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True/False/Not Given: The Strategy That Ends the Guesswork

IELTS Reading29 August 2026 · 6 min read · WiderAI Team

True/False/Not Given questions test one thing: can you compare a statement against a passage without adding your own knowledge or logic? The answer is True when the passage says the same thing as the statement, False when the passage directly contradicts it, and Not Given when the passage neither confirms nor contradicts it. Almost every mark lost on this question type comes from confusing the last two.

The reliable strategy is to treat each statement as a claim you must verify against evidence. Find the part of the passage the statement refers to, then ask two questions in order. First: does the passage say the opposite of this? If yes, the answer is False. Second: does the passage actually state this, in different words? If yes, True. If you cannot answer yes to either question, the answer is Not Given — even if the statement sounds sensible, likely, or true in real life.

That last point is where most candidates go wrong. Not Given does not mean "probably false" or "I could not find it quickly". It means the passage contains no information that settles the claim either way. Once you internalise that, this question type becomes one of the most mechanical — and most bankable — in IELTS Reading.

What do True, False and Not Given actually mean?

Here are the three verdicts in plain terms:

• True: the statement agrees with the information in the passage. The wording will be different — IELTS almost always paraphrases — but the meaning matches.
• False: the statement contradicts the passage. The passage must say something that makes the statement impossible, not merely fail to support it.
• Not Given: the passage says nothing that confirms or denies the statement. Part of the statement may be mentioned, but the specific claim is not settled.

The distinction that matters is between False and Not Given. For False, you need contradicting evidence you can point to. If your reason for choosing False is "the passage never says that", you have actually described Not Given.

Why is Not Given so difficult?

Not Given statements are engineered to feel answerable. The question writers build them from words that genuinely appear in the passage, then attach a claim the passage never makes. You scan, find the familiar words, feel relieved, and match the statement to a sentence that discusses the same topic but does not address the same claim.

Suppose a passage says a research team studied sleep patterns in teenagers, and the statement says the team was the first to study sleep patterns in teenagers. Every content word matches. But "the first" is a new claim, and unless the passage ranks the team's work against earlier research, the answer is Not Given.

Your own background knowledge is the other trap. If a statement matches something you already believe, you will feel it is True even when the passage stays silent. The test rewards discipline: only the passage counts. You are marking the statement against the text, not against reality.

A step-by-step method for every statement

1. Read the statement carefully and identify the precise claim — not the topic, the claim. "Coffee consumption increased" and "coffee consumption increased rapidly" are different claims.
2. Underline the names, numbers, dates or unusual nouns in the statement. These change least in paraphrase and are your anchors for scanning.
3. Scan the passage for those anchors. The questions follow passage order, so if you found statement 3 in paragraph four, statement 4 will be there or later.
4. Read the matching sentence and the one either side of it slowly. This is where you switch from scanning to close reading.
5. Apply the two-question test: contradiction means False; confirmation means True; neither means Not Given.
6. If you find the topic but not the claim after a careful look, commit to Not Given and move on. Circling back burns time you need elsewhere.

Which words decide the answer?

Small words carry the verdict. Train yourself to notice three groups.

Quantifiers and frequency words

All, some, most, many, few, always, often, rarely, never — a mismatch here flips the answer. If the passage says most volunteers improved and the statement says all volunteers improved, that is False: "most" tells you some did not, which contradicts "all". If the passage says some improved and the statement says most improved, that is Not Given — "some" does not deny "most"; it simply does not settle it.

Comparatives and superlatives

Statements love more than, the largest, earlier than, the first. The passage must make the same comparison for True, or the reverse comparison for False. A passage that praises one method without comparing it to another cannot confirm "method A is more effective than method B".

Verbs of certainty

Watch the gap between proved and suggested, will and may, is and is thought to be. A statement that upgrades a suggestion into a fact is usually False or Not Given depending on how the passage frames it — read the framing, not just the content.

How should you manage time on this question type?

A True/False/Not Given set typically has four to seven statements, and you have roughly ninety seconds per question across the whole paper of 40 questions. Spend your time asymmetrically: locating the right sentence should take most of it; the verdict itself should take seconds once you are reading the right lines.

Never leave a blank. There is no penalty for a wrong answer in IELTS Reading, so an unanswered question is a guaranteed lost mark while a guess keeps some probability alive. Statistically, candidates under-select Not Given because it feels like admitting defeat — so if you are genuinely torn after finding the topic, Not Given deserves serious consideration rather than avoidance.

Practise the verdict step in isolation. Take any set you have already completed, cover the answers, and for each statement write one sentence justifying your choice with quoted words from the passage. If you cannot quote contradicting words for a False or confirming words for a True, your process — not your English — is what needs work. Reading skills also transfer: the same paraphrase-spotting muscle drives Listening and even helps you understand examiner questions in a IELTS speaking mock test.