Yes, No, Not Given: How It Differs From True, False, Not Given

The official name for this type is "Identifying writer's views/claims". You get a list of statements. The instruction is one of two questions. The first is "Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer?" The second is "Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer?" source: ielts.org.

The three answers, defined

So Yes means the statement agrees with the writer's view or claim.

True, False, Not Given asks a different question: "Do the following statements agree with the information in the text?" source: ielts.org.

That one change decides what counts as evidence. Here, every statement is about what the writer thinks. The passage is your only evidence of that.

Which paper it is on

This type is on the Academic paper. The skill it tests is recognising opinions or ideas. At least one Academic text contains detailed logical argument source: ielts.org.

That matters here, because an argument is where a writer's opinions are. It is also where they are easiest to confuse with other people's.

The type is not one of the eight on the General Training Reading format page. General Training candidates do not need to prepare for it.

Three ways a statement ends up Not Given

The first is the usual one. The writer never mentions the point, so the passage cannot agree or disagree.

The second is special to this type. The passage states a fact, and the statement turns it into an opinion. Suppose the writer reports that a scheme cost twice its budget. The writer has not said the scheme was a mistake. If the statement says the writer thinks it was a mistake, the answer is Not Given. The fact is in the passage, but the view is missing.

The third is about who holds the view. Argument texts quote people, sum up other positions and raise objections before answering them. A view the writer reports from someone else is not the writer's view, unless the writer agrees with it. "Critics argue that the scheme was rushed" tells you what critics think. It does not tell you what the writer thinks.

A worked example

Here is a short passage written for this page, followed by three statements.

Statement 1 is No. The writer says most of the passengers were already travelling by bus. That contradicts the statement.

Statement 2 is Yes. "The figure is real" is the writer's own claim, in the writer's own voice, and the statement agrees with it. The supporters' point does not decide the answer. The writer's agreement with it does.

Statement 3 is Not Given. The writer criticises the project, and a reader might guess what comes next. But the passage says nothing about extending the line. A guess about what the writer would probably think is not evidence of what the writer says.

How to find the writer's own voice

The main skill is telling the writer's own sentences from sentences that report other people. Look for two kinds of signal.

The first kind shows that a view belongs to someone else: "supporters point out", "it is often said", "critics argue". The second kind is a contrast word that often comes next: "but", "however", "in fact". The claim after the contrast word is usually the writer's. The claim before it usually belongs to someone else.

Watch for words that soften a claim, such as "may" or "might". A writer who says a policy "may have contributed" to a problem has not said it caused the problem. A statement that the writer blames the policy goes further than the writer does. So it does not agree with the writer's view.

Where the statements are in the passage

The answers follow the order of the text for four types: multiple choice, matching sentence endings, sentence completion and short-answer questions source: ielts.org.

The format page says nothing about order for this type. The statements often follow the passage, so use the order to narrow your search. But never treat a missing answer as proof of Not Given.

Marks and scoring

The number of questions of each type is "variable" source: ielts.org.

Each correct answer gets one mark. On Academic Reading, band 7 takes 30 marks out of 40 on average source: ielts.org. The Reading band score converter turns a practice score into a band, and IELTS Reading raw score to band score explains the conversion.

If the True, False, Not Given rules are not yet clear to you, start with True, False, Not Given. The search method is the same. Only the thing you compare the statement against is different. IELTS Reading question types lists all eleven types and which paper uses each.

The Reading improvement plan lists this type in its band 6 to 7 step.

The question wording, the definitions of No and Not Given, the warning about what you already know, the skill tested and the type's absence from the General Training list come from the IELTS Academic and General Training Reading format pages on ielts.org, last checked on 28 September 2026. The average marks for band 7 come from its IELTS scoring in detail page, checked the same day. The example passage was written for this page and is not from any test.