# Marine Debris Impact Study: answers and explanations

Cambridge IELTS 14, Test 4, Reading Passage 3

Source: Passage, questions and answer key from Cambridge IELTS 14, Test 4, Reading Passage 3. © Cambridge University Press & Assessment. Used for educational practice. Explanations and evidence notes are written by Testmigo.

## Answer key

| Q | Answer | Proof |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 27 | FALSE | Plenty of studies have sounded alarm bells about the state of marine debris |
| 28 | NOT GIVEN | a study could show that certain seabirds eat plastic bags |
| 29 | FALSE | But the truth was that nobody had yet tested those perceived threats |
| 30 | TRUE | Within each paper, they asked what threats scientists had studied |
| 31 | FALSE | In 83 percent of cases, the perceived dangers of ocean trash were proven true. |
| 32 | TRUE | only one well-designed study failed to find the effect it was looking for |
| 33 | NOT GIVEN | an investigation of mussels ingesting microscopic plastic bits |
| 34 | large | Most of the dangers also involved large pieces of debris |
| 35 | microplastic | Rochman's group found little research on the effects of these tiny bits |
| 36 | populations | rather than whole populations |
| 37 | concentrations | scientists often use higher concentrations of plastic than what's really in the ocean. |
| 38 | predators | or how deaths in one species could affect that animal's predators |
| 39 | disasters | scientists don't know exactly how disasters such as a tanker accidentally spilling its whole cargo of oil |
| 40 | A | Rochman and her colleagues set out to determine how many of those perceived risks are real. |

## Why these answers are right

**27. FALSE.** The statement says Rochman's team were the first to research marine debris. Paragraph B says plenty of studies had already sounded alarm bells about it, and the team reviewed more than a hundred earlier papers, so others had studied the problem before them and the statement is false.

**28. NOT GIVEN.** The statement claims certain seabirds are the creatures most at risk from ocean trash. Paragraph C uses seabirds eating plastic bags only as a hypothetical example of a study, and the passage never ranks which animals face the greatest danger, so this is not given.

**29. FALSE.** The statement says the reviewed studies had already proved some bird populations will soon die out. Paragraph C explains that warnings about whole bird populations were speculation, and that nobody had yet tested those perceived threats. Untested is the opposite of proved, so the statement is false.

The why and the trap for questions 30 onwards are free with an account on the [answers page](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/marine-debris-impact-study/answers).

[Practice Marine Debris Impact Study](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/marine-debris-impact-study)