main ideas
The SAT doesn't normally test recall. Instead, it asks whether you can grasp why a passage exists.
Why it matters
A solid main-idea summary helps you anchor every detail that follows. Miss it, and even easy questions feel random.
What's Actually Being Tested
- Your understanding of the main idea: Usually, questions come in the form, "What is the central idea of the text" or "What is the main idea of the text?"
Four-Step Approach
- Preview the blurb. It often signals genre and tone, and gives you some good background info.
- Know what you're reading (we recommend subvocalizing to understand what you're reading).
- When you finish, restate the whole passage in a single sentence. If you can’t, read again. Don't eliminate answer choices yet, act like there are none. Just predict the answer, like its a open-ended question.
- On the question, slash options that zoom in on trivia or over-state the author’s stance and try to find the answer that matches your prediction.
An Example
Passage Excerpt (fiction)
Marisol stood at the pier long after the fishing boats returned, watching the sea darken to copper. The town measured its evenings by the clang of the bell buoy, but tonight the bell was silent, lost in the fog. She clenched the telegram in her coat pocket—a single line announcing her brother’s departure—and realized the silence was inside her.
Sentence main idea: Marisol grapples with sudden news of loss while the muted harbor mirrors her unease.
- Setting: twilight pier, fog, bell buoy.
- Trigger: telegram announcing departure.
- Symbol: silence of the bell = inner void.
Notice how every detail—the muted bell, copper sea, clenched telegram—feeds one central emotion. If an answer choice ignores that emotion, it’s almost certainly wrong.
Quick Check
Main idea in motion.
Which of these best describes a typical main idea question?
Common Traps
- Too specific. Zooms in on one detail.
- Too extreme. Pushes the author farther than evidence allows.
- Contextually wrong. True fact, wrong focus.
- Plain wrong. Makes sense, factually incorrect.
Normally, you see one or two of these types of answer choices every question.
Let's try some practice problems from the College Board Practice Bank, that aren't on the Bluebook Practice Tests.
Easy
Scent is tightly interwoven with our daily lives, often evoking significant memories and important social events. This connection is of growing interest to archaeologists who hope to use it to better understand ancient rituals, trade, social hierarchies, and medicine. Although the speed at which odor molecules dissipate makes identifying ancient scents challenging, advancements in biomolecular technologies show promise in unlocking ancient aromas from preserved artifacts. Archaeological studies making use of these advancements may provide new insights into past societies.
According to the text, what is one reason some archaeologists are interested in recovering scents from ancient artifacts?
Medium
A common assumption among art historians is that the invention of photography in the mid-nineteenth century displaced the painted portrait in the public consciousness. The diminishing popularity of the portrait miniature, which coincided with the rise of photography, seems to support this claim. However, photography’s impact on the portrait miniature may be overstated. Although records from art exhibitions in the Netherlands from 1820 to 1892 show a decrease in the number of both full-sized and miniature portraits submitted, this trend was established before the invention of photography.
Based on the text, what can be concluded about the diminishing popularity of the portrait miniature in the nineteenth century?
Hard
The most recent iteration of the immersive theater experience Sleep No More, which premiered in New York City in 2011, transforms its performance space—a five-story warehouse—into a 1930s-era hotel. Audience members, who wander through the labyrinthine venue at their own pace and follow the actors as they play out simultaneous, interweaving narrative loops, confront the impossibility of experiencing the production in its entirety. The play’s refusal of narrative coherence thus hinges on the sense of spatial fragmentation that the venue’s immense and intricate layout generates.
What does the text most strongly suggest about Sleep No More’s use of its performance space?
Final Tip
Identify the main idea during your first read, not after. If the thesis still feels hazy, reread the first and last sentences; they usually bookend the author’s core point.
Main Idea Unlocked
Every passage has a heartbeat. Learn to feel it.
Next Up
13: inferences
Find out how to detect subtle cues about an author's feelings.