IELTS General Training Reading Practice Test 11

SECTION 1 — Questions 1–14

Read the text below and answer Questions 1–7.

Brindle Ice Rink: Public Skating Sessions

Brindle Ice Rink is open to the public every day of the year except Christmas Day. Whether you are stepping onto the ice for the first time or you are an experienced skater, there is a session to suit you.

Session times
General public sessions last ninety minutes and run several times a day. On Friday and Saturday evenings, our popular Disco on Ice sessions include music and coloured lights; these are for skaters aged twelve and over only. Early-morning sessions on weekdays are reserved for adults and are usually much quieter. The rink is occasionally closed to the public for ice hockey matches and competitions, so please check our website before you travel.

Prices
Tickets for public sessions cost £9 for adults and £7 for children under sixteen, and the price includes the hire of skates. If you bring your own skates, you will receive a £2 discount. A Family Ticket for two adults and two children costs £28. Tickets can be bought at reception, but online booking is recommended for evening and weekend sessions, which often sell out. Online tickets cannot be refunded, but they can be changed to another session up to 24 hours beforehand.

Safety on the ice
All skaters must wear gloves, as falls on the ice can cause cuts to the hands. Helmets are strongly recommended for children under ten and are available to borrow free of charge. Children under eight must be accompanied on the ice by a paying adult. Beginners may hire one of our plastic skating aids, which help skaters to keep their balance; these cost £3 per session.

Learn to skate
Our six-week Learn to Skate courses are taught by qualified coaches and are available for all ages from four upwards. Each lesson lasts thirty minutes, and skaters may stay on the ice to practise during the public session that follows. Places on courses can be booked online or at reception.

Questions 1–7

Do the following statements agree with the information given in the text?

Write

• TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
• FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
• NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

Read the text below and answer Questions 8–14.

Self-Storage in Fairbank

A Fairbank Secure Storage
Our modern building on the Kingsmead Business Park offers units of all sizes, from a small locker to a room large enough for the contents of a four-bedroom house. Every unit is alarmed, and the building is protected by CCTV twenty-four hours a day. Customers can visit their units at any time of the day or night, using their own personal access code.

B BoxAway
BoxAway is ideal if you don't have the time or transport to take your belongings to a storage centre. We deliver strong plastic boxes to your home, you pack them, and our team collects them and keeps them in our warehouse. When you need an item back, just let us know, and we'll return the box to you within two working days. Prices are charged per box, so you only pay for what you store.

C Hatton Farm Storage
Located in converted farm buildings three miles outside Fairbank, we offer large, dry units at prices up to forty per cent lower than storage companies in town. Units can be reached by car or van seven days a week between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. We are particularly popular with tradespeople, who store tools and building materials with us.

D StoreRight
StoreRight offers units on a month-by-month basis, so you can leave whenever you like without paying a penalty. New customers receive their first month free. We also sell packing boxes, tape and bubble wrap at our reception desk, and customers can borrow a trolley to move their belongings to and from their unit.

E The Wine and Document Store
For items that need special care, our climate-controlled units maintain a constant temperature and humidity throughout the year. This makes them suitable for wine, documents, paintings and musical instruments. Access to units is by appointment only, Monday to Friday. Every unit is insured up to £50,000 as part of the rental price.

Questions 8–14

Look at the five storage companies, A–E, in the text above.

For which company are the following statements true?

Write the correct letter, A–E, next to Questions 8–14.

NB You may use any letter more than once.

SECTION 2 — Questions 15–27

Read the text below and answer Questions 15–20.

Oakridge Garden Centres: Paid Volunteering Days

At Oakridge, we believe that businesses should play an active part in the communities they serve. For this reason, every employee who has completed their probation period can take up to two days each year, on full pay, to work as a volunteer for a charity or community group.

What kind of volunteering is included?
You can volunteer for any registered charity, school, or community group in the UK. Many of our staff choose to use their gardening skills, for example by helping to plant a community garden or tidying the grounds of a care home, but this is not a requirement. Volunteering for political parties, or for organisations that you or a close family member are paid to work for, is not included.

How to apply
Complete the volunteering request form, which you can find on the staff noticeboard or in the staff app, and give it to your line manager at least three weeks in advance. You will need to give the name of the organisation and a contact person there. Your manager will normally approve requests unless the dates fall within one of our busy periods. In particular, volunteering days cannot be taken during the four weeks before Easter.

Team volunteering
Each store may also organise one team volunteering day a year, when up to ten members of staff volunteer together. These days are a great way of getting to know colleagues from other departments. Team days should be agreed with the store manager, who will arrange for other staff to cover the work of those taking part.

After your volunteering day
Within a week of your volunteering day, please ask the organisation you helped to confirm your attendance by email to the HR department. We also love to hear about what you did. Short reports and photos can be sent to the editor of the staff newsletter, Oakridge Growing, which features a volunteering story in every issue.

Days that are not used by the end of the year cannot be carried over.

Questions 15–20

Answer the questions below.

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the text for each answer.

Read the text below and answer Questions 21–27.

Oakridge Garden Centres: Working Outdoors in Hot Weather

Many of our staff spend much of their working day outdoors, in the plant areas, car parks and delivery yards. In hot, sunny weather, this can create serious risks to health. The guidance below explains what Oakridge will do, and what we expect of you.

What Oakridge will provide
When the temperature is forecast to go above 26°C, managers will make changes to the working day. Heavy work, such as unloading deliveries and moving large plants, will be done early in the morning, before 11 a.m., wherever possible. Staff working outdoors will have an extra ten-minute break every two hours, which should be taken in the staff room or another shaded area. Free sun cream is available from every store office, and all outdoor staff are given a wide-brimmed hat with their uniform. Cold drinking water is available from the machines in the staff rooms at all times.

What we expect of you
Please wear your hat whenever you work outside in sunny weather, even on days that do not feel especially hot, as the sun can still burn your skin. Apply sun cream before starting work and again every two hours. Drink water regularly throughout the day; do not wait until you feel thirsty. Light, loose clothing is more comfortable in hot weather, but for safety reasons, you must continue to wear your safety boots at all times, and shorts are not permitted in the delivery yards.

Recognising heat illness
Heat exhaustion can develop quickly, especially in people doing physical work. Signs include headaches, heavy sweating, feeling dizzy or sick, and skin that feels clammy. If a colleague shows these signs, stop work and alert a first aider. Help the person into the shade, remove any extra clothing and cool their skin with water. Offer cool water if they can drink safely, and stay with them. Call 999 immediately if the person becomes confused, loses consciousness or shows another sign of heatstroke, such as a fast heartbeat. Also call 999 if they are still unwell after thirty minutes of rest, cooling and fluids.

Customers
Customers may also be affected by the heat, particularly elderly people and young children. If a customer appears unwell, offer them a seat in the shade and a glass of water, and contact a first aider.

Questions 21–27

Complete the notes below.

Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the text for each answer.

Hot weather: key points for outdoor staff

• On hot days, heavy tasks such as moving large plants are done in the 211 word if possible.
• Outdoor staff get an additional 221 word every two hours.
• Hats must be worn in sunny weather because otherwise the sun may 231 word the skin.
• Staff should drink water before they become 241 word .
• In the delivery yards, staff are not allowed to wear 251 word .
• Someone with heat exhaustion may have skin that feels 261 word .
• Call an ambulance immediately if the person becomes 271 word and has difficulty thinking clearly.

SECTION 3 — Questions 28–40

Read the text below and answer Questions 28–40.

Famous people, ordinary houses: London's blue plaques

A
Walk through almost any part of central London, and you are likely to notice a round blue sign on the front of a house, telling passers-by that a well-known person once lived there. Each sign gives the person's name, the years of their birth and death, and a few words describing who they were, such as "novelist" or "pioneer of nursing". The novelist Charles Dickens, the scientist Michael Faraday, the composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel are all remembered in this way. There are now around a thousand of these official "blue plaques" across the capital, making the scheme one of the oldest and best known of its kind in the world. For many visitors, finding them has become a hobby in itself, and several guidebooks and phone apps now offer walking routes from one plaque to the next.

B
The idea was first suggested in 1863 by William Ewart, a Member of Parliament, who believed that marking the homes of famous people would encourage Londoners to take an interest in their city's history. The Society of Arts took up the idea, and its first plaque was put up in 1867 on the house where the poet Lord Byron had been born. Unfortunately, that house was knocked down in 1889, and the plaque was lost with it. The oldest plaque that survives today, also from 1867, marks the house where the French emperor Napoleon III lived while in exile in London.

C
Early plaques came in a variety of shapes and colours, including brown and green. In 1901, responsibility for the scheme passed to the London County Council, which put up many more. By 1921, blue ceramic plaques had become standard, and in 1938 an art student designed the simpler round plaque, with white lettering on a bright blue background, that is seen today. Later, the scheme was run by the Greater London Council and then, from 1986, by the organisation English Heritage, which still manages it today.

D
Getting a blue plaque is not easy, and the process can be surprisingly slow. Anyone may suggest a name, and English Heritage receives many suggestions every year. Proposals that meet the scheme's initial conditions are carefully researched and then considered by a panel of experts. The rules are strict. At least twenty years must have passed since the person's death. This waiting period allows the panel to consider whether the person's contribution has had a lasting influence, rather than judging them by their popularity at a particular moment. The person must also have made an important contribution to human welfare or happiness, and the building where they lived or worked must still exist. A plaque cannot be placed on a building that has replaced the original one, however close it is to the original site. In addition, each person normally receives only one plaque, so where someone lived at several addresses, the panel must decide which of them was most important in that person's life. Only a minority of suggestions are successful, and those that are may wait several years before a plaque is put up.

E
The plaques themselves are made by hand. Each one is shaped from clay, the letters are added individually, and it is then glazed and fired in a kiln, a process that takes several weeks. Because of this, every plaque is slightly different. They are designed to last, and many of the plaques put up in the early twentieth century are still in good condition. The cost of making and fixing a plaque is paid by English Heritage, largely through donations, rather than by the owner of the building. A plaque can sometimes outlast the building it was made for. The plaque for John Tenniel, the illustrator, was saved when its original building was pulled down. Researchers found another house where he had lived and which was still standing, and after the plaque had been restored, it was put up there in 2025. Fixing a plaque to a building also requires the permission of the owner, and some owners have refused, often because they do not want strangers knocking at the door.

F
In recent years, the scheme has faced criticism. In 2016, English Heritage revealed that only around thirteen per cent of the plaques commemorated women. This partly reflected the past, when women had far fewer opportunities to become famous in fields such as science, politics and engineering. However, it also reflected the fact that the public had suggested far fewer women than men. English Heritage therefore launched an appeal encouraging people to put forward the names of women. By 2018, a third of the 119 nominations received since the appeal were for women; in the previous two years, the share had been below a quarter.

G
The success of the London scheme has led to many imitations. Cities and towns across Britain, and in a number of other countries, now have their own plaques, though these are run by local councils or societies and follow their own rules. Even within London, there are other schemes: the City of Westminster, for instance, puts up its own green plaques. Some are not entirely serious. In London, for example, there are unofficial plaques marking the homes of fictional characters, such as the detective Sherlock Holmes. Whatever their colour or origin, the plaques all share the same simple purpose: to remind people that history happened not only in palaces and parliaments, but in ordinary streets and houses like their own.

Questions 28–33

The text has seven paragraphs, A–G.

Which paragraph contains the following information?

Write the correct letter, A–G, next to Questions 28–33.

NB You may use any letter more than once.

Questions 34–37

Complete the summary below.

Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the text for each answer.

Rules for London's blue plaques

Anyone can suggest a person for a plaque, and eligible proposals go to a 341 word of experts. The waiting period of at least twenty years is measured from the person's 351 word . They must have contributed to people's welfare or happiness, and the 361 word they lived or worked in must still be standing. Even successful suggestions may involve a wait of several 371 word .

Questions 38–40

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

• A It was moved to a different building.
• B It was lost when the house was demolished.
• C It was replaced with a blue one.
• D It was taken to a museum.

• A It has changed very little since 1867.
• B It means that no two plaques are exactly the same.
• C It is too slow for the number of plaques required.
• D It makes the plaques easy to damage.

• A The rules of the scheme had been unfair to women.
• B The experts on the panel had rejected many women.
• C Fewer women had been suggested by the public.
• D Many buildings where women lived had been demolished.