Cambridge IELTS 12 · Academic · Test 1 · Passage 3
What’s The Purpose Of Gaining Knowledge? — IELTS Reading Answers
All 14 answers for What’s The Purpose Of Gaining Knowledge?, Cambridge IELTS 12 Academic Reading Test 1 Passage 3, with the passage evidence and an explanation for each.
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What’s The Purpose Of Gaining Knowledge? answer key at a glance
Questions 27–40. Tap an answer to see the evidence.
What this passage tests
This passage is tested with Matching Headings (Q27–32), Summary Completion (Q33–36), Yes / No / Not Given (Q37–40). Each section below gives the strategy for that question type, the answers, and the sentence that proves them.
Questions 27–32: 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
“But what would the founders of these two institutions have thought of a course called ‘Arson for Profit’? I kid you not: we have it on the books”
Section A raises the provocative Arson for Profit course now on the books and questions what the institutions' founders would think, matching heading vi.
Section B
“But wouldn’t this also be the perfect course for prospective arsonists to sign up for?”
Section B asks whether the course would also be perfect for prospective arsonists, the worry that it could help wrongdoers, which is heading viii.
Section C
“After all, a subject matter can have principles in the sense of being codified, having rules, as with football or chess, without being principled in the sense of being ethical. Many of the students immediately assumed that the answer to my question about marketing principles was obvious: no.”
Section C separates being codified from being ethical, showing a subject's principles need not mean morality, which is heading ii.
Section D
“I made the suggestion, which may sound downright crazy in light of the evidence, that perhaps marketing is by definition principled”
Section D offers the apparently crazy suggestion that marketing is by definition principled, the provocative claim heading iv covers.
Section E
“A field of knowledge or a professional endeavor is defined by both the means and the end; hence both deserve scrutiny”
Section E insists a field is defined by both the means and the end, so both deserve scrutiny, which is heading iii.
Section F
“As we have seen, someone could use the very same knowledge of means to achieve a much less noble end such as personal profit via destructive, dangerous, reckless activity. But we would not call that firefighting. We have a separate word for it: arson.”
Section F contrasts noble and base uses of the same knowledge, distinguishing firefighting from arson and marketing from fraud, which is heading vii.
Questions 33–36: 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.
“Any undergraduates who have met the academic requirements can sign up for the course in our program in ‘fire science’”
The gap names the academic programme the course belongs to; the passage says undergraduates can sign up to its programme in fire science.
“the course is intended for prospective arson investigators”
The gap names the people the course is designed for; the text says it is intended for prospective arson investigators.
“detecting whether a fire was deliberately set, discovering who did it, and establishing a chain of evidence”
The gap follows chain of in the description of investigative work; the passage says establishing a chain of evidence.
“for effective prosecution in a court of law”
The gap is what a properly established chain of evidence supports in court; the passage says it is needed for effective prosecution.
Questions 37–40: Yes / No / Not Given
Strategy: These test the writer's opinions, not facts. Look for evaluative language, and treat 'may' or 'could' as weaker than the question's claim.
It is difficult to attract students onto courses that do not focus on a career.
“A student can prepare for a career in resort management, engineering, interior design, accounting, music, law enforcement, you name it”
The passage lists many career paths students can prepare for but never discusses whether courses without a career focus struggle to attract students.
The ‘Arson for Profit’ course would be useful for people intending to set fire to buildings.
“But wouldn’t this also be the perfect course for prospective arsonists to sign up for?”
The rhetorical question that the course would be perfect for prospective arsonists affirms it could help people intending to set fires.
Fire science courses are too academic to help people to be good at the job of firefighting.
“My point is not to criticize academic programs in fire science: they are highly welcome as part of the increasing professionalization of this and many other occupations”
The writer explicitly welcomes academic fire science programmes as part of increasing professionalization, denying they are too academic to help practitioners.
The writer’s fire science students provided a detailed definition of the purpose of their studies.
“When I ask fire science students to articulate the end, or purpose, of their field, they eventually generalize to something like, ‘The safety and welfare of society,’”
Students only eventually generalize to something like the safety and welfare of society, so their definition is vague rather than detailed.
Learn the question types in this passage
Frequently asked questions
Where does the What’s The Purpose Of Gaining Knowledge? passage come from?
It is Passage 3 of Cambridge IELTS 12 Academic Reading Test 1, and it covers Questions 27–40.
What question types appear in What’s The Purpose Of Gaining Knowledge??
The passage is tested with Matching Headings, Summary Completion, Yes / No / Not Given. 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.