Your Guide to IELTS Reading: True, False, Not Given

The IELTS Reading test assesses various reading skills, including the ability to understand main ideas, supporting details, and implied meanings in texts.

The IELTS Reading test consists of three reading passages or texts. The questions in the IELTS Reading test cover a range of question types, including: multiple-choice, matching information, matching headings, sentence completion, summary completion, and True/False/Not Given or Yes/No/Not Given questions.

In this clip taken from Episode 6 of our IELTS Prepare by IDP video podcast, our IELTS Experts give strategies for answering the True/False/Not Given question in the IELTS Reading test.

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Hear from our IELTS Experts as they discuss the Reading section of the IELTS test. Our video podcast host Rocco Nigro is joined by Andy Watts from E2 Language.

Andy has been working in English Language education for 24 years. She taught English classes, including Academic English and IELTS preparation, in Vietnam and Australia.  She is now the English Language Content Manager for E2 Test Preparation.

Watch the full episode and more on IELTS Prepare by IDP: a 10-part video podcast series.

This type of question tests your ability to recognise specific information given in the text. This information will be presented in the text as facts. The information in the text follows the order of the questions, so the information you need for the first statement will be found before the information for the second statement.

When you read the statement you have been given, you then have to decide if the information helps you to decide if an answer is:

• TRUE because the statement agrees with the information

• FALSE because the statement contradicts the information, or,

• NOT GIVEN because there is no information on this

How to practice for the True, False, Not Given question type

When practicing for True/False/Not Given, work through each question really slowly and analyse each one. Read the statement. Underline or highlight the key words that tell you the info to look for.

Let's take the example in the video above:

• You have a reading text about the Titanic, the famous cruise ship.

• The question is about the cost of building the ship. And the statement says that at the time the Titanic was the most expensive ship ever built.

• In this example, you might underline ‘Titanic’ and ‘most expensive ship’.

Then take some time to think about what a True, False, or Not Given answer might look like in the reading text.

• If it’s True, what info would you expect to find in the text? Maybe a comparison of the Titanic and other ships at the time, or a phrase with the same meaning as ‘the most expensive’ such as ‘had a higher budget than any previous ship’.

• If it’s False, what info could be wrong? For example, it might say the ship had ‘a slightly lower cost’ than another ship, or it might say the ship was ‘relatively cheap for the time period’ OR it might name another ship and say that ship was the most expensive ship.

• If it’s Not Given, why? Maybe the text mentions how much The Titanic cost, but doesn’t say anything about whether that was more expensive than any other ship.

Now you can read the text and see what the text says about the cost of building the ship and because you’ve already prepared it will be easier to recognize the relevant info and choose True, False, or Not Given. 

Learn more about how to answer this question type by looking at some other examples in this article.

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Tune in to the full episode of our IELTS video podcast and learn more about the Reading section of the IELTS test, covering question types and preparation strategies.

The IELTS Prepare by IDP Vodcast, or video podcast, covers everything you need to know about the test.

During this 10-part series, you’ll learn about the IELTS test structure, how to prepare, what to expect on test day and more.

Each episode includes an interview with a different IELTS expert, who answers test taker questions and provides valuable advice on how to approach the test.