IELTS Reading: true, false, not given

Today's questions are about the passage that I used last week. This time you need to decide whether the statements below are true, false or not given.

Read the following text about the printing press:

From a single point of origin, Mainz, Germany, printing spread within several decades to over two hundred cities in a dozen European countries. By 1500, printing presses in operation throughout Western Europe had already produced more than twenty million volumes. In the 16th century, with presses spreading further afield, their output rose tenfold to an estimated 150 to 200 million copies. The operation of a press became so synonymous with the enterprise of printing that it lent its name to an entire new branch of media, the press.

In Renaissance Europe, the arrival of mechanical movable type printing introduced the era of mass communication which permanently altered the structure of society. The relatively unrestricted circulation of information and ideas transcended borders and threatened the power of political and religious authorities. The sharp increase in literacy broke the monopoly of the literate elite on education and learning and bolstered the emerging middle class.

Answer TRUE, FALSE or NOT GIVEN:

1. By the beginning of the 16th century, the printing press was in use in several different countries.
2. The printing press was popular because it was so easy to operate.
3. Movable type printing can be linked to a rise in the number of people who could read and write.
4. Printing had a negative effect on the middle classes.

Comments

[jyoti marwaha]

1) NOT GIVEN
2) TRUE
3) TRUE
4) FALSE

[Sanjaya Acharya]

1) TRUE
2) NOT GIVEN
3) FALSE
4) FALSE

[Ai]

1) TRUE
2) NOT GIVEN
3) NOT GIVEN
4) FALSE

[vijay sharma]

1)T
2)N.G
3)N.G
4)F

[vijay sharma]

hi simon plz tell us wt is the answer of these question

[snooper]

1>true
2>not given
3>true
4>false

[Simon]

Hi Vijay,

This is today's exercise, so I'll post the correct answers tomorrow (when more people have had a chance to try it).

[Abbas]

Hi Simon,
These are my answers:

1. T
2. NG
3. T
4. F

[Saida]

1.True
2.NG
3.NG
4.False

[Nafiseh]

Hi dear Simon,
These are my answers:

1-F
2-T
3-T
4-F

[Nafiseh]

Hi dear Simon,
I think these are;

1-F
2-NG
3-T
4-F

[ahmed]

1-T
2-ng
3-T
4-F

[Ruth W.]

My answers are:

1.F
2.NG
3.T
4.F

[bobur]

True
Not Given
True
False

[Kai]

Hi Simon,

Got my result today. L-8.5, R-8, W-7 and S-8.

Just made it in writting. But Happy as I only needed minimum 7 in each.

Thank you very much. You are great!

I think your advice for selecting data and follwoing same structure every time helped me to save time.I also followed your advice- writting essays and having the essays checked by native teacher.

Once again thank you.

[vijay sharma]

Thnx for given advice simon

i am happy with this web site

thnx alot

[Tomo]

Hi Simon,
I enjoy reading your post. Thank you!
Here are my answers.

True
NG
True This one is tricky. The increase in literacy - more and more people were able to read printed materials - the spread of movable type printing
False

[Garik- Armenia]

Hi
here are my answere
1.T
2.N G
3.N G
4.F

[Han]

Hi Simon,
My answers are:
1-True
2-False
3-Not given
4-False

[wanjaws]

Hello,
1.True
2.No Given
3.True
4.False

[crk]

Hi simon
Here's my answer:
1. True
2. Not given
3. True
4. False

[Aika]

Hi Simon,
my answers are:
1.T
2.NG
3.NG
4.F
thanks:)

[cagla]

Hi Simon,

I think

T
NG
NG
F

[raja]

T
NG
T
F

[Anna]

T
NG
T
F

[Sunny]

T
NG
NG
F

[maji]

1.T
2.NG
3.T
4.F

[Leslie]

True
Not Given
True
False

[Garima]

True
Not Given
True
False

[Zhengyu]

True
Not Given
True
False

[Jael]

My answer is:

1.TRUE (By 1500, printing presses in operation throughout Western Europe).

2.NOT GIVEN.

3. TRUE (The arrival of mechanical movable type printing....altered the structure of society...The sharp increase in literacy...)

4. FALSE (...bolstered the emerging middle class)

Thank you very much for your lesson.

[LISA]

T
NG
NG
F

[Bo]

1. False( i believe that 'over two hundred cities in a dozen European countries' is regarded as more than 'several'
2. Not Given
3. True (in the 2nd paragraph)
4. False (~bolstered the emerging middle class.)

[chloe]

T
Not given
Not given
F

[Aleksandr]

1-T
2-NG
3-NG
4-F

[kd]

1-F
2-NG
3-NG
4-F

[Tayfun Kurt]

Hi Simon
Here my answers are;

1-T
2-NG
3-NG
4-F

Regards,
Tayfun

[Simon]

CORRECT ANSWERS FROM SIMON:

1. TRUE
2. NOT GIVEN
3. TRUE
4. FALSE

Jael explains these answers well - see Jael's comment further up this page.

...

Hi Kai,

Great results! You worked hard and followed the advice, so well done - you deserve those scores!

[Shayan Bigdeli]

Hi Simon;
Thank you(*100,000,000) for your wonderful advice, which is found anywhere else.
I have a problem with counting words in Reading and Listenig Tasks. Does a hyphen merge two words? for example, how many words are the terms 'four-sided frame' and 'e-mail'?
Thank you again(2*100,000,000)

[Simon]

Hi Shayan,

Good question! "E-mail" is definitely counted as one word (you can also write 'email'), but I'm not completely sure whether "four-sided" would be counted as 2 words or 1. Grammatically speaking, the 2 words have been joined to make one, but I don't know the exact IELTS counting rule on this. The good news is that I've never seen a question where this is an issue, and I think the IELTS people would use their common sense and accept any correct answer if this situation did arise.

[reema]

simon my reading portion is too weakkk and grammatical problems in writting plz give me some tips for these 2 parts bcoz my exam is on18th feb

[Archana Bajimaya]

hi simon
can u give us the answers please

[Simon]

Hi Reema,

You just need to keep practising and working hard. Try to follow the daily lessons on this site, use the Cambridge IELTS books for test practice, and try to find a teacher or native speaker who can check your work, correct your mistakes, and help you to improve.

...

CORRECT ANSWERS FROM SIMON:

1. TRUE
2. NOT GIVEN
3. TRUE
4. FALSE

Jael explains these answers well - see Jael's comment further up this page.

[romeyseh]

1.T
2.NG
3.NG
4.T

[Simon]

Hi Romeyseh,

My correct answers are above yours.

[mel]

hi simone, till now I am still confused if in reading and listening tests, capital or bold letters should be used so that it would not be time consuming rather than using capital letter for the first letter especially if it is a noun word, which would take time for one to think,do you think using capital or bold letters would be fine in writing the answers in both modules? and they say cursive is good in writing module, what do you think?

[Simon]

Hi Mel,

Read this lesson about capital letters:

http://ielts-simon.com/ielts-help-and-english-pr/2012/01/ielts-grammar-capital-letters.html

Cursive is fine in the writing test, but it's also fine if you don't join your letters.

[hayder]

1-True
2-Not given
3-false
4-True

[hayder]

Hi
1-True
2-Not given
3-False
4-False

[Simon]

CORRECT ANSWERS FROM SIMON:

1. TRUE
2. NOT GIVEN
3. TRUE
4. FALSE

Jael explains these answers well - see Jael's comment further up this page.

[leila]

hi Simon
i have big problems in list of headings((
what advice could u suggest?what should i do in order to improve reading skills?i did practice during 6 month but i cant notice some huge improvement(( just 19 from 40 always are corrert(( its too bad
in 25th february will be my exam:(

[leila]

one more,how can i answer qs like choose the title..?? because it takes too much time to read all huge text in order to get the main idea..will it help to read just first and last sentence? and i have a qs about speaking.. sometimes they give such qs that i cant even answer in my native language like global warmning or what will u expect to be after 50 years in smth about politics 4 instance..

[Ajith]

Dear Mr Simon,
Thanks for your advices!
My answers are,
1.True
2.Not Given
3.True
4.False

[Nosirkhan (Tashkent, Uzbekistan)]

1.TRUE
2.FALSE
3.NOT GIVEN
4.FALSE

[Abbos-Ali]

Hello Mr.Simon.
Here are my answers on this reading test:
1-True
2-Not Given
3-Not Given
4-False

[Simon]

Hi Leila,

Here's some advice about 'headings' questions:

http://ielts-simon.com/ielts-help-and-english-pr/2010/08/ielts-reading-paragraph-headings.html

Here's some general advice about improving your reading score:

http://ielts-simon.com/ielts-help-and-english-pr/2012/02/ielts-advice-a-useful-question.html

For the "choose a title" question, you need an overall idea about the topic of the passage. Hopefully, if you do that question last, you will be familiar with the passage and you will be able to make a good choice without reading it again.

Here's my advice about what to do if you don't know the answer:

http://ielts-simon.com/ielts-help-and-english-pr/2011/03/ielts-speaking-if-you-dont-know-the-answer.html

...

CORRECT ANSWERS FROM SIMON:

1. TRUE
2. NOT GIVEN
3. TRUE
4. FALSE

Jael explains these answers well - see Jael's comment further up this page.

[sunita]

1. True
2. Not Given
3. Not Given
4. False

[gagandeep singh chandi]

true, not given, true,false

[Saja]

1. T
2. NG
3. T
4. F

[Mubashar]

true
true
false
n.g

[Vijay]

My answers:
T
NG
T
F

[R.Mohamed]

Hi Simon!
hope you are having a good day.
I had my IELTS results on 26th.and the results is L-6.5,W-6,R-5,S-7.5,(overall 6.5) my target is 7 in every segment. I understand that my weakest part is reading and writing.
Could you please give me some tips to improve reading and writing!
many thanks
R.Mohamed

[Hassib]

Hi Simon
I didn't get why 3 is true. If u can explain it plz

[SImon]

Hi Hassib,

I think Jael explained it well:

The arrival of mechanical movable type printing....altered the structure of society...The sharp increase in literacy...

[JASON]

F
T
NG
NG