IELTS Yes, No, Not Given Practice: 12 Questions with Explained Answers

Practise the writer’s views with two original IELTS-style passages and 12 Yes, No, Not Given questions. Write your answers first, then open each answer panel to check the evidence. Everything in these two sets is free to read without an account.

These are fictional BandLadder practice texts, not official IELTS questions or predictions. They are focused drills for IELTS Academic Reading, not a full-length test. The answer panels let you self-check; this page does not automatically mark or save your responses.

Start passage 1 · Start passage 2 · Review your mistakes

Yes, No and Not Given: the distinction that matters

• YES: the statement matches the writer’s view or claim.
• NO: the writer expresses a view or claim that conflicts with the statement.
• NOT GIVEN: the text does not establish agreement or disagreement with that statement.

True/False/Not Given asks about information in the text; Yes/No/Not Given asks about the writer’s views or claims. Follow the labels in your task instructions. Do not decide from your own opinion or outside knowledge. These distinctions follow the official IELTS Academic Reading format, checked 2 October 2026.

For each question below, note both your answer and the paragraph that supports it. If you choose NOT GIVEN, identify the specific comparison, quantity or condition the writer has not supplied. A shared keyword alone cannot decide the answer.

Passage 1: What should a digital museum collection achieve?

A. Putting a museum collection online is valuable, but uploading photographs is only a beginning. I believe a successful digital collection should help visitors understand how objects relate to one another, not merely let them count what the museum owns. A plain inventory can help a specialist locate a familiar item. A first-time visitor, however, may need a route into the material: a question, a comparison or a short explanation of why an ordinary object mattered. The design should welcome both kinds of reader.

B. Some campaigners argue that once a complete online collection exists, keeping the physical galleries open becomes an unnecessary expense. I disagree. A screen can reveal an enlarged detail that a gallery visitor might miss, but it cannot reproduce every aspect of encountering an object in a room. Nor can a gallery provide every advantage of a searchable archive. The sensible ambition is to let the two forms support one another. Choosing between them as if they were interchangeable would throw away part of their value.

C. Access also depends on how a website works. A visitor with an older phone or an unreliable connection should not have to download an elaborate animation before reading a label. Museums should make the essential explanations available in a simple format, with richer features offered as an option. The option to enlarge a photograph can still be useful; the problem is requiring everyone to use the most demanding version. Accessibility belongs in the first design discussion, not in a repair plan after launch.

D. Evaluation deserves the same care. A large visitor total may show that a publicity campaign attracted attention. It does not, by itself, establish that anyone understood the collection better. Curators should examine what visitors can explain after exploring an exhibit, alongside the number who opened it. This need not turn every visit into a formal examination. A brief voluntary response could reveal a misunderstanding worth fixing. I would not make a decision to expand the project from page-view totals alone.

Questions 1–6

Do the following statements agree with the writer’s views or claims? For each, write YES, NO or NOT GIVEN before opening the answers.

1. A successful online collection should explain connections between objects.
2. Once a complete digital collection exists, the writer thinks physical galleries should close.
3. The writer believes digital exhibitions generally cost less to maintain than physical galleries.
4. Essential museum explanations should remain available without demanding multimedia features.
5. The writer considers visitor numbers alone sufficient evidence for expanding an online museum project.
6. The writer recommends collecting visitor feedback every three months.

Show passage 1 answers and evidence

1. YES — paragraph A. The writer wants readers to understand how objects relate to one another. Explaining connections is a paraphrase of that aim; counting objects alone is insufficient.

2. NO — paragraph B. The closure argument belongs to campaigners, and the writer explicitly disagrees. The writer wants physical galleries and online collections to support each other. Attributing another group's view to the writer changes the answer.

3. NOT GIVEN — paragraph B. Expense is mentioned in the campaigners' argument, but neither the writer's comparison of maintenance costs nor a general cost ranking is supplied. A view about keeping galleries open does not settle which format costs less.

4. YES — paragraph C. The writer recommends a simple format for essential explanations and optional richer features. This supports access without compulsory animation, rather than banning every enhanced feature.

5. NO — paragraph D. The final sentence explicitly rejects making an expansion decision from page-view totals alone. The writer also wants evidence of understanding; the contradiction is the word alone.

6. NOT GIVEN — paragraph D. The writer suggests a brief voluntary response but gives no collection interval. Quarterly feedback is possible, yet the passage does not endorse or reject that schedule.

Passage 2: Who should shape a quieter city street?

A. When a city redesigns a busy street, it should begin by asking which journeys the street must make possible. A person collecting medicine, a delivery worker and a child walking to school may need different things from the same space. In my view, a successful design cannot be judged solely by how quickly private cars pass through it. Making an essential journey possible and making a through-journey faster are not necessarily the same achievement. A useful plan should acknowledge that distinction before drawing new boundaries.

B. There is a tempting shortcut: copy a pedestrian street that was popular elsewhere. I do not think such a copy is enough. A design suited to an area with frequent public transport may create difficulties where alternatives are limited. Local access requirements must shape the details. That does not mean every proposed change should be abandoned as soon as someone objects. It means that the city needs to explain how people who depend on the street will reach their destinations under the proposed arrangement.

C. A temporary trial is worth considering because it gives residents something concrete to discuss. However, organisers should announce in advance what they intend to learn and what evidence could justify a revision. They should not treat the trial as a ceremony confirming a decision already made. If the arrangement prevents a resident from reaching an essential service, that is a reason to investigate and change the design where necessary. Listening after installation must be capable of affecting the outcome.

D. Shopkeepers deserve a place in that discussion, but their expectations should not be mistaken for measured results. Some may expect fewer customers; others may expect people to stay longer. Both predictions need checking. When evaluating a trial, the city should also look at neighbouring roads: a quieter project street is an incomplete success if the disturbance has simply moved around the corner. My support is for a process that can learn from such trade-offs, rather than for a promise that one layout will improve every street.

Questions 7–12

Do the following statements agree with the writer’s views or claims? For each, write YES, NO or NOT GIVEN before opening the answers.

7. The writer regards the speed of private cars as an inadequate measure of a street redesign on its own.
8. The writer thinks copying a popular pedestrian street guarantees a suitable local design.
9. The writer believes bus services are more reliable in the city centre than in its suburbs.
10. Evidence gathered during a trial should be able to change the proposed design.
11. According to the writer, a quieter project street is enough to show success even if nearby streets become noisier.
12. The writer favours running street trials for at least six months.

Show passage 2 answers and evidence

7. YES — paragraph A. The writer says success cannot be judged solely by how quickly private cars pass through. The statement preserves that restriction; it does not claim vehicle movement never matters.

8. NO — paragraph B. The writer rejects copying as sufficient and requires local access needs to shape the design. Popularity elsewhere does not provide the guarantee stated in the question.

9. NOT GIVEN — paragraph B. The passage contrasts places with frequent transport and places with limited alternatives. It gives no city-centre/suburb comparison and says nothing about their relative reliability. Frequency and reliability are also different measures.

10. YES — paragraph C. The writer requires listening to affect the outcome and says access problems should prompt investigation and changes where necessary. The trial must allow revision, rather than merely ratify the original plan.

11. NO — paragraph D. The writer calls success incomplete when disturbance is displaced to neighbouring roads. Looking only at the project street excludes the very trade-off the writer says must be assessed.

12. NOT GIVEN — paragraph C–D. A trial is discussed, including how to use its evidence, but no minimum duration is stated anywhere. The usefulness of a trial does not establish a six-month requirement.

Make the answer review useful

Count correct answers out of 12, then sort mistakes by cause. This small practice score is not an IELTS band estimate. A repeated reasoning error is more useful to notice than a single total.

1. Wrong speaker: did you assign a campaigner’s or shopkeeper’s position to the writer? In passage 1, the campaigners’ closure proposal is followed by an explicit disagreement.
2. Changed scope: circle words such as alone, guarantees and every. Passage 2 rejects speed as the sole measure; it does not say speed is irrelevant.
3. Missing evidence: write down exactly what would be needed to decide the statement. For a six-month claim, discussion of a trial without a duration is insufficient.
4. Imported knowledge: remove any justification beginning with “I know that…”. Your experience of transport or museums cannot supply a missing view in these passages.

For every wrong answer, finish this sentence in your notes: “I chose ___ because ___, but the passage says ___ / does not tell me ___.” Then re-read the full paragraph. Do not memorise the answer sequence; practise checking the relationship between the statement and the evidence.

Common questions about this practice

If the writer never uses “I”, is a view impossible to identify?

No. In these passages, wording such as “should”, “cannot be judged solely” and “must shape the details” also expresses a position. Identify what the writer supports or rejects rather than searching only for a personal pronoun.

Does an unfamiliar word make the answer NOT GIVEN?

No. An unfamiliar word is a comprehension problem, not evidence that a claim is missing. Read the surrounding sentence, track who is speaking and compare the meaning of the whole statement. In these exercises, “ratify” in an explanation means to approve an existing decision.

Can a statement be plausible and still be NOT GIVEN?

Yes. Quarterly visitor feedback and a six-month street trial could both be sensible choices. Neither recommendation appears in the relevant passage. Plausibility is not the same as textual support.

What should I practise next?

To compare this skill with factual statements, try our 12 True/False/Not Given questions with automatic answer checking. For the wider format and study method, see the IELTS Reading guide.

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