IELTS Reading: True/False/Not Given and matching headings (2026)

Two question types take more marks in IELTS Reading than all the others: True/False/Not Given (and its opinion-testing sibling Yes/No/Not Given) and Matching Headings. The cause of the errors is the same in both: the candidate answers from what they know or assume instead of from what the text says. This guide gives the exact rule, the typical trap and a method that works for each, then shows how to split the 60 minutes and how raw scores become bands.

Format: 60 minutes, 40 questions, no extra time

• Academic: three long passages (books, journals, newspapers), harder from one to the next.
• General Training: three sections; several short everyday texts in the first (notices, brochures), workplace texts in the second, one long text in the third.
• Unlike Listening, there is no time to transfer answers; the 60 minutes include reading and writing.
• On the computer-delivered format the text is on the left and the questions on the right; highlighting and notes are available, so use them.

True / False / Not Given: three rules

Most marks are lost on Not Given. The brain fills the gap with its own knowledge: "That makes sense, so it's True." Sense does not count in the exam; only the text counts. The rule: if you cannot point to a specific sentence that confirms or contradicts the statement, the answer is Not Given.

Words that need attention: all, only, always, never, most, some, first, main. If the text says "some scientists" and the statement says "all scientists", the answer is False; if the text says "scientists" with no quantity and the statement says "most scientists", the answer is Not Given.

Yes/No/Not Given works on the same logic but tests the writer's opinion, not a fact. When the task says "the writer believes" or "according to the author", look for evaluative language in the text: "clearly", "it is doubtful", "I would argue".

Matching Headings: paragraph first, heading second

Here you choose one heading from a list for each paragraph. There are more headings than paragraphs; the spare ones are distractors.

1. Do not read the heading list first. Read the paragraph and squeeze its main idea into one sentence of your own. Then go to the list.
2. Do not fall for a detail. The distractor heading usually matches a detail mentioned in the paragraph, not the main idea. A heading has to cover the whole paragraph.
3. First and last sentence, but not blindly. The main idea is often there, yet some paragraphs open with an example and keep the idea in the middle.
4. Start with the easy paragraphs, lock in the obvious ones, then distribute the remaining headings across the remaining paragraphs.
5. Expect synonyms. A heading that says "The cost of innovation" will appear in the paragraph as "price", "expense", "financial burden".

How to split the 60 minutes

An even 20/20/20 works, but in Academic the third passage is usually the hardest, so 17/20/23 is an option. Two rules:

• Never stay on one question for more than two minutes; mark it, move on, come back at the end.
• In the last two minutes leave no blanks: there is no penalty for a wrong answer in Reading, and a blank is a guaranteed zero.

Band table: Academic and General differ

General Training texts are easier, so the scale is stricter: the same band needs more correct answers. The scale shifts slightly from test to test.

Three frequent mistakes

1. Answering from your own knowledge. You know the topic, you "know" the answer, but the text does not say it. Only the text counts.
2. Finding the keyword and stopping. A word from the question appears in the text and the answer feels close; but IELTS uses the same word as a distractor too. Read the sentence to the end.
3. Breaking the word limit. If it says "NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS", three words is wrong even when the meaning is right.

Next step

Reading is an objective section, so progress shows in numbers: do a full timed passage set once a week and log which question type costs you. The same approach for Listening is in the Listening question types guide. To pin down how many Reading answers an overall 7.0 needs, use the band calculator and the how to get band 7 guide.