The Bystander Effect: Why Crowds Can Fail to Help: Reading Answers & Explanations
IELTS Reading practice test · 13 questionsAcademiceasy
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About this passage
The passage opens: “It seems reasonable to suppose that a person in trouble is safest when there are many people around to help. Surely the more witnesses there are to an emergency, the more likely it is that someone will step in.”
- Passage length: about 716 words
- Questions: 13
- Question types: True / False / Not Given, Sentence Completion, Short Answer
“The Bystander Effect: Why Crowds Can Fail to Help” 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: Why Crowds Can Fail to Help answers with explanations
Questions 1–5: True / False / Not Given
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the passage? Write TRUE, FALSE or NOT GIVEN.
- 1
People are often less likely to help when many other witnesses are present.
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Answer: TRUE
Why: The passage states that as the number of witnesses increases, the likelihood of any one person helping decreases, illustrating the bystander effect where individuals are less likely to assist in the presence of others.
Where to find it · Paragraph 1 “The presence of other people can make each individual less, rather than more, likely to offer help.”
- 2
Serious study of the bystander effect began after a widely reported crime in the 1960s.
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Answer: TRUE
Why: The passage states that serious study of the bystander effect began in the 1960s, prompted by a widely reported crime in a large American city.
Where to find it · Paragraph 2 “Serious study of the phenomenon began in the 1960s, prompted by a widely reported crime in a large American city.”
- 3
Being part of a large group always makes people act more bravely.
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Answer: FALSE
Why: The passage explains that being part of a large group often makes individuals less likely to act bravely due to the bystander effect, where responsibility is diffused among many people, leading to inaction.
Where to find it · Paragraph 4 “But when many others are present, that responsibility is felt to be shared among the whole group, and each individual assumes, often wrongly, that someone else will surely deal with the problem.”
- 4
In experiments, help tended to arrive more slowly as the number of witnesses grew.
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Answer: TRUE
Why: The passage states that as the number of witnesses increased, the likelihood of any one of them helping decreased, and when help did arrive, it tended to be slower.
Where to find it · Paragraph 3 “The results were consistent and striking: as the number of witnesses increased, the likelihood that any one of them would help actually went down, and help, when it came at all, tended to arrive more slowly.”
- 5
The experiments were carried out mainly on young children.
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Answer: NOT GIVEN
Why: The statement claims the experiments were mainly on young children, but the passage never confirms or denies this, as it only describes the experiments involving people reacting to staged emergencies.
Closest related text · Paragraph 3 “Researchers staged emergencies of various kinds and observed how people reacted, sometimes when alone and sometimes in the company of others.”
Questions 6–9: Sentence Completion
Complete the sentences below using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.
- 6
When responsibility is felt to be shared among a group, psychologists call this the ______ of responsibility.(max 3 words)
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Answer: diffusion
Why: The answer comes from the part of the passage that explains when responsibility is distributed among a group, it is referred to as the diffusion of responsibility by psychologists.
Where to find it · Paragraph 4 “The first is what psychologists call the diffusion of responsibility.”
- 7
When everyone stays calm and each takes this as a sign that nothing is wrong, the result is called ______.(max 3 words)
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Answer: pluralistic ignorance
Why: The answer is found where the passage explains that when everyone appears calm, each person assumes nothing is wrong, leading to a shared misinterpretation known as pluralistic ignorance.
Where to find it · Paragraph 5 “If everyone else appears calm and unconcerned, each person takes this outward calm as a sign that nothing is truly wrong, and so does nothing in turn.”
- 8
In an ______ situation, people look to others to judge how serious things are.(max 3 words)
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Answer: ambiguous
Why: The answer is found where the passage explains that in unclear situations, individuals observe others to determine the seriousness of the situation.
Where to find it · Paragraph 5 “In an ambiguous situation, where it is not clear whether there is really an emergency, people glance at those around them to judge how serious things are.”
- 9
As the number of witnesses increases, the likelihood that any one will help goes ______.(max 3 words)
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Answer: down
Why: The answer comes from the passage where it states that as the number of witnesses increases, the chance that any individual will assist actually decreases.
Where to find it · Paragraph 3 “The results were consistent and striking: as the number of witnesses increased, the likelihood that any one of them would help actually went down, and help, when it came at all, tended to arrive more slowly.”
Questions 10–13: Short Answer
Answer the questions below using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Answer the questions below. Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.
- 10
In which decade did serious study of the bystander effect begin?(max 3 words)
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Answer: the 1960s (also accepted: 1960s)
Why: The answer is found in the passage where it mentions that the serious study of the bystander effect started in the 1960s, following a widely reported crime in a large American city.
Where to find it · Paragraph 2 “Serious study of the phenomenon began in the 1960s, prompted by a widely reported crime in a large American city.”
- 11
What did researchers stage in order to observe how people reacted?(max 3 words)
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Answer: emergencies (also accepted: an emergency)
Why: The answer comes from the part of the passage where it mentions that researchers created various emergency situations to observe people's reactions, both when they were alone and when they were with others.
Where to find it · Paragraph 3 “Researchers staged emergencies of various kinds and observed how people reacted, sometimes when alone and sometimes in the company of others.”
- 12
When alone, on whom does the responsibility to act rest entirely?(max 3 words)
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Answer: the witness (also accepted: one witness / the only witness)
Why: The answer comes from the part of the passage that explains when a person is the sole witness to an emergency, the obligation to act falls completely on them.
Where to find it · Paragraph 4 “When a person is the only witness to an emergency, the responsibility to act rests entirely on their shoulders.”
- 13
What single individual should a victim single out in order to get help?(max 3 words)
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Answer: a particular individual (also accepted: a named individual / one person)
Why: The answer comes from the passage's end, where it suggests that overcoming the bystander effect involves breaking the diffusion of responsibility by directing a request for help to a specific person.
Where to find it · Paragraph 6 “A victim who calls out to the crowd in general is easily ignored, but one who singles out a particular individual, pointing directly at one person and asking clearly for a specific kind of help, is far more likely to receive it.”
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
True / False / Not Given
- Read the statement first and underline the key idea, especially any qualifiers like "all", "only", "never", "always", "more than" or dates and numbers.
- Because the questions follow the order of the passage, scan for the paragraph that deals with the same topic rather than re-reading everything.
Common trap: Confusing "False" with "Not Given": choose False only when the passage actively contradicts the statement; if the passage is silent, it is Not Given.
Full True / False / Not Given strategySentence Completion
- Circle the word limit before reading anything else.
- Predict the missing word class: noun, verb, adjective, number or short phrase.
Common trap: Exceeding the word limit.
Full Sentence 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 “The Bystander Effect: Why Crowds Can Fail to Help” under exam conditions
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