IELTS Reading: How to Answer True / False / Not Given Questions

In this article we explain exactly what the three options mean, walk through a worked example we wrote ourselves, and show the traps candidates fall into most often.

Where does this question type appear?

IELTS Reading lasts 60 minutes and has 40 questions. In Academic, you read three passages totalling 2,150–2,750 words. There are 11 question types, and two of them are very similar:

The logic is the same; one focuses on facts, the other on the writer's opinions. Be careful: if the instructions ask for Yes/No/Not Given, do not answer True/False (or vice versa) — it can turn a correct decision into a wrong answer.

What exactly do True, False and Not Given mean?

• True: the statement says the same thing as the information in the text — usually in different words (synonyms and paraphrase).
• False: the statement contradicts the information in the text. The text says the opposite.
• Not Given: the text does not give enough information to confirm or contradict the statement.

The key point: Not Given does not mean the topic is absent from the text. The topic may well appear — but the specific claim in the statement does not. This is the most common mistake candidates make.

A worked example

We wrote this short text for practice:

The town library, which opened in 1962, was extended in 2015 to include a children's section. Since the extension, the number of young visitors has risen steadily. However, the library still closes at 6 p.m. on weekdays, a decision that some local residents have criticised.

Now the statements:

Statement 4 shows an important lesson: quantity and frequency words such as all, some, most, always, usually, only can change the answer on their own.

A step-by-step method

1. Read the instructions first. True/False or Yes/No? This decides which words you write (or select).
2. Mark the keywords in the statement. Names, dates, numbers and technical terms are the easiest markers to find in the text.
3. Use the order. In this question type, answers follow the order of the text. The answer to question 3 comes after the answer to question 2.
4. Find the relevant sentence and read all of it. Do not rely on a single matching word; check what the whole sentence says.
5. Compare meaning, not words. True statements are almost always written with synonyms of the words in the text.
6. Check qualifiers: all / some, always / sometimes, may / will, increase / decrease.
7. Ask yourself: "Does the text say the opposite (False), or does it say nothing about this (Not Given)?"

The 5 most common traps

1. Answering from general knowledge. A statement may be true in real life, but if the text does not say it, the answer is not True. Rely only on the text.

2. Treating "logical" as True. "This is very likely" is the biggest trap in Not Given questions. A sensible guess is not information in the text.

3. Saying True because you see the same words. Seeing identical words in the text does not make a statement True. Sometimes the same words appear with the opposite meaning.

4. Ignoring words of possibility. If the text says "may reduce costs", the statement "reduces costs" is not True.

5. Spending too long on one question. If you cannot find evidence, the answer is probably Not Given — or you are looking in the wrong place. Move on; the order of the questions will show you where the missing answer sits.

A note for Turkish speakers

In Turkish, the suffix "-ebilir / -abilir" expresses possibility, and in everyday speech the line between certainty and possibility can blur. In English, the difference between may, might, could, tends to, is likely to and a definite statement directly decides the mark in True/False/Not Given questions. Getting into the habit of underlining these words as you read leads to fast improvement in this question type.

How quickly can you improve?

True / False / Not Given is one of the question types that improves fastest with regular, deliberate practice. The key is not doing hundreds of questions, but finding the reason behind every mistake: an unknown word, a missed qualifier, or an answer based on general knowledge?

Our Language Assessment Test (LAT) measures your Reading, and in a one-to-one consultation we look together at the question types that challenge you most.

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