Many students tell me that they struggle with YNNG and TFNG are tricky for them and in all my years of working with IELTS students, they are often the last type of question to click with students and indeed, I myself can sometimes have a doubt over a TFNG/YNNG, especially if they appear in Section 3 of the reading test.
Here are 6 things to do to make sure that you get the correct answers for YNNG and TFNG
1. Take note of every word in the question
Ask yourself why the question setter used a word, don’t just ignore it. In these questions just about every word has a function – so focus on each one. Generally the questions are quite short so this isn’t difficult to do. First choose the key words that will help you find the location – these may be names, numbers, dates or words connected with the topic. Where a word is everywhere in the text you need to choose another word that modifies it – such as ‘in the past’ or ‘today’.
Here is an example:
In the past, the amount of oil shale extraction has depended on the price of oil
So we need to find out if the amount of oil extracted correlates in some way with the oil price and whether this was the case in the past (not today). Oil price is the best location marker and we only need consider information about the past.
2. Paraphrase the question – what exactly are they asking you?
Paraphrasing the question helps to get your head around exactly what the statement means and what you need to find out in order to answer it correctly. Creating a yes/no question can also help to understand the statement and come up with the right answer.
Here is an example:
Oil shale originated as large forests on continents millions of years ago.
We need to find out about how this oil shale was formed. This is likely to be somewhere near the beginning of the text (probably the first or second paragraph) so we can start the search there – looking for millions of years might be a good idea as numbers are easy to find but also origins/formed/started or something like this may be mentioned.
Did oil shale begin as large forests on continents millions of years ago?
The answer to this question is ‘yes’ or ‘no’ so it will point us directly to the answer if the information is there.
I’m not sure about the relevance of ‘on continents’ in this question but I will keep an open mind about it as it might be important (in fact the information in the text tells us that it was formed under water so this phrase helps us to see that the formation was not land-based but water-based).
3. Be very careful of negative statements – they may need a little more thinking through
Any negatives in the question – not, nobody, hasn’t, didn’t etc. need a little more thought. A bit of mental gymnastics is required to get your head around the question. Be aware that the information in the text might be positive or it might also be negative and this is where paraphrasing the question could be very useful. Ask yourself ‘What exactly is the question asking me to find out from the information in the text?’ Often with these questions it can be very helpful to make the statement into a question so that the answer you are looking for is clearer.
Here is an example:
There are some species in zoos which can no longer be found in the wild.
Are there some species which are only found in zoos (i.e. not in the wild)? Creating the question helps to focus the information we are seeking a little more. Also we are removing the negative which makes it a little easier to find and then once we have the answer we can add the negative back in to select the final answer.
It might be easier to look for references to ‘in the wild’ for the location as the word zoo will be everywhere given the passage is about zoos.
We discover that some species only exist in captivity which means they are no longer in the wild so the answer is True.
4. Try to match as many words as you can with the text once you find the place
Generally I would say that all the words in question will be there for a reason so when you see a word then ask yourself – why did they put that? Like the example on continents in number 2 above – for me this was strange - so I knew that there would be a reason for it. In this way you will not overlook any important words and you will also be confident that you have the correct place. Choose the best word or words to find the place in the text and when you have words that are common across the reading then take note of the words that go with them in the question – such as zoos above – we need species in zoos here, or with the amount of shale gas in number 1, it was in the past that was important about the amount of gas.
Here is an example:
Zoos have always excelled at transmitting information about animals to the public.
Highlighted are the things we need to find out. I would choose the public to find the place and then we need to see if the communication between the zoos and the public is of a very high quality.
However, that is not enough here – the statement uses the present perfect tense have excelled which refers to past and present and there is also the use of the adverb always – so we need to know about the performance of zoos regarding their public messages over a long period of time both in the past and now. This could easily be something different from - are they good at communicating with the public.
In fact we find out that now they are very good but in the past they weren’t – making our answer False. The words ‘always’ was key here.
5. Go backwards and forwards from question to text if it isn’t clear
There is often a danger when looking at the text that we forget what exactly the question is asking. It is easy to get bogged down in the key words and then forget the main point we are looking for. Where, despite having all the information, the answer is not popping out easily, it is time to go back to the question and check again exactly what it is asking. This is especially important if you find yourself looking in more than one place – which can happen and which can distract you from the question.
Here is an example:
Some damage to paintings is most likely due to changes in the weather of the region.
I recently did this exercise with a group of students. We found the following place and decided that it was the right place:
Due to the favourable climactic conditions, the imagery on many panels is in a remarkable state.
We chose No as the answer. However they decided to read on and then changed their minds because of the following sentence:
The chemical and mineral qualities of the rock on which the imagery is painted is fragile and several panels it is unstable.
They now decide the answer must be Yes.
If we look again at the question we will see that it is about the effect of weather NOT chemicals and minerals. Going back to the question reminded us and we were able to get the answer correct.
6. Make sure you answer with the correct form – YNNG or TFNG
This goes without saying. It is a matter of concentration. There is a subtle difference between the two but for the purposes of the technique they are the same, however, it is important to write down the correct form on your question paper. Don’t make silly, avoidable mistakes.
If you go through this process every time then you’ll soon get the hang of it and you may start to anticipate the answer (you can use what you already know about the text to do this) and then use the text to confirm it.
Getting to the heart of how these questions work is the key and once you can do this then you should be able to answer most of them quite easily.