Cambridge IELTS 4 · General Training · Test 2 · Section 3
Understanding Bee Behaviour — IELTS Reading Answers
All 13 answers for Understanding Bee Behaviour, Cambridge IELTS 4 General Training Reading Test 2 Section 3, with the passage evidence and an explanation for each.
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Understanding Bee Behaviour 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 (Q28–34), Note Completion (Q35–37), Sentence Completion (Q38–40). Each section below gives the strategy for that question type, the answers, and the sentence that proves them.
Questions 28–34: 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.
Section A
“For bees are arguably the only animals apart from humans which have their own language”
Heading vi fits Section A, which claims bees are 'the only animals apart from humans which have their own language'.
Section B
“Von Frisch realised that, in some way, messages were being passed on back at the hive, messages which said, 'Out there, at this spot, you're going to find food.'”
Heading iv fits Section B, where hive messages said 'at this spot, you're going to find food', communicating a food location.
Section C
“He found that, once the scout bees arrived back at the hive, they would perform one of three dance types”
Heading x fits Section C, which reports that scout bees 'would perform one of three dance types' back at the hive.
Section D
“Experimenting further, von Frisch unravelled the mystery of the first two related types, the round and the sickle dances. These dances, he concluded, told the bees simply that, within quite short distances of the hive there was a food source worth chasing”
Heading viii fits Section D, where the 'round and the sickle dances' told bees food lay 'within quite short distances of the hive'.
Section E
“On a hunch, he started gradually moving the feeding dish further and further away and noticed as he did so, that the dances of the returning scout bees also started changing The measurement of the actual distance too, he concluded, was precise.”
Heading vii fits Section E, where the dances changed as the dish moved 'further and further away' and distance was measured precisely.
Section F
“The outside dance was fairly easy to decode: the straight portion of the dance pointed directly to the food source, so the bees would merely have to decode the distance message and fly off in that direction to find their food”
Heading ii fits Section F, where 'the straight portion of the dance pointed directly to the food source', giving direction.
Section G
“But by studying the dance on the inner wall of the hive, von Frisch discovered a remarkable method which the dancer used to tell her sisters the direction of the food in relation to the sun”
Heading v fits Section G, which reveals how the dancer told her sisters 'the direction of the food in relation to the sun'.
Questions 35–37: Note Completion
Strategy: Predict the word class from the note, find the paraphrase of the note's keyword in the passage, then copy the answer exactly within the word limit.
“In the second dance, clearly an extended version of this round dance”
The blank needs a dance name; von Frisch called the second dance 'an extended version of this round dance', the basic pattern.
“Experimenting further, von Frisch unravelled the mystery of the first two related types, the round and the sickle dances”
The blank needs the first two related dances; the text names 'the round and the sickle dances' as that pair.
“But once he moved it past 36 metres, the scouts would then start dancing the third, quite different, waggle dance”
The blank needs the third dance type: past 36 metres the scouts performed 'the third, quite different, waggle dance'.
Questions 38–40: Sentence Completion
Strategy: Find the stem's keyword in the passage, then complete the sentence with the exact words the grammar requires, within the word limit.
“On a hunch, he started gradually moving the feeding dish further and further away and noticed as he did so, that the dances of the returning scout bees also started changing”
The blank needs the object von Frisch moved; he began 'moving the feeding dish further and further away' to test the dances.
“the straight portion of the dance pointed directly to the food source, so the bees would merely have to decode the distance message and fly off in that direction to find their food”
The blank needs what the dance pointed towards; the straight run 'pointed directly to the food source'.
“However, if, for example, the feeding place is 40° to the left of the sun, then the dancer would run 40° to the left of the vertical line”
The blank needs the reference point for the angle; a feeding place '40° to the left of the sun' is shown by running left of vertical.
Learn the question types in this section
Frequently asked questions
Where does the Understanding Bee Behaviour passage come from?
It is Section 3 of Cambridge IELTS 4 General Training Reading Test 2, and it covers Questions 28–40.
What question types appear in Understanding Bee Behaviour?
The section is tested with Matching Headings, Note Completion, Sentence 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.