PTE Academic Reading Practice Test 20 (with Answers)

Type 1 · Fill in the Blanks (Dropdown)

Click each blank and choose the correct word from its dropdown menu.

The First Olympic Marathon

The marathon at the first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896, inspired by the legend of a Greek messenger who ran from the town of Marathon to Athens to announce a military victory. The French scholar Michel Bréal, suggested the race, hoped it would link the modern Games with ancient Greek history. Fittingly, the winner was a Greek water carrier, Spyridon Louis, victory made him a national hero. The distance until 1921, when it was fixed at 42.195 kilometres, the length of the course used at the 1908 London Games. Today, mass-participation marathons attract tens of thousands of runners, of whom are amateurs raising money for charity.

📖 বাংলা অনুবাদ · Bangla translation

১৮৯৬ সালে এথেন্সে প্রথম আধুনিক অলিম্পিকে ম্যারাথন চালু হয়, এক গ্রিক বার্তাবাহকের কিংবদন্তি থেকে অনুপ্রাণিত হয়ে। বিজয়ী স্পিরিডন লুইস জাতীয় নায়ক হন। ১৯২১ সালে দূরত্ব ৪২.১৯৫ কিলোমিটার নির্ধারিত হয়।

Type 2 · Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers

Read each passage and select all the options that are correct — more than one answer may be right.

The Strength of Spider Silk

Spider silk is one of the most remarkable materials in nature. Weight for weight, some types of spider silk are stronger than steel, and they can stretch considerably before breaking, which allows a web to absorb the impact of a flying insect without tearing. A single spider can produce several different kinds of silk from separate glands, each suited to a particular purpose, such as building the frame of a web, wrapping prey or protecting eggs. Scientists have long hoped to produce spider silk on an industrial scale for uses such as medical sutures and lightweight protective clothing, but farming spiders is impractical because they are territorial and often eat one another. Researchers are therefore inserting silk-producing genes into bacteria, yeast and even silkworms.

According to the passage, which TWO statements are true?

Some spider silk is stronger than steel of the same weight. Each spider can produce only one kind of silk. Spider silk breaks immediately when stretched. Spiders are difficult to farm because they often eat each other. Spider silk is already produced cheaply in large factories.

The Halo Effect

The halo effect is a type of cognitive bias in which a positive impression of a person in one area influences our judgement of them in other, unrelated areas. For example, people who are considered physically attractive are often assumed to be more intelligent, kind or competent, even when there is no evidence for this. The effect was first described by the psychologist Edward Thorndike in 1920, after he noticed that military officers who rated soldiers highly on one quality tended to rate them highly on all qualities. The halo effect can influence decisions in job interviews, classrooms and even courtrooms, and organisations increasingly use structured interviews and clear scoring criteria to reduce its influence.

According to the passage, which TWO statements are true?

Officers in Thorndike's study rated soldiers very differently on each quality. The halo effect was first described in the twenty-first century. The effect only influences decisions in courtrooms. Structured interviews are used to reduce the effect. Attractive people are often wrongly assumed to be more capable.

Type 3 · Reorder Paragraphs

Drag the paragraphs into the correct order, or use the ▲▼ buttons.

The Rise and Fall of Dhaka Muslin

The fabric was made from a rare local cotton plant and spun by hand into extremely thin threads, a process that demanded exceptional skill.

In recent years, researchers in Bangladesh have identified surviving relatives of the original cotton plant and are attempting to revive the lost craft.

For centuries, weavers in the region around Dhaka produced muslin, a cotton fabric so fine that it was described by foreign visitors as "woven wind".

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, however, competition from cheap machine-made textiles and changes in trade policy caused the industry to collapse.

How a Geyser Erupts

Eventually, some of the water near the top turns to steam, which lowers the pressure on the water below.

With the pressure suddenly reduced, the superheated water flashes into steam and blasts the column of water high into the air.

Geysers form in volcanic areas, where rainwater seeps deep underground through cracks in the rock.

There, the water is heated by hot rock to temperatures well above its normal boiling point, but the weight of the water above keeps it from boiling.

Type 4 · Fill in the Blanks (Drag and Drop)

Click a word in the box below to select it, then click the blank where it fits (or drag it directly). Two extra words will not be used.

coal reroute consumers slowly solar real periods

Smart Electricity Grids

Traditional electricity grids were designed to send power in one direction, from large power stations to _____. A smart grid uses digital sensors and communication technology to monitor electricity flows in _____ time. This allows operators to balance supply and demand more efficiently, which is especially important as more power comes from _____ and wind sources that vary with the weather. Smart meters in homes can show customers how much electricity they are using and encourage them to shift usage to cheaper _____. Smart grids can also detect faults automatically and _____ power, reducing the length of blackouts.

📖 বাংলা অনুবাদ · Bangla translation

প্রচলিত গ্রিড কেবল বিদ্যুৎকেন্দ্র থেকে ভোক্তার দিকে বিদ্যুৎ পাঠায়। স্মার্ট গ্রিড ডিজিটাল সেন্সর দিয়ে তাৎক্ষণিকভাবে বিদ্যুৎপ্রবাহ পর্যবেক্ষণ করে, সৌর ও বায়ুশক্তির সাথে ভারসাম্য রাখে এবং ত্রুটি হলে স্বয়ংক্রিয়ভাবে বিদ্যুৎ অন্য পথে পাঠায়।

Type 5 · Multiple Choice, Single Answer

Read each passage and select the single best answer.

Why the Sky Is Blue

Sunlight appears white but is actually made up of all the colours of the visible spectrum. As it passes through the atmosphere, it collides with tiny gas molecules, which scatter shorter wavelengths of light, such as blue and violet, much more strongly than longer wavelengths such as red and orange. This scattered blue light reaches our eyes from every direction, so the whole sky appears blue. Although violet light is scattered even more than blue, the sky does not look violet, partly because sunlight contains less violet light and partly because our eyes are more sensitive to blue. At sunrise and sunset, light travels through much more of the atmosphere, so most blue light is scattered away and the sky appears red and orange.

Why does the sky look red and orange at sunset?

Our eyes become more sensitive to violet light. Light passes through more atmosphere, so most of the blue light is scattered away. Gas molecules stop scattering light at sunset. The sun produces only red light in the evening.

The Benefits of Learning from Mistakes

Many students try hard to avoid making mistakes, yet research in educational psychology suggests that errors can play a valuable role in learning. In several studies, learners who attempted to answer questions before being taught the material remembered the correct information better than those who simply studied it, even when their initial guesses were wrong. This effect appears to work because a failed attempt makes the learner more curious and more attentive to the correct answer when it is revealed. However, the benefit depends on receiving clear feedback soon afterwards; mistakes that are never corrected may simply be remembered as facts.

What condition is necessary for mistakes to improve learning?

The mistake must be repeated several times. The learner must receive clear feedback soon after the mistake. The learner must avoid guessing before being taught. The learner must already know the correct answer.

PTE Reading Practice Test 20