Comprehension

Read: 'For thirty-one years Ada Blackwell kept the light burning on Scarrow Rock. Every evening she climbed the ninety-four steps to trim the wick, and every morning she polished the great lens until it threw back her reflection. Ships passed safely because of her, though almost none of their crews ever learned her name. When the lighthouse was made automatic in 1962, Ada rowed ashore for the last time and planted a garden that faced the sea.' How many steps did Ada climb each evening?

• AThirty-one
• BSixty-two
• CNinety-four✓
• DOne hundred and four

Answer: The passage says she 'climbed the ninety-four steps' every evening. Thirty-one is the number of years she kept the light, which is the number the question is designed to catch you with.

Read: 'For thirty-one years Ada Blackwell kept the light burning on Scarrow Rock. Every evening she climbed the ninety-four steps to trim the wick, and every morning she polished the great lens until it threw back her reflection. Ships passed safely because of her, though almost none of their crews ever learned her name. When the lighthouse was made automatic in 1962, Ada rowed ashore for the last time and planted a garden that faced the sea.' Why did almost none of the crews learn Ada's name?

• AShe refused to speak to any of the sailors
• BShe worked alone and out of sight✓
• CShe had only just started the work
• DShe used a different name at sea

Answer: The passage says ships passed safely because of her 'though almost none of their crews ever learned her name'. Nothing suggests she refused to speak or changed her name — the point is that her work was unseen from the water.

Read: 'For thirty-one years Ada Blackwell kept the light burning on Scarrow Rock. Every evening she climbed the ninety-four steps to trim the wick, and every morning she polished the great lens until it threw back her reflection. Ships passed safely because of her, though almost none of their crews ever learned her name. When the lighthouse was made automatic in 1962, Ada rowed ashore for the last time and planted a garden that faced the sea.' In this passage, 'trim the wick' means to

• Acut the rope holding the lamp
• Blower the lamp down the tower
• Cclean the glass around the lamp
• Dprepare the lamp so it burns cleanly✓

Answer: A wick is the cord in an oil lamp, and trimming it keeps the flame steady and clean. Polishing the lens is the separate job described in the next line.

Read: 'For thirty-one years Ada Blackwell kept the light burning on Scarrow Rock. Every evening she climbed the ninety-four steps to trim the wick, and every morning she polished the great lens until it threw back her reflection. Ships passed safely because of her, though almost none of their crews ever learned her name. When the lighthouse was made automatic in 1962, Ada rowed ashore for the last time and planted a garden that faced the sea.' What does Ada's garden suggest about her?

• AShe still wanted to be near the sea✓
• BShe was glad to forget the lighthouse
• CShe hoped to sell flowers to sailors
• DShe wanted to move as far inland as she could

Answer: She planted a garden 'that faced the sea'. Choosing to look out at it, rather than away, suggests attachment rather than relief.

Read: 'Leaves are green because of chlorophyll, the chemical a tree uses to turn sunlight into food. Chlorophyll is fragile and a tree must keep replacing it. As autumn days shorten there is too little light to make the effort worthwhile, so the tree stops. The green fades, and colours that were in the leaf all along — yellows and oranges — are finally visible. The reds are different: those are made fresh in autumn, and nobody is quite certain why.' What makes leaves green?

• ASunlight
• BChlorophyll✓
• CAutumn air
• DTree sap

Answer: The first sentence states it directly: 'Leaves are green because of chlorophyll'. Sunlight is what chlorophyll uses, not what makes the colour.

Read: 'Leaves are green because of chlorophyll, the chemical a tree uses to turn sunlight into food. Chlorophyll is fragile and a tree must keep replacing it. As autumn days shorten there is too little light to make the effort worthwhile, so the tree stops. The green fades, and colours that were in the leaf all along — yellows and oranges — are finally visible. The reds are different: those are made fresh in autumn, and nobody is quite certain why.' Why does a tree stop replacing chlorophyll in autumn?

• AThe leaves have already fallen off the tree
• BThe chemical slowly becomes poisonous
• CRain gradually washes the chemical away
• DThere is too little light to be worth it✓

Answer: The passage says that as days shorten 'there is too little light to make the effort worthwhile, so the tree stops'.

Read: 'Leaves are green because of chlorophyll, the chemical a tree uses to turn sunlight into food. Chlorophyll is fragile and a tree must keep replacing it. As autumn days shorten there is too little light to make the effort worthwhile, so the tree stops. The green fades, and colours that were in the leaf all along — yellows and oranges — are finally visible. The reds are different: those are made fresh in autumn, and nobody is quite certain why.' Yellows and oranges appear in autumn because they

• Aare made when the weather turns cold
• Bdrip into the leaf from the branches
• Care produced by the tree to attract birds
• Dwere always there but hidden by green✓

Answer: The passage says those colours 'were in the leaf all along' and are 'finally visible' once the green fades. The reds are the ones made fresh.

Read: 'Leaves are green because of chlorophyll, the chemical a tree uses to turn sunlight into food. Chlorophyll is fragile and a tree must keep replacing it. As autumn days shorten there is too little light to make the effort worthwhile, so the tree stops. The green fades, and colours that were in the leaf all along — yellows and oranges — are finally visible. The reds are different: those are made fresh in autumn, and nobody is quite certain why.' Which statement does the passage support?

• AScientists do not fully understand autumn reds✓
• BReds appear for the same reason as yellows
• CChlorophyll is easy for a tree to keep
• DShorter days make leaves grow faster

Answer: The last line says the reds are made fresh in autumn and 'nobody is quite certain why'.

Read: 'Before the roads were sealed, letters in the valley travelled by bicycle. Tom Reddy rode a circuit of forty miles, six days a week, in weather that turned the track to soup. He carried a spanner, a spare tyre and a slate on which he chalked messages for anyone who could not read. Farmers set their clocks by him. When a van replaced the bicycle in 1958 the post arrived earlier, but the slate was not replaced by anything.' How far was Tom Reddy's circuit?

• AForty miles✓
• BSix miles
• CFourteen miles
• DFifty-eight miles

Answer: The passage says he 'rode a circuit of forty miles, six days a week'. Six is the number of days; 1958 is the year the van arrived.

Read: 'Before the roads were sealed, letters in the valley travelled by bicycle. Tom Reddy rode a circuit of forty miles, six days a week, in weather that turned the track to soup. He carried a spanner, a spare tyre and a slate on which he chalked messages for anyone who could not read. Farmers set their clocks by him. When a van replaced the bicycle in 1958 the post arrived earlier, but the slate was not replaced by anything.' What does 'weather that turned the track to soup' mean?

• AThe track was covered in deep snow
• BThe track became thick with mud✓
• CThe track was too hot to ride on
• DThe track was flooded and impassable

Answer: Soup suggests something thick and wet underfoot. If the track had been impassable he could not have ridden it at all, which the passage says he did.

Read: 'Before the roads were sealed, letters in the valley travelled by bicycle. Tom Reddy rode a circuit of forty miles, six days a week, in weather that turned the track to soup. He carried a spanner, a spare tyre and a slate on which he chalked messages for anyone who could not read. Farmers set their clocks by him. When a van replaced the bicycle in 1958 the post arrived earlier, but the slate was not replaced by anything.' Why did farmers 'set their clocks by him'?

• AHe carried the only clock in the whole valley
• BHe rang a bell on the hour
• CHe arrived reliably at the same time✓
• DHe was paid to announce the time

Answer: Setting your clock by someone is an idiom for someone being extremely punctual.

Read: 'Before the roads were sealed, letters in the valley travelled by bicycle. Tom Reddy rode a circuit of forty miles, six days a week, in weather that turned the track to soup. He carried a spanner, a spare tyre and a slate on which he chalked messages for anyone who could not read. Farmers set their clocks by him. When a van replaced the bicycle in 1958 the post arrived earlier, but the slate was not replaced by anything.' What is the writer suggesting in the final sentence?

• AThe van was a complete mistake
• BNobody in the valley could read
• CThe post became less reliable afterwards
• DSomething useful was lost as well as gained✓

Answer: The post arrived earlier — a gain — 'but the slate was not replaced by anything'. The sentence balances a gain against a quiet loss rather than condemning the van.

Read: 'An octopus has around five hundred million nerve cells, but only a third of them sit in its head. The rest are spread through its arms, which means an arm can taste, decide and act largely on its own. A severed arm will still reach for food. This makes the octopus difficult to study, because a scientist watching one animal is really watching nine decision-makers that usually, but not always, agree.' Where are most of an octopus's nerve cells?

• AIn its head
• BIn its arms✓
• CIn its eyes
• DSpread evenly through its body

Answer: Only a third sit in the head, so the majority — 'the rest' — are in the arms.

Read: 'An octopus has around five hundred million nerve cells, but only a third of them sit in its head. The rest are spread through its arms, which means an arm can taste, decide and act largely on its own. A severed arm will still reach for food. This makes the octopus difficult to study, because a scientist watching one animal is really watching nine decision-makers that usually, but not always, agree.' Why does the writer mention a severed arm?

• ATo explain how an octopus feeds
• BTo show octopuses can regrow limbs
• CTo warn that octopuses are dangerous
• DTo show how independent an arm is✓

Answer: It is offered as evidence for the previous sentence, that an arm can act largely on its own.

Read: 'An octopus has around five hundred million nerve cells, but only a third of them sit in its head. The rest are spread through its arms, which means an arm can taste, decide and act largely on its own. A severed arm will still reach for food. This makes the octopus difficult to study, because a scientist watching one animal is really watching nine decision-makers that usually, but not always, agree.' Why does the writer call the octopus 'nine decision-makers'?

• AIt has nine separate brains of equal size
• BEight arms and one head✓
• CIt lives in groups of nine
• DIt can only make nine decisions at once

Answer: An octopus has eight arms, each acting fairly independently, plus the head — nine in total.

Read: 'An octopus has around five hundred million nerve cells, but only a third of them sit in its head. The rest are spread through its arms, which means an arm can taste, decide and act largely on its own. A severed arm will still reach for food. This makes the octopus difficult to study, because a scientist watching one animal is really watching nine decision-makers that usually, but not always, agree.' 'Usually, but not always, agree' suggests the arms

• Aare controlled entirely by the head
• Bcannot move at the same time
• Calways work towards the same goal
• Dsometimes act against one another✓

Answer: 'Not always' is the key phrase: most of the time they cooperate, occasionally they do not.

Read: 'The children of Bishopsgate carried their library themselves. When the old building was condemned in 1974, there was no money for a removal firm, so nine hundred pupils formed a line four streets long and passed the books hand to hand. It took a single Saturday. A librarian who watched said afterwards that not one book was dropped, though three were quietly kept, and she had never minded a theft less.' How long did the move take?

• AFour days
• BOne Saturday✓
• CNine hundred hours
• DMost of 1974

Answer: The passage says 'It took a single Saturday'. Four refers to the streets and nine hundred to the pupils.

Read: 'The children of Bishopsgate carried their library themselves. When the old building was condemned in 1974, there was no money for a removal firm, so nine hundred pupils formed a line four streets long and passed the books hand to hand. It took a single Saturday. A librarian who watched said afterwards that not one book was dropped, though three were quietly kept, and she had never minded a theft less.' Why did the children move the books themselves?

• AThe books were too fragile for a van
• BIt was part of their schoolwork
• CThere was no money to pay anyone✓
• DThe roads were closed to traffic

Answer: The passage says 'there was no money for a removal firm, so nine hundred pupils formed a line'.

Read: 'The children of Bishopsgate carried their library themselves. When the old building was condemned in 1974, there was no money for a removal firm, so nine hundred pupils formed a line four streets long and passed the books hand to hand. It took a single Saturday. A librarian who watched said afterwards that not one book was dropped, though three were quietly kept, and she had never minded a theft less.' What does 'three were quietly kept' mean?

• AThree books were saved from serious damage
• BThree books were hidden away for safekeeping
• CThree books were far too heavy to pass on
• DThree books were taken home and not returned✓

Answer: 'Kept' here means not given back, which is why the librarian goes on to mention a theft.

Read: 'The children of Bishopsgate carried their library themselves. When the old building was condemned in 1974, there was no money for a removal firm, so nine hundred pupils formed a line four streets long and passed the books hand to hand. It took a single Saturday. A librarian who watched said afterwards that not one book was dropped, though three were quietly kept, and she had never minded a theft less.' The librarian's last remark shows she

• Awas angry about the three books that went missing
• Bhad not realised that any books were missing
• Cvalued the children's effort more than the books✓
• Dthought the whole move had been a failure

Answer: Saying she 'had never minded a theft less' means the loss barely troubled her, set against what she had just watched.

Read: 'Sound travels roughly four times faster in water than in air, which is why a whale's call can cross an ocean basin. It also explains why swimmers struggle to tell where a noise comes from. We locate sound by the tiny gap between it reaching one ear and then the other; underwater that gap shrinks until the brain can no longer read it. The sound is perfectly clear. It simply arrives from everywhere at once.' How much faster does sound travel in water?

• AAbout twice as fast
• BAbout four times faster✓
• CAbout ten times faster
• DAbout the same speed

Answer: The first sentence says 'roughly four times faster in water than in air'.

Read: 'Sound travels roughly four times faster in water than in air, which is why a whale's call can cross an ocean basin. It also explains why swimmers struggle to tell where a noise comes from. We locate sound by the tiny gap between it reaching one ear and then the other; underwater that gap shrinks until the brain can no longer read it. The sound is perfectly clear. It simply arrives from everywhere at once.' How do we normally work out where a sound comes from?

• AFrom how loud the sound happens to be
• BFrom the direction we happen to be facing
• CFrom how long the sound carries on for
• DFrom the gap between our two ears hearing it✓

Answer: The passage explains: 'We locate sound by the tiny gap between it reaching one ear and then the other'.

Read: 'Sound travels roughly four times faster in water than in air, which is why a whale's call can cross an ocean basin. It also explains why swimmers struggle to tell where a noise comes from. We locate sound by the tiny gap between it reaching one ear and then the other; underwater that gap shrinks until the brain can no longer read it. The sound is perfectly clear. It simply arrives from everywhere at once.' Underwater, a swimmer finds a sound hard to locate because

• Athe sound becomes far too quiet to hear
• Bwater blocks one of the ears completely
• Cthe gap between the ears becomes too small✓
• Dthe sound changes its pitch as it travels

Answer: The gap 'shrinks until the brain can no longer read it'. The passage is explicit that the sound stays perfectly clear.

Read: 'Sound travels roughly four times faster in water than in air, which is why a whale's call can cross an ocean basin. It also explains why swimmers struggle to tell where a noise comes from. We locate sound by the tiny gap between it reaching one ear and then the other; underwater that gap shrinks until the brain can no longer read it. The sound is perfectly clear. It simply arrives from everywhere at once.' What is the effect of the last two short sentences?

• AThey summarise all of the science accurately
• BThey suggest the writer is rather uncertain
• CThey emphasise the strangeness of the effect✓
• DThey introduce an entirely new topic here

Answer: After a longer explanation, two short sentences land the odd part: the sound is clear yet directionless.

Read: 'In a mountainside vault near the Arctic Circle, more than a million seed samples wait in the cold and dark. The vault has no permanent staff. It relies on the rock itself, which stays frozen without help, so that even a long power cut would not thaw it. Countries deposit seeds as they would money, and may withdraw their own at any time. Syria became the first to do so, in 2015.' Roughly how many seed samples does the vault hold?

• AOver a million✓
• BAround a thousand samples in total
• CExactly 2015 samples
• DFewer than a hundred thousand

Answer: The passage opens with 'more than a million seed samples'.

Read: 'In a mountainside vault near the Arctic Circle, more than a million seed samples wait in the cold and dark. The vault has no permanent staff. It relies on the rock itself, which stays frozen without help, so that even a long power cut would not thaw it. Countries deposit seeds as they would money, and may withdraw their own at any time. Syria became the first to do so, in 2015.' Why does the vault not need constant power?

• AIt is staffed day and night
• BIt uses solar panels on the mountain
• CThe seeds do not need to be cold
• DThe rock around it stays frozen naturally✓

Answer: It 'relies on the rock itself, which stays frozen without help'.

Read: 'In a mountainside vault near the Arctic Circle, more than a million seed samples wait in the cold and dark. The vault has no permanent staff. It relies on the rock itself, which stays frozen without help, so that even a long power cut would not thaw it. Countries deposit seeds as they would money, and may withdraw their own at any time. Syria became the first to do so, in 2015.' The comparison with money suggests that seeds are

• Astored safely and can be reclaimed by their owner✓
• Bworth a very great deal of money indeed
• Ctraded between different countries for profit
• Dcounted and checked over carefully every year

Answer: The point of the comparison is the arrangement — countries deposit and may withdraw their own — not the value.

Read: 'In a mountainside vault near the Arctic Circle, more than a million seed samples wait in the cold and dark. The vault has no permanent staff. It relies on the rock itself, which stays frozen without help, so that even a long power cut would not thaw it. Countries deposit seeds as they would money, and may withdraw their own at any time. Syria became the first to do so, in 2015.' What does the mention of Syria show?

• ASyria donated the most seeds
• BThe vault opened in 2015
• COnly one country has used the vault
• DThe vault has already been needed✓

Answer: Syria being 'the first to do so' shows a withdrawal has actually happened, which is the point of storing them.

Read: 'For nearly a century, atlases showed a range of mountains across the middle of Africa that did not exist. A explorer's rough sketch, made in poor light and never checked, was copied by one publisher from another until the peaks acquired names, heights and rivers running from them. Only when an expedition set out to climb them, in 1889, did anyone discover open plain. The mountains took another twenty years to disappear from print.' How were the mountains first recorded?

• ABy an expedition that climbed them
• BFrom measurements taken in 1889
• CBy a publisher who invented them
• DIn a rough sketch made in poor light✓

Answer: The passage says 'An explorer's rough sketch, made in poor light and never checked'.

Read: 'For nearly a century, atlases showed a range of mountains across the middle of Africa that did not exist. A explorer's rough sketch, made in poor light and never checked, was copied by one publisher from another until the peaks acquired names, heights and rivers running from them. Only when an expedition set out to climb them, in 1889, did anyone discover open plain. The mountains took another twenty years to disappear from print.' Why did the mistake spread?

• AThe explorer insisted the peaks were real
• BRivers really did run from that place
• CPublishers copied one another without checking✓
• DNobody had reached Africa before 1889

Answer: The sketch 'was copied by one publisher from another until the peaks acquired names'.

Read: 'For nearly a century, atlases showed a range of mountains across the middle of Africa that did not exist. A explorer's rough sketch, made in poor light and never checked, was copied by one publisher from another until the peaks acquired names, heights and rivers running from them. Only when an expedition set out to climb them, in 1889, did anyone discover open plain. The mountains took another twenty years to disappear from print.' What does 'acquired names, heights and rivers' suggest?

• AThe mountains were finally measured properly
• BLocal people named the peaks themselves
• CThe publishers admitted their mistake
• DThe error grew more detailed as it spread✓

Answer: Detail was added to something that did not exist, which makes a false thing look better evidenced the longer it circulates.

Read: 'For nearly a century, atlases showed a range of mountains across the middle of Africa that did not exist. A explorer's rough sketch, made in poor light and never checked, was copied by one publisher from another until the peaks acquired names, heights and rivers running from them. Only when an expedition set out to climb them, in 1889, did anyone discover open plain. The mountains took another twenty years to disappear from print.' What is surprising about the last sentence?

• AThe expedition itself took twenty years
• BThe mountains reappeared some years later
• CThe error survived long after being disproved✓
• DPrinting was extremely slow at that time

Answer: The plain was found in 1889, yet the mountains 'took another twenty years to disappear from print' — being disproved was not enough to remove them.