Programme For International Student Assessment Pisa / Sample Reading Passage 1:



Changing levels of Lake Chad, in Saharan North Africa  in metres 

Figure 1 shows changing levels of Lake Chad, in Saharan North Africa. Lake Chad disappeared completely in about 20,000 BC, during the last Ice Age. In  about 11,000 BC it reappeared. Today,  its level is about the same as it was in AD 1000. 

Figure 2 shows Saharan rock art (ancient drawings or paintings found on the walls of caves) and changing patterns of wildlife.

Use the above information about Lake Chad to answer the questions below. 

Non MCQ Question

In about which year does the graph in Figure 1 start?

Why has the author chosen to start the graph at this point?



For this question you need to draw together information from Figure 1 and Figure 2. The disappearance of the rhinoceros, hippopotamus and aurochs from Saharan rock art happened

After the level of Lake Chad had been falling for over a thousand years.
At the beginning of an uninterrupted dry period.
At the beginning of the most recent Ice Age.
In the middle of the period when Lake Chad was at its highest level.

What is the depth of Lake Chad today?

About two metres.
About fifty metres.
It has disappeared completely.
About fifteen metres.

The figure is based on the assumption that

There was no attempt to domesticate the animals which were depicted in the rock art.
The animals in the rock art were present in the area at the time they were drawn.
The artists who drew the animals were able to travel widely.
The artists who drew the animals were highly skilled.