Original Reading Passage could be found here:
Reading Text: Mail Order Brochure & New Book Releases
Answer Explanation – Mail Order Brochure
Questions 1-7:
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the text.
In boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet, write-
TRUE if the statement is true according to the passage
FALSE if the statement is false according to the passage
NOT GIVEN if the information is not given in the passage
1. Women’s cotton socks cost less than men’s.
2. Men’s silk shirts are available in more than five colours.
3. Children’s T-shirts come in a variety of colours.
4. The child’s jacket has four pockets.
5. If you buy clothes worth $80 in August, you will receive a free alarm clock.
6. The charge for special next-day delivery in Australia is $7.95.
7. All clothing is guaranteed to arrive within two months for international delivery.
Question 1: Women’s cotton socks cost less than men’s. Answer: NOT GIVEN.
Explanation: The prices of the socks are given in the ‘For under $10‘ paragraph only. The first two are for children’s socks; hence irrelevant to this question. The next two lines are –
Sports socks M – to go with jeans and other casual clothes, &
Patterned belts W – to go with jeans and other casual clothes,
Which neither do talk about cotton socks nor about their explicit prices. Sports socks and patterned belts for men and women are under $10, but it does not say what’s their individual prices are. Hence, there is no way we can compare their prices. We can infer from the given information that NOTHING about men and women’s cotton socks’ prices is being talked about. This is why the answer is “NOT GIVEN“.
Note: The question asks you to write TRUE, FALSE & NOT GIVEN. Therefore, do not write T, F, NG/ YES, NO, NG for answers to the questions 1-7.
Question 2: Men’s silk shirts are available in more than five colours. Answer: NOT GIVEN.
Explanation: To find the answer to this question, you have to first look for Men’s silk shirt, which is mentioned both in –
For under $25
Silk shirts M – five sizes, in designer colours, for that special social occasion.
For under $50
Silk shirts M W – plain and patterned, all sizes.
From this information, you can surmise that ‘Men’s silk shirt comes with designer colour (mentioned in the line “Silk shirts M – five sizes, in designer colours, for that special social occasion”) but you cannot be sure how many colours are available. It talks about five sizes, not five colours. Consequently, the answer is NOT GIVEN.
Question 3: Children’s T-shirts come in a variety of colours. Answer: FALSE.
Explanation: The paragraph ‘For under $25‘ includes details on Children’s T-shirt. The line “T-shirts C – hard-wearing, white with a variety of animal motifs” very clearly mentions that these T-shirts are white. They come with a variety of animal motifs (motif means a decorative image or design) but all of them are white. So the answer is ‘FALSE‘.
Question 4: The child’s jacket has four pockets. Answer: NOT GIVEN.
Explanation: Let’s see what the passage reports about child’s jacket. We can find this information in paragraph ‘For under $50’: Hooded jacket C – protects from the wind, 4 sizes, large strong pockets. Another jacket is for W (Women), so it is unrelated.
If we examine the line “Hooded jacket C – protects from the wind, 4 sizes, large strong pockets” we can say that children’s jacket (hooded jacket to be more specific) comes in four different sizes, it protects children from the wind and has large strong pockets. But it says nothing about how many pockets it has! This is why the answer to this question would be ‘NOT GIVEN‘.
Question 5: If you buy clothes worth $80 in August, you will receive a free alarm clock. Answer: TRUE.
Explanation: To determine the answer to this question, we need to move to the “Additional monthly specials for July to September” section that lists down the line ”
August – Travel alarm clock worth $19.95 free with purchases of $80 or more!
This offer says that if someone purchases clothes worth $80 or more ($80 purchase is eligible) he/she will receive a travel alarm clock (or simply alarm clock) for free. Consequently, the answer is definitely TRUE.
Question 6: The charge for special next-day delivery in Australia is $7.95. Answer: FALSE.
Explanation: The delivery charges within Australia is mentioned in –
Within Australia:
$7.95 per address, regular post
$17.95 for Express Delivery Service (overnight)
So we just need to examine these two lines to be sure if the special next-day delivery charge in Australia is $7.95. It is quite obvious that next-day (also known as overnight) delivery falls under the Express Delivery Service which would cost $17.95 NOT $7.95. So, the answer is ‘FALSE‘.
Question 7: All clothing is guaranteed to arrive within two months for international delivery. Answer: FALSE.
Explanation: Overseas shipments are done either via Surface Mail or Airmail.
Surface Mail (mail that is transported by land and sea) requires at least two months for delivery (it can take two months or can take more than two months. No guarantee about how long it will take).
Airmail usually takes around two weeks to complete the product delivery to most destinations, (NOT ALL DESTINATIONS). Therefore it does not guarantee a two months/two weeks international shipment.
Considering these two delivery methods and the probable time they require, we can safely conclude that ‘all clothing is guaranteed to arrive within two months for international delivery’ is not correct. Therefore, the answer is ‘FALSE‘.
Answer Explanation – New Book Releases
Question 8-14:
Read the “New Book Releases” passage and answer question 8-14. Write answers, i-xi, in boxes 8-14 on your answer sheet. Two examples have been done for you.
Choose the correct title for each book from the list of book titles below.
8. Book A
9. Book B
10. Book C
Example Book D Answer vi
11. Book E
12. Book F
13. Book G
14. Book H
Example Book I Answer vii
Note: Since two book titles (for book D and I) have already been given, we can omit options vi and vii from our answer choices. Look for other options while matching the book titles.
Question 8: Book A. Answer: x. [Guide to the Art of the Australian Desert]
Explanation: Book A describes the creativity of Aboriginal people (also known as indigenous, native, earliest, first, ancient population.) living in the driest parts of Australia (which means Deserts). Stunning reproductions of paintings (paintings that have been painted by those indigenous people), beautiful photography and informative text.
We now need to find out the most suitable title for this book from the given options:
i. Field Guide to Native Birds of Australia
ii. The Bush on Two Wheels: 100 Top Rides
iii. Bush Foods of Australian Aborigines
iv. A Pictorial History of the Dinosaur in Australia
v. Bushwalking in Australia
vi. World Geographica
vii. Driving Adventures for 4-wheel-drive Vehicles
viii. Survival Techniques in the Wild
ix. Encyclopaedia of Australian Wildlife
x. Guide to the Art of the Australian Desert
xi. Field Guide to Animals of the World
[We have stroked through options vi and vii as they are already used for example books C & I. We would not even look at the descriptions of books C & I to answer questions 8-14]
If we now look at our options, i to xi (excluding vi & vii), we will find the most suitable title for the Book A.
‘Option i‘ is about Native Birds of Australia. Hence, not our answer.
‘Option ii’ is talking about the Bush on Two Wheels: 100 Top Rides. Not our answer either.
This way all the options till ‘x’ could be discarded since they are not talking about the creativity of Aboriginal people (arts).
‘Option x‘ has a title fitting for a book which delineates the creativity of Australian aboriginal people who lived in the desert. Look at the confusing part of the book title, it’s not talking about the aboriginal people, rather their arts (creativity). To make things confusing the title has not mentioned the aboriginal people, which could have made the answer too obvious. We know from the Book A’s description that aboriginal people are living in the driest parts of Australia, which means they are Australian Desert population.
Question 9: Book C. Answer: i. [Field Guide to Native Birds of Australia]
Explanation: Book B is an illustration with detailed information on the nesting sites and migration patterns of Australia.
‘Nesting site’ means a place chosen by a bird for building its nest and laying eggs. Hence the ‘option i’ is the obvious answer here. Moreover, ‘migration patterns of Australia’ in the book description indicate how native birds in Australia migrate (note people’s migration patterns).
Question 10: Book C. Answer: v. [Bushwalking in Australia]
Explanation: Book C is intended for the avid hiker. Besides, this book guides a hiker’s journeys on foot.
Note: A ‘hiker’ is a person who walks for long distances and ‘Bushwalking’ means hiking or backpacking
Hence this book is about how to Bushwalk. Now the ‘forests of the southern continent’ part of the book description imply the southern continent in Australia, in relation to the previous two books. So the obvious choice of this book’s title is ‘Bushwalking in Australia’.
[Note: Book D’s title has already been given as an example. Hence we would not even read the Book D’s description.]
Question 11: Book E. Answer: ii. [The Bush on Two Wheels: 100 Top Rides]
Explanation: Book E is Australia’s premier mountain biking guidebook – taking readers through a host of national parks and state forests.
Biking means riding a bicycle or a motorcycle (two-wheeler). Now the available options we have for our answer choice are-
ii. The Bush on Two Wheels: 100 Top Rides
iii. Bush Foods of Australian Aborigines
iv. A Pictorial History of the Dinosaur in Australia
viii. Survival Techniques in the Wild
ix. Encyclopaedia of Australian Wildlife
xi. Field Guide to Animals of the World
Now, by observing above options, we clearly can notice that only option ii is taking about two-wheeler’s and how to ride in state forests and national parks. The title ‘The Bush on Two Wheels: 100 Top Rides’ is thus the most suitable one here.
Question 12: Book F. Answer: ix. [Encyclopaedia of Australian Wildlife]
Explanation: Book E describes the A-Z of Australian native animals – take an in-depth look at their lives and characteristics, through fantastic photographs and informative text.
A-Z of the Australian native animals means a thorough description (that’s what an Encyclopedia is about) of Australian native animals (wildlife). The answer is, therefore, ix (Encyclopaedia of Australian Wildlife).
Question 13: Book G. Answer: iv. [A Pictorial History of the Dinosaur in Australia]
Explanation: Book G tells us that it is a book that deals with how prehistoric animals lived and died on the Australian continent and Graphic artists have worked with researchers and scientists to illustrate these prehistoric animals.
The description informs us that this book is about prehistoric animals in Australia. The illustrator had to rely on researchers and scientists to work on this book. Now, look at the title options we have left –
iii. Bush Foods of Australian Aborigines
iv. A Pictorial History of the Dinosaur in Australia
viii. Survival Techniques in the Wild
xi. Field Guide to Animals of the World
From the above list, only ‘option iv’ deals with the prehistoric Australian animals and is a pictorial. This is why our best option for the title of this book is ‘iv. A Pictorial History of the Dinosaur in Australia’.
Question 14: Book H. Answer: viii. [Survival Techniques in the Wild]
Explanation: Book H is an ultimate (definitive) handbook on outdoor safety – with a specific focus on equipment, nutrition, first aid, special clothing and bush skills.
We understand from the description that this book is an ultimate guide to our safety and survival in the wild (outdoor). From the remaining choices, which are –
iii. Bush Foods of Australian Aborigines
viii. Survival Techniques in the Wild
xi. Field Guide to Animals of the World
we can easily discard options iii & xi and then our remaining option is viii. Survival Techniques in the Wild, which is a fitting title for the Book H.
[Note: Write correct number i-xi in boxes 8-14 on your answer sheet. Do not write full book title, i.e. Survival Techniques in the Wild. ]
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