Reading & Writing: Fill in the Blanks · Part 2: Reading

History of Vaccination

68 students marked "I sat this"Added 26 May 2020Question #120070

Choose the word for each blank.

According to the literature, the history of 1 can be traced back to as early as the 7th century when the monks in India tried to immunize themselves by drinking snake 2. The first vaccination was inoculation with human smallpox, a practice widely 3 out in ancient India, Arabia, and China. This method of vaccination consisted of collecting pus from a patient suffering from a mild form of smallpox virus infection and 4 the sample to a healthy human, which later led to a minor infection. This method was first introduced in England by a Greek named E. Timmons. However, this method had a risk of spreading smallpox in the community and even worsening the health condition of the person who received the inoculation. While the use of human smallpox vaccine was 5, E. Jenner came up with bovine smallpox vaccine in 1796; this new method also faced controversy but continued to be 6. Smallpox became a preventable disease by injecting pus extracted from a human infected with cowpox virus. Jenner named the substance "vaccine" after the Latin word "vacca" which means "cow," and thus the process of giving vaccine became "vaccination".

Options for each gap (alphabetical)

  • 1 drug · prescription · vacancy · vaccination
  • 2 rhythm · velocity · venom · venus
  • 3 carried · excluded · practiced · put
  • 4 calculating · including · inoculating · renovating
  • 5 accepted · contributed · controversial · popular
  • 6 exclusive · realized · universalized · urbanized

More Reading & Writing: Fill in the Blanks questions

Reading & Writing: Fill in the Blanks format (Pearson)

Pearson's name: Fill in the Blanks (Dropdown)

PromptText up to 200 words
Time to answerNot set per question (Part 2 lasts 23–30 minutes)
Skills assessedReading, Writing

How it is scored

  • Partial credit applies: a partly correct response still scores.

Source: Pearson, PTE Academic & UKVI test format, Part 2: Reading, checked 9 October 2026.