1. Reading MAIN IDEA Reading Basics Making Inferences Relating Ideas
PRACTICE
Reading Basics
MAIN IDEA
Main Idea
Supporting Details
Word Meaning
Making Inferences
Drawing Conclusions
Author’s Approach
Relating Ideas
Cause and Effect
Comparative Relationships
Sequence
Copyright © 2012 Mary Kate Durkin and Chris Mikulskis

2. Reading Reading Basics MAIN IDEA What these questions look like
PRACTICE
Reading Basics
MAIN IDEA
The main idea of a passage is simply a sentence summary
of the information, purpose, or focus of the passage.
What these questions look like
The main purpose of the third paragraph (lines 21-28) is…
The primary purpose of the fourth paragraph (lines 29-35) can best be summarized by which of the following
statements?
The passage primarily focuses on…
The overall purpose of the passage is to…
The passage as a whole suggests that…
Which of the following statements best describes the main point of the passage?
Information in the second paragraph (lines 9-16) supports the narrator’s claim that…
Copyright © 2012 Mary Kate Durkin and Chris Mikulskis

3. Reading Reading Basics MAIN IDEA Strategies to win PRACTICE
The main idea of a passage is simply a sentence summary
of the information, purpose, or focus of the passage.
Strategies to win
As you read a passage, think about:
What the author’s main point is
What the author is trying to prove
What the author deals with the most
How information in the passage or paragraph
adds up to one major idea
How the thesis statement (can be the main idea
or very close) usually hangs out in the first
paragraph
How the introduction and concluding
paragraphs can reveal the passage’s main
idea while topic sentence can reveal a
paragraph’s main idea.
Copyright © 2012 Mary Kate Durkin and Chris Mikulskis

4. Reading Reading Basics MAIN IDEA PRACTICE
The main idea of a passage is simply a sentence summary
of the information, purpose, or focus of the passage.
Be careful of:
Answer choices that are too broad or too narrow
to be the main idea
A supporting detail answer choice posing as a
main idea (Hey, I read that in that answer choice in
the passage, so it must be the main idea, right?
WRONG!)
Copyright © 2012 Mary Kate Durkin and Chris Mikulskis

5. Reading Reading Basics MAIN IDEA PRACTICE
The main idea of a passage is simply a sentence summary
of the information, purpose, or focus of the passage.
Copyright © 2012 Mary Kate Durkin and Chris Mikulskis

6. Reading Reading Basics MAIN IDEA PRACTICE
The main idea of a passage is simply a sentence summary
of the information, purpose, or focus of the passage.
Copyright © 2012 Mary Kate Durkin and Chris Mikulskis

7. Reading Reading Basics MAIN IDEA PRACTICE
The main idea of a passage is simply a sentence summary
of the information, purpose, or focus of the passage.
Copyright © 2012 Mary Kate Durkin and Chris Mikulskis