IELTS Reading: true, false, not given

Read the following passage about the scientist Michael Faraday.

Michael Faraday, (1791 - 1867) was an English scientist who contributed to the fields of electromagnetism and electrochemistry. Although Faraday received little formal education he was one of the most influential scientists in history, and historians of science refer to him as having been the best experimentalist in the history of science.

The young Michael Faraday, who was the third of four children, having only the most basic school education, had to educate himself. At fourteen he became the apprentice to George Riebau, a local bookbinder and bookseller. During his seven-year apprenticeship he read many books, including Isaac Watts' The Improvement of the Mind, and he enthusiastically implemented the principles and suggestions contained therein.

In 1812, at the age of twenty, and at the end of his apprenticeship, Faraday attended lectures by the eminent English chemist Humphry Davy. Faraday subsequently sent Davy a three-hundred-page book based on notes that he had taken during these lectures. Davy's reply was immediate, kind, and favourable. When one of the Royal Institution's assistants was sacked, Davy was asked to find a replacement, and appointed Faraday as Chemical Assistant at the Royal Institution.

Are the following statements true, false or not given?

1. Many experts regard Faraday as the foremost experimentalist of all time.
2. Faraday educated himself by reading books that were recommended to him by George Riebau.
3. Faraday came to the attention of a famous chemist after he wrote a book based on the chemist's lectures.

Comments

[Son Double-T]

1. not given
2. not given
3. True

[Natasha]

F
NOT GIVEN
T

[ahmed]

f,ng,t

[pavan]

1.NOT GIVEN
2.NO
3.NOT GIVEN

[ZIAUL HUDA]

1-false
2-not given
3-true.

[Huong]

1. NG
2. NG
3.T

[ali]

1.true
2.not given
3.true

[Tika]

1. Not Given
2. Not given
3. Not given

[Samah]

1.True
2.Not given
3.True

[Tayfun KURT]

Hello All,

1-NG
2-NG
3-TRUE

MUTLU YILLAR!!!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
с Новым годом!!!

Regards,
Tayfun

[Tanzeel]

True , false, not given

[Tyas]

1. true
2. not given
3. true

[ASD]

1.True
2.Not given
3.True

[aisha]

1 true
2 notgiven
3 false

[thuan]

1 Not given
2 Not given
3 True

Hi, Simon.
Can you give us your exact answer

[Janaka]

1.T
2.NG
3.F

[thuan]

1 False (In the history of science # In all time
2 Not Given ( The paraphrase doesn't mention these books that Faraday read were recommended by George Riebau)
3 True (Paraphase)

Happy New Year everyday

[taher]

1.Yes
2.NOT GIVEN
3.YES

[khoory]

1. Not given
2. False
3. True

[Janaka]

Dear sir and team

wish you a happy 2013

[Rashida Perveen]

1-True
2-Not Given
3-True

[Neda]

True
NG
True

[Len]

1-NG
2-NG
3-NG

[ravinder singh]

T
NG
NG

[FARYAL]

false
not given
true

[khoory]

I chose not given for the 1st question; 'of all time' phrase motivates me to go to' not given' answer

[Abbas]

1. NG
2. NG
3. T

thx

[Kanika]

1. True
2. False
3. True

[Ahmed]

1- false
2- not given
3- true

[hiba]

F,ng,t

[fariha]

1. not given
2. false
3. true

[Nisha]

false,not given,true

[John]

1. True
2. Not Given
3. True

[wzchen]

False
Not Given
Ture

[Anna]

1. True
2. False
3. True

[Grace]

1.True
2.Not given
3.Not given

[Winnie]

1.Not given
2.Not given
3.True

[Gia Minh]

True
Not Given
True

[faisal]

1)T
2)NG
3)NG

[Lyn]

T, F, NG

[Sayeed Iqbal]

F, NG, T

by Sayeed (in last test I got 6 band in each module -GT -- first attempt).
Skype = msayeediq

[zarmp48]

This is how I deal with questions from the Reading exam that asks for T/NG/F answer:

1) True
Many experts regard Faraday as the foremost experimentalist of all time. (historians of science refer to him as having been the best experimentalist in the history of science.)

"experts" = historians of science

"the foremost experimentalist" = the best experimentalist

"in the history of science" = of all time

2) Not Given
Faraday educated himself by reading books that were recommended to him by George Riebau. (...had to educate himself. At fourteen he became the apprentice to George Riebau, a local bookbinder and bookseller. During his seven-year apprenticeship he read many books, including Isaac Watts' The Improvement of the Mind, and he enthusiastically implemented the principles and suggestions contained therein.)

"educated himself" = had to educate himself

"by reading books" = he read many books

(as you see, there has been no direct reference from the passage that the books read by Faraday were recommended to him by George Riebau)

3) True
Faraday came to the attention of a famous chemist after he wrote a book based on the chemist's lectures. (Faraday attended lectures by the eminent English chemist Humphry Davy. Faraday subsequently sent Davy a three-hundred-page book based on notes that he had taken during these lectures. Davy's reply was immediate, kind, and favourable...Davy was asked to find a replacement, and appointed Faraday as Chemical Assistant at the Royal Institution.)

"came to the attention of a famous chemist" = Davy's reply was immediate, kind, and favourable...Davy was asked to find a replacement, and appointed Faraday as Chemical Assistant at the Royal Institution.

"he wrote a book based on the chemist's lectures." = Faraday attended lectures by the eminent English chemist Humphry Davy. Faraday subsequently sent Davy a three-hundred-page book based on notes that he had taken during these lectures.

[Simon]

CORRECT ANSWERS FROM SIMON:

1. True
2. Not given
3. True

Read the explanation by 'zarmp48' (above) if you are not sure why these answers are correct.

[Huong]

Thank you Simon and Zarmp48 :)

[Anna]

Thank you, Zarmp48 and Simon. I had missunderstood about "NOT GIVEN" concept. I gave FALSE for 2nd question.

I thought the 2nd answer had to be FALSE since "Faraday read all books available in the bookstore, by himself; DEFINITELY no one recommended them". :)

[jassi]

1 false ,2 n.g. ,3 true...
Happy new year to all..

[sunnyxia]

Totally confused for NOT GIVEN and FALSE

nightmare

[ssss]

1= true

2= not given

3= false

[mahesh]

hi sir

i find difficult in reading passages. even after a lot practice also i find difficult at some point.
mainly due to this i cant manage time.... please help me sir.

[codetyper]

true
not given
false

[codetyper]

Actually for me the 3rd is confusing enough. Maybe due to my not so inexperienced English. First I got it as:
Firstly "Faraday came to the attention of a famous chemist"
and after that
"he wrote a book based on the chemist's lectures."

I've got the sense after have read an explanation above.

[Mathias]

I think its

fals
true
true

[Chris]

thanks for the explanation Zarmp48 :) I had false for the 2nd question

[zarmp48]

@Anna, from how I understand it, we give a FALSE answer if the question is directly the opposite of a statement/s given in the passage. For instance, if there could have been a statement in the passage that goes this way, "However, he failed to read books that his mentor (George Riebau) recommended to him", then the answer would definitely be FALSE.

I hope this could help :)

[hatice]

I really want to know what technic we should use while reading, generally ı need to go back to passsage again and again especially for true false not given question they rely need to attention . Whats the best way to answer these kind of question properly and without wasting lots of time???

[eric]

I think the answer would be

1.True (This is stated in the text)
2.Not given (He read all the book but nor stated whether it was recommended by George Riebaus)
3, False (because he caught the attention of the chemist by sending the notes which was 300 pages written by him during the chemist lecture)

[soude]

1) true
2) false
3) not given

[lamp]

It should be

true,
false
and true...

Second one should not be not given...

[NoorRammo]

1) Not Given
2) False
3) True

[Ibrahim]

T
NG
T

[Arm]

True
True
Not given

[irfan]

Hello
what are the correct answers?

[Simon]

CORRECT ANSWERS FROM SIMON:

1. True
2. Not given
3. True

Read the explanation by 'zarmp48' (further up this page) if you are not sure why these answers are correct.

[Umair Zafar]

1-True
2-Not Given
3-True

[Bahruz]

hi everybody.
1) Not Given
2) Not Given
3) True

[Babu]

Hi Everyone,

My answers to these questions are

True
False
Not Given