Cambridge IELTS 13 · Academic · Test 1 · Passage 2
Why Being Bored Is Stimulating – And Useful, Too — IELTS Reading Answers
All 13 answers for Why Being Bored Is Stimulating – And Useful, Too, Cambridge IELTS 13 Academic Reading Test 1 Passage 2, with the passage evidence and an explanation for each.
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Why Being Bored Is Stimulating – And Useful, Too answer key at a glance
Questions 14–26. Tap an answer to see the evidence.
What this passage tests
This passage is tested with Matching Headings (Q14–19), Matching Features (Q20–23), Summary Completion (Q24–26). Each section below gives the strategy for that question type, the answers, and the sentence that proves them.
Questions 14–19: 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
“defining boredom so that it can be studied in the lab has proved difficult”
Paragraph A says 'defining boredom so that it can be studied in the lab has proved difficult', so heading iv, on difficulty of definition, fits.
Paragraph B
“By asking people about their experiences of boredom, Thomas Goetz and his team at the University of Konstanz in Germany have recently identified five distinct types: indifferent, calibrating, searching, reactant and apathetic”
Goetz's team 'identified five distinct types' of boredom, which is exactly the idea of types or categories in heading vi.
Paragraph C
“Mann has found that being bored makes us more creative. ‘We’re all afraid of being bored but in actual fact it can lead to all kinds of amazing things,’”
Mann found that 'being bored makes us more creative', supporting heading i about the unexpected benefits of boredom.
Paragraph D
“For Eastwood, the central feature of boredom is a failure to put our ‘attention system’ into gear. This causes an inability to focus on anything, which makes time seem to go painfully slowly.”
Eastwood locates boredom in a failed 'attention system', making time 'go painfully slowly', which heading v describes as the mechanism.
Paragraph E
“Boredom proneness has been linked with a variety of traits. People who are motivated by pleasure seem to suffer particularly badly. Other personality traits, such as curiosity, are associated with a high boredom threshold.”
Paragraph E links 'boredom proneness' to traits such as pleasure-seeking and curiosity, which is heading viii's focus on personality.
Paragraph F
“‘In modern human society there is a lot of overstimulation but still a lot of problems finding meaning,’ she says. So instead of seeking yet more mental stimulation, perhaps we should leave our phones alone, and use boredom to motivate us to engage with the world in a more meaningful way.”
Wemelsfelder notes 'overstimulation but still a lot of problems finding meaning', matching heading iii about modern life and meaning.
Questions 20–23: Matching Features
Strategy: Match the statement to the named person or thing. Names can repeat, so check each option against what that person actually says.
Peter Toohey
“If disgust protects humans from infection, boredom may protect them from “infectious” social situations”
E fits Toohey, who compares boredom with disgust and suggests boredom protects us from 'infectious' social situations.
Thomas Goetz
“Of the five types, the most damaging is ‘reactant’ boredom with its explosive combination of high arousal and negative emotion”
B fits Goetz, who called 'reactant' boredom 'the most damaging' type, combining high arousal with negative emotion.
John Eastwood
“your efforts to improve the situation can end up making you feel worse”
D fits Eastwood, who notes that 'efforts to improve the situation can end up making you feel worse'.
Francoise Wemelsfelder
“In modern human society there is a lot of overstimulation but still a lot of problems finding meaning”
A fits Wemelsfelder, whose point about overstimulation alongside 'problems finding meaning' concerns meaning in modern society.
Questions 24–26: 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.
“This causes an inability to focus on anything”
The gap needs a verb after 'inability to'; boredom causes 'an inability to focus on anything', so focus fits.
“People who are motivated by pleasure seem to suffer particularly badly”
The summary needs what motivates these people; the passage says those 'motivated by pleasure seem to suffer particularly badly'.
“Other personality traits, such as curiosity, are associated with a high boredom threshold”
The gap asks which trait raises a boredom threshold; the text names 'curiosity' among other personality traits.
Learn the question types in this passage
Frequently asked questions
Where does the Why Being Bored Is Stimulating – And Useful, Too passage come from?
It is Passage 2 of Cambridge IELTS 13 Academic Reading Test 1, and it covers Questions 14–26.
What question types appear in Why Being Bored Is Stimulating – And Useful, Too?
The passage is tested with Matching Headings, Matching Features, 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.