IELTS · Articles · October 19, 2026 · 4 min read
IELTS Reading True / False / Not Given: rules, a worked example and tips
True / False / Not Given is one of the most common IELTS Reading tasks and the one learners find most confusing. You read statements and decide how each relates to the information in the passage:
- TRUE: the passage says the same thing, usually in different words.
- FALSE: the passage says the opposite, or something that cannot be true at the same time.
- NOT GIVEN: the passage says nothing that confirms or contradicts the statement.
The whole difficulty is the line between FALSE and NOT GIVEN. One question settles it: does the text contradict the statement, or is it simply silent?
A worked example
Read this short passage:
When the town council introduced a bicycle-sharing scheme in 2015, it expected most users to be tourists. In fact, surveys in the first two years showed that over 70 per cent of journeys were made by local residents travelling to work. The scheme began with 40 stations, all in the town centre, and has since expanded to the suburbs. Although the bicycles are free for the first thirty minutes, the council admits that the scheme still depends on public money. Several neighbouring towns have visited to study the project, and one of them plans to launch a similar service next year.
Now the statements:
| Statement | Answer | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 1. The council originally thought tourists would be the main users. | TRUE | “it expected most users to be tourists” says the same thing in other words. |
| 2. Most journeys in the first two years were made by tourists. | FALSE | Over 70% were made by local residents, so tourists cannot have made most of them. |
| 3. All of the original stations were in the town centre. | TRUE | “40 stations, all in the town centre”. |
| 4. The scheme no longer needs public funding. | FALSE | The council says it “still depends on public money”. |
| 5. The bicycles are used more in summer than in winter. | NOT GIVEN | The passage says nothing about seasons. |
| 6. A neighbouring town has already launched a similar scheme. | FALSE | One town “plans to launch” next year, so it has not launched yet. |
Statement 6 is the classic trap: the topic matches the text, the words look familiar, but the time is different. Statement 5 is the opposite trap: it sounds reasonable and you might believe it from real life, but the passage never mentions it.
Five rules that prevent most mistakes
- The questions follow the order of the passage. If you found the answer to question 3 in the second paragraph, the answer to question 4 is after it, not before.
- Use only the text. Your own knowledge does not count. A statement can be true in the real world and still be NOT GIVEN.
- Watch the qualifiers. Words like all, some, most, only, always, usually, never, already, still change the meaning. “Some residents” and “all residents” are different statements.
- Check every part of the statement. If the text confirms one half and is silent about the other half, the answer is NOT GIVEN. If it contradicts any part, the answer is FALSE.
- Do not look for the same words. TRUE statements are usually paraphrased. Matching words often point to the right sentence, but the meaning still has to be checked.
How to work through a set
- Read all the statements first and underline the keywords: names, numbers, dates and the qualifiers.
- Scan the passage for the part that deals with the first statement.
- Read that part carefully, sentence by sentence, and compare the meaning.
- Ask: same meaning (TRUE), contradiction (FALSE), or no information (NOT GIVEN)?
- If you cannot find anything after a minute, mark NOT GIVEN and move on. The next answer will be further down the text.
Yes / No / Not Given
In some passages you see Yes / No / Not Given instead. The logic is the same, but the statements are about the writer’s opinions or claims, not facts. “Yes” means the writer agrees, “No” means the writer disagrees, “Not Given” means the writer gives no view on it. Write the words the task asks for: TRUE where it says TRUE, YES where it says YES.
How to practise
Accuracy here comes from checking your reasoning, not just your score. After each set, look at every wrong answer and write one line: what in the text made it FALSE rather than NOT GIVEN, or the other way round. After a few sets you will see the same traps again and again.
In Nomto’s Reading tasks every answer comes with an explanation of the exact sentence in the passage, so you can see why an answer is FALSE and not NOT GIVEN. The Academic vs General Training guide shows how many correct answers you need for each band.