Reading: Main Idea, Evidence, and Inference
What the Reading section tests
Reading questions reward careful, evidence-based comprehension. Expect literary passages (short stories, poems, memoirs) and informational passages (articles, essays, workplace texts). You must identify the main idea, distinguish it from supporting details, trace an author's argument, interpret vocabulary in context, and draw inferences that the text actually supports.
Concepts to master
- Main idea vs. detail: The main idea is what the whole passage is about; details support it. A good test: does the statement cover the entire passage or only one paragraph?
- Inference: A conclusion implied but not stated. Always ask, "Which sentence proves this?" If you cannot point to evidence, the choice is probably wrong.
- Vocabulary in context: Words shift meaning by sentence. Substitute each answer choice into the sentence and check whether the meaning holds.
- Author's purpose and tone: Is the writer informing, persuading, narrating, or criticizing? Tone words (skeptical, nostalgic, urgent) are often the key.
- Text structure: Cause-effect, compare-contrast, chronological, and problem-solution patterns help you predict where information lives.
Traps to watch
- True but irrelevant: A choice may state a fact from the passage that does not answer the question.
- Too broad or too narrow: Extreme main-idea choices often overgeneralize; narrow ones capture only a detail.
- Emotional language: Strong words like "always" or "never" rarely match a measured passage.
- Outside knowledge: Answer from the text, not from what you already know.
Rule of thumb
For any question, locate the lines that decide it and paraphrase them in your own words before reading the choices. Then eliminate any option that goes beyond that paraphrase. For main-idea questions, check whether the choice accounts for the passage's beginning, middle, and end.