Tips for IELTS True False Notgiven Questions

Tips for IELTS true false not given.

Note:The most important point to mention here is that there are several strategies for solving true false not given questions. This strategy is just one of them. People adopt different strategies depending upon their comfort level and understanding. Other strategies will be discussed in further articles.

True, False and Not given questions are type of questions categorized under identifying information for the IELTS exam. These types of questions are asked in both IELTS academic as well as IELTS general. Students find it difficult to find answers because of very thin difference between the logic behind the three choices- True, False and Not Given. Therefore, in this lesson, we will discuss about how to figure out that what selection is to be made, so that the correct choice about true, false and not given is made.

First of all, let us see what the three terms, “TRUE FALSE and NOT GIVEN”, mean.  True: A statement is considered as TRUE only when the passage contains exactly the same information, in different words.  False: A statement is considered as FALSE only when the passage contains information which is contradictory to that statement. In simple words, the proves that the statement is wrong.  Not given: A statement is termed as NOT GIVEN when the information given in it is: o completely missing in the passage o is partially(incompletely) given in the passage so that its truth or falsehood cannot be determined Note: NOT GIVEN is the most confusing answer to determine because people have a tendency to assume that the statement might be correct or it might not be correct. Hence, they make wrong choice. So, be very careful about NOT GIVEN selection and whenever you are not able to finalize your answer to be TRUE or FALSE, always select the “NOT GIVEN” option.

Example So now, we will take a simple passage and see how a decision about True, False and Not given is made. “ Sample Academic Reading Identifying Information (True/False/Not Given) Paragraph taken from sample questions given on IELTS.org and IELTS have adapted it with permission from Encyclopaedia Britannica, © 2007 by Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. The life and work of Marie Curie Marie Curie is probably the most famous woman scientist who has ever lived. Born Maria Sklodowska in Poland in 1867, she is famous for her work on radioactivity, and was twice a winner of the Nobel Prize. With her husband, Pierre Curie, and Henri Becquerel, she was awarded the 1903 Nobel Prize for Physics, and was then sole winner of the 1911 Nobel Prize for Chemistry. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize.

From childhood, Marie was remarkable for her prodigious memory, and at the age of 16 won a gold medal on completion of her secondary education. Because her father lost his savings through bad investment, she then had to take work as a teacher. From her earnings she was able to finance her sister Bronia’s medical studies in Paris, on the understanding that Bronia would, in turn, later help her to get an education.

In 1891 this promise was fulfilled and Marie went to Paris and began to study at the Sorbonne (the University of Paris). She often worked far into the night and lived on little more than bread and butter and tea. She came first in the examination in the physical sciences in 1893, and in 1894 was placed second in the examination in mathematical sciences. It was not until the spring of that year that she was introduced to Pierre Curie.

Questions 1 – 3

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?

Write TRUE if the statement agrees with the information FALSE if the statement contradicts the information NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this 1. Marie Curie’s husband was a joint winner of both Marie’s Nobel Prizes.

2. Marie became interested in science when she was a child.

3. Marie was able to attend the Sorbonne because of her sister’s financial contribution. ” The paragraph marked in colour blue is based on the life and work of Mary curie. Before starting to read the paragraph, always first look at the questions. Here, we have three questions, marked in Red, for this paragraph.

Let’s read the questions and while reading the questions we will underline or highlighting the main words in the questions. In the first question husband, joint winner of both and noble prize are the main parts, and in the second question, science as well as she was a child seems to be the main part and finally, in the third question sisters financial contribution and Sorbonne seem to be the main parts.

The first thing to be discussed is how do we determine that what are the main parts. The topic of the paragraph is life and work of Mary Curie.

Therefore, we can guess that the content in the paragraph will be related to life of a person called Mary curie and work done by her.

So in the first question they are talking about Marie Curie winning some noble prizes and whether her husband was a winner in both of them or not.

So, it is easy to figure out that husband, joint winner and Noble prize seems to be the main parts.

In the second question they’re talking about when did Mary Curie became interested in science and it is referred to as her childhood so it means she was a child and science are the main parts.

Finally, in the third question they talking about her sister’s financial contribution in Mary Curie academics, so sister’s financial contribution and Sorbonne seems to be the main parts.

Now, let’s go to the paragraph and start reading it and while reading we will keep on underlining or highlighting the words which we consider as important. One thing to be kept in mind is that it’s possible that we might feel that something is important which actually might not be but we have to careful to underline only the relevant parts , as per the questions read before.

(CAUTION : DO NOT UNDERLINE THE FULL LINES. ONLY UNDERLINE IMPORTANT WORDS or PHRASES.)

As we start to read the paragraph 1, following words or phrases seem to be important.       

Most famous woman scientist radioactivity twice a winner husband 1903 noble prize 1911 noble prize sole winner

So when we are finished reading the first paragraph, we find that Marie Curie won two noble prizes. One prize was given with her husband and for the second she was the sole winner, so it means that she won two prizes, but only one of them was joint with her husband so if we go back to the first question it says “Marie Curie’s husband was a joint winner of both Mary’s noble prices”, but as per the paragraph he was only a winner in one of the them. Hence, this statement is false because they have specifically given that she was the sole winner, so we are not assuming anything, but the information is question is contradictory to information in the passage.

Now let’s go to the second paragraph. As we start to read the paragraph 2, following words or phrases seem to be important.  Childhood  Memory  16

     

Lost his savings Bad investment Teacher Finance her sister On the understanding In turn later help her

So, by the time we finish the second paragraph we come to know that since childhood Mary was very intelligent and as per the second question it says that Mary became interested in science when she was a child, but if we read the second paragraph again we only find that Mary was very intelligent since childhood but it does not mention anything about her good in science subjects, so it means she might be good in science and also she might not be good in science. Therefore, it means when it is specifically not mentioned that whether she was good in science or not , so we cannot make it true and also we cannot make it false, hence we will mark the second question as not given Now let’s go to the third paragraph. As we start to read the paragraph 3, following words or phrases seem to be important.  Promise was fulfilled  Paris  Sorbonne  Worked far into night  First  Physical sciences  Second  Mathematical sciences  Spring  Pierre Curie Now let’s go to the third question where it is mentioned that Mary was able to attend Sorbonne because of her sisters financial contribution. Now we have to see when Mary went to Sorbonne, did her sister help her financially?. The first line of paragraph says says that in 1890 this promise was fulfilled, now the question is what was the promise. After going through the last two lines of the previous paragraph it is figured that that she was able to finance her sisters Bronia’s medical studies in Paris on the understanding that Bronia would in turn later help her to get an education,

so it means that she was expecting help from her sister and the third paragraph says that this promise fulfilled so it means her sister helped her and then when her sister helped her where did she go she went to study at Sorbonne. Therefore, it means the information in third question is correct as per data mentioned in the paragraph. So, the third statement is true.

So now as we see if we follow the same tips and strategies to all the questions in the IELTS reading exam for true, false and not given questions, then students are expected to perform better and they are not expected to get confused with true false and not given and surely the steps will help in making a correct choice.

Note : This strategy is not the only strategy and there are many more strategies helpful in solving the true, false and not given questions.

Also, while underlining the important words or phrases in the paragraphs, it is possible that different people may underline different words, so the more relevant words are underlined , more are the chances of success.