The Development of Museums

The development of museums reading answers is a part of IELTS preparation, where you should gain an understanding of the various kinds of questions, how to answer them, and also the art of getting information quickly from various parts of passages. 

Questions 1-4

Reading Passage has six paragraphs, A-F.

Choose the correct heading for paragraphs B-E from the list of headings below.

Write the correct number, i-vii, in boxes 1-4 on your answer sheet.

Questions 5-10

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

Write the correct letter in boxes 5-10 on your answer sheet.

 5. Compared with today’s museums, those of the past

A. did not present history in a detailed way.

B. were not primarily intended for the public.

C. were more clearly organised.

D. preserved items with greater care.

Answer: B    ( The first paragraph talks about how museums were good for scholars in the past but not the ordinary visitor)

6. According to the writer, current trends in the heritage industry

A. emphasise personal involvement.

B. have their origins in York and London.

C. rely on computer images.

D. reflect minority tastes.

7. The writer says that museums, heritage sites and theme parks

A. often work in close partnership.

B. try to preserve separate identities.

C. have similar exhibits.

D. are less easy to distinguish than before.

Answer: D    (the passage talks about this development in the third paragraph)

8. The writer says that in preparing exhibits for museums, experts

A. should pursue a single objective.

B. have to do a certain amount of language translation.

C. should be free from commercial constraints.

D. have to balance conflicting priorities.

9. In paragraph E, the writer suggests that some museum exhibits

A. fail to match visitor expectations.

B. are based on the false assumptions of professionals.

C. reveal more about present beliefs than about the past.

D. allow visitors to make more use of their imagination.

10. The passage ends by noting that our view of history is biased because

A. we fail to use our imagination.

B. only very durable objects remain from the past.

C. we tend to ignore things that displease us.

D. museum exhibits focus too much on the local area.

Read More Essay Samples For IELTS:

Questions 11-14

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage?

In boxes 11-14 on your answer sheet, write

TRUE    if the statement agrees with the information

FALSE    if the statement contradicts the information

NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

11. Consumers prefer theme parks which avoid serious issues. 

(This is a false statement, since the passage talks about how theming has become the need of the hour for almost every historical site)

12. More people visit museums than theme parks.

(Nothing has been said about more people visiting museums or theme parks. The passage only talks about the dissolving differences between them)

13. The boundaries of Leyden have changed little since the seventeenth century. 

(The passage talks about how in Leyden, the people earlier lived in the walled town which is an area more than five times smaller than modern Leyden)

14. Museums can give a false impression of how life used to be.    

(This is stated in the last paragraph- 

No wonder that people who stroll around exhibitions are filled with nostalgia; the evidence in museums indicates that life was so much better in the past. This notion is induced by the bias in its representation in museums and heritage centres.) 

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