https://www.bbc.co.

uk/teach/skillswise/skimm
ing-and-scanning/zd39f4j
• 1. Main Idea Question
• Which one of the following most accurately
summarizes the main point of the passage?
• Which of the following statements most accurately
captures the central idea of the passage?
• Of the following titles, which would be most
appropriate for the contents of this passage?
• The passage can best be described as which of the
following?
• In most cases, the main idea will be expressed
in one or two sentences in the first
paragraph, although it is occasionally
expressed in the final paragraph or, rarely, in
an interior paragraph. Sometimes the main
idea is never stated explicitly .
• 2. Supporting Idea Question
• You will encounter a number of supporting idea questions on the
test. Questions of this type focus on specific ideas or pieces of
information presented in the passage. They require a more focused
reading than main idea questions. The questions also measure your
ability to differentiate ideas that are explicitly stated in a passage
from ideas that are implied by the author but that are not explicitly
stated. You may be asked about:
• Facts cited in a passage
• Specific content of arguments presented by the author in support
of author's views
• Descriptive details used to support or elaborate on the main idea
The answers to this type of question are always
grounded in the text. They are often close
paraphrases of statements made in the passage.
• 3. Inference Type Question
• In contrast to supporting idea questions,
inference questions deal with ideas that
are not stated in the passage. Inference
questions prompt you to make a logical jump
from the statements expressed in the passage
to a conclusion that should be true if the
statements in the passage are all true.
• Inference questions might look like:
• Based on the information given in the
passage, it can be reasonably inferred that?
• The author of the passage would be most
likely to agree with which of the
following statements?
The trick to inference questions is to stick closely
to the wording of the passage and to keep your
logic tight. The correct answer will require a
logical hop, not a leap. Do not make unwarranted
assumptions or use your own knowledge of the
topic. What you need to do is read the section of
the passage that the question asks about and
then figure out which of the answer choices must
be true if the statements in the passage are true.
• 4. Applying information to context outside
passage
• Like inference questions, applying information
questions deal with topics that are not
mentioned explicitly in the passage. This type
of question asks you to take the information
given in the passage and apply it logically to a
context outside of the passage. 
• An applying information question could look like:
• Which of the following situations is most similar
to the situation described in the paragraph?
• Identify a hypothetical situation that is
comparable to a situation presented in the
passage?
• Select an example that is similar to an example
provided in the passage?
You should take the same approach to this type
of question as you take with inference
questions, except that you usually need to make
a larger logical leap. These questions test your
ability to recognize the structure of an argument
or an idea, and then recognize the same
structure in a different context.
• 5. Logical Structure
• These questions examine your ability to analyze the structure of
the passage and to determine what role specific components play
in the whole. Logical structure questions may look like:
• How a passage is constructed - for instance, does it define,
compare or contrast, present a new idea, or refute an idea?
• How the author persuades readers to accept his or her assertions?
• The reason behind the author’s use of any particular supporting
detail and to identify assumptions that the author is making
• If you read strategically, you should have a good idea of how to
answer a question like this after your initial quick reading of the
passage. If you have a good idea of what the passage as a whole is
about and what role each paragraph serves in the passage, you
should be able to sort quickly through the answers to determine
which answer best describes the structure of the passage.
• 6. Style and Tone
• Style and tone questions ask about the
expression of a passage and about the ideas in a
passage that may be expressed through its
diction. You may be asked to deduce the author’s
attitude to an idea, a fact, or a situation from the
words that he or she uses to describe it. You may
also be asked to select a word that accurately
describes the tone of a passage. For instance, the
tone can be critical, questioning, objective, or
enthusiastic.