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How to use this lesson

For the Teacher

Set an 18-minute countdown and have students complete the 10 questions individually without dictionaries.

Review answers by projecting the explanations and discussing why surface word matching leads to wrong options.

For the Learner

First, skim the four paragraphs A to D in two minutes to understand the main topic and structure.

Next, underline keywords in each question and locate exact evidence in the text before selecting your answer.

IELTS Academic Reading

What Makes a Team Work Well

Read the passage below and answer Questions 1–10.

A diverse group of modern researchers and professionals collaborating calmly around a wooden table in a contemporary gla

A

Google studied 180 of its own teams: 115 project teams in engineering and 65 small sales groups, which it calls pods. It describes this research in a guide that it first published in 2015.

B

Google's researchers named five dynamics of effective teams: psychological safety, dependability, structure and clarity, meaning, and impact. They found that what mattered was less who was on the team and more how the team worked together.

psychological safety dependability structure & clarity meaning impact

C

In 2010 the journal Science published a study in which researchers placed 699 people in groups of two to five and gave them tasks to do together. The average and the maximum intelligence of the members were not strongly linked to how well a group did. Groups did better when the members had higher social sensitivity and when one person did not dominate the talking.

D

The writer's own cautious view, hedged ('I think', 'it seems'): these facts seem to show that a team is more than a list of clever people, and I think both studies suggest that how people work together matters a lot. Google studied only its own teams, and the groups in 2010 were small and worked on set tasks, so the facts here do not show that the same results hold for every team or every workplace.

Questions 1–3

Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in the text?

YES if the statement agrees with the views of the writer

NO if the statement contradicts the views of the writer

NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

1 How members interact with one another is more critical to team performance than who those individual members are.

____ YES ____ NO ____ NOT GIVEN

2 Groups evaluated in the 2010 study performed best when they included at least one member with exceptional intelligence.

____ YES ____ NO ____ NOT GIVEN

3 Google spent multiple years researching its teams before publishing its guide in 2015.

____ YES ____ NO ____ NOT GIVEN

Questions 4–5

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C, or D.

4 According to the 2010 study in the journal Science, teams achieved superior outcomes when

____ A. members had comparable levels of maximum intelligence. ____ B. speaking time was not controlled by a single participant. ____ C. the size of the team exceeded five people. ____ D. members possessed technical backgrounds in engineering.

5 What is the writer's perspective regarding the applicability of both studies?

____ A. The conclusions conclusively prove how all corporate departments should function. ____ B. Both studies were too flawed in their methodology to offer useful insights. ____ C. One cannot be certain that their findings apply universally to every work setting. ____ D. Engineering pods demonstrate greater dependability than sales groups.

Questions 6–7

Which paragraph contains the following information? Choose the correct letter, A–D.

6 a specific internal term used to refer to compact sales teams

____ Paragraph A ____ Paragraph B ____ Paragraph C ____ Paragraph D

7 interpersonal qualities that enabled experimental groups to work together more effectively

____ Paragraph A ____ Paragraph B ____ Paragraph C ____ Paragraph D

Questions 8–10

Complete the summary below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

Understanding Group Performance

Google examined 180 of its internal teams and later made its findings available in a [ Question 8 ] released in 2015.

Answer 8: ____ (Type your answer here...)

Among the five dynamics outlined, the researchers highlighted [ Question 9 ] alongside dependability, structure and clarity, meaning, and impact.

Answer 9: ____ (Type your answer here...)

Overall, the writer observes that a thriving group cannot simply be viewed as an assemblage of [ Question 10 ], because how individuals collaborate remains decisive.

Answer 10: ____ (Type your answer here...)

Reading: Teams and Teamwork

How to use this lesson

What Makes a Team Work Well

Questions 1–3

Questions 4–5

Questions 6–7

Questions 8–10

Understanding Group Performance

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