The Bystander Effect: Reading Answers & Explanations
IELTS Reading practice test · 13 questionsAcademicmedium
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About this passage
The passage opens: “It might seem obvious that a person in trouble is more likely to receive help if many people are present to give it. Common sense suggests that the more witnesses there are to an emergency, the greater the chance that someone will step in.”
- Passage length: about 732 words
- Questions: 13
- Question types: Yes / No / Not Given, Multiple Choice, Short Answer
“The Bystander Effect” 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
The Bystander Effect answers with explanations
Questions 1–5: Yes / No / Not Given
Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in the passage? Write YES, NO or NOT GIVEN.
- 1
Research suggests that people are sometimes less likely to be helped when many witnesses are present.
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Answer: YES
Why: The writer's view here agrees with the statement, so the answer is YES.
Evidence · Paragraph 1 “…an individual is actually less likely to be helped when a large number of people are present than when there is only a single witness.”
- 2
Researchers concluded that witnesses who failed to help were simply callous and indifferent.
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Answer: NO
Why: The writer's view here contradicts the statement, so the answer is NO.
Evidence · Paragraph 2 “Rather than concluding that the witnesses were simply callous or indifferent, researchers suspected that something about the presence of a crowd itself was discouraging people from helping.”
- 3
The bystander effect could only be produced under one very specific set of conditions.
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Answer: NO
Why: The writer's view here contradicts the statement, so the answer is NO.
Evidence · Paragraph 3 “The effect proved robust and could be reproduced under a variety of conditions.”
- 4
Women were found to help more often than men in the experiments.
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Answer: NOT GIVEN
Why: The statement claims that women helped more often than men, but the passage does not confirm or deny this, as it focuses on the general behavior of individuals in the presence of others during emergencies.
- 5
Addressing a specific individual can make an appeal for help harder to ignore.
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Answer: YES
Why: The writer's view here agrees with the statement, so the answer is YES.
Evidence · Paragraph 7 “By making one particular person feel personally responsible, an appeal for help becomes much harder to ignore.”
Question 6: Multiple Choice
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
- A. that people always help when others are present
- B. that the number of bystanders made a real difference to behaviour
- C. that people never help strangers
- D. that emergencies are always ignored
- 6
What did the controlled experiments confirm?
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Answer: B — that the number of bystanders made a real difference to behaviour
Why: This is the part of the passage that supports B — that the number of bystanders made a real difference to behaviour.
Evidence · Paragraph 3 “These experiments confirmed that the number of bystanders made a real difference to how people behaved.”
Question 7: Multiple Choice
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
- A. responsibility is shared among many people so each feels only a small part of it
- B. responsibility is given entirely to one leader
- C. people take turns to help
- D. responsibility disappears once help is given
- 7
What is meant by the 'diffusion of responsibility'?
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Answer: A — responsibility is shared among many people so each feels only a small part of it
Why: This is the part of the passage that supports A — responsibility is shared among many people so each feels only a small part of it.
Evidence · Paragraph 4 “When many people are present, however, that responsibility is shared out among them, so that each individual feels only a small part of it.”
Question 8: Multiple Choice
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
- A. because calmness makes people happy
- B. because each observer concludes there is no real emergency
- C. because calm people are more likely to act
- D. because crowds cannot see the emergency
- 8
According to the passage, why might a calm crowd discourage helping?
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Answer: B — because each observer concludes there is no real emergency
Why: This is the part of the passage that supports B — because each observer concludes there is no real emergency.
Evidence · Paragraph 5 “If everyone else appears calm and does nothing, each observer may conclude that there is no real emergency and that action is unnecessary.”
Question 9: Multiple Choice
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
- A. by waiting quietly for help
- B. by appealing vaguely to the whole crowd
- C. by singling out a specific individual and addressing them directly
- D. by leaving the scene of the emergency
- 9
How can a person in need best overcome the diffusion of responsibility?
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Answer: C — by singling out a specific individual and addressing them directly
Why: This is the part of the passage that supports C — by singling out a specific individual and addressing them directly.
Evidence · Paragraph 7 “…a person in need of assistance is more likely to receive it if they can overcome the diffusion of responsibility by singling out a specific individual and addressing them directly.”
Questions 10–13: Short Answer
Answer the questions below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.
- 10
What name is given to the phenomenon in which a crowd is less likely to help?(max 3 words)
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Answer: the bystander effect (also accepted: bystander effect)
Why: The answer “the bystander effect” is taken from this sentence — copy the word(s) exactly as they appear. It fits the 3-word limit.
Evidence · Paragraph 1 “This surprising phenomenon has come to be known as the bystander effect.”
- 11
What is the sharing out of responsibility among many witnesses called?(max 3 words)
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Answer: diffusion of responsibility (also accepted: the diffusion of responsibility)
Why: The answer “diffusion of responsibility” is taken from this sentence — copy the word(s) exactly as they appear. It fits the 3-word limit.
Evidence · Paragraph 4 “One important factor is what is known as the diffusion of responsibility.”
- 12
Besides misjudging a situation, people fear the risk of what if they intervene?(max 2 words)
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Answer: embarrassment
Why: The answer “embarrassment” is taken from this sentence — copy the word(s) exactly as they appear. It fits the 2-word limit.
Evidence · Paragraph 6 “Stepping in to help carries the risk of embarrassment if one has misjudged the situation.”
- 13
Emergencies are described as often being what, which makes witnesses unsure?(max 2 words)
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Answer: ambiguous
Why: The answer “ambiguous” is taken from this sentence — copy the word(s) exactly as they appear. It fits the 2-word limit.
Evidence · Paragraph 5 “Emergencies are often ambiguous, and a witness may be unsure whether what they are seeing really requires intervention.”
Estimated band score for this test
Your raw score out of 13 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 |
|---|---|
| 13 / 13 | 9.0 |
| 12 / 13 | 8.5 |
| 11 / 13 | 7.5 |
| 10 / 13 | 7.0 |
| 9 / 13 | 6.5 |
| 8 / 13 | 6.0 |
| 7 / 13 | 5.5 |
| 5–6 / 13 | 5.0 |
| 4 / 13 | 4.0 |
| 3 / 13 | 3.5 |
| 2 / 13 | 3.0 |
| 1 / 13 | 2.0 |
| 0 / 13 | 0.0 |
Full-test score? Use the IELTS band calculator.
Tips for the question types in this test
Yes / 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 strategyMultiple Choice
- Read the question stem carefully before the options so you know exactly what is being asked.
- Because multiple-choice questions follow passage order, locate the relevant section and read it in full — the answer usually depends on more than one sentence.
Common trap: Distractors that use exact words from the passage but distort the meaning.
Full Multiple Choice 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 “The Bystander Effect” under exam conditions
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