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.
Whale Communication is from IELTS Advantage Reading Skills (Brown & Richards, Delta Publishing), Unit 3 Communication, page 35. It is a standalone practice passage in a respected IELTS prep book - not a Cambridge passage - covering how humpback whale songs were discovered, why whales make sounds, the differences between schools, and the modern threats they face. The 12 questions test matching paragraph headings (Q1-6) and short answer using no more than three words (Q7-12).
Passage overview at a glance
Whale Communication is from IELTS Advantage Reading Skills, a published prep book by Richard Brown and Lewis Richards (Delta Publishing). It is not in any numbered Cambridge IELTS book. If a source claims this is Cambridge 12 Test 6 or any other Cambridge book, that source is wrong - Cambridge 12 Test 6 contains The risks agriculture faces in developing countries, The Lost City, and The Benefits of Being Bilingual. Use this answer key only if your practice material is IELTS Advantage Reading Skills.
What the passage is about
The Whale Communication passage describes how humpback whale songs came to scientific attention through Frank Watlington's wartime hydrophone recordings off Bermuda, later studied by Roger Payne and Scott McVay, who established that the songs last about 30 minutes and repeat for hours. It explains the two main reasons whales produce sound - echolocation for finding food at great depths (where light cannot reach), and communication between whales over distances of thousands of kilometres. It contrasts the songs of different humpback schools (which serve as group identity and likely play a role in courtship by males) and closes on the threats whales face from historical whaling, modern container ship collisions and engine noise, offshore drilling sonar, and the mystery of beached whales.
Complete answer key with explanations
Questions 1-6: Matching headings
The passage has six paragraphs A-F. Match each paragraph to the correct heading from the list of nine options (i-ix). Three headings are not used: i (Musical futures), iv (The inventiveness of song), and v (Singing effects).
| Q# | Paragraph | Answer | Why it matches |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paragraph A | iii - Surprising discoveries | Paragraph A is about the accidental scientific discovery of whale songs - Watlington noticing humpbacks "appeared to sing" while listening for Soviet submarines, then Payne and McVay studying the songs in detail. The whole paragraph centres on discovery. |
| 2 | Paragraph B | ix - The significance of song | Paragraph B explains the two main reasons whales make sounds - echolocation and communication - and notes that whales communicate across thousands of kilometres. It is about the purpose and significance of whale sounds, not their variety or threats. |
| 3 | Paragraph C | vii - Singing for supper | Paragraph C describes how whales use clicks for echolocation to locate food (squid) at depths of 1.5 kilometres where there is virtually no light. Singing for supper = using sound to find food. |
| 4 | Paragraph D | viii - Varieties of song | Paragraph D explains that humpback whales in the same school sing virtually the same song, while schools in different oceans sing different songs. It is explicitly about the variety of songs across whale populations. |
| 5 | Paragraph E | vi - Threats to survival | Paragraph E covers the historical whaling industry (factory ships killing 50,000+ whales annually in the 1930s, the 1986 moratorium) and the modern threats from container ship collisions and engine noise. Threats to survival is the explicit theme. |
| 6 | Paragraph F | ii - Sad mystery to solve | Paragraph F opens by asking why whales die on beaches, says there is "no definite answer", and discusses how research is pointing toward sonar testing and noise pollution. A mystery being investigated - and a sad one, since whales are dying. |
Questions 7-12: Short answer (NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS)
Answer each question using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage. Going over the word limit scores zero even with correct content.
| Q# | Question | Answer | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | What is the length of an individual whale song? | 30 minutes | Paragraph A states "the various sounds produced by the whale formed a song which lasts for about 30 minutes". The word "about" is optional but "30 minutes" is the core answer. |
| 8 | How far does a whale song carry? | thousands of kilometres | Paragraph B says "the sound of a whale can travel thousands of kilometres through the oceans". Three words, fits the limit exactly. |
| 9 | What sound do whales emit in an effort to locate food? | clicks | Paragraph C explains "the whales send out series of clicks and listen out for the echo". The minimal answer is clicks; "series of clicks" is also accepted (3 words). |
| 10 | What are whales in the same school believed to display through song? | group identity | Paragraph D suggests that humpbacks singing the same song are "perhaps like football supporters they are demonstrating group identity, showing that they belong to the same school". |
| 11 | What innovation enabled whales to be hunted in dramatically larger numbers? | factory ships | Paragraph E states "the 20th century saw the development of factory ships which were capable of killing and processing thousands of whales". Factory ships are the innovation that scaled up hunting. |
| 12 | What measures have been suggested to protect whales? | shipping restrictions | Paragraph E ends with "the WWF have called for shipping restrictions in certain areas". This is the only protection measure explicitly suggested in the passage. |
Question type strategy for this passage
Matching headings
Q1-6 do not follow strict order. Read each paragraph for its main idea before choosing a heading. Three of the nine headings are distractors - eliminating them as you go saves time. Focus on the topic sentence and conclusion of each paragraph.
Short answer questions
Q7-12 follow passage order. The questions ask for specific facts (length, distance, sound, etc) - skim for numbers and proper nouns first. NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS means three words is the ceiling, fewer is fine. "30 minutes" not "about 30 minutes".
Use passage flow
The passage has a clear arc: discovery (A) → significance (B) → echolocation for food (C) → song varieties (D) → threats (E) → mystery of deaths (F). Marking these themes as you read makes the matching task much faster.
Time management
About 20 minutes for the full passage. Q1-6 typically take longer than Q7-12 because matching headings demands more interpretation. Bank time on Q7-12 by reading targeted - the answers are mostly named facts (30 minutes, factory ships, etc).
Vocabulary worth learning from this passage
- Hydrophone, a microphone designed to record sound underwater
- Echolocation, locating objects by emitting sound and interpreting the echoes
- Courtship, behaviour aimed at attracting a mate
- Moratorium, an officially agreed temporary halt to an activity
- School, in this context, a group of whales (similar to how fish travel)
- Sonar, the system used to detect objects underwater using sound waves
- Predator, an animal (or person) that hunts another for food
- Dwindling, gradually decreasing in size or amount
Related Reading practice
For verified answer keys from the Cambridge IELTS book series, browse our Reading answers hub including The Thylacine from Cambridge IELTS 17 and Henry Moore from Cambridge IELTS 15. If you are working specifically with the IELTS Advantage series, this is the standalone passage in Unit 3 - the rest of that unit covers communication-themed vocabulary and exam skills practice rather than full reading tests.
Frequently asked questions
Is Whale Communication a Cambridge IELTS passage?
No. Whale Communication is from IELTS Advantage Reading Skills by Richard Brown and Lewis Richards (Delta Publishing), Unit 3 Communication, page 35. It is not in any numbered Cambridge IELTS book. Cambridge IELTS 12 Test 6 - sometimes wrongly cited as the source - actually contains The risks agriculture faces in developing countries, The Lost City, and The Benefits of Being Bilingual.
Why does this page have 12 questions and not 13?
The original passage in IELTS Advantage Reading Skills has 12 questions, not 13. Earlier versions of this page incorrectly listed 13 questions with fabricated answers. The verified question set is six matching-headings questions (Q1-6) and six short-answer questions (Q7-12).
How difficult is this passage?
Medium difficulty. The vocabulary is accessible (hydrophone is explained in context, school is defined). The challenge is in the matching-headings questions, where two pairs of headings have similar themes (varieties of song vs the inventiveness of song; the significance of song vs musical futures). Reading each paragraph for its dominant idea is the safest approach.
Why is Q9 just "clicks" and not "series of clicks"?
Both work. The passage says "the whales send out series of clicks and listen out for the echo". The minimal correct answer is "clicks" (one word), but "series of clicks" (three words) is also within the NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS limit. Both score the mark. In the real test, write whichever you found first - do not waste time deliberating.
Where can I find the original passage?
The full passage and questions are in IELTS Advantage Reading Skills by Richard Brown and Lewis Richards, published by Delta Publishing. It appears in Unit 3 Communication, on page 35.