Central ideas and details
Information and Ideas is about 26% of Reading and Writing (12–14 of 54 questions), and Central Ideas and Details is its first skill. The passages are 25–150 words and come from literature, science, history and social studies.
Main idea or detail?
The main idea is the point that the whole passage supports. Details are the facts, examples and reasons that prove or illustrate that point. Ask yourself: if I took this sentence out, would the passage still make the same point? If yes, it is a detail. Most passages also have a first or last sentence that shows the direction, but the main idea can be in the middle, or only suggested.
Say it in your own words first
After reading, close your eyes for a moment and finish this sentence: “This text is about ___, and it says that ___.” Do this before you read the choices. A prediction protects you from choices that sound clever but say something different.
The four kinds of wrong choice
Wrong choices follow patterns. Learn them and they become easy to spot.
| Wrong choice | What it does | How to spot it |
|---|---|---|
| Too broad | Says much more than the text | Uses big words like “all”, “always”, “the most important” |
| Too narrow | Covers one detail only | Matches one sentence, ignores the rest |
| Distorted | Changes what the text says | Reverses a cause or exaggerates |
| Off-topic | True or sensible, but not in the text | Uses your outside knowledge, not the passage |
Literature passages
In a story or poem the main idea is often about a character: what the character wants, feels or learns, and how that changes. Look for what happens, then why it matters to the character. Do not choose a choice only because it mentions a character’s name; check that it describes the whole passage, not one action.
Informational passages
In science and history passages the writer usually makes a claim or describes a process, then supports it with examples, causes or results. The main idea joins these together (“Scientists use tree rings to learn about past weather”). A detail question asks for one piece of information instead.
“According to the text”
This question asks for a fact the passage states or clearly shows. The answer will be a close restatement of a sentence in the passage, in different words. Find the sentence, compare it with each choice, and reject any choice that is true in real life but not in the passage. Do not use outside knowledge.
Honeybees that find a rich patch of flowers return to the hive and perform a “waggle dance”. The angle of the dance shows the direction of the flowers compared with the sun, and the length of the dance shows how far away they are. Other bees watch and then fly straight to the patch.
- Say it in your own words: bees dance to tell each other where food is.
- Details: the angle shows direction; the length shows distance.
- B says “only”, which the text never claims. C and D are not what the text is about.
Bekzod had practiced the dutar for months, but when he stepped onto the stage his fingers shook, and for a moment he wanted to run. Then he saw his grandmother in the front row, smiling as she always did in his lessons, and the first note came out steady. By the final song he had stopped noticing the crowd.
- What happens? He is nervous, sees his grandmother, calms down and plays well.
- The point is the change from fear to calm and what causes it.
- B mentions the grandmother, but the text does not say she teaches him; it only says she is in the front row (distorted). A and D are the opposite of the story.
Every Saturday, Dilnoza woke before sunrise to walk to the bakery at the end of her street. She did not go for the bread, though the warm loaves were wonderful. She went because the baker, Rustam, let her watch him shape the dough, and she hoped to learn the skill herself one day.
- Find the sentence with the reason: “She went because …”.
- It says she hoped to learn the skill of shaping dough.
- A is the reason you might guess, but the text says she did not go for the bread.
Once among the world’s largest lakes, the Aral Sea began to shrink in the 1960s after much of the water from the rivers that fed it was diverted to irrigate crops such as cotton. As the water retreated, the old seabed became a salty desert and fishing towns lost their harbors. Today, restoration work in the northern part has allowed some water and fish to return.
- Three ideas: cause (diversion), effect (shrinking, desert), recent improvement (north).
- The main idea must join them.
- A is too broad and not stated. B is too narrow and exaggerated (“disappeared”). C is distorted: “some water and fish” is not “fully restored”.
- Choosing a detail instead of the main ideaIf a choice matches only one sentence, it is too narrow. The main idea must fit the whole passage.
- Choosing a choice that is too broadWatch for “all”, “always”, “only” and “the most important”. If the passage does not say it, reject it.
- Using outside knowledgeA choice can be true in the real world and still be wrong. Only the passage counts.
- Falling for a choice that repeats the passage’s wordsWrong choices often copy words from the text but connect them wrongly. Check the meaning, not the vocabulary.
- Mixing up cause and effectReread to see which event happened first and which one caused the other. Distorted choices often swap them.
- Reading a literature passage as a list of eventsAsk what the character feels or learns. The main idea is usually about the change, not about every action.