# SECRETS OF THE SWARM: answers and explanations

The Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS, Test 3, Reading Passage 1

Source: Passage, questions and answer key from The Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS, Test 3, Reading Passage 1. © Cambridge University Press & Assessment. Used for educational practice. Explanations and evidence notes are written by Testmigo.

## Answer key

| Q | Answer | Proof |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | FALSE | marching like worker ants might be a common simile for city commuters, but it's a damning, not positive, image |
| 2 | FALSE | there's no one ant making decisions or giving orders |
| 3 | NOT GIVEN | At the entrance, they brush past reserve foragers, sending a 'go out' signal. |
| 4 | TRUE | a rush of ants returning without food sends waiting reserves a 'Don't go out' signal |
| 5 | NOT GIVEN | as for example when the mound's wall has been damaged, altering the circulation of air |
| 6 | TRUE | Slowly, without any kind of direct decision-making, a new wall is built. |
| 7 | C | So they came up with a computer model, based on the self-organising principles of an ant colony. |
| 8 | A | by putting forward proposals, or backing up others' suggestions, until a consensus is reached through a vote |
| 9 | E | we just add to what someone - maybe a stranger on the other side of the world - already wrote |
| 10 | scouts | scouts fly off to investigate multiple sites. |
| 11 | waggle dance | When they return they do a 'waggle dance' for their spot |
| 12 | volume | the more vigorous and lengthy their waggle dance and the more bees will choose to visit it ... Gradually the volume of bees builds up towards one site |
| 13 | democratic | it's a system that ensures that support for the best site snowballs and the decision is made in the most democratic way. |

## Why these answers are right

**1. FALSE.** The statement claims the comparison between commuters and worker ants is a flattering one. Paragraph A agrees the simile is common but calls it "a damning, not positive, image", which directly contradicts the idea of a favorable comparison, so the answer is FALSE.

**2. FALSE.** This says certain ants act as leaders. At the end of paragraph B, Gordon's research found that there is no one ant making decisions or giving orders, and the colony decides collectively, so the claim of leadership roles is contradicted and the answer is FALSE.

**3. NOT GIVEN.** The statement is about foragers sharing the distance to food. Paragraph C explains that returning foragers brush past reserves to send a 'go out' signal, and the speed of return matters, but nothing says ants pass on how far away the food is, so it is NOT GIVEN.

The why and the trap for questions 4 onwards are free with an account on the [answers page](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/secrets-of-the-swarm/answers).

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