The IELTS Reading test is different for Academic and General Training test takers. This difference is because these students have different requirements in a foreign land.
The passages for the tests are excerpts from journals, research, magazines, books, etc. The IELTS reading practice passages have topics from history, environment, whereas Academic passages are from technology, science, and so on.
The student can expect 40 questions divided into three sections in the IELTS reading test. The same has to be solved within 60 minutes.
There is a long list of questions that can be expected in both IELTS Reading General passages and the Academic test. For instance,
True, False, Not Given type
Yes, No, May Be type
Sentence completion
Summary completion
Table completion
Diagram/ Flowchart completion type
Matching Features
Matching Information type
Matching Heading
Multiple-choice questions
Today we will focus on the most challenging type of questions for the students, which is True/False/Not Given type of questions.
It is the trickiest section in the reading module. General training and Academic students dread these alike. However, let us try to simplify it by understanding it in phases.
First, let’s try to identify the difference between these statements.
True is that statement that agrees to the facts provided by the author in the passage. Do not make the mistake of matching words.
False is a statement in which the facts are given; however, they are in contradiction.
And the most confusing of all is to pick out the Not Given statements. They perplex the student as they are partially inclined towards being true or false information.
The key to analyzing such questions is to read and comprehend the entire sentence.
Primarily, one-half of the information is either given or contradicts the passage. Nevertheless, the other half is absent from the passage. Therefore, these kinds of statements can be concluded as Not Given statements.
The above concept will be better understood with the help of an example exercise.
Sample:
Rules and information to use Public Swimming Pool of 30 meters
The pool is often used for classes by the members, but the non-members may use two lanes for lane swimming at the following times.
Monday: 0630 -1130 and 1900 - 2100
Tuesday: 0630 -1130 and 1800 - 2100
Wednesday: 0630 -1330 and 1730 - 2130
Thursday: 0630 -1330
Friday: 0630 -1330
Weekends: 0900 - 1700
An adult should accompany children below the age of 14 in the water.
Please note that during public holidays, these times will vary.
Read the below statements and mark them as:
True if the statement agrees to the passage
False if the statement disagrees with the passage
Not Given if the information is absent in the passage
1. A boy of age 16 does not require supervision.
2. The non-members cannot use the 30-meter pool on Sundays.
3. An eight-year-old girl can swim with her 16-year-old brother, who does not know swimming.
If we scan the first statement, the information is not exactly given in the passage. Hence, the student might be tempted to mark it as Not Given. But if we look carefully, the rules do talk about it.
An adult should accompany children below the age of 14 in the water.
The answer lies in this statement as it means that children less than 14 need to be with an adult. Whereas the question states that,
A boy of age 16 does not require supervision.
The above statement is TRUE as it fulfills the conditions of swimming in the public swimming pool.
Question 2 is easy to comprehend here.
The non-members cannot use the 30-meter pool on Sundays.
The rules given are mentioned only for the non-members. Moreover, the timings for the weekend use by these are also mentioned.
..the non-members may use two lanes for lane swimming at the following times.
Weekends: 0900 - 1700
Hence, the statement contradicts the information of the passage, so we can conclude that it is FALSE.
Let’s look at the last statement,
An eight-year-old girl can swim with her 16-year-old brother, who does not know swimming.
Again, the information on this question is not directly expressed in the passage. We would need to dig deep to understand it.
An adult should accompany children below the age of 14 in the water.
The question fulfills the ratio given in the passage: an eight-year-old girl would need an adult to oversee her in the pool. This part of the information agrees with the passage. Nonetheless, the second part,
The 16-year-old brother does not know swimming.
This piece of information seems missing from the passage. As a reader, I cannot presume whether the adult should know swimming or not as this is absent. Therefore, this statement is NOT GIVEN.
I am hoping that the above example brought some clarity to these complicated questions. When preparing for IELTS Reading General or Academic passages, do practice plenty of such questions applying the above-given advice.
Many top IELTS institutes provide a plethora of free tests to hone your skills. If needed, do take professional guidance. All the Best!
About the Author
I am a certified IELTS teaching professional and have vast experience training IELTS students to crack their tests successfully and nurture the IELTS trainers with their training journeys.