No sculpture teacher was appointed until his second year, so he could not have begun sculpture in his first term. |
| 3 | When Moore started at the Royal College of Art, its reputation for teaching sculpture was excellent. | NOT GIVEN | Paragraphs 2-3 describe Moore's time at the Royal College of Art but say nothing about the College's reputation for teaching sculpture, either positive or negative. |
| 4 | Moore became aware of ancient sculpture as a result of visiting London Museums. | TRUE | Paragraph 3 says Moore visited many London museums, particularly the British Museum, and there he "discovered the power and beauty of ancient Egyptian and African sculpture". Discovered through museum visits = became aware as a result of visiting. |
| 5 | The Trocadero Museum's Mayan sculpture attracted a lot of public interest. | NOT GIVEN | Paragraph 4 describes how Moore himself was impressed by the Mayan sculpture at the Trocadero, but the passage says nothing about public interest in it. Moore's reaction is not the public's reaction. |
| 6 | Moore thought the Mayan sculpture was similar in certain respects to other stone sculptures. | FALSE | Paragraph 4 states that Moore thought the Mayan sculpture had "a power and originality that no other stone sculpture possessed" - the direct opposite of similar to other stone sculptures. |
| 7 | The artists who belonged to Unit One wanted to make modern art and architecture more popular. | TRUE | Paragraph 5 explains that Unit One aimed "to convince the English public of the merits of the emerging international movement in modern art and architecture". Convincing the public = making it more popular. |
Questions 8-13: Note completion (ONE WORD ONLY)
The notes are structured chronologically by decade. For each gap, choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage. Answers over the one-word limit are marked wrong even if the content is correct.
| Q# | Note context | Answer | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | 1930s: Moore is urged to offer his __________ and leave the Royal College. | resignation | Paragraph 6 says that after the controversial 1931 Leicester Galleries exhibition there were "calls for his resignation from the Royal College". |
| 9 | 1940s: Moore turns to drawing because __________ for sculpting are not readily available. | materials | Paragraph 8 explains that during wartime "a shortage of materials forced him to focus on drawing". Shortage = not readily available. |
| 10 | While visiting his hometown, Moore does some drawings of __________. | miners | Paragraph 8 says that in 1942 Moore returned to Castleford (his hometown) to sketch the miners who worked there. |
| 11 | Moore is employed to produce a sculpture of a __________. | family | Paragraph 9 notes the 1944 Harlow commission "for a sculpture depicting a family". |
| 12 | Moore's work becomes available to __________ around the world. | collectors | Paragraph 9 says that as Moore's career expanded internationally his work "became available to collectors all over the world". |
| 13 | Moore's increased __________ makes it possible for him to do more ambitious sculptures. | income | The final lines of paragraph 9 describe how "the boost to his income enabled him to take on ambitious projects and start working on the scale he felt his sculpture demanded". Boost = increased; enabled him = makes it possible. |
Question type strategy for this passage
True / False / Not Given
Q1-7 test careful distinction between what the writer actually claims and what is merely related to the topic. Q3 and Q5 are classic NOT GIVEN traps - both describe plausible-sounding claims about subjects the passage discusses, but the specific claim is never stated. If you cannot point to a sentence supporting or contradicting the statement, the answer is NOT GIVEN.
Note completion
Q8-13 are organised chronologically by decade. The instruction is ONE WORD ONLY - "resignation" not "his resignation", "income" not "his income". Each note's date or context is your scanning anchor. Find the decade first, then the specific event.
Watch the chronology
The passage moves quickly: 1898 birth, 1909-15 school, 1917 wartime, 1925 Paris, 1931 Leicester exhibition, 1933 Unit One, 1942 Castleford miners, 1944 Harlow commission. Marking these dates in the margin as you read makes Q8-13 dramatically faster.
Time management
Allow about 17 minutes for this Passage 1 of 3. It is the easiest of the three Reading passages in this test, so banking time here gives you more room for Passage 2 (The Desolenator) and Passage 3 (Why fairy tales are really scary tales).
Vocabulary worth learning from this passage
- Comply (with), to agree to or obey a request or instruction
- Enrol, to officially register at a school or college
- Reclining, lying back in a resting position; a recurring theme in Moore's sculpture
- Primitive (art), the term used in the passage for non-European or pre-modern art forms
- Notorious, well known for a bad reason or controversy
- Resignation, the act of formally giving up a position or post
- Commission, a paid request to produce a specific piece of work
- Acclaim, public praise or recognition for achievement
Related Cambridge Reading practice
Cambridge 15, Test 3 also includes two further Reading passages: The Desolenator: producing clean water (Passage 2) and Why fairy tales are really scary tales (Passage 3). For other Cambridge passage answer keys, browse our Reading answers hub, including William Henry Perkin from Cambridge IELTS 9.
Frequently asked questions
Which Cambridge IELTS book contains the Henry Moore passage?
Henry Moore (1898-1986) is Reading Passage 1 in Cambridge IELTS 15, Test 3, Academic Reading. Cambridge IELTS 15 is a more recent book in the official series, so the question patterns reflect current test conventions closely.
How difficult is the Henry Moore passage?
It is medium difficulty. The biographical structure makes information easy to locate by date, but Q3 and Q5 are well-disguised NOT GIVEN traps that catch candidates who confuse "the passage mentions this topic" with "the passage makes this specific claim". Suitable for band 6 to 7 candidates as a focused practice text.
Why is Q5 NOT GIVEN and not TRUE?
Q5 asks whether the Trocadero Museum's Mayan sculpture attracted a lot of public interest. The passage describes Moore's personal reaction to the sculpture in detail but says nothing about public interest. Moore being impressed is not the same as the public being interested. Because the passage neither confirms nor denies the public interest claim, NOT GIVEN is correct.
Why is Q6 FALSE and not NOT GIVEN?
Q6 says Moore thought the Mayan sculpture was similar in certain respects to other stone sculptures. The passage explicitly says Moore thought it had "power and originality that no other stone sculpture possessed". That is a direct contradiction of similar in certain respects, so FALSE is correct. NOT GIVEN would only apply if the passage said nothing about how Moore compared the sculpture to others.
How should I approach the note completion questions?
Note completion almost always follows the order of the passage. Use the date or event stem in each note as your scanning anchor. For Q8 the stem is "1930s" - go to the section of the passage about the 1930s, find the resignation event, copy the word "resignation". Strict ONE WORD ONLY - no articles, no plurals if the passage uses singular.
Where can I find the original passage?
The full passage and official answer key are in Cambridge IELTS 15 (Cambridge University Press), available from major bookstores and online retailers. Our Cambridge IELTS guide covers the full series.