PTE Academic · full test
PTE Academic reading practice set 2
Fifteen PTE Academic reading questions on continental drift, England's first coffee houses, inflation, ocean plastic, placebos and the return of beavers to Britain. Multiple Choice (single and multiple answers) and Reading Fill in the Blanks, untimed, with an explanation for every answer.
Exam mode: timed, answers at the end, like the real test. Practice mode: untimed, the answer and explanation after each question.
What is in this test
| Multiple choice, one answer | 10 questions | instant marking |
| Multiple choice, three answers | 3 questions | instant marking |
| Multiple choice, two answers | 2 questions | instant marking |
Covers: mcq single answer (5) · mcq multiple answers (5) · reading fill in blanks (5)
A sample question
Until the middle of the nineteenth century, most towns in Britain kept their own local time, set by the position of the sun. Because the sun reaches its highest point later the further west one travels, clocks in Bristol ran roughly ten minutes behind those in London. For most people this caused little difficulty, since few travelled far enough or fast enough for the difference to matter. The railways changed that. Timetables listing departures from many towns became confusing when every station used a different time, and the risk of collisions on single-track lines made accurate timing a matter of safety. During the 1840s, railway companies began to adopt London time across their networks, using telegraph signals to keep station clocks in agreement. Some towns resisted at first, and a few public clocks were fitted with two minute hands, one showing local time and the other railway time. By the mid-1850s the great majority of public clocks in Britain showed London time, but it was not until 1880 that a single standard time became legally binding. The episode shows how a new technology can reshape habits that once seemed natural, and how official law sometimes follows long after everyday practice has changed. Which of the following statements are supported by the passage? Select ALL the correct answers (2 are correct).
- Local time differences were a serious problem for most people before the railways.
- Railway companies used the telegraph to keep their clocks in agreement.
- Some clocks displayed both local time and railway time.
- Standard time became law before most clocks had adopted it.
- Bristol's clocks ran ahead of London's.
- Railway companies opposed the adoption of a single time.
Marked when you take the test; the explanation appears in your review.