Reading: main idea, inference, and purpose
The Reading domain tests comprehension of written passages: stated main idea, explicit detail, inference, vocabulary in context, author's purpose and tone, text structure, and comparison of paired passages. Passages are short but dense, and the distractors are built from real sentences in the text, so careful reading beats fast reading.
Core rules
- Answer from the text, not from the topic. Every correct option has a line that supports it.
- For vocabulary in context, substitute each option into the original sentence and keep the one that preserves the sentence's logic, not the one that matches the dictionary's first sense.
- A main-idea option must cover the whole passage. If it fits only one paragraph, it is a detail.
- Inference questions: the answer must be entailed. "Reasonable" is not enough; "cannot be false given the text" is the standard.
- For paired passages, note where the authors agree and where the second corrects the first.
Worked example
Passage: "Cities plant trees for shade, but the accounting rarely includes the utility bill. A mature canopy can cut summer cooling demand on a block by a measurable margin; the same trees slow stormwater enough to spare drains. The cost is front-loaded and visible; the benefit is diffuse and slow."
Stem: What is the author's main purpose?
Reasoning: "But the accounting rarely includes" signals the problem. The two benefit clauses are examples of what is left out, and the final sentence explains why: visible cost, diffuse benefit. So the purpose is to identify a mismatch in how costs and benefits are counted - not to recommend planting.
Traps that cost marks
- Extreme wording in options: all, never, must, proves.
- True statements that do not answer the question asked.
- Mistaking an example for the author's claim.
- Choosing a vocabulary answer that is common but breaks the sentence's contrast.