IELTS Reading

Yes, No, Not Given Questions

Yes, No, Not Given questions are common in the IELTS Reading test. There’s a
good chance you’ll get one of these or a True/False/Not Given question which is very
similar.

It’s important that you understand the difference between the two so here’s a quick
explanation.

Yes/No/Not Given vs True/False/Not Given questions

The difference is in the type of information contained in the text.

Yes/No/Not Given – the text will contain the opinions, views or beliefs of the writer or
other people who are mentioned.

True/False/Not Given – the text will contain factual information about a topic.

Explanation
For Yes/No/Not Given questions, you will be given a set of statements and a text.
Your task is to decide which of the following applies to the information in each
statement:

 it agrees with the views of the writer – YES (Y)

 it disagrees with or contradicts what the writer thinks – NO (N)

 it is impossible to know what the writer’s point of view is – NOT GIVEN (NG)

So, you need to do two things:

1) Understand the information in the statements.

2) Decide if it matches the information in the text (Yes), disagrees with it (No) or isn’t
given (Not Given).

The big challenge

The challenge with a Y/N/NG type question is that for some statements, the NOT
GIVEN ones, you will be searching for information that’s not there.

This is the first reason why some people fear it.

You can easily waste a lot of time going over and over the text to check that you
haven’t missed the information.

The second challenge is the unfamiliarity of this type of question. Most people will
have looked for YES & NO statements in texts back in their school days but many
have no experience of NOT GIVEN statements.

Hence, it’s extra important to have a strategy that gives you the confidence to make
your decision and move swiftly on.

8 Top tips
1)  The answers appear in the same order in the text as the order of the statements.

2)  You don’t need to read the whole text. First, you will scan for keywords and then
you’ll read in detail the section in which they're located to find the answer.

3)  There will be at least one of each answer type – Yes, No, Not Given. So, if you
don’t have at least one of each when you’ve completed the question, you’ve made a
mistake.

4)  Watch out for distractors. Be aware that the test setters love to use ‘distractors’ to
really test you. A prime example is qualifying words such as: every, all, some, most,
a few, always, often, occasionally.

These single words can completely change the meaning of a sentence.

     E.g. Julio often goes to the gym after work.

            Julio occasionally goes to the gym after work.

In Y/N/NG questions, the meaning of the statement must be an exact match with the
opinion of the writer for the answer to be YES.

5)  Also be on the lookout for qualifying words that express possibility or doubt such
as: seem, suggest, believe, claim, possibly, probably.

Again, they can totally alter the meaning of a statement.

     E.g. He claimed that profits had gone up by 10%.

            He knew that profits had gone up by 10%.

6)  The view or opinion of the writer may not be immediately clear from the text. You
may have to determine this through what they say.

7) The statements will contain synonyms and paraphrasing so be on the lookout for
these.

8)  Remember that at least one answer will be NG. This means that you will be
searching for information that is not there.
As already mentioned, it’s easy to waste time searching and searching for
information you’re never going to find because it isn’t there. Use the strategy I’m
about to show you to quickly come to a decision about each statement and move on.

The Strategy
# 1  Read the instructions carefully. Double-check whether it is a YES/NO/NOT
GIVEN or a TRUE/FALSE/NOT GIVEN question.

# 2  Read the statements and try to understand the meaning of each. Do this before
reading the text.

# 3  Think about possible synonyms that might appear in the text and note any
qualifying words in the statements such as, all, some, always, often. This will make
your brain alerts for them when you scan the text.

# 4  Underline keywords. You won’t necessarily find the exact words in the text due
to the extensive use of synonyms and paraphrasing in Y/N/NG questions but enough
will be present to make doing this worthwhile.

# 5  Re-read statement 1 and scan the first paragraph, maybe two, for the key words
or synonyms of them. Scanning will locate where the answer is but detailed reading
of this section of the text is now needed to determine the opinion of the writer in
relation to the statement.

# 6  Make your decision. Remember to consider these three things:

 To be YES, the view of the writer must exactly match the statement even

if the words are different.

 Look carefully for qualifying words that might change the meaning.

 If you are struggling to find the writer’s opinion it’s probably because it
isn’t there, i.e. it’s NOT GIVEN.

# 7  Repeat this process for the remaining questions.

PRACTICE
Teens 'not damaged by screen time', study finds There is little evidence of a link between the
amount of time teenagers spend on devices and their general wellbeing, a study has
suggested. It counters claims that teenagers' mental and physical health could be damaged
by excessive screen time. Even just before bedtime, being online, gaming or watching TV is
not damaging to young people's mental health, study authors said. They questioned the
methodology of previous studies. "While psychological science can be a powerful tool for
understanding the link between screen use and adolescent wellbeing, it still routinely fails to
supply stakeholders and the public with high-quality, transparent and objective investigations
into growing concerns about digital technologies," said Professor Andrew Przybylski, Director
of Research at the Oxford Internet Institute (OII) and co-author of the study. Earlier this year,
the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) reached a similar conclusion to
the Oxford University study, but did suggest parents tell their children to put down their
devices in the hour before they go to bed. Dr Max Davie, from RCPCH, said of the new
study: "The controversy around screen use and adolescent wellbeing has always suffered
from an excess of opinion relative to data, and this paper helps to correct this, "The analysis
is robust and suggests an overall population effect too small to warrant consideration as a
public health problem. They also question the widely held belief that screens before bedtime
are especially bad for mental health. "However, none of this is intended to suggest that
screen time cannot become excessive in individual cases, and we would still suggest that
families follow our guidance published earlier this year. We continue, for now, to recommend
that screens be avoided for one hour before bed since there are other reasons beside mental
health for children to need a good night's sleep." But others felt the study did not go far
enough. Dr Bernadka Dubicka, chair of the child and adolescent faculty at the Royal College
of Psychiatrists, said: "Although this is a well conducted study involving a large data set, the
conclusions can only be limited. "The study looks at how long children spend looking at
screens but not at what harmful content they might see. We know that screen time is not the
main driver of mental illness, but dangerous online content can have an enormous impact on
young people and their mental health. "As a frontline clinician, I regularly see young people
who have deliberately hurt themselves after discussing self-harm techniques on social
media. Urgent research is needed to explore the complex relationship between online
content and young people, with particular attention given to the most vulnerable." Source:
BBC News website (Text edited for this practice exercise.)

Questions 1-4

Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in the Reading Passage?
Write:

YES if the statement agrees with the views of the writer.

NO if the statement contradicts what the writer thinks.

NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to know what the writer's point of view is.

1) Viewing an electronic screen before going to sleep at night is harmful.

2) Psychological science can explain the connection between computer use and mental and
physical health problems in teenagers.

3) The RCPCH advise that kids should not view electronic devices in the 60 minutes leading
up to bedtime.

4) Watching online violence is detrimental to the mental wellbeing of adolescents according

to Dr Dubicka.