IELTS Reading lesson 1: TRUE, FALSE or NOT GIVEN?

In this lesson we'll learn how to answer True/False/Not Given questions on IELTS Reading. This type of question looks like this on the question paper:

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage?

In boxes on your answer sheet, write

TRUE if the statement agrees with the information

FALSE if the statement contradicts the information

NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this


Useful information:


Answering strategy:

  1. Read the first passage.
  2. Look up for answers for the first few questions.
  3. If you found an answer - read the whole sentence carefully, and only then answer the question.
  4. When there are no answers left - move on to next paragraph, and repeat this strategy.

    5. If you prefer, you can read the whole text and only after that answer the questions.


Tips:

TRUE/FALSE/NOT GIVEN exercises with detailed explanations:


Take a look at the following example:

Programmable plants

In electronics, even the most advanced computer is just a complex arrangement of simple, modular parts that control specific functions; the same integrated circuit might be found in an iPhone, or in an aircraft. Biologists are creating this same modularity in – wait for it – plants, by designing gene "circuits" that control specific plant characteristics – color, size, resistance to drought, you name it.

The relatively new, interdisciplinary field is synthetic biology – the design of genetic circuits, just like in electronics, that control different functions and can be easily placed in one organism or the next. Most of today's synthetic biologists work with simple microorganisms, like E. coli or yeast.

A CSU team led by June Medford, professor of biology, and Ashok Prasad, associate professor of chemical and biological engineering, is doing the same thing, but in the much more complex biological world of plants.

TRUE/FALSE/NOT GIVEN questions:

  1. The scientists are using a technique from electronics to control specific plant properties.

    TRUE

    This is the first question, so answer to it should be somewhere in the first (or second) paragraph. The first sentence of the first paragraph tells us about electronics, and then we have:

    Biologists are creating this same modularity in – wait for it – plants, by designing gene "circuits" that control specific plant characteristics – color, size, resistance to drought, you name it.

    same modularity = same technique as in electronics
    control specific plant characteristics = control specific plant properties

    So this statement just summarizes the first paragraph. It is obviously true.


  2. Some synthetic biologists work with genetic circuits of mammals.

    NOT GIVEN

    The second passage only tells us that

    Most of today's synthetic biologists work with simple microorganisms, like E. coli or yeast.

    But we don't know anything about some biologists. Maybe some biologists work with mammals, maybe not. So the answer is not given.


  3. Most of synthetic biologists work with mammals.

    FALSE

    The word some from the previous question was changed to most of, and this completely changed the meaning of the question! Now, this statement is clearly false as it contradicts the text:

    Most of today's synthetic biologists work with simple microorganisms, like E. coli or yeast.

    This example shows how important is it to read the questions carefully, as one word can drastically change the meaning of the whole question.

Note that the last paragraph was not used at all. This sometimes happens, so don't worry if some of the paragraphs in your text don't contain any answers.


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