The Meaning and Power of Smell – IELTS Reading Practice

In the IELTS reading test, the Meaning and Power of Smell passage challenges your ability to analyze information, spot keywords, and understand complex ideas. This passage highlights the significant role that smell plays in human life—from emotional responses to social connections and scientific research. In this guide, you’ll find helpful strategies, question breakdowns, and sample answers to improve your performance in this section.

Know the Meaning and Power of smell in reading

Understanding the Objective

The IELTS reading passage “The Meaning and Power of Smell” is designed to assess your reading comprehension skills and your ability to interpret academic-level English vocabulary. This aligns with the core purpose of the IELTS exam — to evaluate your readiness to use English in university-level settings. You will encounter complex terms and ideas, and this passage helps test your ability to understand and apply them in context.

Types of Questions You Can Expect

Want to answer The Meaning and Power of Smell reading questions accurately? The key lies in consistent practice. With enough preparation, solving these questions will become much easier. You can expect the following question types in this section:

Matching Headings: You’ll need to match the correct heading to each paragraph based on its overall meaning, not exact wording.
Multiple-Choice Questions: Common to many IELTS reading tasks, these require you to choose the best option based on the passage.
Fill-in-the-Blanks: You’ll be given sentences or paragraphs with missing words and must complete them using information from the text.

The Meaning and Power of Smell – Reading Passage Overview

Adapted from Cambridge IELTS 8, Test 2, the passage “The Meaning and Power of Smell” explores the profound role that our sense of smell plays in emotional, social, psychological, and cultural contexts. You should spend approximately 20 minutes on Questions 1–13, based on Reading Passage 3 provided below.

Evokes Strong Emotional Responses

A survey conducted by Anthony Synott at Montreal’s Concordia University asked participants to comment on how important smell was to them in their lives. It became apparent that smell can evoke strong emotional responses. A scent associated with a good experience can bring a rush of joy, while a foul odour or one associated with a bad memory may make us grimace with disgust. Respondents to the survey noted that many of their olfactory likes and dislikes were based on emotional associations. Such associations can be powerful enough so that odours that we would generally label unpleasant become agreeable, and those that we would generally consider fragrant become disagreeable for particular individuals. The perception of smell, therefore, consists not only of the sensation of the odours themselves, but of the experiences and emotions associated with them.

Odours are also essential cues in social bonding. One respondent to the survey believed that there is no true emotional bonding without touching and smelling a loved one. In fact, infants recognise the odours of their mothers soon after birth, and adults can often identify their children or spouses by scent. In one well-known test, women and men were able to distinguish by smell alone clothing worn by their marriage partners from similar clothing worn by other people. Most of the subjects would probably never have given much thought to odour as a cue for identifying family members before being involved in the test, but as the experiment revealed, even when not consciously considered, smells register.

It is still very Undervalued

In spite of its importance to our emotional and sensory lives, smell is probably the most undervalued sense in many cultures. The reason often given for the low regard in which smell is held is that, in comparison with its importance among animals, the human sense of smell is feeble and undeveloped. While it is true that the olfactory powers of humans are nothing like as fine as those possessed by certain animals, they are still remarkably acute. Our noses are able to recognise thousands of smells, and to perceive odours which are present only in extremely small quantities.

It is very hard to explain in words

Smell, however, is a highly elusive phenomenon. Odours, unlike colours, for instance, cannot be named in many languages because the specific vocabulary simply doesn’t exist. ‘It smells like…,’ we have to say when describing an odour, struggling to express our olfactory experience. Nor can odours be recorded: there is no effective way to either capture or store them over time. In the realm of olfaction, we must make do with descriptions and recollections. This has implications for olfactory research.

Requires Scientific Intervention

Most of the research on smell undertaken to date has been of a physical scientific nature. Significant advances have been made in the understanding of the biological and chemical nature of olfaction, but many fundamental questions have yet to be answered. Researchers have still to decide whether smell is one sense or two – one responding to odours proper and the other registering odourless chemicals in the air. Other unanswered questions are whether the nose is the only part of the body affected by odours, and how smells can be measured objectively, given the nonphysical components. Questions like these mean that interest in the psychology of smell is inevitably set to play an increasingly important role for researchers.

However, smell is not simply a biological and psychological phenomenon. Smell is cultural, hence it is a social and historical phenomenon. Odours are invested with cultural values: smells that are considered to be offensive in some cultures may be perfectly acceptable in others. Therefore, our sense of smell is a means of, and model for, interacting with the world. Different smells can provide us with intimate and emotionally charged experiences, and the value that we attach to these experiences is internalised by the members of society in a deeply personal way. Importantly, our commonly held feelings about smells can help distinguish us from other cultures. The study of the cultural history of smell is, therefore, in a very real sense, an investigation into the essence of human culture.

The Meaning and Power of Smell – Reading Comprehension Questions

Matching Information – Questions 1–8

Read the statements below and match each one to the correct paragraph (A–F) from the reading passage “The Meaning and Power of Smell.”

Write the letter corresponding to the paragraph that contains the relevant information next to each statement.
Note: Each paragraph may be used more than once, and some paragraphs may not be used at all.

True / False / Not Given – Questions 9–13

Based on the passage “The Meaning and Power of Smell,” indicate whether the following statements are:

TRUE – if the statement agrees with the information in the passage
FALSE – if the statement contradicts the information in the passage
NOT GIVEN – if there is no information provided on the topic in the passage

Choose the correct option for each statement and mark it in boxes 9–13 on your answer sheet.

IELTS Reading The Meaning and Power of Smell – Sample Answers

Below are sample answers for the IELTS reading passage “The Meaning and Power of Smell.” Reviewing these examples can help improve your comprehension and boost your IELTS reading skills.

Answer #1

The sense of smell, also known as olfaction, impacts us on physical, psychological, and social levels. While we constantly breathe in surrounding scents, we rarely notice them. It’s only when our sense of smell is impaired—such as during a cold—that we truly recognize its importance. This is when the meaning and power of smell become evident.

Answer #2

A survey conducted by Anthony Synott at Concordia University in Montreal explored how individuals perceive the role of smell. The participants acknowledged that smell plays a significant role in their emotional experiences. Scents were found to strongly influence mood, with pleasant smells bringing joy and unpleasant ones triggering discomfort.

Answer #3

Smell plays a crucial role in social relationships. Studies show that emotional bonding often involves both touch and scent. For example, infants recognize their mothers by their scent, and adults can often identify loved ones the same way. This highlights the powerful influence smell has on emotional connection and social bonding.

Answer #4

In many cultures, the sense of smell is undervalued compared to other senses. People often overlook how vital it is to emotional and sensory experiences. While humans may underestimate its role, many animals rely heavily on their sense of smell for survival tasks such as hunting, which shows how essential this sense truly is.

Answer #5

Scientific research continues to shed light on the importance of our sense of smell. While we understand more about how it influences biological and chemical functions, several questions remain. It’s still unclear whether the entire body reacts to odours or if the nose is the only part affected. Further study is needed to fully understand how olfaction works.

Learn More: How to Prepare for IELTS at Home Without Coaching: Easy Tips for Each Section

IELTS Prep Tips for The Meaning and Power of Smell Reading Passage

Tip	Details
1. Skim for Main Ideas	– Focus: Smell’s role in emotions, bonding, culture, science. – Structure: A – Emotions B – Social bonding C – Underestimation D – Challenges in description E – Scientific research F – Cultural significance
2. Summarize Each Paragraph	– A: Smell triggers emotions and memories. – B: Smell supports social bonding. – C: Smell is often underestimated. – D: Describing and recording smell is difficult. – E: Scientific research explores smell. – F: Smell carries cultural meaning.
3. Identify Keywords for Matching Headings	– Use topic sentences to find main ideas. – Spot repeated words or themes. – Example: Paragraph A → Keywords: “emotions,” “memory,” “associations.”
4. Matching Headings Strategy	– Read all headings first. – Match ideas, not just words. – Eliminate similar or misleading headings. – Avoid headings that are too broad/narrow.
5. True/False/Not Given Strategy	– True: Matches passage info. – False: Contradicts passage info. – Not Given: Not mentioned in the passage. – Watch for added details not in the text.
6. Spot Cause-Effect Links	– Example: A → Smell impacts emotions → Statement likely True. – Example: C → Smell is undervalued → Statement saying it’s valued is False.
7. Be Careful with Extreme Words	– Words like “always,” “never,” “all,” “only” often make a statement False. – Example: “Always triggers memories” vs. “Often plays a role.”
8. Use Synonyms to Match Ideas	– “Recognizing smells” = “Identifying scents” – “Hard to describe” = “Lack of vocabulary for odors”
9. Manage Your Time Wisely	– Matching Headings: 8–10 mins – True/False/Not Given: 10 mins (read carefully)
10. Double-Check for Accuracy	– Headings: Ensure they match full paragraph meaning. – T/F/NG: Only mark True/False if clearly supported or contradicted. If unclear, choose Not Given.

Key Takeaways

The meaning and power of smell are one of the passages that may be included in your IELTS reading tests.
It is recommended that you practice reading as many passages as you can that are related to the meaning and power of smell before appearing for the exam.
Ensure that you take regular breaths, pause where required, and speak confidently.

If you have any doubts, you can get in touch with us or drop a comment down below! See you in the next blog.

Liked this blog? Read: IELTS band calculator | 5 amazing things to know about the system!

FAQs

Question 1. What is The Meaning and Power of Smell IELTS question about?
Answer. It is a reading comprehension passage included in the IELTS test that focuses on how the sense of smell impacts emotions, social interactions, culture, and science.

Question 2. What types of questions can I expect?
Answer. You may encounter multiple-choice questions, matching headings, or fill-in-the-blank tasks based on the passage content.

Question 3. How much time is given for the reading section?
Answer. You will have approximately 60 minutes to complete the entire IELTS reading section.

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The Meaning and Power of smell | IELTS reading section

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