IELTS General Reading Practice Test 12
40 Questions · 60 Minutes · Instant Band Score
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Section 1 — Reading Texts
Passage A: Highfield Community Arts Centre — Autumn Course Guide
Highfield Community Arts Centre offers a range of short courses and creative workshops for local residents. All courses take place at our main centre on Highfield Road and are led by experienced practical tutors.
Course Descriptions and Levels
Introduction to Hand-Built Ceramics: This six-week evening course covers fundamental pottery techniques, including coil building, slab construction and surface glazing. It is designed specifically for beginners with no prior studio experience. All clay, glazes and kiln firings are included in the tuition fee.
Intermediate Watercolour Landscape Painting: Intended for painters who already understand basic colour mixing and wash techniques, this four-week course focuses on perspective, capturing light and outdoor sketching. Participants must supply their own paper, brushes and watercolour paints.
Digital Photography Fundamentals: A four-week weekend course covering camera controls, exposure settings and composition. Students must bring a digital camera that allows manual exposure adjustments. Compact cameras without manual controls are not suitable.
Creative Woodworking Workshop: A practical three-week course teaching the safe use of hand tools, timber joining and surface finishing. All timber and safety equipment are provided.
Age Restrictions and Accessibility
All adult courses are open to participants aged 18 and over. We also offer dedicated Saturday morning sessions for young people aged 12 to 17, provided a parent or guardian signs a consent form before the first class. The arts centre features step-free access, wide doorways and accessible toilet facilities. If you require specialised assistance or sign-language interpretation, contact the centre coordinator at least ten days before your course begins.
Booking, Cancellations and Waiting Lists
Enrolment must be completed online through our secure booking portal. Places are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis upon full payment. If a course is fully booked, prospective students may join an online waiting list. If a place becomes available, people on the list will be notified by email in order of registration. Participants who cancel at least 14 days before the course starts receive a full refund minus a £10 administrative charge. No refunds are issued for later cancellations, although a booking may be transferred to another person with prior written notice.
Passage B: Oakridge Neighbourhood Hall — Resident Hire Guidelines
Booking Eligibility and Requests
Reservations may be made by adult residents living within the Oakridge municipal boundary. Non-resident bookings are accepted only for registered local non-profit organisations. All requests must be submitted through the online venue portal at least 21 days before the event. Provisional bookings are held for five business days. They lapse automatically unless both the required documentation and deposit are received during that period.
Payments, Deposits and Cancellations
A non-refundable booking fee of £25 is charged when a request is submitted. A refundable security deposit of £150 must be paid no later than seven days before the event. It is returned in full within ten working days after the hire, provided the hall is left clean and undamaged. Cancellations notified at least 14 days before the booking receive a full refund of hire charges, excluding the booking fee. Later cancellations forfeit 50% of the hire fee.
Hours, Access and Capacity
The hall is available between 08:00 and 22:30 from Monday to Thursday, and between 08:30 and 23:30 on Fridays and Saturdays. Sunday hire is permitted between 10:00 and 18:00. All events must end and guests must leave by the scheduled closing time. Electronic keycards must be collected from the resident association office on the event day between 09:00 and 12:00. The main hall has a strict maximum capacity of 100 people; management will terminate any event that exceeds this limit.
Noise, Cleaning and Decorations
Amplified music must cease 30 minutes before the end of the hire period. Hirers must sweep the floors, wipe all kitchen surfaces and place rubbish in the external wheelie bins behind the building. Fixing decorations to walls with sticky tape, nails or reusable adhesive is prohibited. Free-standing display boards are provided for notices and decorations.
Questions 1–14
Section 2 — Reading Texts
Passage C: Solis Enterprises — Information Security and Document Management Policy
Section A: Scope and Classification
This policy applies to all employees, temporary workers and third-party contractors. Documents are categorised as Public, Internal or Confidential. Confidential documents include strategic plans, unannounced financial figures, payroll data, customers' personal details and proprietary software code.
Section B: Access and Storage
Access to Confidential documents is granted on a need-to-know basis and must be authorised in writing by the relevant department head. Paper files must be stored in lockable cabinets or secure archive rooms when not in use and must not be left unattended on desks or in communal printing areas. Digital Confidential files must be encrypted and stored on secure company network drives. Saving them on local desktop drives or unencrypted USB memory sticks is prohibited.
Section C: Printing and Electronic Transmission
Employees printing Confidential material must use the secure print-release function and enter a personal identification code at the printer before documents are produced. External electronic transmission must use approved encrypted email channels or secure file-transfer protocols. Sending Confidential information to personal email accounts or unauthorised cloud-storage services is a serious security breach.
Section D: Remote Working and Mobile Storage
Confidential paper documents must not be taken off-site without explicit written permission from the line manager. In public locations, staff must use privacy screens on company laptops. Mobile devices containing work material must be protected by biometrics or strong passcodes and must never be left unattended in vehicles or public venues.
Section E: Disposal and Destruction
Confidential physical documents that are no longer required must be placed in designated locked shredding bins. An accredited waste-disposal contractor destroys their contents. Sensitive paper must never be put in standard recycling bins. Digital Confidential files must be permanently purged according to corporate retention schedules rather than merely moved to electronic rubbish folders.
Section F: Incident Reporting and Managerial Duties
Any loss, theft, unauthorised disclosure or accidental transmission of Confidential information must be reported to the IT Security Helpdesk within two hours of discovery. Line managers must initiate an internal risk assessment and submit a preliminary report to the compliance director within 24 hours. They must also ensure that team members complete annual information-security refresher training.
Passage D: Meridian Health — Employee IT Equipment-Loan Scheme
Eligibility and Requests
The scheme is open to permanent full-time and part-time staff and temporary employees whose contracts last longer than three months. Agency workers and external consultants are ineligible. Employees must complete a digital requisition form on the staff intranet, state the required items and give an operational justification. The applicant's line manager must approve the request electronically before it is sent to IT Services.
Collection and Loan Periods
Approved applicants receive an automated email confirming that equipment is ready at the IT Service Desk. Equipment must be collected within three days of notification or it returns to general inventory. Standard loans for laptops, tablets and portable projectors last up to 30 days. Specialised diagnostic tools and accessibility accessories may be borrowed for up to 90 days.
Extensions, Care and Personal Use
An extension request must be submitted through the intranet at least five days before the return deadline. Extensions depend on equipment availability and manager approval. Borrowers must keep equipment safe, clean and operational. Loaned equipment is strictly for professional use; installing unauthorised personal software, streaming commercial entertainment or allowing family members to use it is prohibited.
Faults, Repairs and Late Returns
A technical fault or physical damage must be reported to the IT Service Desk within 24 hours. Employees must not attempt repairs or take equipment to external repair shops. Overdue equipment without an approved extension results in temporary suspension of loan privileges. Repeated late returns may lead to formal departmental escalation and recovery of costs in accordance with the organisation's employment procedures.
Questions 15–27
Section 3 — Reading Text
Passage E: Designing for Renewal — The Return of Repairable Products
Paragraph A
In some manufacturing sectors, designers have prioritised rapid assembly, compact dimensions and low production costs over ease of repair. Appliances, personal electronics and domestic tools may therefore be built as integrated units that are difficult or uneconomical to service when one component wears out. Automated production can make replacement relatively inexpensive, while diagnosis and manual repair still require skilled labour. In such circumstances, owners may replace an otherwise functional product because repairing a minor fault appears inconvenient or disproportionately costly.
Paragraph B
The pursuit of slim profiles and seamless enclosures can reinforce this problem. Conventional screws and removable clips may be replaced by permanent industrial adhesives, ultrasonic welding and proprietary press-fit connectors. Components may also be attached directly to structural panels or integrated onto main circuit boards. These methods can simplify factory assembly, but permanent industrial adhesives can make non-destructive product disassembly extremely difficult for independent technicians and owners attempting routine maintenance.
Paragraph C
Interest in maintainable products has nevertheless grown among buyers who want expensive goods to remain useful for longer. A device that becomes unusable when a seal, charging port or rechargeable cell fails can seem poor value even when its main systems still work. Some manufacturers have responded by reconsidering how parts are joined and how maintenance is supported. For them, repairability can strengthen customer confidence by giving buyers a practical route to restore a product instead of immediately replacing it.
Paragraph D
Central to repairable design is modular construction. Instead of combining several functions in one inseparable structure, a modular product consists of distinct sub-assemblies that can be detached and replaced. Wear-prone parts such as power connectors or battery modules can then be removed with standard hand tools without disturbing the main circuitry. Modularity may also allow users to install upgraded components over time, extending the useful life of the core item without requiring complete replacement.
Paragraph E
Repairability introduces engineering compromises. Straightforward disassembly may require extra clearance for fasteners, accessible wiring channels and mounting points, potentially increasing a product's dimensions or weight. Removable panels can still resist water and dust, but doing so may require specialised gaskets and carefully designed seals. Engineers must therefore balance accessibility with durability, manufacturing cost, appearance and the performance expected from the finished product.
Paragraph F
Hardware design alone does not create a workable repair system. Independent repairers and owners also need technical documentation, diagnostic information and replacement parts. When manuals or diagnostic software are restricted, identifying a fault can become unnecessarily difficult. Similarly, a replaceable component offers little practical benefit if it cannot be purchased separately or costs almost as much as a new product. An effective repair system therefore requires clear service guidance and a dependable supply of spare parts at reasonable prices.
Paragraph G
Repairability is not a universal solution. Severe structural damage or widespread internal wear may make restoration disproportionately expensive, while an unsafe product should not remain in service merely because some components can be replaced. Older equipment may also perform its task so inefficiently that continued maintenance is less sensible than moving to a safer, more efficient alternative. Decisions about repair must consider the item's condition, safety, labour costs and remaining operational value rather than assuming that repair is always preferable.
Paragraph H
A successful repair system depends on choices made throughout a product's life. Designers determine whether components can be reached; manufacturers decide whether documentation and parts will be available; repair providers need suitable skills and tools; and retailers can help customers understand available support. Users also influence the outcome through maintenance and purchasing choices. No participant can guarantee repairability alone, but coordinated decisions can make useful products easier to maintain, upgrade and restore.
Questions 28–40
- The necessity of diagnostic information and spare-part availability
- Engineering trade-offs between dimensions, durability and accessibility
- Background to replacement becoming an attractive option
- How industrial adhesives improve product safety
- Physical design choices that obstruct disassembly
- Modularity as a foundation for repair and renewal
- Guaranteed savings from purchasing new electronics
- Changing expectations concerning product maintainability
- Situations in which repair may be unsuitable
- The effect of international legislation on manufacturing
Your Result
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