The Dead Sea Scrolls IELTS Reading Answers with Explanation

“The Dead Sea Scrolls” is Passage 1 of Cambridge IELTS 17 Academic Reading Test 2. This page gives the answers for Questions 1–13 with a short explanation of why each answer is right, so you can check your work and learn from every mistake. The question types are: Note Completion, True / False / Not Given.

Quick answers: Questions 1–13

Question	Answer
1	rock
2	cave
3	clay
4	Essenes
5	Hebrew
6	NOT GIVEN
7	FALSE
8	TRUE
9	TRUE
10	FALSE
11	FALSE
12	TRUE
13	NOT GIVEN

Questions 1–5: Note Completion

Q	Question	Answer	Why
1	heard a noise of breaking when one teenager threw a ___	rock	Use exactly this wording from the passage, within the word limit.
2	teenagers went into the ___ and found a number of containers made of [3]	cave	Use exactly this wording from the passage, within the word limit.
3	teenagers went into the [2] and found a number of containers made of ___	clay	Use exactly this wording from the passage, within the word limit.
4	thought to have been written by group of people known as the ___	Essenes	Use exactly this wording from the passage, within the word limit.
5	written mainly in the ___ language	Hebrew	Use exactly this wording from the passage, within the word limit.

Questions 6–13: True / False / Not Given

Q	Question	Answer	Why
6	The Bedouin teenagers who found the scrolls were disappointed by how little money they received for them.	NOT GIVEN	The passage gives no clear information to confirm or reject this statement.
7	There is agreement among academics about the origin of the Dead Sea Scrolls.	FALSE	The passage contradicts this statement.
8	Most of the books of the Bible written on the scrolls are incomplete.	TRUE	The passage agrees with this statement.
9	The information on the Copper Scroll is written in an unusual way.	TRUE	The passage agrees with this statement.
10	Mar Samuel was given some of the scrolls as a gift.	FALSE	The passage contradicts this statement.
11	In the early 1950s, a number of educational establishments in the US were keen to buy scrolls from Mar Samuel.	FALSE	The passage contradicts this statement.
12	The scroll that was pieced together in 2017 contains information about annual occasions in the Qumran area 2,000 years ago.	TRUE	The passage agrees with this statement.
13	Academics at the University of Haifa are currently researching how to decipher the final scroll.	NOT GIVEN	The passage gives no clear information to confirm or reject this statement.

Tips for these question types

• Completion tasks: check the word limit and the grammar of the gap before you write the answer exactly as it appears in the passage.
• True / False / Not Given: TRUE means the passage says the same thing, FALSE means it says the opposite, and NOT GIVEN means it does not say. Never use your own knowledge.
• Review every mistake. Find the exact sentence in the passage that proves the answer so you can spot the same trap next time.

FAQ

How many questions does this passage have? The Dead Sea Scrolls covers Questions 1–13, which is 13 questions.

Where is this passage from? It is Reading Passage 1 in Cambridge IELTS 17, Academic Test 2.

How should I use these answers? Attempt the passage under timed conditions first, then check your answers here and read the reason for every mistake.

Cambridge IELTS 17 Reading Test 2: all passages
Part 1: The Dead Sea Scrolls (you are here)  |  Part 2: A Second Attempt at Domesticating the Tomato  |  Part 3: Insight or Evolution?

Next: Part 2 answers →

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