The Global Spread of the Potato: Reading Answers & Explanations
IELTS Reading practice test · 13 questionsAcademicmedium
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About this passage
The passage opens: “Few foods have travelled so far, or changed the world so profoundly, as the potato. Today it is grown and eaten across the globe and ranks among the most important food crops on Earth, yet for most of human history it was unknown outside a single mountainous region of South America.”
- Passage length: about 714 words
- Questions: 13
- Question types: True / False / Not Given, Multiple Choice, Short Answer
“The Global Spread of the Potato” 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 Global Spread of the Potato answers with explanations
Questions 1–6: True / False / Not Given
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the passage? Write TRUE if the statement agrees, FALSE if it contradicts, or NOT GIVEN if there is no information.
- 1
The potato was first cultivated in the Andes mountains of South America.
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Answer: TRUE
Why: This sentence confirms the statement, so the answer is TRUE.
Evidence · Paragraph 2 “The potato was first cultivated thousands of years ago high in the Andes mountains”
- 2
When the potato first reached Europe, people immediately accepted it as an important food.
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Answer: FALSE
Why: This sentence directly contradicts the statement, so the answer is FALSE.
Evidence · Paragraph 3 “At first, however, the potato was met with suspicion in its new surroundings... For a considerable time it was treated more as a curiosity”
- 3
The potato could produce a large amount of food from a small area of land.
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Answer: TRUE
Why: This sentence confirms the statement, so the answer is TRUE.
Evidence · Paragraph 4 “The potato could produce a large amount of food from a small plot of land”
- 4
Historians have connected the spread of the potato with a period of rapid population growth.
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Answer: TRUE
Why: This sentence confirms the statement, so the answer is TRUE.
Evidence · Paragraph 5 “Historians have linked the spread of the potato to a period of rapid population growth”
- 5
The potato disease of the nineteenth century affected every country that grew the crop equally.
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Answer: NOT GIVEN
Why: The statement claims the potato disease affected every country equally, but the passage neither confirms nor denies this, only mentioning the disease caused widespread rot and famine in some regions.
Closest related text · Paragraph 6 “The risk became tragically clear when a plant disease swept through potato fields in the nineteenth century, causing the tubers to rot in the ground across whole regions.”
- 6
Relying too heavily on a single crop can make a population vulnerable.
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Answer: TRUE
Why: This sentence confirms the statement, so the answer is TRUE.
Evidence · Paragraph 5 “When a population relies too heavily on a single crop, it becomes gravely vulnerable to anything that might destroy that crop”
Question 7: Multiple Choice
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
- A. By boiling them in salt water
- B. By freezing them at night and drying them in the sun
- C. By burying them deep underground
- D. By grinding them into flour
- 7
How did Andean communities produce a light, long-lasting food from potatoes?
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Answer: B — By freezing them at night and drying them in the sun
Why: This is the part of the passage that supports B — By freezing them at night and drying them in the sun.
Evidence · Paragraph 2 “…a method of repeatedly freezing the tubers in the cold night air and drying them in the sun to produce a light, long-lasting food that could be kept for years.”
Question 8: Multiple Choice
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
- A. Because it could be sold for a high price
- B. Because a field of potatoes could mean the difference between hunger and sufficiency
- C. Because it required no farming skill
- D. Because it grew only in warm climates
- 8
Why was the potato particularly valuable to poorer families?
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Answer: B — Because a field of potatoes could mean the difference between hunger and sufficiency
Why: This is the part of the passage that supports B — Because a field of potatoes could mean the difference between hunger and sufficiency.
Evidence · Paragraph 4 “For poorer families in particular, a field of potatoes could mean the difference between hunger and sufficiency.”
Question 9: Multiple Choice
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
- A. The potato disappeared from the world
- B. The tubers rotted and terrible famine followed in regions that relied on the crop
- C. People switched to growing it in gardens
- D. The crop became more nutritious
- 9
What happened when a plant disease struck potato fields in the nineteenth century?
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Answer: B — The tubers rotted and terrible famine followed in regions that relied on the crop
Why: This is the part of the passage that supports B — The tubers rotted and terrible famine followed in regions that relied on the crop.
Evidence · Paragraph 6 “…causing the tubers to rot in the ground across whole regions... the failure of the harvest brought terrible famine”
Question 10: Multiple Choice
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
- A. That the potato should never be eaten
- B. That mountain crops are always safer
- C. That depending too completely on one source of food is dangerous
- D. That famine cannot be prevented
- 10
What lasting lesson does the passage say the disaster provides?
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Answer: C — That depending too completely on one source of food is dangerous
Why: This is the part of the passage that supports C — That depending too completely on one source of food is dangerous.
Evidence · Paragraph 6 “The disaster stands as a lasting warning of the dangers of depending too completely on one source of food”
Questions 11–13: Short Answer
Answer the questions below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.
- 11
In what type of environment did the potato thrive where many grains struggled?(max 3 words)
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Answer: cold (also accepted: cold, thin air / the andes / mountainous)
Why: The answer “cold” is taken from this sentence — copy the word(s) exactly as they appear. It fits the 3-word limit.
Evidence · Paragraph 2 “…where farmers grew an astonishing variety of types suited to the cold, thin air and rugged terrain... the potato thrived.”
- 12
In what kind of climates did the potato grow well, unlike traditional grain crops?(max 3 words)
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Answer: cool, damp (also accepted: cool and damp / cool damp climates)
Why: The answer “cool, damp” is taken from this sentence — copy the word(s) exactly as they appear. It fits the 3-word limit.
Evidence · Paragraph 4 “…it grew well in cool, damp climates where the traditional grain crops of the region often did poorly.”
- 13
What disaster followed the failure of the potato harvest in regions that depended on it?(max 2 words)
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Answer: famine (also accepted: terrible famine)
Why: The answer “famine” is taken from this sentence — copy the word(s) exactly as they appear. It fits the 2-word limit.
Evidence · Paragraph 6 “…the failure of the harvest brought terrible famine”
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 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 Global Spread of the Potato” under exam conditions
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