Information and Ideas: Reading Closely, Central Ideas, Details, and Inference
Start with the architecture of the passage
Information and Ideas questions ask you to read closely: identify central ideas, locate supporting details, draw inferences the text actually licenses, and interpret what a statement means in context. Before answering, state the passage's main claim in one sentence of your own. Every option must be tested against that sentence.
Traps that cost points
- The true-but-minor detail. A choice that appears almost verbatim in the passage can still be wrong if it is evidence rather than the idea.
- Scope errors. Answers broader than the passage (sweeping claims about "all cities" or "every student") or narrower than it (covering only one paragraph).
- Unlicensed inference. A reasonable real-world conclusion is still wrong if the passage does not support it. Inference items reward small, necessary steps, not leaps.
- Extreme language. Words like always, never, proves, and only are flags; check whether the passage is that absolute.
Rule of thumb
For central-idea questions, ask: does this choice account for every paragraph? If any paragraph would be left over, the choice is probably a detail, not the main idea.
Worked example
When Marlow replaced four downtown intersections with roundabouts, drivers expected chaos. Six months later, injury crashes at those intersections had fallen 38 percent, and the average wait at the busiest corner dropped from 55 seconds to 12.
The central idea is that the change worked better than residents feared - the only claim that both details serve. A choice like "Roundabouts are safer than traffic lights everywhere" overreaches: the passage reports one town's results.