"Which is NOT" questions: the true or false method

Last checked against sources: 26 October 2026. The two example questions are our own, written from official texts we read on that date.

Why NOT questions appear

The Commission's own sample questions include "NOT" items, so expect some in your paper (the Commission's guidance to candidates). They are a cheap way for an examiner to test a whole list at once: the seven chapters of the Political Guidelines, the members of an institution, the contents of a 2025 package. Three options come straight from the official text and one is a near miss, usually a true fact from the same document or the neighbouring one. Our full mocks carry about three NOT questions in every 30, which is our estimate of a realistic share, not a published figure.

Why they catch prepared candidates

Most questions on the paper ask for the true option, so the brain runs on "find the right one". The leading guide on writing medical exam questions warns that a candidate can miss the word "except" even when it is set in bold or capitals (National Board of Medical Examiners, Constructing Written Test Questions). Under a 30-minute timer with no way back, one misread NOT question costs a point you knew. The second risk is subtler: three options will look familiar, and familiarity feels like the answer.

The method: three steps

1. Read the stem twice. The first time for the topic, the second for the word NOT (or EXCEPT, or "does not"). Say to yourself: "I am looking for the false one."
2. Mark each option true or false, one at a time. Judge each option against what you know, as if it were a true or false question on its own. Do not compare options with each other yet. Write T or F on your paper if the sitting allows it; otherwise count on your fingers.
3. Pick the only F. If you have one F and three Ts, you are done. If you have two Fs, one of your Ts is weak: re-read only those two options. If you have no F, you have misread the stem.

Worked example 1: institutions (our own question, from Article 15 TEU)

Which of the following is NOT a member of the European Council?

• A. The Heads of State or Government of the Member States
• B. The President of the European Council
• C. The President of the Commission
• D. The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy

Marking: A true, B true, C true, D false. Answer: D. The High Representative takes part in the European Council's work but is not listed among its members. Candidates who know the High Representative attends the meetings mark D as true and lose the point: this is the near miss. It also helps to keep the European Council apart from the Council of the EU, where ministers sit; see the three Councils compared.

Worked example 2: priorities (our own question, from the Competitiveness Compass)

The Competitiveness Compass of 29 January 2025 sets out flagship measures for three "transformational imperatives". Which of the following is NOT one of them?

• A. Closing the innovation gap
• B. Making the most of Europe's Single Market
• C. A joint roadmap for decarbonisation and competitiveness
• D. Reducing excessive dependencies and increasing security

Marking: A true, B false, C true, D true. Answer: B. Making the most of the Single Market is in the Compass, but as one of its horizontal enablers (section 2.2), not as one of the three imperatives. That is how NOT distractors are usually built: a true item from the same document, placed in the wrong list. More on the mandate's documents in the 2024-2029 priorities and the 2025 packages, dated.

The elimination arithmetic

On the Commission's internal test a wrong answer scores zero, the same as a blank, and the screen will not move on until you choose an option (the Commission's guidance to candidates). So you always answer, and every option you can mark with confidence raises your odds.

NOT questions are the friendliest type for partial knowledge. You do not need to know the false option: you only need to be sure of three true ones. If you know two of the Compass imperatives cold, you are already at 50%. If time is short, spend it confirming Ts, not hunting for the F.

How to practise

• Use lists as revision material. For every list in an official text (members of an institution, chapters, imperatives, a package's elements), write a NOT question for yourself with one item from a neighbouring list.
• Drill the type on its own. Our full access includes a NOT drill that serves only this question type, with the answer and source after each one.
• Then mix it back in. In a full mock under the real timer, the hard part is noticing the NOT among 29 ordinary questions. The free 30-question test runs forward-only with an AD or AST timer.
• Learn the neighbours. Most near misses come from the traps in common traps and what AI tools get wrong. For pacing across the paper, see tactics for a test with no back button.