IELTS Training

Search the course

Find a section by its title or its text.

Part 3ReadingSection 5 of 13

3.5Question type: True, False, Not Given

  • 1 reading text
  • 8 marked questions
  • 6 min timed

This is where students lose more marks than in any other question type in the paper. It is also completely learnable, because the rule is mechanical.

The definitions. Learn them exactly.

AnswerWhen you choose it
TRUEThe statement agrees with the information in the text, even if different words are used.
FALSEThe text says something that contradicts the statement. There is something in the text that makes it wrong.
NOT GIVENThe text says nothing about this at all, neither confirming it nor denying it.

The golden rule

FALSE means the text spoke and said the opposite. NOT GIVEN means the text was silent. The question you ask yourself is never is this true in the real world, it is what did this text actually say. Your own knowledge of the subject is worth nothing here and will often harm you.

Power words change the answer

Words that make a claim absolute or flexible are the hinge on which these questions turn. Circle them in every statement before you start.

Absolute wordsFlexible words
all, every, always, never, only, must, none, entirelysome, many, may, might, often, usually, generally, tends to

If the text says most students and the statement says all students, the answer is FALSE. If the text says the policy is sometimes reviewed and the statement says the policy is always reviewed, the answer is FALSE. One word decides it.

The method

  1. Read the statement and identify exactly what it claims, not what it is about.
  2. Circle any absolute or flexible word in it.
  3. Find the place in the text. The questions follow the order of the text, so answer 4 lies after answer 3 and before answer 5.
  4. Compare sentence with sentence, not topic with topic.
  5. If you have looked in the right place and there is nothing that confirms or contradicts, write NOT GIVEN, stop searching and move on. Do not invent the connection yourself.

Practice 4

Working from home: guidance for staff

Meridian Logistics allows most office employees to work from home for up to two days a week. Staff who wish to do so must agree a fixed pattern with their line manager at the start of each quarter. Requests to change that pattern in the middle of a quarter are considered only in exceptional circumstances.

Employees working from home are expected to be available by phone and email during normal office hours, which are 8.00am to 4.00pm. They are not required to keep a record of the hours they work, but they must attend the weekly team meeting on Tuesday mornings, either in person or online.

The company provides a laptop to every remote worker. Staff who need a desk, chair or additional screen may apply for a contribution towards the cost. The company does not pay for internet connections at home.

Staff whose roles involve handling physical shipments are not eligible for home working. Managers are asked to review these arrangements annually and to report any difficulties to the Human Resources department.

Three questions, worked through

Worked through

Employees may work from home for three days a week.

  1. The claim: three days.
  2. In the text: up to two days a week.
  3. The comparison: the text did not stay silent, it gave a different number that contradicts the claim. That is a contradiction, not an absence.

Answer FALSE

Worked through

Requests to change the pattern mid-quarter are always refused.

  1. The claim: always refused.
  2. Notice the absolute word always.
  3. In the text: considered only in exceptional circumstances.
  4. The comparison: sometimes considered contradicts always refused.
  5. If the statement had said rarely accepted, the answer would have been TRUE. This is the most famous trap in the type: the text says something very close, and the whole difference is one word.

Answer FALSE

Worked through

Most employees prefer working from home to working in the office.

  1. The claim: what employees prefer.
  2. In the text: the passage explains rules and procedures only. No opinion or preference is mentioned anywhere.
  3. The comparison: nothing confirms it, nothing denies it. The text is silent. You may feel the statement is probably true in real life. That feeling is exactly why students get this wrong.

Answer NOT GIVEN

Now do these

Practice 4

True / False / Not Given8 questions

Write TRUE, FALSE or NOT GIVEN. You have six minutes. Next to each answer, write the number of the paragraph you found it in.

6 minutes remaining of 6 minutes.

  1. A work-from-home pattern is normally agreed four times a year.

  2. Remote staff must record the number of hours they work.

  3. The Tuesday team meeting can be attended online.

  4. The company pays for employees' home internet connections.

  5. The laptop must be returned when an employee leaves the company.

  6. Warehouse staff who handle shipments cannot work from home.

  7. Managers must review home-working arrangements every twelve months.

  8. Most managers find the arrangements difficult to supervise.

0 of 8 answered