IELTS True, False, Not Given: how to tell False from Not Given

True/False/Not Given questions appear in almost every IELTS Reading test, and they cost more marks than any other type. The difficulty is not the English. It is the logic.

The three answers

Yes/No/Not Given works the same way but is about the writer's opinions or claims, rather than facts.

A three-step method

1. Find the part of the passage that the statement is about. Answers come in order, so the next answer is after the last one you found.
2. Compare every detail: who, what, when, how many, words like "all", "some", "always", "only", "first".
3. Ask one question: does the passage tell me this is wrong? If yes, False. If it only fails to confirm it, Not Given.

Worked examples

Passage: "The bridge, completed in 1932, was at the time the widest long-span bridge in the world. Around 1,400 workers were employed on the project, and sixteen of them lost their lives during construction."

Statement 1: The bridge was finished in the 1930s. → True. 1932 is in the 1930s.

Statement 2: The bridge was the longest in the world when it opened. → Not Given. The passage says widest, not longest. It doesn't tell us whether it was the longest.

Statement 3: No workers died while the bridge was being built. → False. The passage says sixteen died. That directly contradicts "no workers".

Statement 4: Most of the workers were recent immigrants. → Not Given. The passage gives the number of workers but nothing about where they came from.

Statement 2 is the classic trap. "Widest" and "longest" look similar, and if you know the real bridge you might be tempted to use your own knowledge. Don't. Only the passage counts.

Words that change the answer

Watch these carefully, because a single word often turns True into False or Not Given:

• Quantity: all, most, some, a few, none.
• Frequency: always, usually, sometimes, never.
• Certainty: proves, suggests, may, is believed to.
• Comparison: more, less, the first, the only, the largest.
• Time: before, after, since, until, currently, previously.

Certainty words are worth a closer look. Compare two versions of a passage:

• Version A: "Researchers believe the drug may reduce symptoms, but this has not yet been confirmed in clinical trials."
• Version B: "Researchers believe the drug may reduce symptoms."

Statement: Clinical trials have shown that the drug reduces symptoms. With version A, the answer is False, because the passage says it has not been confirmed. With version B, the answer is Not Given: the passage tells us what researchers believe, but says nothing about trials either way.

Common mistakes

• Choosing False because the information is missing. Missing means Not Given.
• Using general knowledge. The question is what the passage says.
• Spending too long on one question. If you can't find the information after a minute, it may be Not Given. Mark it, flag it and move on.
• Writing "No" instead of "False" (or the reverse) on the paper test. On computer you click an option, so this can't happen.

How to practise

Do a set of TFNG questions, then for every answer write one line of evidence: the words in the passage that prove True or False, or "nothing about X" for Not Given. If you can't write the evidence line, you were guessing. That habit is what makes accuracy stick.