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Reading · session 3 of 8

Decide Not Given in 40 Seconds

GoalBy the end you can settle any TRUE, FALSE or NOT GIVEN item in under forty seconds and move on without backtracking.
How this session runs
flowchart TD
  A[Underline one unparaphrasable scan word] --> B[Underline the qualifier or comparison]
  B --> C[Predict two paraphrases before scanning]
  C --> D[Scan forward only]
  D --> E{Is the topic there}
  E -->|no trace| F[NOT GIVEN]
  E -->|yes| G{Is the claim itself stated}
  G -->|stated| H[TRUE]
  G -->|opposite stated| I[FALSE]
  G -->|silent on it| F
Think of it likeTRUE, FALSE and NOT GIVEN are true, false and null: band 6 coerces null to false because the value looks plausible, band 7 checks whether the field exists before reading it — silence in the passage is a missing column, not a negative value.

NOT GIVEN is a missing claim, not a missing topic

For exampleMohammad, minute 14 in the Amman test centre, reads that Morrisons created 5,000 jobs and is adding 2,000 more. Statement 5 claims the chain is financially strong, so he writes TRUE. The passage never mentions finances. NOT GIVEN costs him nothing; TRUE costs a mark.
The ruleTRUE means the passage states the idea, FALSE means it states the opposite, and NOT GIVEN means you can find the topic but nothing on what is said about it. Judge the proposition, never the topic, and never your own knowledge of the world (Collins Reading for IELTS, p. 70; New Insight into IELTS, p. 52).
TrapAdding 7,000 jobs makes Morrisons sound healthy, and plausibility is exactly what a NOT GIVEN item is engineered from (Collins Reading for IELTS, key p. 133).

The qualifier is the thing being tested

For exampleLayla, nine minutes into seven TFNG items in Riyadh, meets this statement — the Sahel covers more of Mali than of Chad. The text says it covers much of both. She sees both countries named and writes TRUE. No comparison exists in the passage, so the answer is NOT GIVEN.
The ruleUnderline the qualifier before you scan — only, all, more than, less than, at the same age as. If the statement makes a comparison the passage never makes, it is NOT GIVEN however much the passage says about each side, and experts agree does not mean the same as some experts say (Improve your IELTS Reading, pp. 9, 16; Collins Reading for IELTS, p. 48).
TrapSeeing Mali and Chad in the same paragraph is location, not verification — Layla verified the topic and never verified the comparison, which was the whole claim (Improve your IELTS Reading, pp. 9, 16).

Forward only, and skip to place what you lost

For exampleMohammad loses 4 minutes rereading Passage 3 from the top for question 31. TFNG answers run in text order, so the answer sat 6 lines below where he stopped. Skipping to 32 would have found it and shown him exactly where to look back.
The ruleAnswers appear in the same order as the text, so scan forward only and never return to the start of a passage. If an item stalls, skip it — finding the next answer tells you the missed one lies just above it. Budget 20 minutes a passage and about 8 for seven TFNG items (Collins Reading for IELTS, pp. 28, 70, 102; New Insight into IELTS, p. 52).
TrapHis fix is not reading faster, it is reading on — and the order rule he leans on covers TFNG and completion, never classification or matching-people items (New Insight into IELTS, p. 67).
flowchart TD
  A[Stuck on item 31] --> B[Mark it and move to 32]
  B --> C{Found the answer to 32}
  C -->|yes| D[Answer 31 sits just above]
  C -->|no| E[Keep reading forward]

Situation

Passage 3, 47 minutes gone, 6 questions left. Item 36 reads: the 2019 scheme cut commuting costs more in Cairo than in Alexandria. You find a paragraph on Cairo's 18 per cent drop and a separate paragraph praising Alexandria's scheme. No sentence compares them. Your pen hovers between FALSE and NOT GIVEN.
Decide: FALSE or NOT GIVEN — and whether this item is worth another 90 seconds with 6 questions and 13 minutes left.

Teach it back

I get TRUE and FALSE fine, but I keep losing the NOT GIVENs. How do you actually tell FALSE from NOT GIVEN when the statement obviously relates to the passage?

Check yourself

Answer, then see immediately whether you were right and why.

Passage 2 says a supermarket created 5,000 jobs and is creating 2,000 more. The statement is: the supermarket is financially in a good position. You have 40 seconds. What do you write?
Why NOT GIVEN. They probably are doing well, because they have created 5,000 jobs and are creating 2,000 more, but the text does not tell us anything about their finances (Collins Reading for IELTS, key p. 133). Option A is the band 6 answer: it reads the topic, the supermarket, instead of the proposition, its finances. FALSE is the other tempting one, but FALSE requires the passage to state the opposite, and here it states nothing at all (Collins Reading for IELTS, p. 70).
The statement: the Sahel covers more of the land in Mali than it does in Chad. The passage says the Sahel covers much of Mali and much of Chad, and nothing more. Decision?
Why NOT GIVEN, because there is no comparison in the text: we know it covers much of Mali and Chad, but we do not know which country has more (Improve your IELTS Reading, p. 9). Option B is the trap that costs most band 6 candidates their marks — unsupported feels like FALSE, but FALSE means the passage says the opposite. Option D spends 60 seconds confirming an absence you have already confirmed, and the exam tip is to keep reading on rather than go back (Collins Reading for IELTS, p. 70).
Item 31 of Passage 3 will not resolve. You have 6 minutes left for 9 questions. What is the move?
Why If you cannot find an answer, go to the next one; if you find the answer to that question, you will know that you need to go back a little, because the answers come in the same order as the text (Collins Reading for IELTS, p. 28, p. 70). Option A is the expensive instinct the exam tip names directly — do not waste time going back to the beginning of a text. Option C is tempting under clock panic, but it discards a mark you could still place in 30 seconds once 32 anchors you.
Three minutes left. Four items are blank: two multiple choice and two sentence completions you never located. First move?
Why Try to give an answer for all the questions; multiple choice in particular is worth trying to answer, as you have a chance of guessing the correct one (Collins Reading for IELTS, p. 102). Option C is the dangerous one: the hour includes the time required to write your answers on the answer sheet, so there is no extra transfer time in Reading (Collins Reading for IELTS, p. 102; New Insight into IELTS, p. 36). Option D is a guaranteed zero traded for a fear of being wrong, and there is no penalty for a wrong answer.
Gap: Spending on the scheme was ______ last year. The passage reads: spending was down 14 per cent. Instruction: NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS. What do you write?
Why A number or symbol counts as one word, so down 14% is three words and scores, while down 14 per cent is four words and loses the mark even though your comprehension was perfect (Collins Reading for IELTS, p. 64). Option A is what most candidates write, which is exactly why it is worth drilling. Option C substitutes your own vocabulary for the words in the text, and completion answers must use the exact words with correct spelling (New Insight into IELTS, p. 45). Always follow the exam instructions carefully, or you will lose marks (Collins Reading for IELTS, p. 64).
The task switches to YES / NO / NOT GIVEN. The passage reports that a policy raised costs by 30 per cent, and the writer calls the outcome unfortunate. The statement: the writer opposes the policy. What changes in your procedure?
Why YES / NO / NOT GIVEN tests the writer's views and claims rather than factual information; the three-way logic is identical, but the unit you judge is a claim, not a fact (Collins Reading for IELTS, pp. 89–90; New Insight into IELTS, p. 86). Option A is tempting precisely because the logic really is unchanged — but running it on the facts makes you miss that the tested item is the writer's stance. Option C is the over-corrected NOT GIVEN habit: if there is information, you need to work out whether it actually expresses the writer's opinion (Collins Reading for IELTS, p. 90).
Not started
In one sentence, now that you've seen itNOT GIVEN is null, not false — judge the claim rather than the topic, check the qualifier, and keep reading forward.

Collins Reading for IELTS, pp. 7, 12, 28, 48, 64, 70, 89–90, 102, answer key p. 133; Improve your IELTS Reading, pp. 9, 16, 33–34; New Insight into IELTS Part 2 Reading, pp. 36, 45, 52, 67, 86. Session synthesis: agents/ielts-complete-preparation/learned/reading.md.