Cambridge IELTS 13 · General Training · Test 1 · Section 3
A Visit To Oymyakon, The World’s Coldest Town — IELTS Reading Answers
All 13 answers for A Visit To Oymyakon, The World’s Coldest Town, Cambridge IELTS 13 General Training Reading Test 1 Section 3, with the passage evidence and an explanation for each.
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A Visit To Oymyakon, The World’s Coldest Town answer key at a glance
Questions 28–40. Tap an answer to see the evidence.
What this section tests
This section is tested with Matching Headings (Q28–36), Summary Completion (Q37–40). Each section below gives the strategy for that question type, the answers, and the sentence that proves them.
Questions 28–36: Matching Headings
Strategy: Read the paragraph first and summarise its main idea in five words. Choose the heading that matches the whole paragraph, not a repeated keyword.
Paragraph A
“But for hour after hour, the wintry wonderland was bathed in a crisp, clean sunshine, presenting a continuous panorama of conifer trees wreathed in silence and snow”
Heading ix fits paragraph A, which is a landscape description: 'crisp, clean sunshine' over 'a continuous panorama of conifer trees'.
Paragraph B
“As we left the flat plain, the road began to twist and turn, leading us into untouched hills and on towards the Verkhoyansk Mountains”
Heading iv suits paragraph B, where the road 'began to twist and turn' into 'untouched hills' towards the Verkhoyansk Mountains.
Paragraph C
“Despite the magical ambience of the Siberian wilderness, its reputation for hardship hit me every time I climbed out of the vehicle. Within less than a minute, the skin all over my face began to feel as if it were burning. If I wasn't wearing my two sets of gloves, I rapidly lost the feeling in my fingertips.”
Heading ii matches paragraph C's account of hardship: burning skin, numb fingertips and coughing after a deep breath of cold air.
Paragraph D
“Oymyakon is a quiet little town – the world's coldest – of about 550 inhabitants, with its own power station, a school, two shops and a small hospital. It probably originated as a seasonal settlement where reindeer herders spent the summer on the banks of the Indigirka River”
Heading iii describes paragraph D's settlement: a 'quiet little town' of 'about 550 inhabitants' with its own power station and shops.
Paragraph E
“It is far from the ocean, with its moderating effect on air temperature. In addition, the town sits in a valley, below the general level of the Oymyakon Plateau, which, in turn, is enclosed on all sides by mountains up to 2,000 metres in height”
Heading vi explains paragraph E's geography: far from 'the ocean', set in 'a valley' enclosed by mountains up to 2,000 metres.
Paragraph F
“Day-to-day life in Oymyakon presents certain challenges during the long winters. There are hardly any modern household conveniences. Water is hacked out of the nearby river as great chunks of ice and dragged home on a sledge”
Heading x captures paragraph F's 'challenges', where water is hacked out of the river as ice and dragged home on a sledge.
Paragraph G
“Everybody in Oymyakon owns good boots, a hat made of animal fur and fur-lined mittens”
Heading vii fits paragraph G's clothing: 'good boots', a hat 'made of animal fur' and fur-lined mittens for the cold.
Paragraph H
“Oymyakon's two shops keep a decent stock of basic foods in tins and packets, but locals also have do-it-yourself options, including hunting, trapping, ice-fishing, reindeer-breeding and horse-breeding”
Heading i suits paragraph H's food supply: shop stocks plus 'hunting, trapping, ice-fishing, reindeer-breeding and horse-breeding'.
Paragraph I
“Spring is the best season here, I'm told. The snow melts, the river flows once more and the forest is full of wild flowers. But it's short. In the summer Oymyakon can be uncomfortably hot. Much of the forest becomes boggy, so mosquitoes are a constant presence”
Heading viii covers paragraph I's seasons, from spring flowers and a short season to a hot, boggy, mosquito-filled summer.
Questions 37–40: Summary Completion
Strategy: Read the summary as a paragraph first to establish the logic, then locate the missing idea in the passage. With a lettered list, confirm the grammar fits.
“It is far from the ocean, with its moderating effect on air temperature”
The summary needs the place the town is far from; the text says 'It is far from the ocean', so ocean fits.
“In addition, the town sits in a valley, below the general level of the Oymyakon Plateau”
The town 'sits in a valley', so the noun valley completes the statement about its low position below the plateau.
“enclosed on all sides by mountains up to 2,000 metres in height”
The gap needs a plural geographical feature; the town is 'enclosed on all sides by mountains up to 2,000 metres'.
“As the cold air sinks, it accumulates in the valley, with little wind to disturb it”
Little 'wind' disturbs the cold air that 'accumulates in the valley', so the uncountable noun wind fits.
Learn the question types in this section
Frequently asked questions
Where does the A Visit To Oymyakon, The World’s Coldest Town passage come from?
It is Section 3 of Cambridge IELTS 13 General Training Reading Test 1, and it covers Questions 28–40.
What question types appear in A Visit To Oymyakon, The World’s Coldest Town?
The section is tested with Matching Headings, Summary Completion. Each type is explained on this page, alongside the answers.
Are these reading answers reliable?
Every answer is paired with the sentence that proves it, so you can check each one against the passage yourself. Use the page after a timed attempt, not instead of one.
Cambridge IELTS is published by Cambridge University Press & Assessment. Band9Prep is not affiliated with Cambridge. This page is an independent study aid: it gives the answer key, the passage evidence and an explanation so you can review an attempt you have already made.