True/ false/Not given and Yes/no/not given are one among the question types of IELTS reading module. This is the question type definitely will come in the exam. In case, if they miss True/false/not given – certainly they will give Yes/no/not given question. These questions are like twin brothers. These are a lit bit complicated and confusing questions. Before we proceed we have to know the definition of these questions.
True – If the statement agrees with the information
False – if the statement contradicts (Opposite) the information
Not Given – If there is no information on this.
Remember, English is all about understanding the language. IELTS examiners are not checking your knowledge about “Global Warming” if the given passage is about it. They are just checking your understanding skills such as whether you have understood the question and the statement in the passage or not? There are few students who are applying their academic knowledge into the passages. Please stick to the passage.
Yes – if the statement agrees with the views of the writer
No – if the statement contradicts with the views of the writer
Not given – If it is impossible to say what the writer thinks of this.
True/false/not given are the facts and Yes/no/not given are the writer’s opinion. Almost like same. Whereas, in the exam you cannot write for Yes – True, No – False. For (Yes – Yes, No – No), then only you will get the score. You are only on the safe side for “Not Given” because this is common for both the questions. So, be careful while transferring the answers in the OMR sheet. This is a common mistake what students commit. Let’s do an example which is common for both the questions.
Statement: Most of the students from Yale University found their project tough.
Question: Students from the science Stream of Yale University could not cope up with the project.
The strategy for these question types – first reading heading of the passage. You will get an idea what the passage is about. Then, read the question. Here will apply “scanning” strategy. Will read the question first, will pick a key word and start searching for it in the passage. This saves a much time rather than reading the whole passage. But, you have to be familiar with the synonyms and paraphrases as you can expect the same word or same sentence in the passage. Unless, you are familiar with the synonyms and paraphrases you may not find the answers in the passage. To crack this, you have to be good at vocabulary. If you are unaware of the meaning, at least make a guess from the context of the sentence. One have to be careful with the words such as – some, all, majority, mainly, often, always and occasionally. These are extremely dangerous words especially for these questions because they can change the meaning of the question. These words are there to test, if you read the whole statement or not? Lets’ solve the question now:
The key word in the question – Could not cope up
The key word in the statement – Tough
Words are different but the meaning is same (Synonym).
A simple definition for these questions – The given question meaning is matching with the statement in the passage definitely it’s “TRUE”. The given question meaning is contradicting with the statement in the passage definitely it’s “FALSE”. The given question, half of the meaning is matching and half not with the statement in the passage or if you are not locating that information anywhere in the whole passage definitely it’s “Not Given”.
For this question, the answer is “Not Given” because you are not finding the information about “Science stream” in the statement. Now, the common mistake what students do – they match the words. That’s wrong way. Never ever match the words. You should always match the meaning. Never go for the assumptions. You might think in the statement even science stream may be there. If that’s the case, how can be sure? Because there are many branches. Whereas, in the question the examiner is asking about particular branch – which is not there.
Statement: Most of the students from Yale University found their project tough.
Question: Students from the Yale University could not cope up with the project.
In this case, it is “FALSE” because in the question examiner is talking about Students (100%) whereas in the statement (most) not 100%. So, it’s contradicting.
Statement: Students from Yale University found their project tough.
Question: Students from the Yale University could not cope up with the project.
Now, its 100% “TRUE” because the meaning is matching.
Initially, you will get chaos with these questions. Don’t fed up and don’t give up. For reading, need to have much patience. Check the answers and find out the reasons why they chosen that answer. It’s like learning from the mistakes.