Lost Cities of the Amazon: Reading Answers & Explanations
IELTS Reading practice test · 14 questionsAcademichard
Haven't taken this test yet?
Looking at the answers first spoils the practice — you only get one honest first attempt at a passage. Take the test with the 20-minute timer, get an instant score and estimated band, then come back here to study every answer.
About this passage
The passage opens: “For most of the twentieth century, the Amazon rainforest was pictured as a pristine wilderness, a green ocean of trees almost untouched by human hands. Scholars argued that its thin, acidic soils could never have supported large or settled populations, and that the scattered groups living there today were the remnants…”
- Passage length: about 733 words
- Questions: 14
- Question types: Matching Headings, Table Completion, Short Answer
“Lost Cities of the Amazon” is an original IELTS-style practice passage written by IELTS-Bank. It is not taken from an official IELTS or Cambridge test, so these answers only apply to our version.
Answer key at a glance
Lost Cities of the Amazon answers with explanations
Questions 1–6: Matching Headings
The passage has six paragraphs, A-F. Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below.
- i. A soil that proves people once thrived here
- ii. Technology that sees through the trees
- iii. A long-held belief that the region was empty
- iv. An eyewitness report that few would trust
- v. How disease erased a civilisation
- vi. A forest shaped by human hands
- vii. The dangers faced by modern explorers
- viii. Rivers that repeatedly changed their course
- ix. Trade routes reaching the Pacific coast
- 1
Paragraph A
Show answerHide answer
Answer: iii — A long-held belief that the region was empty
Why: Paragraph A describes the long-held belief that the Amazon rainforest was a pristine wilderness, untouched by large human populations, supporting the idea that the region was considered empty.
Where to find it · Paragraph A “For most of the twentieth century, the Amazon rainforest was pictured as a pristine wilderness, a green ocean of trees almost untouched by human hands.”
- 2
Paragraph B
Show answerHide answer
Answer: iv — An eyewitness report that few would trust
Why: Paragraph B describes Francisco de Orellana's report of populated Amazon banks, which was long dismissed as exaggerated and unreliable, aligning with the heading "An eyewitness report that few would trust.
Where to find it · Paragraph B “In 1542 the Spanish soldier Francisco de Orellana became the first European to travel the length of the Amazon, and the chronicle of his voyage described banks crowded with people, fields stretching inland and towns strung along the river for mile after mile.”
- 3
Paragraph C
Show answerHide answer
Answer: ii — Technology that sees through the trees
Why: The correct answer is ii because paragraph C discusses how airborne laser scanning technology, specifically LIDAR, is used to penetrate the forest canopy and reveal hidden structures beneath, indicating past human settlements.
Where to find it · Paragraph C “The most powerful is airborne laser scanning, or LIDAR, which fires pulses of light from an aircraft and measures how long they take to bounce back.”
- 4
Paragraph D
Show answerHide answer
Answer: i — A soil that proves people once thrived here
Why: Option i is correct because paragraph D discusses terra preta, a man-made fertile soil, indicating that large, stable communities once thrived in the Amazon by transforming and sustaining the land over generations.
Where to find it · Paragraph D “Remarkably, terra preta remains fertile to this day, long after the people who made it disappeared, and modern farmers prize the patches they come across, while scientists study them in the hope of learning how such long-lasting soils were created.”
- 5
Paragraph E
Show answerHide answer
Answer: v — How disease erased a civilisation
Why: Paragraph E is correctly matched with the heading "How disease erased a civilisation" because it explains how European diseases led to epidemics that caused the collapse of the Amazon's great riverside communities.
Where to find it · Paragraph E “When Europeans arrived, they brought diseases to which the inhabitants had no resistance, and epidemics swept through the population with terrible speed, often running ahead of the newcomers themselves.”
- 6
Paragraph F
Show answerHide answer
Answer: vi — A forest shaped by human hands
Why: Paragraph F is not present in the passage, but the correct heading for the passage as a whole is vi because it describes how evidence shows the Amazon rainforest was significantly altered by past human activity.
Where to find it · Paragraph A “For most of the twentieth century, the Amazon rainforest was pictured as a pristine wilderness, a green ocean of trees almost untouched by human hands.”
Questions 7–11: Table Completion
Complete the table below.
Complete the table using NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer. Type of evidence Detail Written account In 1542 Orellana described densely populated (7) ______ . Remote sensing Airborne (8) ______ reveals earthworks beneath the canopy. Soil A dark, fertile, human-made earth known as (9) ______ . Cause of collapse European (10) ______ killed much of the population. New interpretation The rainforest is now seen as a partly (11) ______ landscape.
- 7
In 1542 Orellana described densely populated ______ .(max 2 words)
Show answerHide answer
Answer: banks (also accepted: riverbanks / the banks)
Why: The answer "banks" is found in paragraph B, where it mentions that Orellana's chronicle described riverbanks crowded with people, indicating densely populated areas along the Amazon.
Where to find it · Paragraph B “In 1542 the Spanish soldier Francisco de Orellana became the first European to travel the length of the Amazon, and the chronicle of his voyage described banks crowded with people, fields stretching inland and towns strung along the river for mile after mile.”
- 8
Airborne ______ reveals earthworks beneath the canopy.(max 2 words)
Show answerHide answer
Answer: LIDAR (also accepted: laser scanning / laser)
Why: The answer "LIDAR" is found in section C, where it describes how airborne laser scanning technology reveals hidden earthworks beneath the forest canopy.
Where to find it · Paragraph C “The most powerful is airborne laser scanning, or LIDAR, which fires pulses of light from an aircraft and measures how long they take to bounce back.”
- 9
A dark, fertile, human-made earth known as ______ .(max 2 words)
Show answerHide answer
Answer: terra preta (also accepted: dark earth)
Why: The answer "terra preta" is found in paragraph D, where it describes patches of unusually dark, fertile earth created by people, known as terra preta, which implies the existence of dense, stable communities.
Where to find it · Paragraph D “Known as terra preta, or dark earth, this soil is not natural but was created by people who enriched it with charcoal, ash, bones and household waste over many generations.”
- 10
European ______ killed much of the population.(max 2 words)
Show answerHide answer
Answer: diseases (also accepted: disease / epidemics)
Why: The answer "diseases" is found in section E, where it explains that European arrivals brought illnesses that the native population had no immunity to, leading to widespread epidemics and the collapse of riverside communities.
Where to find it · Paragraph E “When Europeans arrived, they brought diseases to which the inhabitants had no resistance, and epidemics swept through the population with terrible speed, often running ahead of the newcomers themselves.”
- 11
The rainforest is now seen as a partly ______ landscape.(max 2 words)
Show answerHide answer
Answer: managed (also accepted: shaped / cultivated)
Why: The answer "managed" is derived from the phrase "the unmistakable fingerprints of large and organised communities" found in Section C, which indicates that the communities were systematically arranged or managed.
Where to find it · Paragraph F “Far from being a virgin wilderness, much of the Amazon now looks like a landscape shaped over thousands of years by human beings, a mosaic of managed forests, orchards and garden cities.”
Questions 12–14: Short Answer
Answer the questions below using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.
Answer the questions below. Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.
- 12
In which year did Orellana travel the length of the Amazon?(max 3 words)
Show answerHide answer
Answer: 1542
Why: The answer is found in section B, where it states that Francisco de Orellana was the first European to journey the entire Amazon River in 1542.
Where to find it · Paragraph B “In 1542 the Spanish soldier Francisco de Orellana became the first European to travel the length of the Amazon, and the chronicle of his voyage described banks crowded with people, fields stretching inland and towns strung along the river for mile after mile.”
- 13
What straight structures were found linking one settlement to another?(max 3 words)
Show answerHide answer
Answer: causeways (also accepted: straight causeways)
Why: The answer is found in section C, where it mentions that laser scanning revealed straight pathways connecting different settlements.
Where to find it · Paragraph C “Where the eye saw only forest, the laser has exposed a hidden geometry of raised platforms, ditches, geoglyphs and dead-straight causeways linking one settlement to the next.”
- 14
What grew back and hid the ancient settlements after the population fell?(max 3 words)
Show answerHide answer
Answer: the forest (also accepted: forest / the rainforest / rainforest / trees)
Why: The answer is found in the last sentence of section E, where it explains that the fast-growing forest reclaimed the clearings after the communities collapsed.
Where to find it · Paragraph E “Within a century the great riverside communities had collapsed, their fields were abandoned, and the fast-growing forest reclaimed the clearings, swallowing houses, roads and monuments beneath a fresh blanket of trees.”
Estimated band score for this test
Your raw score out of 14 scaled to the 40-question IELTS Reading (Academic) conversion table. This is the same estimate the practice page shows after you submit. A single passage is a small sample, so treat it as a guide.
| Correct answers | Estimated band |
|---|---|
| 14 / 14 | 9.0 |
| 13 / 14 | 8.5 |
| 12 / 14 | 7.5 |
| 11 / 14 | 7.0 |
| 10 / 14 | 6.5 |
| 8–9 / 14 | 6.0 |
| 7 / 14 | 5.5 |
| 6 / 14 | 5.0 |
| 5 / 14 | 4.5 |
| 4 / 14 | 4.0 |
| 3 / 14 | 3.5 |
| 2 / 14 | 3.0 |
| 1 / 14 | 2.0 |
| 0 / 14 | 0.0 |
Full-test score? Use the IELTS band calculator.
Tips for the question types in this test
Matching Headings
- Read the list of headings first so you know the options, and notice how they differ from one another — often two headings are deliberately similar.
- Read the first paragraph and ask yourself: "In one sentence, what is this paragraph mainly saying?" before you look back at the headings.
Common trap: Picking a heading because it repeats a word from the paragraph, when that word only appears in a minor detail.
Full Matching Headings strategyTable Completion
- Read the table title, row labels and column headings aloud as a combined question.
- Predict the data type and note any units already printed outside the blank.
Common trap: Reading only the row label and ignoring the column.
Full Table Completion strategyShort Answer
- Read the instructions and note the exact word limit; going over it means zero marks even if the meaning is right.
- Turn each question into a set of keywords and predict what kind of answer it needs (a person, a date, a place, a noun).
Common trap: Exceeding the word limit (writing four words when only three are allowed).
Full Short Answer strategyPractise “Lost Cities of the Amazon” under exam conditions
Free, auto-marked, with the 20-minute timer and an instant band estimate.
Take this test first (timed)More IELTS Reading tests with answers
Oral Storytelling Traditions
medium
Radio Waves: The Invisible Messengers
easy
Reaching for the Sky
medium
Ready for the Call: How a Volunteer Lifeboat Service Works
hard
Restoring Urban Wetlands
medium
Rethinking the Psychology of Crowds
hard