IELTS Reading True False Not Given: Essential Tips

IELTS True False Not Given Tips for Reading. These are the most challenging types of questions that appear in IELTS reading. You can find them in both the Academic and GT IELTS Reading tests. The more you understand about these questions, the easier they will be. Use the strategies and techniques below to help you boost your score for reading. 

This page contains a link to FREE IELTS TFNG question practice lessons, a FREE video lesson about TFNG and a summary of tips below the video. You’ll also find answers to the HOMEWORK question below the video.

Understanding IELTS Reading True False Not Given Questions

You will be given statements containing information. You must decide if the information in the statement is True, False or Not Given according to the information in the reading passage.

  1. True: You can find this information in the passage and it agrees with the statement.
  2. False: The passage and statement have different information. The passage shows that the statement is wrong – it contains a mistake which you know because the passage shows us what it should be.
  3. Not Given: This means you can’t find all the information in the passage or that the passage does not contain enough information to know if it is true or false.

IELTS TFNG Questions Practice

You need plenty of practice to understand the techniques for TFNG. You can find some practice TFNG exercises on this page: TFNG Reading Practice

Difficulties with True False & Not Given

  1. Paraphrasing. You must be prepared for the words in the statement to be paraphrased in the passage. This means you really need to know your vocabulary.
  2. You are looking for meaning. Many students just try to match words but you actually need to match meaning and check the content of the information given. Some times the same words are used but the meaning is not the same – this is one common difficulty with choosing the right answer.
  3. Not Given and False (No)
    1. Not Given means the entire statement is not given in the passage.  Maybe part of the statement is given but not the whole statement. Watch out for that!! Try to find the whole meaning in the passage.
    2. False means the passage contradicts the statement. Don’t forget you are not just looking for an opposite meaning, you are also looking for contradicting information.

IELTS Reading True False Not Given Tips 

This video lesson explains how to answer IELTS TFNG questions in the reading test.  It explains the difference between the answers: True, False and Not Given. It also explains if answers come in order and if you can write T or True on your answer sheet. The TFNG homework answer is below the video. 

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Homework Answer

Decide if the following statement is true, false or not given according to the passage?

  • Passage: By the second half of the 17th century, coffee had found its way to Europe.
  • Statement: Coffee arrived in Europe after the 17th century.

Answer
Click below to reveal the answer to the TFNG homework question:

Click here: Answer

The answer is false. “second half of the 17th century” means from the middle of the 17th century to the end of the 17th century – so this is still in the 17th century. That means it contradicts the statement which says coffee arrived after the 17th century.  We can say, “the passage says that coffee did not arrive in the 17th century or before the 17th century, it arrived after the 17th century.”

TFNG Reading Practice Exercises

You can find reading practice for TFNG questions:

Summary of IELTS Reading True False Not Given Tips

Below is a list of the main Tips for IELTS True False Not Given Reading Questions. However, you should watch the video to understand them clearly for maximum benefit.

  1. Spend time analysing the statement in the question before you try to find the answer
  2. Many words will be paraphrased so watch out for that (for example, work = employment / changing = altering)
  3. Don’t match just key words, you are aiming to match meaning. Some of the key words might be the same in the passage but it doesn’t mean the answer is true or yes.
  4. The meaning of false or no is that the statement contradicts the claims or information in the passage. This means the statement gives one meaning but the passage gives another meaning – therefore the statement is FALSE.
  5. Not Given means that the whole meaning of the statement is not in the passage. Some key words might be found but not the full meaning of the statement.
  6. You can write T instead of True on your answer sheet but make sure your handwriting is clear.
  7. The answers follow the order of information in the passage for these questions. Other types of reading questions might not have answers that come in order.
  8. Learn common challenges or problems that you have in reading. Make a list of paraphrases you have struggled with.

TFNG Reading Practice Exercises

You can find reading practice for TFNG quetions in IELTS reading:

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Comments

  1. Hello Liz,
    Hope you are doing well.
    I just had a small doubt, is it okay if for both Listening and Reading test, I write all answers in Capital letters for computer based exam?
    Please let me know. Thanks 🙂

    • The recommendation to use all capital letters is for the paper test because it helps the person marking to read the handwriting. Otherwise, you can use capital letters or not, as you wish.

  2. Asif Shahriar Palok says

    The way you teach lessons, it’s really easy to understand. Thank you so much.

  3. Sumaira Hamid says

    Dear Liz,
    Good evening!
    Hope this message finds you in the best of health.
    I want to thank you for all your free lessons and expert advise on how to deal with IELTS questions. Without your guidance, the journey to IELTS examination would be really hard.
    I also want to let you know that your wonderful tips helped me immensely in the “True, false, not given questions”. May God bless you for your kindness and reward you with abundance of health, wealth and happiness. Amen!
    Lots of love & prayers,
    Sumaira

  4. SN.Janicshan says

    Dear Madam,

    I hope this message finds you well. Your lesson is incredibly helpful and greatly enhances confidence. Thank you so much for the free lesson.

    Keep up the good work!

  5. Desalew Tilahun says

    Dear Liz,
    I hope this message finds you well.Thank you very much for your priceless information about IELTS is really helpful.However ,I have a question that whether I am right in reading part of IELTS exam in that I have written True,False,Not Given/Yes,No ,Not Given rather than all in uppercases .For example ,True instead of TRUE and so forth.,.Is there a problem? Would you respond to this question ,please ?

    • It makes no difference if it is upper case or lower score. As long as you are writing the correct word.

  6. Hi dear Liz
    Is there any negative mark for the wrong answers?

    • No. You get one point for each question that you answer correctly. However, if you answer incorrectly, you don’t lose a point or get a minus point – you simply don’t win a point. For this reason, it’s always good to guess any answer that you don’t know because it doesn’t hurt to try and you might be correct.

  7. Burkhon says

    Hello Liz, I have a question. I took my test with the British council today. In the reading, the first section contained (True, False and Not Given) so I wrote T, F and NG. When it came to the section 3, there were (Yes, No and Not given), here I wrote the full answer like Yes, No, but when it came to Not Given I wrote NG. All in all, everything was mixed, with full answers and short. So should I be worried about this?

    • As I explained in my video, both answers are accepted – the word and the letter.

      • Kishesh says

        Hello Liza mam I have completed my British Council exam today but i wrote T instead of True and F,NG for False and Notgiven

  8. Ummusman says

    Good part of the day! I am confused whether I can write True instead of Yes in ielts reading. Could you please tell me is that possible?

    • The word True is not the same as the word Yes. If the answer is True, but you write Yes, then your answer is wrong.

  9. Thanks for your tips video. It taught me to reflect some mistakes in True/False.

  10. Maithili Kulhalli says

    Hello Liz, Your videos and guidance is truly excellent and I feel much more confident now that I`m understanding the skills for each type of test.
    For the TFNG, I have an example question I thought of and would really appreciate your advice on.
    Statement: Inspired by real events.
    Question: Based on a true story
    From the above, would it be safe to assume the meaning is the same and answer is true? Could you please help me understand how you`d decode the meaning of it?

    • The words “based on a trye story” doesn’t mean it is actually all true but rather that it is a story with a real origin that has been altered to some degree. The words “inspired by real events” is a very similar meaning in this context. It means the story comes from reality but is not completely factual and has been altered to some degree. so, in relation to stories, they have the same meaning. The word “inspired by” has slightly different means depending on context, but in the context of stories, it’s a match.

  11. Ma’am , GET WELL SOON and Prayers for you.

  12. lontchi Guy says

    I want to thank you for this great job you do in assisting us in this IELTS exams.
    I’m so sorry to hear you’re ill, I wish you a speedy recovery and may the almighty bless you.

  13. can i write Yes or as written in the question TRUE?
    all in capital letterd

  14. Hello Liz,
    Thanks for your wonderful discussion about True/False/Not Given.
    You mentioned all the answers should come in order, but I found a passage where answers do not come in order.

  15. Ejaz Ahmad says

    I have watched several YouTube videos pertaining to reading passage but this technique of T/F/NG help me a lot in my reading, now I prospect that you have to make a video on list of headings because it’s fruitful for us as well

  16. Kinley Rabgay says

    Is there any possibility of having first and second questions having not given answers.

    • There are no fixed rules as to how the answers present themselves for TFNG questions.

  17. Mirabbos says

    Hi liz and thanks a lot for your lessons but i have one question from cambridges i am always scoring 35-40 as i find them really easy but when im solving other sources my score is dramatically decreasing to 17-23 and im going to take my first ielts exam after 18 days i am concerned whether reading will be like cambridge or more difficult as my teacher is telling by her experience she told that real exam is thrice more elaborate is it correct?

    • The tests contained in the IELTS Cambridge test books are real tests from past papers that IELTS have published for people to use for home practice. You should not be using any other tests – only authentic papers from IELTS published by IELTS in their tests. The level / difficulty of the IELTS test has not changed and there are many people who work on creating and checking tests before they are used so that the level remains constant.

  18. Even now do examiners accept T instead of True? Iam so nervous :((

  19. Rinu Thomas says

    I’m so glad that you are still helping students even if you posted these contents in YT and in blog here way before. As someone mentioned above, your lessons with smiling face really helps me to stay calm and appear for the exam. And not to mention , they are indeed helpful!

  20. Husniddin says

    Thank you Liz for all of these, you are a teacher which I had never seen. Can you take a video about using articles? because I am struggling with articles? if you did can you send a link to my email. thank you

  21. awantha says

    wow it is very help full
    thank you soooo much given us to great structure
    thank you

  22. I found this sites however, but when I see your tutorial I notice a things your face is always smiling it’s inspired me a lot. I’m beginner IELTS student. If I any mistake plz pardon me!

  23. Hello Liz,

    I’ve recently found your website when struggled with TFNG & YNNG Reading questions, I do find your lessons very useful. Thanks very much for putting them together for IELTS learners like myself.

    There’s one question in the Cambridge Practice Test 12, test 5, reading passage 3, question 40 that I do not quite understand and I’d like to seek for your help.

    Q: The writer’s fire science students provided a detailed definition of the purpose of their studies.

    P: My point is not to criticise academic programs in fire science: they’re highly welcome as part of the increasing professionalisation of this and many other occupations.

    I think it should be NG, but the correct answer is N. I understand that I might have picked the wrong sentence in the passage. So would appreciate to have your help here.

    Many thanks Liz & have a great Christmas.

    Iris

    • Your problem here is that you’ve looked at the wrong paragraph. You ought to look at paragraph F where it mentions generalization which is the opposite to detailed definition. You must pay attention to the keywords in the question statement: fire science students + provide + detailed + purpose. Paragraph F talks about “we asked fire science students to articulate the end of purpose of their studies”. Once you’ve found similar information, read around that area and then decide your answer.

  24. Hello ma’am. I got 8.5 overall and it would not have been possible without this very guide on T/F/NG task. Thanks a lot.

  25. Hi Liz,
    I have been using your site to prepare my IELTs 5 years ago and I did really well in my IELTs GT. Thank you so much for the great helps all along!
    Recently I face a “TFNG” dilemma when I prepare my AC Reading. I had scored 9 twice in GT Reading and thought I am capable to master this game, HOWEVER, I have only scored 6.5/9 out of two recent mocks I did and it is such a shock!
    When I did Test 2 in “IELTS Trainer” published by Cambridge, one of the answer keys (Test 2 Q2) confused me. The question itself is:
    “Most light pollution is caused by the direction of artificial lights rather than their intensity.”
    The answer is True as it based on ” Light pollution is largely the result of bad lighting design, which allows artificial light to shine outward and upward into the sky [=direction]…”(there is no mention of the intensity of artificial lights being a problem) –> this comes the confusion, if “the intensity of light” did not mention in the article, how come this statement is T instead of NG?

    Same test Q5 is another confusion.
    The Question: “Shadows from the planet Venus are more difficult to see at certain times of year”
    The answer is NG as “Although the fifth paragraph says that an “unlit night” is required to see the shadows of Venus and that this is “beyond memory almost”, there is no mention of it being connected to “certain times of year”.
    I thought beyond memory almost = barely able to see all times that is why I chose “F” as the shadows of Venus are not seen all times of years instead of certain times only.
    Am really confused now. Grateful if you can shade some lights on it.
    Cheers,
    Venus

    • Question 2 – if we were to check the meaning of that paragraph, we would see that the light is aimed up and out, rather than down – this usually means that the light is less intense because it is less focused. You can check this yourself with a torch at night. If you point it down to the ground, the light is more intense. If you focus it up and out into the night sky – it is less focused (less intense) because of the direction. So, I would have chosen the answer “True”. However, when you look at the answer key of the book IELTS Trainer, they actually say there is no mention of “intensity” which would actually make their own answer incorrect. This is very confusing for readers. It looks like their answer key is not well explained.
      Question 5 – is very vague. The passage seems to imply that we have not seen the shadow of Venus for decades – not all year and not any year. This ought to imply the statement is false because the shadow is difficult or impossible to see all year. In this I agree with you. However, they have written the answer key with an explanation which is confusing. If their explanation is correct and the answer is NG, then this same principle should also apply to question 2 which they say is True even with information missing as they state. Very misleading and unclear.
      My recommendation will always be to use the Cambridge IELTS test books which contain real test papers produced by IELTS. These tests have been written by two authors called Louise Hashemi and Barbara Thomas. Any author, even myself, will struggle to produce completely perfect tests. When IELTS produce a test the tests are checked again and again – over and over again – to ensure they are without error.
      So, in conclusion, your technique is fine. While I get a different answer to you in question 2, the answer key explanations are so unclear that either of us could be correct. Don’t worry when you come across something like this in a test not published by IELTS.

  26. Thank you Liz, you make my life much easier now.
    I practiced the 4 free lessons and I never got 100% correct, mainly because I rushed to answer the questions. Not analyzed or try to understand the meaning of the passage and the statement in the question.

    Thank you very much.

    • Glad you are enjoying the practice 🙂

      • Hamid khan says

        mam just love your techinng method but i dont found any new video on your channel what happend to you mam?

        • Unfortunately, I’ve been battling a serious long term illness for years which has taken most of my strength. As soon as my health is more stable, I hope to make videos again 🙂

      • tawhid ahmed says

        Liz need help. I have attended ielts test. it was quite good. I am really nervous. My result will publish within 1st march. my question is if in true false not given section. they instruct in question to write TRUE \ FALSE \NOT GIVEN and if I write True \False\ Not Given will it be a problem.. please reply🙂. it’s terrifying mee. thank you in advance

        • If you wrote the correct word with the correct spelling, it will be marked correct. Your answer would be right. The problem is when you write “Yes” instead of “True” – these are different words and the answer would be wrong. Try to relax. Good luck with your results 🙂

  27. Francis says

    Hi Liz,

    I read about this YES/NO/NOT GIVEN type of question and how they are a little bit different from T/F/NG. But I don’t see you have that here, is it safe to assume they are only giving out T/F/NG questions now?

    Thank you,
    Regards

    • The difference is based on the type of passage and this is the reason why some passages use TFNG and some passage used YNNG. The approach for tackling these questions are 100% the same. If you can do TFNG, it means you can do YNNG. This is the reason I only teach one type – because they are the same. In learning about one, you learn about the other.

      • Abdul Aleem says

        Hy liz, you are a great teacher of IELTS and, i became satisfied of your teaching.

  28. Arti Sriyan says

    Dear Liz,
    Thank you for all your efforts in getting this website to students like us. I have been following your website extensively for my IELTS preparation and its helping me tremendously. However currently I am facing a challenge in TFNG, I have marked the answer as False as the internal performance of one -act play is in term two, however the answer as per the answer key is True. Could you help me understand this please?

    Passage:
    Term one: Technical classes in acting, voice, movement, radio and professional development. The term finishes with an internal production given for tutors and students.

    Term two:
    All technical classes continue from Term one. There is an internal performance of a one-act play, the recording of an audio showreel and showcase drama in front of an invited audience.

    Question
    Students will act in a performance in front of their classmates at the end of the first term.

    • “an internal production given for tutors and students”. This means that the people on the course will perform in front of teachers and classmates. This means the answer is TRUE. The second term shows that the performance is in front of an invited audience (not classmates). Be very careful trying to match words instead of matching meaning. You need to aim for meaning. Certainly the words “internal performance” are used in term two description and this matches with the statement, but the rest of the information doesn’t match at all with the statement question. In term one, the same information is given but without using those direct words. Instead, they are paraphrased as “an internal production”. Hope this helps 🙂

  29. Hey Liz,

    Just wanted to tell you that I got my Ielts results today and I scored a perfect 9 in reading. Your tips and tricks especially for True/False/NG came handy to me.
    Thank you so much 🙂
    Appreciate your efforts and the material you have created for all IELTS students.

    Love and Hugs,
    Shilpy

  30. I got exam next month
    Thank you so much liz

  31. Jeetendra says

    Hey Liz,

    Firstly, thank you so much for your lovely and informative videos which help a ton in perfecting IELTS exam preparations. If you could help me understand why is the answer for below is ‘False’, I would be grateful. As explained by you, I understand that ” opposite” of playing instruments is composing them what Alexia was doing, but there are so many composers who can play instruments as well so why can’t the answer here be NG as its possible that Alexa could play some instrument but its not detailed in the passage 🙁

    P: Alexia has since gained a place as a composer with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain
    Q: Alexia now plays several instruments with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain.

    • You answered this for yourself: “Alexa could play some instrument but its not detailed in the passage”. A composer is someone who writes music. You have one detail only – she writes music. She does not play an instrument according to the passage. All answers are according to the passage – not according to a possible reality that might exist. All answers are answered based on the information given. Here is an example:
      Passage: Alex is a doctor.
      Question: Alex is someone who teaches other people.
      This is false. She is not a teacher, she is a doctor. This is according to the passage so the answer is false. In reality, she could be a doctor who also instructs other doctors. She could be a part time teacher and a part time doctor. You could continue adding your own version of information until you get more and more confused. But IELTS is about what is given in the passage. Not what you think or what you guess or what you speculate. So don’t get confused that she could be both X and Y. If the passage states she is X, then we know she is not Y. The meaning of the word “composeur” does not include someone who plays an instrument. Go with what you know from the passage according to correct English definitions.

  32. Miss Pranali Lakade says

    Thank you so much for your lessons 🙂

  33. Samith Ahmedh says

    Hi, Is there any possibility that I can get T/F/NG in an Exam paper twice in the first and last passage? I did my IELTS last week and I’m kinda worried about it. Thanks

    • Sure. There are three passages and the types of questions for each passage cannot be predicted. It is possible for question types to be repeated in different passages.

      • Samith Ahmedh says

        I was confused that I might have accidentally answered for Y/N/NG after taking the exam but now I feel confident after your response. Thanks alot Liz.

      • Samith Ahmedh says

        I was confused that I might have written T/F/NG for Y/N/NG and even felt down on myself. But thanks to you, I feel confident now! Thanks Liz.

  34. Mohamed Tayea says

    Hi Liz,
    Wishing this finds you safe. Thanks a lot for your video and the beneficial reading 10 tips. When I was practicing in (Cambridge IELTS 10 Book)Test 1 READING PASSAGE 1, I was focusing on your useful tips, particularly, tips 6 and 7(Answers come in order). Although, I couldn’t find the answer of Question 8,( which should be between Q7 and 9).When I checked the answers I had found in the last paragraph. Is that reasonable?
    Thanks in advance and stay blessed.

    • I am a but confused about your question. When I checked Cambridge 10 Reading Test 1, I found that questions 7, 8 and 9 were not TFNG. This video and the tips contained in the video are for TFNG. Don’t confuse the question types. Each type of question is different with different strategies, different rules and therefore different advice.

      Furthermore, question 7 and 8 are short answer questions. Question 9 is part of a table completion. Each time the question types changes, the rules change. You start at the beginning of the passage for each type of question. If you look on the question paper, they each have different instructions given by IELTS to differentiate them.

      I hope this helps. Please be careful to make sure you follow advice properly on this website. Tips for TFNG are for TFNG – not for tables or short answer questions.

  35. Rajesh Tavhare says

    Hi Liz,

    Just finished with your advance writing course material that I had purchased for almost half of the price (during the sale period) & let me tell you, it was totally worth it !
    Would recommend everyone to invest their money even if it is at its full price.

    This video is very informative as well…

    Thank you, Liz !

    • Thanks so much for your comment. I’m really pleased you’ve find it all useful 🙂

  36. Hung Tony says

    Hi, I am a candidate who took the IELTS exam several days ago. And now I am so worried that in the Reading test, I wrote the letter Y, N, NG instead of Yes, No, Not Given, as well as T, F, NG instead of the full words. I have searched every website to find out whether my answer will be marked wrong or not, but now I am totally confused as some websites say yes, but others say no. I desperately need your help. Thank you!

    • As explained in the video above, it is fine to do that.

      • Hung Tony says

        OMG what a relief. I just found no official answers, which really made me panic. Thank you a lot!

        • No worries 🙂 If you are ever in doubt, you can always ping a message to IELTS Official on their FB page – they usually answer 🙂

    • Marsiya says

      Hi Liz, I’ve been struggling with t/f/ng for so long but rest of the question types seem pretty easy. Could you pls give me an idea about how many t/f/ng type question i might face in the real test? Because, there are some reading tests in cambridge books consisting 16-17 t/f/ng in a single test ! This really freaks me out…I’m really worried about it😭😭 Pls gimme a solution.

      • There is really no way to know. Some tests have TFNG questions in each passage, some only have TFNG in two or just one passage. There is no way to predict. Just prepare as much as you can.

  37. Nargisa says

    Hello Liz,
    Hope you are doing well. I want to ask that in reading particularly in T, F, NG we supposed to read whole passage or we read the statement first ?

    • I think you’ve got confused between skimming and scanning. Skimming is when you read in brief (2 mins tops) and focus mainly on the first sentences of paragraphs to get an idea of the layout and general content. This is not for deep knowledge of the passage. Scanning is when you move your eyes over the passage to quickly locate information. Once you locate that information, you read the whole paragraphs deeply. Some questions only require skimming and scanning. Some questions require must deeper reading of the whole passage. Do some full authentic practice tests and start learning for yourself – develop awareness through practice.

      • MARYAM ABEDI says

        Hi Dear lize can we use the letter T /F/NG instead of True False Not given at the ielts exam? Thank you❤️

        • Yes, you can. However, you can’t write True or T if the answer needs to be Yes or Y for the YNNG questions.

  38. Kamal says

    Hi Liz! hope you are doing good.
    Wanted to clarify one thing, for True False, if a question asks about ‘many’, and the passage talks about ‘some’, will the answer be False or true? According to my understanding, many means more part and some means less part. Please guide me if possible. Thank you so much in advance.

    • “some” and “many” are both not quantified. They both refer to a number of people that we do not know about. The word “all” means 100% – this is quantified. The word “no” means 0%. As you can see, “all” and “no” are opposites, while “some” and “many” are not opposites. If the passage says “some people” and the statement says “all people” – this is also opposite because “some” and “many” means above 0% and 100% – they do not mean exactly “all”.

      • Kamal says

        It is a great explanation, thank for so much for taking time to reply to the comment. I have another similar confusion, are “most of them” and “all” same or opposite? (Sorry to bother you with another question).

        • This is completely the same as the previous question. “most” = there is no fixed number attached to this word. All has a fixed number attached and means 100%.
          Stop thinking about individual words and rules of opposites – that isn’t what TFNG are about. It is about understanding the deeper meaning of what is being explained and see if it contradicts or not. This is more than a single word vocabulary exercise – it is about context and meaning.

  39. Longman Olamide says

    Hello everyone,

    Please I need information on the IELTS Indicator. I am planning to write an IELTS indicator exam by the end of this month, Any useful information will be appreciated.

    Thank you,

    Longman

    • Go to the RED MENU BAR at the top of the site and select “TEST INFO” – you’ll get a drop down menu with “IELTS Indicator” as an option.

  40. hamid says

    Hi. I think when Nobel writes his will in 1985(and he is alive) this instituation will be put into effect at least the year after his death(1986 or after). so the answer is false.

  41. Loveth says

    I really got the answer Ma’am following your method. Thanks alot!

  42. Sireesha says

    Hi Liz,

    I have already given my IELTS and have achieved the desired score except for reading. Till today I have difficulty in reading section. While practising I am able to answer the questions if the passage is given in smaller bits, but when the whole passage is given I am unable to find the accurate answer. Can you give me any tips for easy understanding?

    Please reply
    Sireesha

    • Sounds like you need to work on your scanning ability. This means locating specific information in a test by looking for keywords or paraphrases of keywords.

  43. manasa says

    OMG!!! you are too good .. 🙂 I am soo happy to have found you liz.. many many thanks to your explanation..God Bless you for all the hard work you have put to teach us 🙂 🙂

  44. lakshmi says

    Hi Liz,

    where can we get the real iets papers for practise with all the sections?

    • You can purchase them in the IELTS Cambridge Test books – there are 14 books in total. Book 14 is the most recent. You can also find a free practice test on the BC IELTS website.

  45. Hi Liz,

    I can only start off by thanking you for everything that you do. I can’t say enough how much your website has subsequently helped me improve on my IELTS test abilities as a whole. That being said, I have a question encountered while practicing the T,F, Not given from the Cambridge Official prep material 13(General Training).

    The statement reads as “The Australian in Sasha’s apartment is a musician”. The portion of the text related to that statement is: **The third room is occupied by Simon, who is from Australia. He works part-time in a music shop downtown and is a great drummer**

    My answer was Not given because I considered musician more as a profession. The article mentioned his work as a part-time worker in a music shop. The answer key however, says it’s TRUE. Can you help me with the logic behind that answer? Thanks and I look forward to your reply as that will help me get straight the few confusions I still have regarding T,F, NG

    • A follow up on this question will be a statement that reads* Sasha thinks her apartment is in the best part of Toronto*. The text related to the statement ” We love having people from other countries as it’s really fun having the opportunity to show them around the neighborhood( it’s a great neighborhood-lots of character and plenty to do).

      my answer was True but the answer key said Not Given. Doesn’t the last part of the text in bracket(it’s a great……) implies it’s in one of the best place in Toronto?

      Thanks Liz in advance. From all my practices from the official IELTS Cambridge so far, my reading score is ranging from 32 to 35 out of 40 and that’s under 1hour(real exam condition). My aim is to obtain a 36-37 at the minimum and I believe getting the T,F and Not given portion right will definitely set me up to achieve my goal.

      • “a great neighbourhood” doesn’t mean that the neighbourhood is in the best part of Toronto. It just means it’s a great neighbourhood – we don’t know which part of Toronto it is in and she makes no claims that it is in the best part of the city. We only know it is a great neighbourhood. So … a) we don’t know which part of the city it is in b) Sasha does not give her opinion about her part of the the city compared to the other parts – she doesn’t say it is the greatest – note that a superlative is needed (best / greatest = better than all others). Always pay attention to grammar in the statements given. I hope this helps 🙂

    • The key here is to understand that being a musician doesn’t mean they have to be a professional. If it had stated “a professional musician”, the answer would have been different. But in this case, he is a great drummer = he’s a musician. Whether he is professional or amateur, he is still a musician. The word “musician” can be applied to someone who is musically talented whether they are professional or not.

      So, the problem here isn’t your technique. You are thinking along the right lines. The problem is that you put a very fixed definition of the word “musician”.

  46. God bless you for this teaching, it is a lot clearer now.

  47. Hope you are fine Ma’am . Your IELTS lessons are Superb !

  48. Charles says

    Thanks ma for the knowledge impacted to these generation.
    I’ll like to ask if the question can be read before going through the passage.
    Regards

    • There are no fixed rules if you read the questions or the passage first. There are also no fixed rules about whether you do passage 1 first or passage 3 first. You have 1 hour to tackle three passages in the order you wish.

      • Yes Liz, this is the reason why reading to understand the passage is a tough one because it is time consuming. Concerning the homework you gave, I still can understand why the answer is False and not NG. If the only difference between the two passages was ‘its way’ and arrived, then, it’s clear. But there is another difference in the passages. One says ‘second half of the 17th century’ the other says after the 17th century. This is where I’m lost.

        • Don’t try matching words. Think about meaning. “after the 17th century” – do you think the 18th century is after the 17th? Do you think in the middle of the 17th century is after the 17th century? What is your understand of “after the 17th century”. Once you have this meaning clear in your mind, check the passage.

      • Aravinth says

        I accidentally wrote true /false instead of yes/no.will it affect my marks?

        • Unfortunately, it will affect your score. The answer True cannot be used instead of Yes. Sorry.

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