Peat Bogs and the Carbon They Keep: Reading Answers & Explanations
IELTS Reading practice test · 14 questionsAcademichard
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About this passage
The passage opens: “To the casual traveller, a peat bog can seem the least remarkable of places: a flat, soggy expanse of dull brown ground, treeless and often shrouded in mist, with little to catch the eye. For centuries such wetlands were dismissed as wastelands, fit only to be drained and put to some more profitable use.”
- Passage length: about 673 words
- Questions: 14
- Question types: Matching Headings, Yes / No / Not Given, Short Answer
“Peat Bogs and the Carbon They Keep” 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
Peat Bogs and the Carbon They Keep 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. How peat gradually forms
- ii. An overlooked landscape of great value
- iii. A carbon store greater than the forests
- iv. Benefits beyond storing carbon
- v. When a store becomes a source
- vi. Undoing the damage
- vii. The wildlife that depends on bogs
- viii. Digging peat for profit
- ix. A landscape found only in the tropics
- 1
Paragraph A
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Answer: ii — An overlooked landscape of great value
Why: This is the part of the passage that supports ii — An overlooked landscape of great value.
Evidence · Paragraph A “…these unglamorous landscapes are among the most valuable on Earth”
- 2
Paragraph B
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Answer: i — How peat gradually forms
Why: This is the part of the passage that supports i — How peat gradually forms.
Evidence · Paragraph B “…the plant matter is only half-decayed. Layer upon layer of this partly rotted material builds up, compressing under its own weight into the dark, dense substance we call peat.”
- 3
Paragraph C
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Answer: iii — A carbon store greater than the forests
Why: This is the part of the passage that supports iii — A carbon store greater than the forests.
Evidence · Paragraph C “…they hold more carbon than all its forests combined, which makes them one of the planet's most important carbon stores.”
- 4
Paragraph D
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Answer: v — When a store becomes a source
Why: This is the part of the passage that supports v — When a store becomes a source.
Evidence · Paragraph D “When people drain a bog ... the carbon that was locked away for thousands of years is released back into the atmosphere”
- 5
Paragraph E
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Answer: iv — Benefits beyond storing carbon
Why: This is the part of the passage that supports iv — Benefits beyond storing carbon.
Evidence · Paragraph E “A healthy bog is valuable for more than the carbon it keeps.”
- 6
Paragraph F
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Answer: vi — Undoing the damage
Why: This is the part of the passage that supports vi — Undoing the damage.
Evidence · Paragraph F “…efforts are under way to reverse it. The chief method is a process called rewetting”
Questions 7–10: Yes / No / Not Given
Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer? Write YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer, NO if it contradicts them, or NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks.
- 7
Peat forms quickly once the right conditions are present.
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Answer: NO
Why: The writer's view here contradicts the statement, so the answer is NO.
Evidence · Paragraph B “A peat bog forms with extraordinary slowness ... A bog may deepen by less than a millimetre in a year”
- 8
Well-preserved human bodies have been recovered from peat bogs.
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Answer: YES
Why: The writer's view here agrees with the statement, so the answer is YES.
Evidence · Paragraph E “…human bodies thousands of years old have been recovered from them almost perfectly preserved”
- 9
Draining a peat bog helps it to store more carbon.
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Answer: NO
Why: The writer's view here contradicts the statement, so the answer is NO.
Evidence · Paragraph D “A damaged, drying bog thus turns from a quiet store of carbon into a steady source of it”
- 10
Governments should spend more on restoring bogs than on planting new forests.
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Answer: NOT GIVEN
Why: The statement claims that governments should prioritize spending on restoring bogs over planting forests, but the passage does not confirm or deny this, only discussing the importance and restoration efforts of peatlands.
Questions 11–14: Short Answer
Answer the questions below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.
- 11
Which spongy plant is chiefly responsible for forming peat?(max 3 words)
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Answer: sphagnum moss (also accepted: sphagnum / moss)
Why: The answer “sphagnum moss” is taken from this sentence — copy the word(s) exactly as they appear. It fits the 3-word limit.
Evidence · Paragraph B “…chiefly a spongy plant known as sphagnum moss”
- 12
What gas is released when drained peat begins to rot?(max 3 words)
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Answer: carbon dioxide (also accepted: CO2)
Why: The answer “carbon dioxide” is taken from this sentence — copy the word(s) exactly as they appear. It fits the 3-word limit.
Evidence · Paragraph D “…the carbon that was locked away for thousands of years is released back into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide.”
- 13
By soaking up heavy rain, a healthy bog reduces the risk of what downstream?(max 3 words)
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Answer: floods (also accepted: flooding)
Why: The answer “floods” is taken from this sentence — copy the word(s) exactly as they appear. It fits the 3-word limit.
Evidence · Paragraph E “…soaking up heavy rain and releasing it slowly, so reducing the risk of floods downstream”
- 14
What is the process of restoring a bog by raising its water table called?(max 3 words)
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Answer: rewetting (also accepted: re-wetting)
Why: The answer “rewetting” is taken from this sentence — copy the word(s) exactly as they appear. It fits the 3-word limit.
Evidence · Paragraph F “The chief method is a process called rewetting, in which the drains cut into a bog are blocked”
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 strategyYes / No / Not Given
- Identify the claim in the statement and, crucially, whose opinion it represents — these passages often quote several people, so track who is speaking.
- Scan the passage for opinion signals: verbs like "argues", "believes", "suggests", "claims", and phrases such as "in the author’s view".
Common trap: Treating a reported opinion (someone else’s view mentioned by the writer) as the writer’s own conclusion.
Full Yes / No / Not Given 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 “Peat Bogs and the Carbon They Keep” under exam conditions
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