PTE Academic Reading Practice Test 1 (with Answers)

Type 1 · Fill in the Blanks (Dropdown)

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

Solar Home Systems in Rural Bangladesh

Over the past two decades, solar home systems have transformed daily life in villages that the national grid has not yet reached. A small panel fixed to a tin roof charge a battery during daylight hours, providing enough power for lighting, mobile-phone charging and, increasingly, a small fan or television. the initial cost of a system, microfinance schemes allow families to pay in small monthly instalments, and the saving on kerosene alone often covers much of the expense. , solar power has proved especially valuable during the monsoon season, when flooding can cut off villages from fuel supplies for days at a time. Today, several million households across the country on solar electricity as their main source of power.

📖 বাংলা অনুবাদ · Bangla translation

গত দুই দশকে, সৌর হোম সিস্টেম জাতীয় গ্রিড এখনো না পৌঁছানো গ্রামগুলোর দৈনন্দিন জীবনকে ধীরে ধীরে বদলে দিয়েছে। টিনের চালে বসানো একটি ছোট প্যানেল দিনের আলোয় একটি ব্যাটারি চার্জ করতে পারে, যা আলো, মোবাইল চার্জিং এবং ক্রমবর্ধমানভাবে একটি ছোট ফ্যান বা টিভির জন্য যথেষ্ট বিদ্যুৎ দেয়। সিস্টেমের প্রাথমিক খরচ সত্ত্বেও, মাইক্রোফাইন্যান্স স্কিম পরিবারগুলোকে ছোট মাসিক কিস্তিতে পরিশোধের সুযোগ দেয়, আর শুধু কেরোসিনের সাশ্রয়ই খরচের অনেকটা পুষিয়ে দেয়। এছাড়াও, বর্ষা মৌসুমে সৌরবিদ্যুৎ বিশেষভাবে কার্যকর প্রমাণিত হয়েছে, যখন বন্যা গ্রামগুলোকে দিনের পর দিন জ্বালানি সরবরাহ থেকে বিচ্ছিন্ন করে দিতে পারে। আজ দেশজুড়ে কয়েক লক্ষ পরিবার তাদের প্রধান বিদ্যুৎ উৎস হিসেবে সৌরশক্তির ওপর নির্ভর করে।

Type 2 · Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers

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

Microplastics in River Systems

Scientists studying the Buriganga and other major rivers have found significant concentrations of microplastics — fragments smaller than five millimetres — in both the water and the sediment on the riverbed. Much of this material originates from the breakdown of larger plastic waste, though a considerable share also comes directly from synthetic clothing fibres released during washing, which currently pass through most treatment plants unfiltered. Fish and other aquatic organisms frequently ingest these particles, mistaking them for food, and there is growing evidence that the plastics can move up the food chain when a fish carrying microplastics is eaten by a larger predator. Researchers stress that reducing the problem will require action at several points: better filtration at treatment plants, redesigned washing machines, and, most importantly, a substantial reduction in the amount of new plastic produced in the first place.

According to the passage, which TWO statements are true?

Most microplastics found in rivers come from synthetic clothing. Current treatment plants generally fail to filter out clothing microfibres. Microplastics can enter the food chain when a predator eats a contaminated fish. Scientists have found microplastics in river water but not in the riverbed sediment. Solving the problem only requires upgrading water treatment plants.

Remote Work and Productivity

A recent survey of office workers who shifted to remote work found mixed effects on productivity. Employees reported completing focused, individual tasks more efficiently at home, largely because open-plan offices had previously interrupted their concentration dozens of times a day. However, tasks that depended on spontaneous collaboration — quick clarifying questions, brainstorming sessions, or mentoring a junior colleague — were consistently rated as harder to accomplish remotely, even with video-conferencing tools available. Managers also noted that new employees, who rely heavily on picking up informal knowledge by observing colleagues, took noticeably longer to reach full productivity when onboarded remotely. The survey's authors conclude that the ideal arrangement for many organisations is not fully remote or fully in-person work, but a hybrid pattern that reserves office days for collaborative and training activities.

According to the passage, which TWO statements are true?

Remote work improved employees' ability to focus on individual tasks. Video-conferencing tools fully replaced the need for in-person collaboration. New employees took longer to become fully productive when onboarded remotely. The survey recommends that all organisations move to fully remote work. Open-plan offices were found to improve concentration compared to working at home.

Type 3 · Reorder Paragraphs

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

The History of Movable Type Printing

As a result, book prices fell sharply across Europe, and within fifty years millions of printed volumes were in circulation, compared with only a few thousand manuscripts that had existed before.

Long before Gutenberg, the Chinese inventor Bi Sheng had already experimented with movable type made from baked clay in the eleventh century, though the technique never replaced hand-copying and woodblock printing in East Asia.

This sudden abundance of affordable texts is widely credited with accelerating the spread of new scientific ideas and, eventually, with helping to trigger the Reformation, since religious pamphlets could now reach a mass audience.

In the 1440s, the German goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg combined a modified wine press with individually cast metal letters, allowing pages to be printed far more quickly and consistently than by hand.

The Water Cycle in a Wetland

Meanwhile, warm air above the wetland causes surface water to evaporate directly into the atmosphere, where it eventually condenses into clouds and falls again as rain, completing the cycle.

Some of this water is drawn up by the roots of reeds and other wetland plants, which release it back into the air through their leaves in a process called transpiration.

Rainfall collects in the shallow basin of the wetland, where the slow-moving water gradually seeps down through layers of soil and peat.

The remainder continues to filter downward until it reaches the water table, replenishing the underground aquifer that many nearby communities depend on for drinking water.

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.

enforced lane expand occupy reduce avoided synchronising

Traffic Congestion Solutions in Dhaka

Dhaka's traffic congestion costs the economy an estimated several billion taka every year in lost working hours and wasted fuel. City planners have proposed several measures to ease the problem. The first is an expansion of the bus rapid transit network, which would give buses a dedicated _____ separated from general traffic, cutting journey times significantly. The second is a programme to relocate certain intersections' informal markets, which currently _____ pavement space and force pedestrians into the road. A third measure involves _____ the timing of traffic signals along major corridors so that a vehicle travelling at a steady speed meets a series of green lights rather than stopping repeatedly. Finally, officials are considering a congestion charge for private cars entering the city centre during peak hours, a policy that has reduced traffic in several other major cities once it was properly _____. Together, planners argue, these measures could _____ average commute times by as much as a third within five years.

📖 বাংলা অনুবাদ · Bangla translation

ঢাকার যানজট প্রতি বছর কর্মঘণ্টা ও জ্বালানি অপচয়ে অর্থনীতির আনুমানিক কয়েক বিলিয়ন টাকা ক্ষতি করে। নগর পরিকল্পনাবিদরা এই সমস্যা কমাতে কয়েকটি পদক্ষেপ প্রস্তাব করেছেন। প্রথমটি হলো বাস র‍্যাপিড ট্রানজিট নেটওয়ার্কের সম্প্রসারণ, যা বাসগুলোকে সাধারণ যানবাহন থেকে আলাদা একটি নির্দিষ্ট লেন দেবে, যাত্রার সময় উল্লেখযোগ্যভাবে কমাবে। দ্বিতীয়টি হলো কিছু মোড়ে অস্থায়ী বাজার সরানোর একটি কর্মসূচি, যা বর্তমানে ফুটপাতের জায়গা দখল করে ও পথচারীদের রাস্তায় নামতে বাধ্য করে। তৃতীয় পদক্ষেপ হলো প্রধান সড়কে ট্রাফিক সিগন্যালের সময় সমন্বয় করা, যাতে স্থির গতিতে চলা একটি গাড়ি বারবার থামার বদলে একের পর এক সবুজ বাতি পায়। সবশেষে, কর্মকর্তারা পিক আওয়ারে শহরকেন্দ্রে প্রবেশকারী ব্যক্তিগত গাড়ির জন্য একটি কনজেশন চার্জ বিবেচনা করছেন, যা সঠিকভাবে কার্যকর করা হলে অন্যান্য বড় শহরে যানজট কমিয়েছে। পরিকল্পনাবিদরা মনে করেন, এই পদক্ষেপগুলো একসাথে পাঁচ বছরের মধ্যে গড় যাতায়াতের সময় প্রায় এক-তৃতীয়াংশ কমাতে পারে।

Type 5 · Multiple Choice, Single Answer

Read each passage and select the single best answer.

Coral Bleaching

When ocean temperatures rise even slightly above their usual summer maximum for a sustained period, corals come under stress and expel the colourful algae living within their tissues, a process known as bleaching. Without these algae, which normally supply the coral with the majority of its energy through photosynthesis, the coral turns pale white and becomes far more vulnerable to disease and starvation. A bleached coral is not necessarily dead; if temperatures return to normal quickly enough, the algae can recolonise the coral and it may recover fully. However, repeated or prolonged bleaching events, of the kind now occurring more frequently as global sea temperatures rise, leave reefs with less and less time to recover between episodes, and can eventually cause widespread coral death.

According to the passage, what happens immediately after coral expels its algae?

The coral dies within a few days. The coral turns white and becomes more vulnerable to disease. The coral's temperature drops rapidly. The coral immediately begins to recolonise new algae.

The Gig Economy

The rise of app-based platforms connecting customers directly with independent workers — for tasks ranging from delivering food to providing rides — has been described as the growth of the "gig economy". Supporters argue that this model gives workers valuable flexibility, allowing them to set their own hours and combine several income sources. Critics counter that this flexibility often comes at the cost of job security, since gig workers typically lack the paid leave, healthcare contributions and guaranteed minimum income that traditional employees receive. Several governments have recently begun to explore a middle category of employment status, offering gig workers some of these protections without reclassifying them as full employees, a change platforms have resisted on the grounds that it would substantially raise their operating costs.

Why have platform companies resisted a new employment status for gig workers?

They believe workers do not want additional protections. It would substantially increase their operating costs. Governments have not proposed any specific changes. Gig workers already receive full employee benefits.

PTE Reading Practice Test 1