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A guide to "central ideas and details" questions on the digital SAT
What are "central ideas and details" questions?
On the Reading and Writing section of your SAT, some questions will present a short passage for you to read. The passage may be excerpted from a work of literature or from a scholarly essay.
Once you read the passage, you'll be asked either to identify the main idea of the text or to answer a specific question based on the text.
Central ideas and details questions will look like this:
Central ideas and details: Example
Many intellectual histories of the Black Power movement of the 1960s and 1970s rely heavily on essays and other explicitly ideological works as primary sources, a tendency that can overrepresent the perspectives of a small number of thinkers, most of whom were male. Historian Ashley D. Farmer has shown that expanding the array of primary sources to encompass more types of print material—including political cartoons, advertisem*nts, and artwork—leads to a much better understanding of the movement and the crucial and diverse roles that Black women played in shaping it.
Which choice best describes the main idea of the text?
We should start by paraphrasing the passage in our own words:
- Histories of the Black Power movement tend to focus on men.
- Ashley D. Farmer studies a wider variety of sources.
- Farmer's work increases understanding of Black Power movement, especially women's roles.
In order to describe "the main idea of the text", the best choice will need to accurately capture these ideas. It will also need to avoid introducing information that's not covered in the passage.
If we were to make a prediction, the main idea might be something like
"Farmer has improved the study of the Black Power movement by exploring the roles of women."
Now let's look at the choices. Do any of them match our prediction?
Choice A actually says the opposite of what we learned in the passage. We're told that there were "many intellectual histories" of the Black Power movement before Farmer's. We can eliminate this choice.
Choice C introduces information not included in the passage. The text doesn't mention what other historians think of Farmer's research. If it's not mentioned, then it can't be a "main idea". We can eliminate this choice.
Choice D introduces information not included in the passage. We're not told about the beliefs of "figures in the Black Power movement." If the text doesn't mention this information, then it can't be a "main idea". We can eliminate this choice.
Only choice B accurately captures the central ideas we identified in the text, including a specific mention of "Black women's contributions" to the Black Power movement. Choice B also avoids introducing any ideas that can't be found in the passage. Choice B is the answer.
How should we think about central ideas and details questions?
Central ideas and details questions focus on reading comprehension, and they do so in a fairly straightforward way.
We won't need any outside knowledge. We won't need to analyze the text too deeply or do any complex reasoning. We'll simply need to read the passage carefully.
Central ideas
Central ideas questions ask us to identify "the main idea" of the passage. Since the passages for these questions are fairly short, finding this main idea shouldn't be too tricky.
The main idea should
- cover a majority of the details introduced in the text.
- mention any particular points of emphasis from the text.
The main idea should not
- focus too intently on just one detail from the text.
- introduce new ideas not addressed within the text.
- contradict information from the text.
Details
Details questions ask us to answer a specific question about an idea contained in the passage. Details questions can usually be answered using information from one particular sentence in the text.
These questions will contain words, phrases, or ideas that direct us to the appropriate part of the text. Once there, we simply need to find the correct detail needed to answer the question.
How to approach central ideas and details questions
To solve a central ideas and details question, consider following these steps:
Step 1: Summarize the text in your own words
Don't just skim the passage. Read it closely, and try to summarize the ideas you encounter in your own words. By the time you finish reading, you should have a strong understanding of the information contained in the passage.
Step 2: Determine the task
The question that follows the passage will reveal your task. Does it ask about the "main idea"? Or does it ask about a particular piece of information?
Step 3: Revisit the text
If the question is about the main idea, then revisit your summary of the text to find the overarching theme.
If the question asks about something specific, then head to that section of the passage to search out the correct detail.
Step 4: Predict and eliminate
Based on your understanding of the passage, you should be able to answer to the question fairly accurately without even looking at the choices. If someone asked you to summarize the text, what would you say?
For instance, in the example question above, we might predict that the main idea is something like
"Ashley D. Farmer has improved the study of the Black Power movement by exploring the roles of women."
Once you predict the answer in your own words, it should be pretty easy to find a match among the choices. If you're still not sure, you can eliminate your way to the answer by getting rid of choices that contradict the passage or introduce new ideas.
Top tips
Stay specific
Don't stray beyond the focus of the passage. Eliminate choices that broaden or blur the ideas in discussed in the text. And look out for small twists and turns that make a choice seem relevant when it actually expresses something unsupported by the passage.
Look at the choices in our example question:
Choice C introduces information not included in the passage. The text doesn't mention what "other historians" think of Farmer's research.
If it's not mentioned, then it can't be a "main idea". We can eliminate this choice.
Keep your prediction as short and simple as possible
If your prediction is just as long as the passage itself, it’s not simple enough! Keep simplifying it until you can sum it up in one brief idea, then use that prediction as a test. The more concise your prediction, the quicker and easier it will be to check it against the choices.
Use keywords as a map
When a question asks about a detail from the passage, it will often do so by referencing key words and phrases from the text. Find those words in the passage: they'll direct you towards the answer you seek!
Your turn
Central Ideas and Details
The following text is adapted from Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1883 novel Treasure Island. Bill is a sailor staying at the Admiral Benbow, an inn run by the narrator’s parents.
Every day when [Bill] came back from his stroll he would ask if any seafaring men had gone by along the road. At first we thought it was the want of company of his own kind that made him ask this question, but at last we began to see he was desirous to avoid them. When a seaman did [stay] at the Admiral Benbow (as now and then some did) he would look in at him through the curtained door before he entered the parlour; and he was always sure to be as silent as a mouse when any such was present.
According to the text, why does Bill regularly ask about “seafaring men”?
This question asks about a detail from the text.
Specifically, the question references Bill ""asking about seafaring men". Let's use that phrase as a guide and find it in the passage:
Every day when [Bill] came back from his stroll he would ask if any seafaring men had gone by along the road.
Ok, so this just tells us that Bill does ask about "seafaring men", but it doesn't tell us why. Let's check the next sentence to see if it tells us what we need to know:
At first we thought it was the want of company of his own kind that made him ask this question, but at last we began to see he was desirous to avoid them.
Here we go. This sentence tells us that Bill "was desirous to avoid [seafaring men]". In other words, he wanted to stay away from them!
Let's use that as our prediction:
"Bill wants to stay away from sailors".
Which choice says something similar to our prediction?
Choice D is similar to our prediction. Choice D is the answer.
Log in That Soviet player 2 years agoPosted 2 years ago. Direct link to That Soviet player's post “a common situation tat I ...” a common situation tat I encounter on the blue book is that the words are super complicated and cant really summarize it into my own words and get confused. • (134 votes) Terence Tao a year agoPosted a year ago. Direct link to Terence Tao's post “I am facing the same prob...” I am facing the same problems and even though I haven't overcome them I think these tips can help: 1] DON'T READ THE NAMES. "Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s 2013 novel I'd read it as- 2] If you can't summarise paragraphs, summarise sentences. 3] If you don't know a particular word try splitting it and determining its meaning. 4] Take it slow. (505 votes) ISKO.SALIMJANOV a year agoPosted a year ago. Direct link to ISKO.SALIMJANOV's post “It would be so much bette...” It would be so much better, If there were vocabulary bank especially for SAT in Khan Academy • (91 votes) G. Tarun a year agoPosted a year ago. Direct link to G. Tarun's post “SAT tests vocabulary in c...” SAT tests vocabulary in context: it's about understanding how a word means one thing in one context, another thing in another. If you want to rapidly expand your English vocabulary, though, try working through the book Word Power Made Easy by Norman Lewis. It teaches words as symbols for ideas, and teaches using the root word and word-origin (etymology) approach. Merriam-Webster's Word of The Day is also a great way to learn vocabulary using a similar approach. I've also heard students recommend vocabulary.com though I have never used it myself. (40 votes) Logan Kopp 3 months agoPosted 3 months ago. Direct link to Logan Kopp's post “I hope that whoever sees ...” I hope that whoever sees this has the best day of their lives. • (40 votes) RiaRuoyuZhang a month agoPosted a month ago. Direct link to RiaRuoyuZhang's post “hope you have a great day...” hope you have a great day too and get a 1600! (12 votes) Slushy 10 months agoPosted 10 months ago. Direct link to Slushy's post “Is it possible to have mo...” Is it possible to have more than 1 central idea? • (5 votes) mertali.tercan 10 months agoPosted 10 months ago. Direct link to mertali.tercan's post “>2 central idea = 2 cente...” >2 central idea = 2 centers (50 votes) yubrajkhatri005 a year agoPosted a year ago. Direct link to yubrajkhatri005's post “finding the main theme or...” finding the main theme or the any kind of central ideas is most hardest part for me, even the trick from khan academy itself doesn't work for me can you tell how you guys encounter this type of question? • (7 votes) 24gargaa a year agoPosted a year ago. Direct link to 24gargaa's post “The key to answering a ce...” The key to answering a central idea/ theme question is to look for the general gist or scope that the passage is trying to "outline." Whenever I read a short story, I focus on the details that lead me to find the general idea of the passage. The SAT is designed such that you are not forced to grasp every detail that a passage offers, so try not to get too caught up on the passage. If you should not focus too much on unnecessary details as they may incorrectly guide you. If you find summarizing the passage in your own words difficult, it may be helpful to just directly go to the questions. Though this strategy may be useful, it is still vital that you understand the claim and other essential points stated in the passage. I would finally suggest selecting an answer choice that isn't too specific. Specificity is important when considering answer choices, but getting too specific will draw you away from the MAIN idea of a passage. (26 votes) cuc.diamond 2 years agoPosted 2 years ago. Direct link to cuc.diamond's post “Where I can find exercise...” Where I can find exercises that are similar to these kinds? • (15 votes) sincosancont 2 years agoPosted 2 years ago. Direct link to sincosancont's post “On bluebook you can find ...” On bluebook you can find full tests, and practice questions here on khanacademy, other than that there aren't any im aware of (4 votes) DorianA a year agoPosted a year ago. Direct link to DorianA's post “What is supposed to be so...” What is supposed to be so hard about this? Both times the answer is directly stated and can be found in the first two sentences. • (7 votes) Sergio García a year agoPosted a year ago. Direct link to Sergio García's post “This is the Foundations c...” This is the Foundations course. To see more challenging questions, please go to the Advanced course. (10 votes) Larissa Rampazzo a year agoPosted a year ago. Direct link to Larissa Rampazzo's post “do you have any tips on h...” do you have any tips on how to practice? besides de 4pdfs on college board and practice tests from bluebook. would you use the old sat tests to study for the digital one? • (8 votes) jlee26 a year agoPosted a year ago. Direct link to jlee26's post “I would definitely use th...” I would definitely use those after I exhaust all the Bluebook and Khan Academy resources. They're actually a great way to bolster your reading comprehension skills and have quite a lot of useful information that still applies to the DSAT, although some may say otherwise. (8 votes) Shishir a year agoPosted a year ago. Direct link to Shishir's post “The *last* question has a...” The last question has a grammatical ERROR. In the last sentence, there is a conjunction (and) after the semicolon which is incorrect according to Khan Academy → DSAT → Reading & Writing → Lesson 11 → Boundaries → Punctuations. Please correct me if I am wrong and please provide me with an explanation. • (8 votes) Ayush_K. a year agoPosted a year ago. Direct link to Ayush_K.'s post “That Lesson 11 is standar...” That Lesson 11 is standard english, and like occarius (in the comments section of your section) said, English has changed a LOT from the 1880s. Although from a longer time, thee was prevalent around the end of the 18th century, and now thee is no longer used except if an author chooses to incorporate it for formal purposes or really just for the "fun" of it. You will see "thee" a ton if you read Shakespeare's plays, stories, poems, etc. (7 votes) Nadia a year agoPosted a year ago. Direct link to Nadia's post “How do I understand the m...” How do I understand the main claim / central idea of a short poem? I find this part very difficult and end up with the wrong option! Need some help in understanding short poem based central idea. • (9 votes) samyakp3 10 months agoPosted 10 months ago. Direct link to samyakp3's post “You need to summarize the...” You need to summarize the text first before analyzing the options. It will help you to align your summary with the options that are given there. (5 votes)Want to join the conversation?
Collage board for some reason just loves giving weird names for basically everything in the passage. Instead of reading the entire name just remember the first letter of each word in a name, for example:
Americanah chronicles the divergent experiences of
Ifemelu and Obinze, a young Nigerian couple... "
"C N A’s 2013 novel
Amr chr the divergent experiences of
Ife and Obz, a young Nigerian couple..."
Now, this shouldn't be your first option, try summarising the passage as a whole. If and only if you get stuck do this coz it takes a bit longer and you can't do it on every question but you can prob pull it off on a few of the tough ones.
Now granted you might have to learn a few common prefixes and suffixes to do this but that's way better than learning a dictionary.
I don't consider myself to be very good at the reading and writing section but I still am able to complete the practice test modules 5 to 8 mins ahead of time so just sold down, and as David says "you got this." :)
>center is singular, a circle doesn't have plural centers
