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Key Ideas and Details

5 dot points across 5 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

How do you find the central idea of an informational passage or the theme of a literary passage on the ACT, and tell it apart from a topic or a detail?

Central idea and theme: stating the main point of an informational passage and the theme of a literary passage as a full idea, distinguishing it from the topic and from supporting details, and choosing the answer that captures the whole passage rather than one part.
How to find the central idea of an informational ACT passage and the theme of a literary one: state it as a full idea, distinguish it from the topic and from a single detail, and choose the answer that captures the whole passage.
11 min answer →

How do you draw a valid inference on the ACT, taking a small supported step beyond what the passage states without leaping past the evidence?

Drawing inferences: reading what a passage implies but does not state, taking the smallest step the evidence forces, recognizing the signal words of inference questions, and rejecting choices that go further than the text supports.
How to draw a valid inference on the ACT: take the smallest supported step beyond what the passage states, recognize inference-question signal words like suggests and implies, and reject choices that leap past the evidence.
11 min answer →

How do you track the relationships between people, ideas, and events in an ACT passage, such as comparison, contrast, and how one idea supports or qualifies another?

Relationships between ideas: identifying how the people, ideas, and events in a passage relate (comparison, contrast, support, qualification, problem and solution) and how each paragraph functions in the whole, choosing the answer that matches the passage's actual relationships.
How to track relationships between people, ideas, and events on the ACT: identify comparison, contrast, support, qualification, and problem-solution links, and read how each paragraph functions, choosing the answer that matches the passage's real relationships.
10 min answer →

How do you track the order of events and the cause-and-effect links in an ACT passage, especially when the text is not told in time order?

Sequence and cause and effect: following the order of events even when a passage uses flashback or non-chronological order, and identifying which event or factor causes another, distinguishing a true causal link from mere sequence or correlation.
How to track order of events and causal links on the ACT: follow sequence even through flashbacks, and tell a true cause from mere sequence or correlation, choosing the answer the passage actually supports as the cause.
10 min answer →

How do you summarize an ACT passage or paragraph accurately, keeping the main point and key support while leaving out minor detail and distortion?

Summarizing a passage: capturing the main point plus its essential support in a faithful, balanced summary, distinguishing a good summary from one that is too detailed, too narrow, or distorted, and choosing the summary answer that neither adds nor omits.
How to summarize an ACT passage or paragraph accurately: keep the main point and its essential support, leave out minor detail and distortion, and choose the summary that neither adds claims the passage does not make nor omits its central point.
10 min answer →