Passage Completion Questions and Answers

Answer: D

Correct answer: How do you know that he has got very good ideas?

Jill's next line explains how she knows - he takes notes and she has read some of them - so Sam must have asked how she knows. A question is also the only option that could draw an explanation rather than a further comment.

Answer: B

Correct answer: Don't blame yourself. You studied as hard as you could

John answers who am I going to blame then?, so Ricky must have told him not to blame himself. Ricky's next line - put the blame on the system - confirms it. Telling John it is time he started to study would be more blame, not less.

Answer: D

Correct answer: Do you think this will affect your status?

Harry answers I'm sure I will have some trouble, which is an answer about the consequences for him, so Nell must have asked about them. Nell's next line, advising him to look for a new job, follows from that trouble. A remark about what Nell would do with so much money leaves Harry's reply with nothing to answer.

Answer: A

Correct answer: I'm working on some letters, but they are not quite ready

Ashok's reply is I can hold off for a few minutes, but that's all, so Alok must have given a reason for Ashok to wait. Only the keyed line does. Offering to come along or to go instead would not ask him to delay.

Answer: C

Correct answer: He had to be rushed to the emergency room yesterday

Rushi replies really? I hope it is not too serious, so John's line must report something serious about Timmy. The options about a holiday or a recovery long ago would not prompt that concern.

Answer: C

Correct answer: However, if you like, you can phone me

B has to bridge I cannot see you tomorrow and there is only a simple laboratory test to be done. Offering the telephone instead does that: the visit is unnecessary because nothing but a test remains. The options about the diagnosis and about following instructions look ahead to a stage the exchange has not reached.

Answer: B

Correct answer: Then, many years later, the petrol engine was invented

C says his invention was used later by other clever men, so B must keep the focus on later inventions built on Watt's work. Then, many years later supplies exactly that step. The options about motor cars, aeroplanes and jets jump past the railway engine that C is about to introduce.

Answer: C

Correct answer: Today they are a relatively rare species

C explains this drastic fall in their numbers, so B must be the statement of that fall. Only the keyed option reports it. The others describe reserves and national parks, which are remedies rather than the fall itself.

Answer: D

Correct answer: The quake's force was measured at 7.8 on the Richter scale

C compares this earthquake with the one in Chile for severity, so B must give the measure that makes the comparison possible. The options counting collapsed and unsafe buildings describe damage, which is not what a comparison of severity on a scale rests on.

Answer: B

Correct answer: Four years of study in the college changed him completely

A describes him on arrival and C says he learnt a lot there, so B must cover the span between: the years at college and the change they produced. The option about leaving college looks past C, and the ones about a job leave the college behind altogether.