The Coconut Palm- IELTS Reading Sample with Explanation

The IELTS reading section examines a candidate’s comprehending skills within the stipulated amount of time. The IELTS reading section comprises passages followed with different kinds of questions to holistically judge a student’s grasping abilities while reading. This particular IELTS Reading Academic Test has a passage on- “The Coconut Palm”, which consists of the following types of questions:

1. Fill in the blanks.
2. True/False/Not Given

The tests contain a variety of sample passages with different kinds of questions which will equip a student with all the possible dimensions of this section. These practice tests should be taken with utmost seriousness to perform brilliantly on the D-Day.

Topic: The Coconut Palm

Questions 1-8:

Complete the table below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 1-8 on your answer sheet.

1. Answer: furniture

Supporting sentence: The coconut palm has a smooth, slender, grey trunk, up to 30 metres tall. This is an important source of timber for building houses, and is increasingly being used as a replacement for endangered hardwoods in the furniture construction industry.

Keywords: trunk, upto 30 metres, timber, uses

Keyword Location: 2nd paragraph, 3rd & 4th line

Explanation: This is the correct answer because it is clearly given that the trunk of the coconut palm is used for building houses and furniture. For furniture, the use is quite recent and is replacing hardwood which is not easily available anymore.

Also, Check:

2. Answer: sugar

Supporting sentence: The flower stems may be tapped for their sap to produce a drink, and the sap can also be reduced by boiling to produce a type of sugar used for cooking.

Keywords: flowers, top of the trunk, sap, drink, uses

Keyword Location: 2nd paragraph, last line

Explanation: This is the correct answer because it is clearly given that the sap tapped from the flower stem is used to produce a drink and is also used to produce sugar.

3. Answer:ropes

Supporting sentence: The thick fibrous middle layer produces coconut fibre, ‘coir’, which has numerous uses and is particularly important in manufacturing ropes.

Keywords: fruits, middle layer, coir, uses

Keyword Location: 3rd paragraph, 3rd line

Explanation: This is the correct answer because the middle layer of the coconut fruit is primarily used for producing ropes.

4. Answer: charcoal

Supporting sentence: The woody innermost layer, the shell, with its three prominent ‘eyes’, surrounds the seed. An important product obtained from the shell is charcoal, which is widely used in various industries as well as in the home as a cooking fuel.

Keywords: fruit, inner layer, shell, uses

Keyword Location: 3rd paragraph, 2nd last line

Explanation: This is the correct answer because the innermost layer is woody which is used to produce charcoal, which is then used as a fuel in many places.

5. Answer: bowls

Supporting sentence: When broken in half, the shells are also used as bowls in many parts of Asia.

Keywords: inner layer, shell, fruit, drink, halved, uses

Keyword Location: 3rd paragraph, last line

Explanation: This is the correct answer because it is mentioned in the passage that the inner shell can be broken into two halves and used as bowls, because of its hard exterior.

6. Answer: hormones

Supporting sentence: Initially, the endosperm is a sweet-ish liquid, coconut water, which is enjoyed as a drink, but also provides the hormones which encourage other plants to grow more rapidly and produce higher yields.

Keywords: coconut water, fruit, source

Keyword Location: 4th paragraph, 2nd line

Explanation: This is the correct answer because the coconut water contains endosperm which gives the necessary hormones which stimulates other plants to grow faster and better.

7. Answer: cosmetics

Supporting sentence: Dried coconut flesh, ‘copra’, is made into coconut oil and coconut milk, which are widely used in cooking in different parts of the world, as well as in cosmetics.

Keywords: coconut flesh, fruit, oil, milk

Keyword Location: 4th paragraph, 2nd last line

Explanation: This is the correct answer because it is clearly mentioned in the passage that the coconut flesh can be converted into oil and milk which can be used for cooking and cosmetics.

8. Answer: dynamite

Supporting sentence: A derivative of coconut fat, glycerine, acquired strategic importance in a quite different sphere, as Alfred Nobel introduced the world to his nitroglycerine-based invention: dynamite.

Keywords: fruit, coconut flesh, glycerine

Keyword Location: 4th paragraph, last line

Explanation: This is the correct answer because the glycerine which is derived from coconut fat can be used to produce dynamite and this invention was made by Alfred Nobel.

Questions 9-13:

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?
In boxes 9-13 on your answer sheet, 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

9. Coconut seeds need shade in order to germinate.

Answer: False

Supporting sentence: Literally cast onto desert island shores, with little more than sand to grow in and exposed to the full glare of the tropical sun, coconut seeds are able to germinate and root. The air pocket in the seed, created as the endosperm solidifies, protects the embryo.

Keywords: coconut seeds, germinate

Keyword Location: 5th paragraph, 3rd line

Explanation: It is clearly mentioned in the 5th paragraph that the coconut seeds need to be exposed to the tropical sun to allow germination to take place. The statement given completely contradicts this information, therefore it’s false.

10. Coconuts were probably transported to Asia from America in the 16th century.

Answer: False

Supporting sentence: 16th century trade and human migration patterns reveal that Arab traders and European sailors are likely to have moved coconuts from South and Southeast Asia to Africa and then across the Atlantic to the east coast of America.

Keywords: coconuts, transported, Asia, America, 16th century

Keyword Location: Last paragraph, 3rd line

Explanation: This statement given is false because the exact opposite is predicted in the passage that Arab traders and sailors transported it from Asia to Africa and then to America in the 16th century.

11. Coconuts found on the west coast of America were a different type from those found on the east coast.

Answer: Not Given

Supporting sentence: In America, there are close coconut relatives, but no evidence that coconuts are indigenous.

Keywords: coconuts, America, coast, east and west coast

Keyword Location: Last paragraph, 2nd last line

Explanation: The only thing that is discussed in the passage is about the origin of the coconut, whether it originated in the east or the west coast and the origin is problematic. There is no information given or comparison made about the type of coconut found in both the coasts.

12. All the coconuts found in Asia are cultivated varieties.

Answer: True

Supporting sentence: In Asia, there is a large degree of coconut diversity and evidence of millennia of human use – but there are no relatives growing in the wild.

Keywords: coconuts, Asia, cultivated

Keyword Location: Last paragraph, 3rd last line

Explanation: It is explicitly mentioned in the passage that the variety of coconuts found in Asia are diversified and none grows in the wild, which means that they are cultivated and not naturally growing out of nowhere. Hence the statement is true.

13. Coconuts are cultivated in different ways in America and the Pacific.

Answer: Not Given

Supporting sentence: In America, there are close coconut relatives, but no evidence that coconuts are indigenous. These problems have led to the intriguing suggestion that coconuts originated on coral islands in the Pacific and were dispersed from there.

Keywords: coconuts, cultivated, different ways, America, the pacific

Keyword Location: Last paragraph, last few lines

Explanation: The only reason the Pacific is mentioned in the passage is to make a suggestion about the origin of coconuts. Nothing can be said about the methods in which they were cultivated in America and the Pacific.