IELTS Reading: 12 True, False, Not Given Questions with Answers

Practice passage 1: a library’s evening trial

Suggested practice time: 5 minutes. Write T, F or NG for questions 1–6 before opening the answers. This is a study target, not an official time limit for this question type.

Northbridge Library tested later closing hours for eight weeks in spring. From Monday to Thursday it stayed open until nine in the evening, two hours later than its usual closing time. Friday and weekend hours did not change.

The library counted 420 visits after seven during the trial. Visitors in that period included school students and adults preparing for professional examinations. Staff did not record visitors’ ages. Some people used the library computers. Others only read printed books or worked on their own laptops, without using a library computer.

Before the trial, the council had agreed to pay for the additional staff hours. The library did not charge visitors an evening entry fee. A questionnaire was available at the front desk, but completing it was optional. At the end of the trial, the council had not yet decided whether to make the later hours permanent.

1. On Tuesdays during the trial, the library closed at nine in the evening.
2. The library extended its Friday opening hours.
3. Most visitors after seven were younger than twenty.
4. Every evening visitor used a library computer.
5. The council agreed to fund extra staff hours before the trial began.
6. The questionnaire asked visitors how they travelled to the library.

What this passage tests

Questions 3 and 6 contain familiar subject matter but add unsupported details. Question 4 is different: the text gives positive evidence against “every.” Missing evidence and contradictory evidence lead to different answers.

Practice passage 2: reusable takeaway containers

Suggested practice time: 5 minutes. Use only the passage, even if you already know about reusable packaging.

Six cafés in the town of Westhaven joined a reusable-container scheme in October. Customers paid a small deposit when they borrowed a container. They could return it to any participating café and receive the full deposit back. Buying another meal was not required.

A local washing service collected used containers each afternoon, cleaned them and delivered them to the cafés the following morning. The cafés still offered disposable packaging to customers who did not wish to pay a deposit. During the first month, only two cafés briefly ran out of clean reusable containers.

The organisers interviewed café owners after the first month. Several owners said customers had asked for clearer return instructions. The organisers then printed a short explanation on the café menus. They planned to measure the amount of disposable packaging used over the following three months. At the time of the interviews, they had not calculated whether the scheme had reduced overall packaging waste.

7. A customer could return a container to a different participating café.
8. Customers had to buy another meal to get their deposit back.
9. The local washing service charged each café the same amount.
10. Customers could still choose disposable packaging.
11. All six cafés ran out of clean reusable containers during the first month.
12. Most customers read the return instructions printed on the menus.

What this passage tests

Question 9 adds a comparison not supplied in the passage. Question 12 confuses availability with actual behaviour. The instructions may have been clear, but you cannot infer that most customers read them. The answers depend on what the writer provides.