ENSpeak the language you have been studying.
DESprich die Sprache, die du gelernt hast.
ESHabla el idioma que has estudiado.
ARتكلم اللغة التي درستها.
HIजो भाषा पढ़ी है, उसे बोलो।
URوہ زبان بولو جو سیکھی ہے۔
ZH说出你学过的那门语言。
PTFale o idioma que você estudou.
FRParle la langue que tu as étudiée.
JA勉強してきた言語を話そう。
ENSpeak the language you have been studying.
DESprich die Sprache, die du gelernt hast.
ESHabla el idioma que has estudiado.
ARتكلم اللغة التي درستها.
HIजो भाषा पढ़ी है, उसे बोलो।
URوہ زبان بولو جو سیکھی ہے۔
ZH说出你学过的那门语言。
PTFale o idioma que você estudou.
FRParle la langue que tu as étudiée.
JA勉強してきた言語を話そう。

IELTS Reading: business and economics passages

Companies, markets, trade, tourism and money: how economies and businesses work.

62 passages mainly about business and economics · 176 more that touch on it · from 208 full tests

Passages mainly about business and economics

Each passage opens as a timed 20-minute practice with its 13–14 questions. Submit to see your band estimate and the sentence that proves every answer.

Show 14 more business and economics passages

Other passages that cover business and economics

These passages have a different main subject but deal with business and economics along the way.

176 passages

Key business and economics vocabulary

Words worth knowing before you read about business and economics, each with the sentence it appears in.

WordMeaningExample from a passage
coerce
verb
force a person or state to act by threats or pressure.“Governments that wish to punish or coerce another state without going to war” Test 416
consensus
noun
general agreement among the members of a group.“the collapse of the political consensus among white voters” Test 416
cushion
verb
to reduce the harmful effect of something.“partly because the government spent heavily to cushion the impact” Test 416
defensible
adjective
able to be justified or shown to be reasonable.“They are most defensible when the goal is narrow and the coalition behind them is broad.” Test 416
unprecedented
adjective
never having happened or existed before.“The measures imposed on Russia after 2022 tested these arguments on an unprecedented scale.” Test 416
asymmetries
noun
situations in which one side has more than the other“The case for openness begins with asymmetries of information.” Test 419
disclosures
noun
acts of making information known to the public“that such disclosures have narrowed it, though modestly” Test 419
transparency
noun
the quality of being open about information and decisions“Supporters of full transparency argue that secrecy is, in effect, a subsidy to the employer.” Test 419
constrained
verb
limited or restricted in what is possible“pay is already constrained by budgets and by politics” Test 419
reluctant
adjective
unwilling to do something“Employees, for their part, may be reluctant to accept extra responsibility” Test 419
registers
verb
notices or becomes aware of something without deliberate effort“Colour is one of the first things a shopper registers” Test 425
cues
noun
signals that help someone remember or recognise something“colour is one of the cues people recall most readily” Test 425
odourless
adjective
having no smell at all“a white wine that had been coloured red with an odourless dye” Test 425
compounded
verb
made worse by an additional problem or difficulty“On a screen the problem is compounded, because the colour a designer sees” Test 425
restraint
noun
the quality of holding back and avoiding excess“There is also a practical argument for restraint.” Test 425
allegiance
noun
loyal support given to a person, group or team“Supporters pay for tickets and shirts and pass their allegiance to their children” Test 430
scattered
adjective
spread over a wide area rather than gathered in one place“a clearer reason to run a club efficiently than a scattered membership does” Test 430
reconcile
verb
to make two things that are in conflict exist together successfully“higher spending on players, and the two are difficult to reconcile” Test 430
disclosure
noun
the act of making information public that was previously hidden“full disclosure of ownership and debt” Test 430
blunt
adjective
not precise or delicate; too rough to deal with a complex problem“it is too blunt an instrument to be the whole answer” Test 430
casting vote
phrase
the deciding vote given by a chairperson when the other votes are equal“has a casting vote when the board is evenly divided” Test 433
diversify
verb
to spread money or effort across several different things to reduce risk“cannot diversify in the same way, and loses far more if the firm fails” Test 433
constituencies
noun
groups of people whose interests an organisation or person must represent“A board that must satisfy two constituencies may take longer to reach decisions” Test 433
confidential
adjective
intended to be kept secret and shared only with certain people“confidential information discussed at board level will be harder to protect” Test 433

Question types in these passages

  • Yes / No / Not Given · 137 passages
  • Multiple choice · 124 passages
  • Summary completion (word list) · 78 passages
  • Matching features · 48 passages
  • True / False / Not Given · 44 passages
  • Summary completion · 43 passages
  • Matching sentence endings · 42 passages
  • Matching information · 35 passages
  • Multiple choice (choose more than one) · 33 passages
  • Matching headings · 33 passages
  • Sentence completion · 15 passages
  • Table completion · 14 passages
  • Short-answer questions · 13 passages
  • Note completion · 11 passages
  • Flow-chart completion · 10 passages
  • Diagram label completion · 1 passages

Practise one question type at a time →

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