Cambridge IELTS 17 · General Training · Test 3 · Section 3
Forced Rhubarb — IELTS Reading Answers
All 13 answers for Forced Rhubarb, Cambridge IELTS 17 General Training Reading Test 3 Section 3, with the passage evidence and an explanation for each.
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Forced Rhubarb 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 (Q28–33), One Choice (Q34–36), Summary Completion (Q37–40). Each section below gives the strategy for that question type, the answers, and the sentence that proves them.
Questions 28–33: 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
“He's been growing and selling rhubarb for 62 years since he started picking on the farm aged 11. His son Jonathan works on the farm too, making him the sixth generation of the Westwoods to grow the pink stems or petioles as they are otherwise known”
Heading vi fits Paragraph A's account of Westwood's 62 years on the farm and the sixth generation of his family growing rhubarb.
Paragraph B
“'It doesn't grow as well anywhere else,' insists Westwood”
Heading vii matches Paragraph B, where Westwood insists rhubarb 'doesn't grow as well anywhere else', a claim about local conditions.
Paragraph C
“It's this that is the cream of the crop the upper class of the rhubarb family. Forced rhubarb is the one that's most likely to convert rhubarb haters who've been traumatised by harshly flavoured school pies made from green overgrown outdoor stems”
Heading ii suits Paragraph C's praise of forced rhubarb as 'the cream of the crop the upper class of the rhubarb family'.
Paragraph D
“First the plant roots or crowns are grown outside for more than two years. Then at the start of their third winter they are left in the ground until it is cold enough to break the crown's dormancy”
Heading i fits Paragraph D's description of crowns grown outside for two years, then chilled until dormancy breaks.
Paragraph E
“Each carries a sturdy candle and their pale flickering light reveals a sea of yellow leaves stretching 40 meters to the far wall. The men walk the beds plucking the satiny stems expertly choosing only the ones that have reached the length of an arm”
Heading iv matches Paragraph E's candlelit harvest, where 'pale flickering light reveals a sea of yellow leaves'.
Paragraph F
“So how was this arcane cold dark heat process in use since Victorian times discovered? Westwood's story is appealingly earthy. A gardener threw an old crown onto the horse stable muck pile the manure was hot, and the plant was soon covered”
Heading v fits Paragraph F, which explains how the 'arcane cold dark heat process' was discovered by accident on a manure pile.
Questions 34–36: One Choice
Strategy: Read the question stem and predict the answer before looking at the options. Wrong options often repeat passage words while the correct one paraphrases them.
What aspect of forced rhubarb does the writer praise in paragraph C?
- Aits suitability for pies
- Bthe smoothness of its stems
- Cits superiority over other types of rhubarbcorrect
- Dthe number of places it can be successfully grown
“The slender magenta spears, with a sherbet-tangy flavour and delicate texture are a far cry from that coarse bitter stuff. It’s also a rare local fruit (although technically a vegetable) at a time when imports dominate and a welcome splash of color in the drab winter months.”
Option C: the writer calls forced rhubarb 'the cream of the crop the upper class of the rhubarb family', ranking it above ordinary stems.
Why does the writer think forced rhubarb has become more popular among cooking experts?
- Ait is cheap and easy to grow
- Bit is attractive and pleasant to eatcorrect
- Clocal farmers are producing more of it
- Dimported varieties are in limited supply
“The slender magenta spears, with a sherbet-tangy flavour and delicate texture are a far cry from that coarse bitter stuff.”
Option B: praise for the 'slender magenta spears, with a sherbet-tangy flavour and delicate texture' covers both looks and taste.
In the final paragraph the writer suggests that forced rhubarb was first produced
- Aby accidentcorrect
- Bas animal feed
- Cthrough trial and error
- Dwhile growing something else
“A gardener threw an old crown onto the horse stable muck pile the manure was hot, and the plant was soon covered. The stable boy must have been puzzled by the startling pink spears that came pushing through the dirt a week or two later but happily he had the good sense to gather them.”
Option A: a gardener simply 'threw an old crown onto the horse stable muck pile', and heat and covering did the rest.
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.
“In the warm and dark the shoots appear so quickly that the buds can be heard gently popping”
The gap needs a sound word; in the warm dark the buds 'can be heard gently popping' as shoots grow.
“It’s a relief when a team of pullers arrive all local men some of whom have been working for Westwood for 40 years”
A plural noun for the harvesting team is needed; 'a team of pullers' arrives to work the beds.
“Each carries a sturdy candle and their pale flickering light reveals a sea of yellow leaves stretching 40 meters to the far wall”
The gap names what each man carries; 'each carries a sturdy candle' that lights the beds.
“Each carries a sturdy candle and their pale flickering light reveals a sea of yellow leaves stretching 40 meters to the far wall. The men walk the beds plucking the satiny stems expertly choosing only the ones that have reached the length of an arm”
A body measure is needed: stems are taken once they reach 'the length of an arm'.
Learn the question types in this section
Frequently asked questions
Where does the Forced Rhubarb passage come from?
It is Section 3 of Cambridge IELTS 17 General Training Reading Test 3, and it covers Questions 28–40.
What question types appear in Forced Rhubarb?
The section is tested with Matching Headings, One Choice, 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.