Another
form of True/ False/ Not Given is Yes/ No/ Not Given. The difference is
on the basic of these options. True/ False/ Not Given is based on fact.
Meanwhile, Yes/ No/ Not Given is based on opinion.
In
this kind of question, test taker has to pay attention on how to
interpret the passage and the question. Usually, test taker finds it
difficult to differentiate the use of ‘not given’ and ‘false’.
Test
taker should understand that ‘not given’ does not mean ‘not mentioned’.
‘Not given’ is used when it simply do not answer the question. Besides,
‘not given’ is the right choice whenever test taker finds that there is
additional information given. Though the additional information is
probably true, test taker can only use information given in the passage
only.
There are some practical tips that test taker could do in answering this kind of question.
- Test taker should read the whole question. The meaning of the question should be well-understood by test taker. He or she may not only look at one or two words in the question.
- Test taker should not spend too much time for answering one question. If the question is ‘not given’, test taker does not give more effort to find anything from the passage to explain more about it.
- Test taker should pay attention on the initial part of the question. If it is started with “the writer says”, it means that test taker should think about writer’s opinion, not about fact.
- Test taker should be able to differentiate some words that are able to change the meaning of the question dramatically such as often and some.
Remembering
that there are many test taker who is trapped in giving wrong answer in
this kind of question, it is important that test taker does some steps
to decide the right answer.
- Test taker should read the instruction carefully to find out whether he or she needs to look at, whether it is fact or opinion.
- Test taker can look at all the questions in order to see the topic of the question. Test taker needs to do this step only to find the correct part of the passage to read.
- Test taker could skim the passage to find the right paragraph to answer the question. It should be remembered that the questions are given in the same order of the passage. It means that the answer for question 16 will follow the answer for question 17.
- Test taker should be careful in some words such as ‘usually’. It is better to read the whole question to get more focus.
- Test taker could give mark on the passage that gives him or her answer. This way is quite effective to make test taker gets some easiness especially when he or she wants to change his or her answer.
Reference: http://www.dcielts.com/ielts-reading/true-false-not-given-a-tutorial/
