How to Approach Main Idea Questions on the ACT® & SAT®

Main idea questions appear in the ELA Reading sections of both the ACT® and the SAT®. The basic function of main idea questions is to assess the test taker’s general reading comprehension skills.

Main idea questions are concerned with the passage as a body of work, rather than the lines, paragraphs, events, dialogues, and details that make up the passage. While main idea questions require the test taker to read closely, the reader’s focus needs to be zoomed out to comprehend the text as a whole. 

Main idea questions are essentially asking the reader to identify the author’s motivation and purpose for writing the passage, which is why main idea questions are much broader in scope, requiring a more general understanding, and relate to the passage/essay/poem at large.

Some Examples of Main Idea Questions

Here are a few model main idea questions that students will come across in one form or another: 

  • The passage is primarily concerned with …

  • The primary purpose of the passage is to …

  • The author’s primary objective in the passage is to …

  • The main idea of the passage is …

  • The author of the passage is primarily concerned with …

  • Which of the following is the best description of the passage?

  • The central claim of the passage is that …

  • Which of the following best summarizes the passage?

  • The central problem that the author describes in the passage is …

Notice that every one of these examples mentions “the passage,” rather than a specific line, paragraph, event, character, or detail. As such, main idea questions are fairly easy to recognize once you know what you’re looking for.

How to Approach Main Idea Questions

Main idea questions are considered one of the three most common types of Global Questions. A Global Question is one that does not direct the reader to a specific part of a passage or provide a line reference; it is more comprehensive, and involves a much wider scope. 

Keeping that in mind, here are a few essential strategies for approaching these types of questions:

1.) Highly suggested: read the entire passage before answering. Main idea questions are Big Picture questions, which is why it is recommended for test takers to read the entire passage first. Of course, it’s a student’s choice, and some students prefer to save time by reading the questions and skimming the passage for the answer. However, main idea questions really require students to have all of the information first in order to select the best answer.

2.) Take notes while reading the passage. The main idea of the passage can usually be found in notes taken while reading—these are the key points that have stood out to the reader, and will provide a lot of the information needed to help answer the main idea questions.

3.) Pay close attention to these major areas:

a.) FIRST sentence of the passage

b.) LAST sentence of the FIRST paragraph

c.) LAST sentence of the passage

These locations are chock full of important information pertaining to the overall main idea of the passage.

4.) Titles and abstracts provide essential clues. Often, main idea clues can be found in the title of the passage and, in some cases, in the very brief description that occasionally follows the title before the passage. 

Here are two different examples:

a.) The following text is from Charles Dickens’s 1859 novel A Tale of Two Cities.

In this example, there isn’t an abstract providing a description of the passage; however, the title gives a clue to the reader that the story involves two different cities of importance.

b.) The following text is from American writer Herman Melville’s 1851 novel Moby-Dick, a sailor Ishmael’s account of whaling ship captain Ahab’s mission to seek revenge against giant whale Moby Dick.

In this case, the title Moby-Dick is not enough to give the reader a main idea of the story; however, the brief description following does provide a significant amount of information that the test taker can use to figure out the premise.

5.) Notice transitional words and phrases as well as paragraph breaks. Transitional words and phrases such as “On the other hand,” “However,” and “For instance” all provide important clues for the author’s expression of ideas, the development of the passage, and examples that illustrate the author’s central purpose.

Additionally, paragraph breaks can also provide key information in tonal shifts, progression of the story, and even flashbacks. Test takers should take note of these signals as they read through the passage. 

6.) The best answer should always:

  • Restate the author’s motivation for writing the passage.

  • Relate to the passage as a whole, not a detail or a specific line from the passage.

7.) Watch out for trick answers! Answers that pertain specifically to a single line, paragraph, event, character, or details are only there to trick the test taker; the correct answer will always relate to the entire passage.

Coaching our students in how to best tackle main idea questions is fundamental to their reading comprehension. Be sure to offer them an assortment of ways in which they can practice answering main idea questions—beyond test prep and class. Encourage them to exercise those skills when reading for pleasure. News stories, blog posts, magazine articles, a chapter from a novel—there are a variety of ways students can train for main idea questions!

For more strategies and a full array of practice ACT® & SAT® Reading passages and questions, schedule a free demo of our 100% white-label test-prep platform. See how Clear Choice Prep’s software, custom-branded workbooks, and personalized curricular tools can help your students walk into test day ready for success.