IELTS Prep Part 2: Reading — True/False/Not-Given and Matching Headings

Category: Study Abroad · Series: IELTS Preparation · Read time: ~8 minutes**

The Reading test’s 40 questions come from a stable question-type kit, and two types — True/False/Not Given and Matching Headings — decide most scores. This note covers the format, the per-type methods, and the timing plan.

Table of Contents

1. The Test Card
2. True/False/Not Given (and Yes/No/Not Given)
3. Matching Headings
4. The Other Types Quickly
5. The Timing Plan
6. How Exams Probe This Topic
7. Quick Revision: One-Glance Facts

1. The Test Card

• The format.**Three passages, 40 questions, 60 minutes (no transfer time on the academic paper — the computer-based typing included)**; Academic passages are journal-style; General Training mixes everyday texts (S1-2) with one long text (S3).
• The structure facts. Questions follow the text’s order (within each question-set); every word-change between question and text is deliberate — synonym-matching is the test’s core mechanic.

2. True/False/Not Given (and Yes/No/Not Given)

• The definitions.**TRUE: the statement agrees with the information (findable via synonyms); FALSE: the statement contradicts it (the text says the opposite); NOT GIVEN**: no information either way — the hardest, because absence must be proven.
• The method. (1) Underline the statement’s keywords; (2) locate the relevant sentence via the scan; (3) compare each element — one contradiction anywhere = FALSE; (4) if you cannot locate the specific claim after the scan, choose NOT GIVEN rather than guessing TRUE.
• The traps. Scope inversion (the text says “some”; the statement says “all” → FALSE); prediction-vs-fact (the text discusses what may happen; the statement asserts it has → FALSE/NG); the opinion variant (Yes/No/Not Given) — the writer’s views are tested, not facts: find the claim-verbs (argues, suggests).
• The discipline. Never use outside knowledge — the text is the only universe; and never leave a blank (there’s no negative marking).

3. Matching Headings

• The task. Match paragraph headings (with one example usually done and two extra headings as distractors).
• The method. (1) Read the heading list first, marking keywords; (2) read the paragraph’s first-and-second sentences and the last (the topic sentence usually governs); (3) ask: what is this paragraph about (the topic) and what does it say about it (the controlling idea)? (4) Beware the detail trap — a heading built on one example sentence rather than the paragraph’s whole point; (5) the parallel trap — headings with similar wording differ in scope or direction.
• The order tactic. Do headings paragraph-by-paragraph, crossing off used headings — the final paragraphs resolve by elimination.

4. The Other Types Quickly

• Completion family (summary/note/table/flow-chart/sentence): predict the word-form from grammar; the answers come in order within the set; respect the word-limit; the summary may paraphrase heavily (the synonym work).
• Multiple choice: eliminate the word-matching distractors (the paraphrase rule again); the “all of the above” variants don’t appear in IELTS but the double-answer MCQs do.
• Matching information (which paragraph contains X): scan for the specific detail’s paraphrase; a named-idea question is the anchor to start with.
• Matching features (classifications: researcher-to-finding): build a mini-table, then match by the paraphrase chain.

5. The Timing Plan

• 20 minutes per passage: 2-3 minutes skimming (the structure-map: intro-thesis, paragraph topics), 15 minutes on questions, 2 minutes’ check; never reorder passages beyond a quick difficulty-glance.
• The scan-skim division. Skim for structure (what-where); scan for specific answers (the keyword-locate); the misread-middle-ground (plodding word-by-word) is the time-killer.
• The raw target: ~30-32/40 for band 7 (Academic) — roughly 13+13+13 correct across the three passages.

6. How Exams Probe This Topic

• The practice bank: Cambridge official tests — the paraphrase calibration is authentic only there; one full test every 2-3 days in the final month, with the error-log by question type.
• Cross-reference: Part 6’s descriptors and Part 8’s cycle slot this into the weekly rhythm.

7. Quick Revision: One-Glance Facts

• TFNG. TRUE = agrees (via synonyms); FALSE = contradicts; NG = absent — prove absence by the failed scan, not feeling.
• Headings. Topic + controlling idea; the detail-and-parallel traps; cross off used options.
• Mechanic. Synonym-matching; questions in order; word-limits.
• Timing. 20-20-20; skim-scan division; ~30-32 for band 7.

Conclusion. Reading is the paraphrase test: the TFNG discipline (element-by-element comparison, the NG scan-fail rule) and the headings method (topic-plus-controlling-idea) are the two decisive skills. Add the completion-family’s word-form prediction and the 20-minute rhythm, and the paper’s 40 questions reduce to mechanics you have drilled.

Practice Corner: Five TFNG Checks (with Answers)

1. “The text says most visitors arrive by train; the statement says all visitors arrive by train” — FALSE (scope inversion).
2. “The text discusses a plan to expand; the statement says the centre was expanded” — FALSE/NG — plan ≠ event.
3. When do you choose NOT GIVEN? — When the located scan fails — absence, not intuition.
4. Yes/No/Not Given tests? — The writer’s views, not facts.
5. What knowledge is permitted? — None from outside — the text is the only universe.

The Headings Trap Drill (Five Contrasts to Master)

Pair-heading questions fool candidates through four engineered confusions — train each: (1) the detail trap — a heading quoting one example sentence rather than the paragraph’s whole point; (2) the parallel pair — two headings sharing words but differing in direction (a paragraph about why a policy failed versus one about its spread); (3) the scope shift — “regulation of fisheries” versus “global fisheries decline” for a paragraph covering one coast; (4) the reordered thesis — the controlling idea in the final sentence, not the first. In practice, after choosing a heading, write a one-line “paragraph summary” and check the heading against it — if the summary contains material the heading cannot cover, you have taken the bait. Twenty passages with this verification step trains the discrimination that headings questions exist to test.