IELTS Reading
True, False, Not Given Questions

True, False, Not Given questions come up regularly in the IELTS Reading test.

Many students fear this type of question and I’ll explain why in a minute. However, if you learn the tips and practice the strategy on this page, you’ll soon improve your skill at answering them.

Here’s what we’ll be covering:

• Explanation

• The big challenge

• Difference between T/F/NG & Y/N/NG questions

• 8 Top tips

• Proven strategy

• Examples & model answers

 

Explanation

For True/False/Not Given questions, you will be given a set of statements and a text. Your task is to decide which of the following applies to the information in each statement:

• it agrees with the information in the text – TRUE (T)

• it disagrees with it or contradicts it – FALSE (F)

• it is not mentioned in the text – NOT GIVEN (NG)

Here’s a set of sample instructions & questions from a real past IELTS Reading test paper for illustration.

 

So, you need to do two things:

1) Understand the information in the statements.

2) Decide if it is True, False or Not Given according to the text.

 

The big challenge

The challenge with a T/F/NG type question is that for some statements, the NOT GIVEN ones, you will be searching for information that’s not there.

This is the first reason why some people fear it.

It’s very easy to waste a huge amount of time going over and over the text to check that you haven’t missed the information.

The second challenge is the unfamiliarity of this type of question. Most people will have looked for TRUE & FALSE statements in a text back in their school days but may have no experience of NG statements.

Hence, it’s extra important to have a strategy that gives you the confidence to make your decision and move swiftly on.

 

Difference between True/False/Not Given & Yes/No/Not Given questions

Some students get confused between True/False/Not Given questions and Yes/No/Not Given questions so I’ll quickly explain the difference.

It’s all about the type of information contained in the text.

True/False/Not Given – the text will contain factual information about a topic.

Yes/No/Not Given – the text will contain the opinions, views or beliefs of the writer or other people who are mentioned.

 

8 Top tips

1)  The answers appear in the same order in the text as the order of the statements.

2)  You don’t need to read the whole text. First, you will scan for keywords and then you’ll read in detail the section in which they're located for the answer.

3)  There will be at least one of each answer type – True, False, Not Given. So, if you don’t have at least one of each when you’ve completed the question, you’ve made a mistake.

4)  Watch out for distractors. Be aware that the test setters love to use ‘distractors’ to really test you. A prime example is qualifying words such as:

   every                        a few

   all                             always

   some                       often

   most                        occasionally

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

     E.g. Tiantian often meets up with her friends after work.

            Tiantian occasionally meets up with her friends after work.

In T/F/NG questions, the meaning of the statement must be an exact match with the information in the text to be TRUE.

5)  Also be on the lookout for qualifying words that express possibility or doubt such as:

   seem                claim

   suggest            possibly

   believe             probably

Again, they can totally alter the meaning of a statement.

     E.g. Scientists now claim that several different species of humans evolved on the earth.

            Scientists now know that several different species of humans evolved on the earth.

6)  The statements won’t be a word-for-word match to the information in the text. They will contain synonyms and paraphrasing. It’s the meaning that you are trying to match.

7)  The test is not an assessment of your knowledge of the topic but only of your ability to read and understand the specific information in the text. So, if you happen to know from your own knowledge that a particular statement is correct, i.e. TRUE, but this is not stated in the text, your answer must be NOT GIVEN.

8)  Remember that at least one answer will be NG. This means that you will be searching for information that is not there.

As already mentioned, it’s easy to waste time searching and searching for information you’re never going to find because it isn’t there. Use the strategy I’m about to show you to quickly come to a decision about each statement and move on.

 

The Strategy

# 1  Read the instructions carefully. Double-check whether it is a TRUE/FALSE/NOT GIVEN or a YES/NO/NOT GIVEN question.

# 2  Read the statements and try to understand the meaning of each. Do this before reading the text.

# 3  Think about possible synonyms that might appear in the text and note any qualifying words in the statements such as, all, some, always, often. This will make your brain alerts for them when you scan the text.

# 4  Underline keywords. You won’t necessarily find the exact words in the text due to the extensive use of synonyms and paraphrasing in T/F/NG questions but enough will be present to make doing this worthwhile.

# 5  Re-read statement 1 and scan the first paragraph, maybe two, for the keywords or synonyms of them. Scanning will locate where the answer is but detailed reading of this section of the text is now needed to decide if the specific information you’re looking for is TRUE, FALSE or NOT GIVEN.

# 6  Make your decision. Remember to consider these three things:

• To be TRUE, the information must exactly match even if the words are different.

• Look carefully for qualifying words that might change the meaning.

• If you are struggling to find the answer it’s probably because it isn’t there, i.e. it’s NOT GIVEN.

# 7  Repeat this process for the remaining questions.

 

Example with answers

 

Please note that this example is not from a real IELTS Reading test paper. I have created it myself to demonstrate the strategy I’ve just outlined and to give you an opportunity to practice it.

The text in your test will be longer and probably have 5 or 6 statements.

Follow steps 1-7 of the strategy and see if you can work out if each statement is TRUE, FALSE or NOT GIVEN. Then read my notes below which contain the answers.

 

Notes on how I answered the questions

1) Having read the instructions and tried to understand the meaning of the statements, I now focus in on the first statement.

1.  Raising levels of literacy was the main theme of the conference.

The keyword I select to scan for is conference. I’m fairly sure I’ll find this or a synonym because it has an article word in front of it (the) which makes it the subject of the sentence.

I will then need to search the text to see if ‘raising levels of literacy’ really was the main theme of this conference.

I scan the first main paragraph and find ‘conference’ twice. I read both sentences that contain it in detail.

Sir Anthony was speaking at a conference about the need to improve young people's sense of wellbeing. The University of Buckingham's Ultimate Wellbeing in Education Conference examined how to respond to the stresses and anxieties facing young people.

It is very clear that the conference was about the wellbeing of the pupils, not their level of literacy. The answer is therefore FALSE.

 

 

2) Next, I read the second statement and decide to scan for words connected to the internet as this is what the statement is about.

2.  Online platforms such as Facebook and Twitter can have a negative effect on young people’s lives.

I continue scanning from the location of the last answer. Remember, the information will come in order in the text.

I quickly spot the words ‘social media’ which appear twice. I read the two sentences in detail to look for any matching words or phrases. I also see the word ‘teenagers’ which is a synonym of ‘young people’. This is another clue that there is a match of information.

Education Secretary Damian Hinds told the conference that the relentless presence of social media made growing up "more pressurised". He said this could be all-pervasive for teenagers, making them compare their own experiences with the “perfect lives” on social media.

However, I now need to decide if the specific information in the text matches that of the statement.

The wording is very different but the text definitely states that social media, of which Facebook and Twitter are a major part, can have a negative effect on young people’s lives.

So, the statement is TRUE.

 

 

3) Moving on to statement 3, I re-read it to ensure I understand the meaning and then choose my keywords, in this case, ‘pets’ and ‘mental health’. I then scan for these.

3. There is evidence that the presence of pets in schools helps kids with mental health issues.

I easily find ‘mental health’ but there is no mention of 'pets' in this part of the text. I do, however, spot the words ‘animals’ and ‘dog’ which might have been used to paraphrase ‘pets’.

I read in detail to get the meaning of the text.

But Sir Anthony suggested another more low-tech approach to reducing anxiety - the soothing presence of animals such as dogs. "The quickest and biggest hit that we can make to improve mental health in our schools and to make them feel safe for children, is to have at least one dog in every single school in the country," said Sir Anthony. "Because children can relate to animals when they are hurt and anxious and sad in a way that they can't always with human beings. It will be a powerfully cost-effective way of helping children feel more secure at schools”, he added.

It seems to match the information in the sentence but there is another very important keyword in the statement that I need to consider – ‘evidence’. This means proof of the idea being suggested.

While the ideas match, there is no direct evidence stated so I mark the answer NOT GIVEN.

You can see why NG answers can be challenging.

 

4) Moving on to the last statement, I select ‘government minister’ and ‘national scheme’ as my keywords and continue scanning the rest of the text for them. In this case, this means the final paragraph.

4. The government minister may introduce a national scheme promoting wellbeing dogs in schools.

I don’t find either of these phrases in the text so need to think about possible synonyms. Even if I know little about politics, I can guess that the ‘education secretary’ is a ‘government minister’. So that’s a start.

The education secretary said that his visits to schools had certainly shown him how common ‘wellbeing dogs’ were becoming. "This is one of those things that wasn't around when I was at school," said Mr Hinds. "I hadn't really realised the incidence of it until I was education secretary”. He said that he’d been surprised at the idea at first but saw for himself that many children found the experience really uplifting, particularly those that have different ways of expressing themselves and coming out of themselves. He did, however, stated that although the dogs can really help, there were no plans for a "central dog policy".

I scan again looking out for any other words related to government and politics and in the final sentence I also spot the word ‘policy’.

It doesn’t matter if you don’t understand what this word means. All that matters is that you can work out from the context of the sentence that this word is probably relevant and indicates where the answer is located.

I make an educated guess that a ‘central dog policy’ is a match for a ‘national scheme promoting wellbeing dogs in schools’, and re-read the sentence to find my answer.

The sentence states that there are ‘no plans for a central dog policy’, so the answer is FALSE.

       Answers

       1   FALSE

       2   TRUE

       3   NOT GIVEN

       4  FALSE

 

IELTS Reading: 5 Easy Steps to Solve True, False, Not Given Questions

You all must be aware of the True, False, Not Given question type of the IELTS Reading exam. In this, you will be given a passage, and 5-6 statements related to it. You will need to mark the given statements as True, False or Not Given.

The tricky part is that you might not get the sentences directly. Most of the time, there is a possibility of having rephrased sentences.

In this blog, following points are covered:

• How to approach the question?
• 5-step solving strategy
• Important patterns
• Common mistakes
• Quick tips
• How to solve (with sample question and explanation)

How to Approach True, False, Not Given Questions?

 

True	If the statement matches the information in the passage.
False	If the statement contradicts the information in the passage.
Not Given	If the information is not found in the passage.

5-step solving strategy for IELTS Reading True, False, Not Given Questions

STEP I: Identify keywords in the statement
STEP II: Identify similar words in the passage
STEP III: Match the keywords and the similar words
STEP IV: Evaluate if they are same, synonyms, opposites or if there's no match
STEP V: Decide whether the statement is True, False or Not Given

Important Pattern to Notice in True, False, Not Given Questions

Consider the statements and the corresponding equivalent statements from the reading passage. Focus on:

• Paraphrasing: Sometimes, there are chances of getting rephrased sentences. It becomes easy to find whether the sentence is True, False or Not Given.
• Synonyms/Opposites: The best way to determine the sentences is just by looking at the keywords which can be either synonym or antonym.

Beware of Some Common Mistakes

1. Don't get confused between False and Not Given.
   This may sound obvious. But the statement does not necessarily have to be either True or False. At times the information may not be given in the passage.

2. Never try to answer based on your prior knowledge of the topic.

The passage could be slightly different from your prior knowledge of the topic. Making assumptions can cost you a good IELTS score. Read the complete passage and then answer the questions based only on the given information.

Quick Tips for IELTS Reading True, False, Not Given

• The statements follow a chronological order. Once you find the first answer, proceed to the next sentence.
• Watch out for those words that can slightly change the meaning of the sentence. For example, many, some, never, few, all, always, etc.
• Don't waste too much time on one question. If you can't find one, mark it Not Given.

How to solve (with Sample Question and explanation)

Let's take a sample question:

Keywords in Statements	Similar Words in Passage
1. David Gura is trying to buy a book before it gets broken up.	a single page from a medieval manuscript went up for sale. Among those who were trying to buy it was David Gura,
2. David Gura works for the University of Notre Dame.	David Gura, the Curator of Ancient and Medieval Manuscripts at the University of Notre Dame
3. Only a small number of pages remain of The Book of Hours.	He is now in a race to find the remaining pages of this manuscript before they disappear.

Explanation

Statement 1: The statement mentions that David Gura is trying to buy a book before it gets broken up

On the contrary, you can find in the passage that only a single page from a medieval manuscript went up for sale. It can be seen that David Gura is one of the people trying to buy the page.

False.

Statement 2: It is a straightforward question and can be easily seen that David Gura works for the University of Notre Dame. Highlighted keywords also matched.

True.

Statement 3: It is stated that only a small number of pages remain of The Book of Hours

Yes, there are remaining pages, but it is difficult to conclude from the passage whether they are less or more.

NOT GIVEN.

 

IELTS Reading True False Not Given Exercises

This IELTS Reading true false not given exercise will help you to improve your ability to answer these types of question.

They always present problems for students, particularly because of the difficulty in understanding the difference between answers that are 'false' or 'not given'. 

In true, false, not given questions you are given some 'factual' statements taken from the reading and you have to decide if they match what is actually stated in the reading.

Reading in Detail

An important part of doing this is making sure that you read in detail the part of the text where you think the answer is.

You can skim the text to find where the answer is, but you must read that part very carefully to decide if it matches the statement. 

This also of course means making sure you read the question / statement carefully. You must fully understand it in order to find the answer and assess them against each other. 

Understanding the Statements

True

If the statement is true then it will exactly match the facts given in the reading. But remember that does not mean they will be written in exactly the same way.

The statement will be a paraphrase of what is in the text. That's one reason why you have to read very carefully.

False

If the statement is false that means it contradicts or is opposite to the information given in the reading. 

Not Given

This means that you cannot tell if the statement is true or false from looking at the reading. The information to make the decision as regards true or false is not there.

Understanding 'Not Given' Questions

These questions are notorious for getting candidates confused. 

A Not Given question does not mean that there is no information in the statement that can be seen in the text. You will find something related to the statement in the text and using some of the same words. 

The point is that you won't have the information there to make a decision as to whether it is true or false. 

Take a look at the paragraph below taken from a reading in a real IELTS test, and the statement below it which is a Not Given statement connected to the paragraph.  

The reading was about the intelligence of ants. 

Sample 'Not Given' Question

When we survey Mexico City, Tokyo, Los Angeles, we are amazed at what has been accomplished by humans. Yet Hoelldobler and Wilson's magnificent work for ant lovers, The Ants, describes a super colony of the ant Formica yessensis on the Ishikari Coast of Hokkaido. This 'megalopolis' was reported to be composed of 360 million workers and a million queens living in 4,500 interconnected nests across a territory of 2.7 square kilometres. Such enduring and intricately meshed levels of technical achievement outstrip by far anything achieved by our distant relatives.

Statement:

Ants can build large cities more quickly than humans do. 

If you had the whole reading in the test and you skimmed it to find the answer you would likely be drawn to this paragraph as it talks about 'large cities'. 'humans',  and how ants have 'outstripped' (exceeded / done better) anything achieved by humans in the past. 

If you rush or don't read it carefully and in detail you may be tempted to mark it True because a lot of the information that is in the statement is in the paragraph. 

But although some of the information from the statement is there it does not say that ants can build large cities more quickly than humans. It just says that their 'technical achievements' exceeds that of those humans who build those cities. 

You may also be tempted to mark it False as you think of course ants can't build large cities more quickly than humans!

But again, you can't decide something on your assumptions or what you know or believe to be true if it isn't in the reading.   

Exactly what is in the statement must also be in the reading. If it is not there it is Not Given.  

Tips

These are some general tips for True, False, Not Given questions:

• Read the question / statement carefully to make sure you fully understand it.
• Underline / note any keywords in it that you can use  to skim and find where the matching information is in the text.
• They follow in chronological order so once you have found the first one, the others will follow (the next could be in the same paragraph, the next paragraph or further on though).
• Be aware of words that can subtly change the meaning of a sentence such as "many", "some", "occasionally" etc. 
• Don't waste too much time on one question. If you can't find the answer then mark it 'not given' - you have a one in three chance it will be correct. 

IELTS Reading True False Not Given Exercises

Now you can practice this with these IELTS Reading True False Not Given Exercises.

It's not quite the same as a real reading test from IELTS because you are given the question under each paragraph. This means that the skimming element is missing from this IELTS Reading True False Not Given Exercise. 

In the real test of course, the reading is separate from the questions. The point of it is so you can focus instead on analysing the statement and text and decide on the correct answer.

When you have made your choice, click the 'show / hide' answer tab and you can see if you are correct. There is also a short explanation.  

The reading is about how women in Sudan are taking weight gaining pills in order to make themselves more attractive. 

 

Question 1

While skin bleaching is a long-standing cosmetic staple across Sudan, a newer craze is sweeping the nation. Many young women are turning to prescription pills in order to gain weight, and hopefully gain the curvaceous figures they see as the standard of beauty. Away from the regulation of trained pharmacists, fattening pills are illegally dispensed by the same small shops which sell topical bleaching creams and other popular beauty fixes. Sold individually, in small bags and emptied sweet containers, they are completely devoid of any information about medical risks.

1. People do not get any information about the dangers to their health when they purchase unregulated weight gain pills.

True

False

Not Given

Question 2

It is difficult to estimate how many women in Sudan use these products to gain weight, because many are reluctant to admit to it. "Pills are handed out in the village like penny sweets," says Imitithal Ahmed, a student at the University of Khartoum. "I've always been scared to use them because I've seen family members fall ill and close friends become dependent on appetite stimulants. My aunt is on the brink of kidney failure and has blocked arteries from taking too many fattening pills, trying to get a bigger bum. Everyone in the family knows why she's sick, but she won't own up to it. She's had to stop taking the pills on doctor's orders."

2. Since a large number of women in Sudan are not willing to reveal that they take the pills, the exact number of women using them is not known.

True

False

Not Given

Question 3

Pills are often rebranded and given catchy street names which allude to their effects. From The Neighbours' Shock to Chicken Thighs and My Mama Suspects, the clinical name of pills are forgotten and replaced by promises of a bigger bottom, shapely thighs and a belly that will have your mother concerned that you might be pregnant. Tablets range from standard appetite stimulants to allergy medicines containing the steroid hormone, cortisone. The side-effects of taking cortisone are now a cash cow for pill peddlers. It is known to slow the metabolism, increase appetite, trigger water retention and create extra deposits of fat around the abdomen and face.

3. Promoting the clinical name of the pills helps the sellers to focus on the weight gaining aspects associated with them.

True

False

Not Given

 

Question 4

(This question is again from paragraph three, so take a look at it again above)

4. Those selling the pills are making more money on them than other types of pills.

 True

False

Not Given

 

Question 5

Using unregulated steroids without supervision can damage the heart, liver, kidneys and thyroid, says Dr Salah Ibrahim, Head of the Pharmacists' Union in Sudan. He explains that cortisone is a naturally occurring hormone in the body, helping to regulate vital bodily functions. But when a man-made, concentrated version enters the body in the form of pills or topical bleaching creams, the brain gives the body a signal to stop production. If a user suddenly stops taking the substance, their major organs can spiral into dysfunction.

5. The body's cortisone production will eventually return to normal once a person stops taking the pills.

True

False

Not Given

 

Question 6

Young women in Sudan are dying from kidney and heart failure caused by sudden steroid withdrawal, medical professionals say. Fatalities are especially common among new brides, who traditionally undergo a month of intense beautification prior to their wedding day and then abruptly stop using fattening pills and steroidal bleaching creams. Their deaths are put down to sudden organ failure. 

6. Intense usage in the month after marriage followed by sudden withdrawal is resulting in a high death rate for newly wed women.

True

False

Not Given 

Question 7

Yet these horrifying beauty trends continue to gain traction. Prescription pill abuse is taking off in Sudan's conservative society, partly because it lacks the social stigma and pungent, giveaway odour of alcohol and cannabis. University students flock to buy the potent painkiller Tramadol, which is sold for 20 Sudanese pounds ($1; 80 pence) per pill. Some of Khartoum's roadside tea-sellers are even known to drop the painkiller in a cup of tea, upon a coded request.

7. Sudanise society does not view the absue of prescription pills as negatively as it does other drugs such as alcohol and cannabis.

True

False

Not Given

 

Question 8

Awareness campaigns have so far had very little impact. Dr Ibrahim, Head of the Pharmacists Union, has made numerous appearances on national television to warn of the dangers of prescription pill abuse. At university level, pharmacists are taught vigilance and trained to act in keeping with ethics and pharmaceutical law. But in a country where pharmacists and doctors are paid very little, the temptation to sell pills to illegal vendors is overwhelming for some. "Last time I went to the beauty shop I go to for my creams, the shop owner brought out a chocolate box full of different fattening pills," says Ms Ahmed, the Khartoum student. "Girls are too scared to ask pharmacists and doctors about the pills they buy from beauty shops, for fear of being publicly shamed."

8. Awareness campaigns are becoming common on national television.

True

False

Not Given

 

Question 9

(This question is again from the above paragraph, so take a look at it again)

9. The low pay of doctors and pharmacists contributes to the problem of weight pill abuse.

True

False

Not Given

 

Question 10

Police may arrest traders and block smuggling routes, but the profits for rogue pharmacists keep growing regardless. Fattening pills are poured into the black market, deemed to be the lesser evil. Sudan isn't the only African society where being overweight is a symbol of prosperity and power, boosting the "marriageability" of young women. But in this country, it embodies an ideal. It defines the ultimate Sudanese woman - full-bodied and light-skinned - epitomising beauty and coveted as a wife. The iconic status of Nada Algalaa, a Sudanese singer whose looks are widely praised and emulated, is testament in itself. For some women, it is an ideal to be acquired by any means necessary.

10. Being overweight is a sign of prosperity and power throughout African countries.

True

False

Not Given

 

 

 

ANSWERS

1. TRUE

2. TRUE

3. FALSE

4. NOT GIVEN

5. NOT GIVEN

6. FALSE

7. TRUE

8. NOT GIVEN

9. TRUE

10. NOT GIVEN

 

 

 

 

 

Programmable plants

In electronics, even the most advanced computer is just a complex arrangement of simple, modular parts that control specific functions; the same integrated circuit might be found in an iPhone, or in an aircraft. Biologists are creating this same modularity in – wait for it – plants, by designing gene "circuits" that control specific plant characteristics – color, size, resistance to drought, you name it.

The relatively new, interdisciplinary field is synthetic biology – the design of genetic circuits, just like in electronics, that control different functions and can be easily placed in one organism or the next. Most of today's synthetic biologists work with simple microorganisms, like E. coli or yeast.

A CSU team led by June Medford, professor of biology, and Ashok Prasad, associate professor of chemical and biological engineering, is doing the same thing, but in the much more complex biological world of plants.

TRUE/FALSE/NOT GIVEN questions:

1. The scientists are using a technique from electronics to control specific plant properties.
2. Some synthetic biologists work with genetic circuits of mammals.
3. Most of synthetic biologists work with mammals.

 

 

 

 

Answers to Programmable plants

1 TRUE

This is the first question, so answer to it should be somewhere in the first (or second) paragraph. The first sentence of the first paragraph tells us about electronics, and then we have:

Biologists are creating this same modularity in – wait for it – plants, by designing gene "circuits" that control specific plant characteristics – color, size, resistance to drought, you name it.

same modularity = same technique as in electronics
control specific plant characteristics = control specific plant properties

So this statement just summarizes the first paragraph. It is obviously true.

 

2 NOT GIVEN

The second passage only tells us that

Most of today's synthetic biologists work with simple microorganisms, like E. coli or yeast.

But we don't know anything about some biologists. Maybe some biologists work with mammals, maybe not. So the answer is not given.

 

3 FALSE

The word some from the previous question was changed to most of, and this completely changed the meaning of the question! Now, this statement is clearly false as it contradicts the text:

Most of today's synthetic biologists work with simple microorganisms, like E. coli or yeast.

This example shows how important is it to read the questions carefully, as one word can drastically change the meaning of the whole question.

Note that the last paragraph was not used at all. This sometimes happens, so don't worry if some of the paragraphs in your text don't contain any answers.

Read the text below and answer the TRUE, FALSE, NOT GIVEN questions that follow. After checking your answers, you should also look at the vocabulary section for this text at the bottom of the page. Speed levels:

20 minutes or more = TOO SLOW!
15 minutes = not bad
10 minutes = good
5 to 10 minutes = very good
less than 5 minutes = AMAZING!

 

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

In the middle of the Pacific Ocean, stretching from about 500 nautical miles off the coast of California, across the northern Pacific to near the coast of Japan, a circular pattern of currents has corralled an enormous vortex of floating garbage held there by swirling ocean currents. It has been described as the world’s largest rubbish dump and it is starting to alarm scientists.

There are various sources of plastic litter entering our seas: shipping, tourism, and fishing to name but a few; however, roughly 80 percent of the debris, which ranges from bottles and cigarette lighters to toothbrushes and packaging scraps, came first from the land.

The increasing rate of plastic pollution is alarming. The production of plastic doubles every decade, and ever-increasing amounts of trash makes it way to the seas—more than 6 million tons per year, according to the UN Environment Program (this is the same programme that estimated every square mile of ocean water contains approximately 46,000 pieces of rubbish).

The plastic waste was discovered in 1997 by American sailor Charles Moore, who discovered the floating mass of rubbish by chance after returning home from a yacht race. He sailed through a vast congregation of plastic has congregated into what is often referred to as the great Pacific garbage patch. However, the term may be misleading as the “patch” is in fact two massive, linked areas of circulating rubbish, says Dr Marcus Eriksen, research director of the US-based Marine Research Foundation, founded by Moore. In fact, when it was first identified in the media, there was ‘the idea that it was an island of plastic garbage that you could almost walk on. It is not quite like that. It is almost like a plastic soup.’ Dr Eriksen says.

Moore, an oceanographer who has made the study of the patch his full-time occupation, believes there is about 100 million tonnes of plastic circulating in the northern Pacific – or about 2.5 per cent of all plastic items made since 1950.

Although many media and advocacy reports have suggested the patch extends over an area greater than the continental US, recent research sponsored by the National Science Foundation suggests the affected area may be much smaller. This can be attributed to the fact that there is no specific standard for determining the boundary between the “normal” and “elevated” levels of pollutants and what constitutes being part of the patch. It is generally accepted, however, that the high concentration of plastic is approximately the size of Texas in the USA, and is growing every year.

The main problem is that generally, flotsam such as wood and paper in the ocean would biodegraded. But modern plastics do not break down like other oceanic debris, meaning objects half a century old have been found. Instead, the plastic slowly photodegrades, becoming brittle and disintegrating, and then entering the food chain. To make the situation worse, the small plastic particles acted like a sponge to trap many dangerous man-made chemicals that found their way into the ocean, like hydrocarbons and DDT, which is then ingested by marine life which in turn is fished and ends up on sale for human consumption.

Larger pieces of plastic are also a threat to birds, which mistake them for food. Syringes, cigarette lighters and tooth brushes from the patch have all been found inside sea bird carcasses. In addition, the larger piece of plastic allows organisms and marine life to travel distances far greater than their natural habitat would allow, meaning that delicate ecosystems are at risk.

As plastic breaks down it becomes heavier than the water, so there is not only plastic floating on the surface, it is also in the column of water below and sinking to the sea bed, again causing significant damage to the marine life below.

Despite the environmental impact, there is still precious little being done to curb the problem.

 

Are the following statements TRUE, FALSE or NOT GIVEN according to the text?

 

1. The great Pacific garbage patch was located intentionally.
2. The garbage patch is a singular, solid mass.
3. There are disagreements over the exact size of the patch.
4. The size of the patch is growing at an increasing rate per year.
5. Modern plastic biodegrades and does not affect marine life.

6. The plastic is not safe even when it sinks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Answers

1  FALSE  – ‘Charles Moore, who discovered the floating mass of rubbish by chance after returning home from a yacht race’

2  FALSE  – ‘the “patch” is in fact two massive, linked areas’, ‘an island of plastic garbage that you could almost walk on. It is not quite like that’

3 TRUE  – ‘Although many media and advocacy reports have suggested the patch extends over an area greater than the continental US, recent research sponsored by the National Science Foundation suggests the affected area may be much smaller.’

4 NOT GIVEN  – the text states that the patch ‘is growing every year’, but not that the rate is increasing.

5 FALSE  – ‘modern plastics do not break down’

6 TRUE  – ‘sinking to the sea bed, again causing significant damage to the marine life below’

 

 

 

 

 

Vocabulary from this text:

nautical = relating to the sea.

(to) corral = gather together, keep in one place

a congregation = a gathering or collection of people or things

misleading = giving the wrong idea or impression (sometimes intentionally)

elevated = raised, higher than normal

flotsam= wreckage or waste found floating on or washed up by the sea

brittle = easily snapped or broken, but not bent

disintegrating = breaking apart into smaller pieces

ingested = eaten, swallowed, absorbed

carcass = the dead body of an animal

to curb (a problem) = to reduce, limit or stop something

 

 

 

more examples are at: https://ieltsmaterial.com/true-false-not-given-ielts-reading/

 

 

 

‘True, False, Not Given’ questions require you to identify if information in a text is true or not.

You will be given a number of factual statements and you have to check the text to see if they are true or not.

This is probably the most difficult question on the reading paper.

This post will:

• look at example questions
• discuss common problems
• define ‘True’, ‘False’ and ‘Not Given’
• give you tips and advice
• provide you with a strategy to use on exam day

In this article when I refer to ‘statements’ I am talking about the questions, not the text in the main reading article.

Example True, False, Not Given Question

As you can see above, you will be given a number of factual statements and asked to look at the text and decide if the statement is true, false or not given.

Common Problems

The biggest problem here is the ‘not given’ option. Most students are not used to answering questions like this and it causes them lots of problems because they are not sure what to look for. They also spend too much time making sure that it is ‘not given’ and this affects the rest of their test.

Students also fail to understand exactly what each statement means and therefore cannot identify if it is true or false. Many focus on keywords instead of understanding what the statement as a whole means.

Another common mistake is identifying keywords in the statements and then trying to find words that exactly match them in the text. You can do this, but more often the words will be synonyms.

Finally, some students fail to understand exactly what true, false and not given actually mean and get confused.

Now let’s look at solving these common problems.

What do TRUE, FALSE and NOT GIVEN mean? 

The most important thing to remember is what the words ‘true’, ‘false’ and ‘not given’ actually mean and therefore what IELTS wants you to write.

• If the text agrees with or confirms the information in the statement, the answer is TRUE
• If the text contradicts or is the opposite to the information in the statement, the answer is FALSE
• If there is no information or it is impossible to know, the answer is NOT GIVEN

True means that the meaning is the same. It is just similar then it is FALSE. Remember that we are dealing with factual information so there is no room to say it is similar or nearly the same. 

Lots of students have argued with me during practice and said the statement is true because it ‘kind of’ means the same. There is no ‘kind of’ with these questions, only facts.

Very important- 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, if words match then it must be TRUE or FALSE, right? Not really. This is not a good way to think about these questions because there probably will be matching words for NOT GIVEN answers, they just don’t have enough information to answer the question as a whole.

Top 10 Tips

1.   Ignore anything you already know about the topic and don’t make assumptions. Base your answers on the text only.

2.   Identify any words that qualify the statement, for example, some, all, mainly, often, always and occasionally. These words are there to test if you have read the whole statement because they can change the meaning. For example, ‘Coca-Cola has always made its drinks in the U.S.A.’ has a different meaning from ‘Coca-Cola has mainly made its drinks in the U.S.A.’

3.   Be careful when you see verbs that qualify statements, such as suggest, claim, believe and know. For example, ‘The man claimed he was a British citizen,’ and ‘The man is a British citizen’ mean two different things.

4.   There will be at least one of all three answers. If you don’t have at least one ‘true’, ‘false’ or ‘not given’ you have at least one answer wrong.

5.   Don’t skim and scan the text to find the final answer. You will have to read the appropriate part of the text very carefully in order to understand what the author means.

6.   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.

7.   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.

8.   If you have no idea what the answer is put ‘not given’. You probably have no idea because the answer is not there.

9.   Answers are in the same order they appear in the text. Do not waste time going back. Keep on reading.

10.                 YES/NO/NOT GIVEN questions are slightly different because they deal with opinion. TRUE/FALSE/NOT GIVEN questions deal with facts.

True, False, Not Given Strategy 

This is my suggested strategy. There are many different strategies and you should use the one you feel comfortable with. You can also adapt this strategy to what suits you.

1.   Always read the instructions carefully and make sure you know if it is a TRUE/FALSE/NOT GIVEN or YES/NO/NOT GIVEN question.

2.   Read all the statements carefully, trying to understand what the whole sentence means rather than simply highlighting keywords. Watch out for qualifying words such as some or always. 

3.   Try to think of what synonyms might be in the text. This will help you identify the matching part of the text.

4.   Match the statement with the correct part of the text.

5.   Focus on the statement again and then carefully read the matching part of the text to establish if it is true or false. Remember the meaning should exactly match that of the statement if it is true.

6.   Underline the words that give you the answer, this will help you focus and you can check back later. Again, be careful there are no qualifying words in the text.

7.   If you can’t find the answer, mark it as ‘not given’ and move on to the next question.

8.   If you are really unsure or can’t find the answer, mark it as ‘not given’.