The University of Life Reading Answers

Jul 5, 2025

The University of Life Reading Answers contains 13 questions and belongs to the assessment system of the IELTS General Reading test. The University of Life reading section must be answered within 20 minutes. In this IELTS reading passage, you'll encounter question types like Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer? And choose no more than two words.

The University of Life Reading Answers contains detailed information about how Katherine Demopoulos explores how volunteering abroad during a gap year helps students rediscover their motivation for education and gain direction in life. To practice reading comprehension passages like this one, candidates are encouraged to explore the IELTS Reading Practice Test section.

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Topic:

Katherine Demopoulos meets students who took a break from study to volunteer overseas and returned with a new sense of purpose.

The majority of 18-year-old students entering higher education go straight from school to university. For many school leavers, however, there is the irresistible attraction of the 'gap year', a time between school and university when they decide to experience something new, different or exciting. Many of these so-called 'gappers' go off travelling around the world, often supplementing their limited funds by taking on casual work, while others may do voluntary work in a village in a distant part of the world.

For the majority of gappers, the gap year is simply a chance to enjoy life as an independent adult for the first time. Increasingly, however, they are also proving a great way of reinvigorating a lapsed or flagging interest in education, offering a chance to think about why you should study, or if you need to study at all. A growing number of students, having taken a break after school, are heading back into further and higher education via a roundabout route of working and 'gapping. According to the latest data from the British university admissions service, UCAS, 105,000 students aged 19, and 44,400 aged 20, entered higher education last year - figures that show a steady annual increase in this age group over the previous three years.

19-year-old student Christine Samways is a typical example. She left school at 16 with nine good exam passes at grades A to C, but did not want to continue studying at the time. She was also worried that, despite having all the attributes of a good student, she would find the challenges of higher education too great and would be forced to drop out. Instead, she gained a vocational qualification in hairdressing. However, she very quickly began to realise it was not quite what she wanted and that going back into some kind of education could be her next step. Like many 16-year-old school leavers starting work for the first time, it dawned on her that if you don't have qualifications, or the right qualifications, you have fewer work choices. 'The things that you want to do just aren't available to you,' she says.

Unsure of what her next step should be, Christine decided to head to Mexico to do voluntary work at a children's home. She was there for a year under the auspices of the International Cultural Youth Exchange (ICYE) - an organisation which has been running since 1949, when it sent 50 German students to the US as peace ambassadors. She never expected that working in Mexico would give her such a sense of confidence and, perhaps just as importantly, direction. On returning home to the UK, she decided to make a fresh start in education by enrolling on a course in Social Sciences and Humanities to prepare herself for university. Her new sense of confidence helped at her college interview. Previously, a formal interview would have made her very nervous, but she now found it much easier to talk on an informal and formal level to people she didn't know. 'I feel more comfortable in these situations,' she says.

'Mexico was the first time l'd been out of my comfort zone. Now I think I can cope with things better.' Christine is now working towards a degree in International Development at Bath University, a choice of subject informed by her experience of working with Mexican children. And, as well as finding some direction in her career, she now speaks good Spanish

- a skill she says she intends to keep up, perhaps by working abroad. She knows that the Mexican children's home benefited from her time there, just as she did. As well as being 'an extra pair of hands', she helped to streamline the children's timetable so they spent more structured time on homework. The children began to 'do better in school,' she says. 'You only move up a year if you pass a year - I got four children that at the beginning of the year were told they were going to stay down, but they moved up. It's a good feeling.'

ICYE also brings students to Europe from the countries that European students traditionally visit. Agnes Eldad, from Kampala, Uganda, has just graduated with a degree in Social Work. She came to the UK in January this year, getting a voluntary work placement relieving full-time carers of elderly people in Bexleyheath, Kent. With her social work background, she wanted to understand how elderly people were treated in Britain and to see for herself how their relationships with their children, grandchildren and in-laws worked.

Agnes found the experience extremely beneficial, but says that the ICYE only really works if participants have a focus for what they want to do, see and study. Ironically, for her, this could be the only chance to work with elderly people before she goes back home in January. In Uganda, old people live with, and are supported by, their families, so she won't have an opportunity to work with them.

Instead, she now wants to set up her own vocational training programme for young girls in northern Uganda. Agnes says her time in the UK has helped her to set her goals for the future.

Questions 1-5

Do the following statements agree with the information in the Reading passage?

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

1. The majority of young people who go travelling during their gap year must work in order to finance their trip.

Answer: FALSE

Supporting statement: "Many of these so-called 'gappers' go off travelling around the world, often supplementing their limited funds by taking on casual work…"

Keywords: many, supplement funds, casual work

Keyword Location: Paragraph 1, Line 4

Explanation: The statement says the majority must work, but the passage only says many choose to work, not that it is required for most. Hence, the statement is contradicted by the passage.

2. Taking a gap year can give young people time to consider whether or not they want to continue with their studies.

Answer: TRUE

Supporting statement: "…they are also proving a great way of reinvigorating a lapsed or flagging interest in education, offering a chance to think about why you should study, or if you need to study at all."

Keywords: reinvigorating interest, think about study

Keyword Location: Paragraph 2, Line 2

Explanation: The passage confirms that a gap year offers time for reflection on educational goals, matching the idea in the statement.

3. The number of university students has increased in the last few years.

Answer: TRUE

Supporting statement: "…figures that show a steady annual increase in this age group over the previous three years."

Keywords: steady increase, annual, age group

Keyword Location: Paragraph 2, Line 5

Explanation: The passage clearly shows that the number of students aged 19 and 20 entering higher education has risen over the past years.

4. Christine Samways lacks the right qualities to be a good student.

Answer: FALSE

Supporting statement: "…despite having all the attributes of a good student, she would find the challenges of higher education too great…"

Keywords: attributes, good student

Keyword Location: Paragraph 3, Line 2

Explanation: The passage states that Christine had all the qualities of a good student, which directly contradicts the statement.

5. Christine Samways believes that if you lack educational qualifications, your career options are reduced.

Answer: TRUE

Supporting statement: "…if you don't have qualifications, or the right qualifications, you have fewer work choices."

Keywords: qualifications, fewer work choices

Keyword Location: Paragraph 3, Line 5

Explanation: Christine realized that lacking qualifications limits employment opportunities, which aligns exactly with the statement.

Questions 6-10

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS.

CHRISTINE SAMWAYS: ICYE PARTICIPANT

Carried out 6............... in Mexico.

Answer: voluntary work

Supporting statement: "Christine decided to head to Mexico to do voluntary work at a children's home."

Keywords: voluntary work, Mexico

Keyword Location: Paragraph 4, Line 2

Explanation: The passage states clearly that Christine carried out voluntary work, which aligns directly with what the question asks.

Programme gave her more 7……….. In herself.

Answer: confidence

Supporting statement: "She never expected that working in Mexico would give her such a sense of confidence…"

Keywords: sense of confidence

Keyword Location: Paragraph 4, Line 4

Explanation: The experience in Mexico boosted her confidence, which was one of the key outcomes of the programme for her.

Returned to 8............ when she was back in the UK.

Answer: education

Supporting statement: "…she decided to make a fresh start in education by enrolling on a course in Social Sciences and Humanities…"

Keywords: fresh start, education

Keyword Location: Paragraph 4, Line 5

Explanation: On returning to the UK, she resumed education, which answers where she returned to.

Currently studying 9....

Answer: International Development

Supporting statement: "Christine is now working towards a degree in International Development at Bath University…"

Keywords: working towards, degree, International Development

Keyword Location: Paragraph 5, Line 1

Explanation: The subject Christine is studying is International Development, clearly stated in the passage.

Thinks that 10....... may be a good way of maintaining her Spanish.

Answer: working abroad

Supporting statement: "…she intends to keep up [Spanish], perhaps by working abroad."

Keywords: keep up Spanish, working abroad

Keyword Location: Paragraph 5, Line 3

Explanation: Christine thinks that working abroad might help her maintain her Spanish skills.

Questions 11-13

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS.

11. According to Agnes Eldad, what do people need in order to benefit from an ICYE exchange programme?

Answer: a focus

Supporting statement: "Agnes found the experience extremely beneficial, but says that the ICYE only really works if participants have a focus for what they want to do, see and study."

Keywords: ICYE, works, focus

Keyword Location: Paragraph 6, Line 2

Explanation: Agnes Eldad believes that in order to gain the most from the ICYE programme, individuals need to have clear goals or direction, which is expressed as "a focus."

12. Who does Agnes Eldad plan to work with when she finishes her ICYE programme?

Answer: young girls

Supporting statement: "She now wants to set up her own vocational training programme for young girls in northern Uganda."

Keywords: vocational training, young girls

Keyword Location: Paragraph 6, Line 6

Explanation: Agnes's future plan is to work with young girls in Uganda through vocational training, as described clearly in the text.

13. What does Agnes Eldad have now that she didn't have before she came to the UK?

Answer: goals

Supporting statement: "Agnes says her time in the UK has helped her to set her goals for the future."

Keywords: set goals, future

Keyword Location: Paragraph 6, Last Line

Explanation: Before coming to the UK, she lacked clear goals; the ICYE experience gave her a direction, which is now one of her new possessions — goals.

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