Skill 1

: OVERVIEW ITEMS

(MAIN IDEA/TOPIC, MAIN PURPOSE, ORGANIZATION OF IDEAS, TONE, PREVIOUS/FOLLOWING

PARAGRAPH QUESTIONS)
No
1.

Type
Main idea/topic
(ask you what the a
paragraph/passage is
generally about)

1.
2.
3.
4.

2.

3.

Organization of idea
(ask you to determine
how the ideas in one
paragraph relate to the
ideas in another
paragraph)

1.

Main purpose
(ask why an author
wrote a passage)

1.

2.

2.

3.
4.
4.

5.

Tone
(ask you to determine
the authors feelings
about the topic by the
language that uses)

1.

Previous or following
paragraphs
(asks you to
demonstrate that you
understand that good
writing contains
transitions from one
paragraph to the next)

1.

2.

2.

Sample
What is the topic of
the passage?
What is the subject of
the passage?
What is the main idea
of the passage?
What is the author's
main point in the
passage?
How is the information
in the passage
organized?
How is the information
in the second
paragraph related to
the information in the
first paragraph?
The authors purpose
in writing is to
What is the authors
main purpose in the
passage?
The main point of this
passage is to
Why did the author
write the passage?
What tone does the
author take in writing
this passage?
The tone of this
passage could best be
described as
What topic would the
following/preceding
paragraph most likely
deal with?
The paragraph
before/after the
passage most probably
discusses

How to answer
The answer to this
type of questions
can generally be
determined by
looking at the first
sentence of each
paragraph.

Previous/
preceding:
looking at the first
sentence of the
passages
Following/after:
looking at the last
sentence of the
passages

Tips
Dont answer
the initial
overview
question about
a passage until
you have
answered the
other questions.
The process of
answering the
detail questions
may give you a
clearer idea of
the main
idea/topic,
purpose,
organization of
idea and the
tone of the
passage.

Skill 2
No
1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

: INFERENCE, PURPOSE, DETAILS, NEGATIVE AND LINE ITEMS

Type
Inference
(ask you to find the
implicit, inferred, or
implied meaning of a
passage to understand
ideas that have not be
directly stated by the
author)

Sample
1. Which of the following
can be inferred from
the passage?
2. It can be inferred from
the passage that
3. The author implies that
4. Which of the following
does the passage
imply?
Purpose Items
1. Why does the author
(ask why the author of a
mention _____?
passage mentions some 2. The author refers to
piece of information, or
_____ to indicate that
includes a quote
3. The author quotes ____
from a person or a
in order to show
study, or uses some
4. The phrase _____ in
particular word or
line ____ is mentioned
phrase)
to illustrate the effect
of
Details
1. According to the
(ask about explicit facts
passage
and details given in the 2. It is stated in the
passage)
passage
3. The passage indicates
that
4. The author mentions
that
Negative
1. According to the
(ask you to determine
passage, all of the
which of the four
following are true
choices is not given in
EXCEPT
the passage. These
2. Which of the following
questions contain the
is NOT mentioned in
words NOT, EXCEPT, or
the passage?
LEAST)
3. Which of the following
is the LEAST likely
Line
1. Where in the passage...
(ask you to determine
?
where in the passage a
piece of information is
found)

How to answer
1. Choose a key
word in the
question.
2. Scan the
passage for the
key word (or a
related idea).
3. Carefully read
the sentence
that contains
the key word.
4. Look for an
answer that
could be true,
according to
that sentence.

Choose the answer

that contains the
line numbers of a
restatement of the
question.

Tips
The answers to
these
questions are
not directly
provided in the
passage (you
must read
between the
lines)
You must make
conclusions
based
indirectly on
information in
the passage.

Negative
questions
often take
more time
than other
questions.
You may want
to guess and
come back to
these
questions if
you have time.

Skill 3
No
1.

2.

Skill 4
No
1.

: VOCABULARY ITEMS
Type
Word parts
(asked to determine
the meaning of a long
word by studying the
word parts)
Word meaning
(asked to determine
the meaning of a
word, a word that you
are not expected to
know or a word that
you see often in
everyday English)

Sample
1. What is the
meaning of
2. Which of the
following is
closest in
meaning to
3. The phrase ___ in
the first sentence
is closest in
meaning to
4. The word ___ in
paragraph 1 is
closest in
meaning to

How to answer
Tips
1. Find the word in
Read the sentence in
the passage.
which the word appears.
2. Read the
If you were familiar with
sentence that
the word and guessed at
contains the word
the answer, make sure
carefully.
that the word that you
3. Look for context
chose fits with the word
clues to help you
as it is used in the
understand the
sentence.
meaning.
If you were unfamiliar
4. Choose the
with the word, see if
answer that the
context clues in the
context indicates.
sentence or in the
sentences before or after
help you guess the
meaning.

: REFERENCE ITEMS
Type
Reference Items (ask you
to find the noun (called
the referent) that a
pronoun or other word
refers to)

Sample
The pronoun ....... in line X
refers to which o f the
following?

How to answer
1. Find the pronoun in the
passage.
2. Look for nouns that come
before the pronoun.
3. Read the part of the passage
before the pronoun carefully.