IELTS Reading Questions 6(Nov. 2025)

Questions 1-5

Check the following statements and state if they are correct as per the information in the passage?

TRUE if the statement agrees with the information.
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information.
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this.

1. Blind people typically read Braille using only one hand.
2. Some Braille readers can read more than 150 words per minute.
3. Braille books were heavier before the introduction of contractions.
4. Charles Barbier designed the Braille system for school use.
5. Braille was officially adopted in the United States before France.

Questions 6-7

6. What was the main issue with Barbier’s original 12-dot system?

A. It was too similar to printed letters.
B. It required a special light to read.
C. It was too large for one fingertip to detect at once.
D. It had too few symbols to represent all sounds.

7. Why did Louis Braille decide to modify Barbier’s system?

A. He wanted to create a faster way to read.
B. He had experience with leather tools.
C. He needed a system that worked better for blind people.
D. He was asked by his teachers at the institute.

Questions 8-11

Complete the sentences below using no more than two words from the passage.

8. Braille readers usually use their ________ to read the text.

9. Earlier methods for blind readers were based on copies of ________ letters.

10. The use of ________ in modern Braille helps shorten books.

11. Louis Braille first entered the ________ when he was ten years old.

Questions 12-15

Match the following statements with the correct person or group from the list below.

A. Louis Braille

B. Charles Barbier

C. Blind readers

D. French army

12. Developed a system to allow communication at night.

13. Created a code using fewer dots to fit a fingertip.

14. Use Braille for entertainment and learning.

15. Lost lives due to using light during battle.

The Braille System

The Braille system is a contact reading and writing device for the blind, where the dots indicate the letters and numbers. It also has dots for punctuation marks and markers for showing letter groupings. They read using both hands, but mostly using their index fingers. They can read at a speed of about 125 words per minute on average. Some people can read up to 200 words per minute. Blind people will learn about the written word while using the braille alphabet. They will also learn things like pronunciation, punctuation, paragraph formatting, and footnotes. 

Most importantly, braille gives blind people access to a wide variety of items, including leisure and instructional reading, income reports, restaurant menus and critical things in everyday adult life like contracts, laws, insurance plans, indexes, and cookbooks. Using materials such as musical scores, songbooks, card games, and chess, blind people will also enjoy activities and cultural stimulation through braille. Many other methods have been tried over the years to help blind people to read. Many of those were elevated copies of print letters. The braille scheme became a success because it is made on a logical series of signs intended for the fingertips instead of imitating signs designed for the eyes. 

Braille has a long tradition that dates back to the beginning of the 18th century. In Bonaparte’s French army, a man named Charles Barbier invented a unique technique known as “night printing” so soldiers could talk peacefully at night. Barbier, a veteran of the military, saw the deaths of several troops who used lights after dark to understand battle signals. Because of the light from the torches, enemy combatants realised where the French soldiers were, causing the death of several men. Barbier’s “night printing” technique is made on an elevated 12-dot cell that is 2 dots wide and 6 dots deep. Inside the cell, each dot or mixture of dots denoted a letter or phonetic sound. The issue with the legal regulations was that the normal fingertip did not recognise any of the dots with a single touch. 

Louis Braille was born in a French village called Coupvray on Jan 4, 1809. He went blind at a young age after accidentally stabbing himself in the eye with his father’s blade. Braille’s father was a leather maker who used a tool to punch holes in the leather goods he made. At the age of 11, Braille was inspired to change Charles Barbier’s “night printing” code to make an effective written correspondence device for all the blind people. He had joined the National Institute of the Blind in Paris a year before. He spent the best part of the next 9 years designing and making a perfect pattern of raised dots that bears his signature, Braille.

With all of Braille’s efforts, the coding was now directed on cells of just 6 dots rather than 12. This crucial advancement meant that a fingertip could cover the entire cell unit with a single impression and travel quickly from one cell to the next. Braille eventually gained acceptance around the world as the main mode of written communication for blind people. Even today, there is no difference in the braille system from what he invented. However, some small changes have been made to the braille system, most notably the addition of contractions describing groups of letters or entire words that occur regularly in a script. Contractions allow for easier braille reading. It also helped to reduce the scale of braille books, making them even lighter. 

In 1853 Braille passed away, at the age of 43, a year before his native France adopted braille as the official correspondence method for the blind. In 1860, Braille made its way “across the pond” to America, where it was used by The Missouri School for the Blind in St. Louis. The legacy of Louis Braille has enriched the lives of millions of people who are blind. As a consequence, blind people from around the world learn from Braille’s work on a regular basis. Today, braille code has been transposed in a variety of languages all over the world. Braille will be proud to know that his work has helped many people get literacy over the years. The effect is largely inspiring and helps them to achieve success in their academics and their career paths.