Passage Completion Questions and Answers

Answer: A

Correct answer: sometimes the packaging process involves using pre-printed labels, making it impractical to write the best before date in a clearly visible location

The sentence after the blank begins in this case and describes labels that redirect the reader to the lid or the bottom. The blank must therefore describe the case in which the date cannot be printed with the phrase. The other options define use by, which is a different term.

Answer: D

Correct answer: always watch out for the word 'flavour', as this may mean that the product contains synthetic ingredients

The example after the blank is chocolate flavour topping… will not contain chocolate, so the blank must be about the word flavour. Only the keyed option is.

Answer: C

Correct answer: The resulting document is a black and white copy of the original page

The paragraph traces the process from scanning to printing, and the blank is its last step, so it must state the outcome. A page reduced to light and dark dots and reprinted is a black and white copy. The other options introduce an inventor the paragraph never mentions.

Answer: A

Correct answer: It is frequently used as another term for high-speed Internet access

The sentence after the blank begins It allows users to access the Internet at higher speeds, and that it needs a singular antecedent in the blank. Only the keyed option supplies one. The option beginning they include has no plural noun to refer to, and however would signal a contrast the paragraph does not make.

Answer: D

Correct answer: But most studies show that there is no link between cell phone use and brain cancer

These studies didn't receive front-page coverage follows the blank, and these must point at studies named in it. The blank also has to begin with but, because the sentence before reports studies suggesting a link and the paragraph goes on to explain why the reassuring findings went unnoticed. The options about driving belong to a different argument.

Answer: A

Correct answer: The effects of stress can be lessened by following some simple advice related to your diet

The sentences after the blank begin first, cut down on coffee and try not to eat sweets, so the blank must introduce dietary advice. The keyed option does exactly that. The option about anti-depressants raises a treatment the paragraph never discusses, and the other two are items of advice rather than an introduction to it.

Answer: B

Correct answer: This stops fat from pressing on the throat

Every piece of advice in the paragraph is followed by its reason, twice in brackets - stop smoking (smoking weakens and clogs the throat), sleep on your side (to prevent the tongue from blocking the throat). The blank follows the advice to lose weight, so it must give that reason, and this points back to the weight loss. Surgery is not mentioned anywhere in the paragraph, and the closing sentence says the advice is often not enough - not that surgery is the only cure.

Answer: B

Correct answer: Generally, most people feel better after a week or two

But it can be very dangerous follows the blank, so the blank must say something reassuring for but to contradict. Recovery within a week or two is that reassurance, and the final sentence then names the groups for whom it is not true.

Answer: D

Correct answer: Pilates is a unique combination of stretching, strengthening and breathing

Every sentence after the blank begins with it, so the blank must name the subject those pronouns refer to. Only the keyed option names anything; the rest begin with anyone or with advice about frequency, neither of which supplies an antecedent.

Answer: D

Correct answer: getting a flu vaccine may also help prevent acute bronchitis

Since opens a reason clause, so the main clause after the comma must be the conclusion drawn from it. If flu viruses cause bronchitis, then preventing flu helps prevent bronchitis. The other options are further facts about the disease, and none of them follows from the reason given.