IELTS Reading Strategies for TRUE, FALSE, NOT GIVEN Questions

IELTS Reading Strategy for True, False and Not Given is one of the trickiest parts in the IELTS Reading test. These are the most challenging types of questions that appear in IELTS reading test. IELTS reading true false not given strategy requires students to identify if the information in a text is true or not. IELTS reading strategy helps students identify specific information by skimming and scanning the IELTS reading section. This article helps the students understand, how to answer the True False Not Given IELTS reading questions.

Understanding True False Not Given questions

Candidates will be given questions having information. This information will be presented in the text as facts. The information in the text follows the order of the questions. The information candidate needs for the first statement will be found before the information for the second statement. This is one of the most important points of IELTS reading tips. Candidates then have to decide if the information helps to decide if an answer is:

For example:

Look at this statement illustrative of the IELTS reading true false not given question:
Statement: Guns originated in China and have been used since AD 1000.
Here are some examples of the IELTS academic reading True, False, Not Given statements with answers:

1. Guns come from China - True (‘come from’ is another synonym for ‘originate’)
2. People began using Guns in the last few decades - False (been used since AD 1000)
3. Chinese were the first people who started using Guns - Not Given (does not have any such confirmation)

It is very important to get a hold of IELTS reading true false, not given tips and tricks to attempt such questions without errors. This will help to increase IELTS Reading scores.

Strategy for TRUE, FALSE, NOT GIVEN Questions

There are few IELTS Reading strategies to answer these questions correctly. Students must keep these in mind while answering the questions. The tips and tricks are provided below.

Identify the Keyword

The questions are asked in the same order in which the text or the information is given. Hence, students must note and identify the keywords correctly in each paragraph. In order to know the correct answer, you need to understand the text given and check which fact about the text is True False or Not Given. Students must also identify similar words in the passage. These will provide hints for the correct answers. This is one of the most effective IELTS reading techniques that can help the candidates.

Paraphrasing 

One of the most important IELTS Reading strategies is paraphrasing. Paraphrasing the key and important information will help the candidates identify the question. Sometimes the words are re-phrased in the question. Hence, it becomes easier to determine whether the statement is True False or Not Given.

Examples:
work = employment
Change = alter

Synonyms and Antonyms in IELTS Reading

Students must note that words might not appear directly in the questions. Synonyms or antonyms might be used. Hence, spending time to analyze the question before answering is very important. Matching only keywords will not help. Students must match the meaning of the sentence before answering. Various words can slightly change the meaning of the sentence.

Example: many, some, never, few, all, always.

Note: Just because an answer is NOT GIVEN does not mean there are no words in the statements that match words in the text. This is something that confuses people. Students need to learn IELTS reading techniques to understand the difference. There probably will be matching words for NOT GIVEN answers, they just don’t have enough information to answer the question as a whole.

Distractors

Students must note that there are distractors used in sentences. These IELTS Reading techniques might confuse the students. Students must be aware that the test setters love to use ‘distractors’ to really test them. A prime example is qualifying words such as:

These single words can completely change the meaning of a sentence.

Example:

Simon often meets up with his friends after work.
Simon occasionally meets up with his friends after work.
In True False Not Given questions, the meaning of the statement must be an exact match with the information in the text to be TRUE.

Quick Tips for IELTS Reading True False Not Given

Students must understand the passage before answering any questions. A misconception of one line in the passage can lead to incorrect answers. Few tips and tricks that the candidates can follow are:

• The answers appear in the same order in the text as the order of the statements
• Don't get confused between False and Not Given.
• There will be at least one of each answer type – True, False, Not Given.
• Ignore anything you already know about the topic and don’t make assumptions
• Don’t look for words that exactly match those in the statements. You should also look for synonyms. Remember that you are matching meaning, not words.
• If you can’t find the information you are looking for, then it is probably ‘not given’. Don’t waste time looking for something that is not there.
• Sometimes words like YES, NO, NO INFORMATION are used. These may be slightly different, where you may have to look for the opinions instead of the facts.
• Underline the words which you feel might be the correct answer so that you can refer to them at the end.